Acts 19:1-6
What is written? (ESV)
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John’s baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
What does it say?
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed inland and came to Ephesus. There he found some converts and asked if they received the Holy Spirit when they had believed. They had not and didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked what they had been baptized into? They said John’s baptism. Paul then explained the difference between John’s baptism and Jesus’ baptism – that the former was only of repentance and pointing toward Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized into Jesus. At that point, Paul laid his hands on them which gave them the power of the Holy Spirit – to speak in tongues and prophesy.
What is its immediate context?
Paul is on his third missionary journey in 52AD.
How Acts 19:1-6 is applied across Bible answers
Can someone receive the Holy Spirit before being saved?
Paul encounters believers that knew nothing about the Holy Spirit since they had not been "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus", only into John's baptism.
How were miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit given?
Paul, an apostle, laid his hands on these men in order for the Holy Spirit to come on them with power (speaking in tongues and prophesying).
What is the baptism of John the Baptist?
Paul encounters believers (e.g. "disciples") who had been baptized "into John's baptism" which Paul defines as "the baptism of repentance" accompanied by the instruction to believe in Jesus who would come after him. He judges the validity and currency of their baptism -- whether it was old/John's or new/Jesus' -- by asking if they had received the Holy Spirit, the distinguishing characteristic between the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus.
Why does God give the non-miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit? (Acts 2:38-39)
Paul finds disciples and wants to determine their saved state. His first question was, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" Unlike the disciples in Samaria4 who had already been "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus", these disciples had only been baptized "into John's baptism". Paul equates one knowing that they've "received the Holy Spirit" with the same initial state of one's conversion. Since they had "not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit," Paul "baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus" (for the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit1). Now with his first question properly answered and them being cleansed and made holy, only then does Paul lay his hands on them so that "they began speaking in tongues and prophesying" (e.g. miraculous gifts of the Spirit).
