Baptized in Jesus' Name

INTRO

The end of Acts 18 marks a transition from the end of Paul’s second missionary journey to the beginning of his third. Paul traveled up to Ephesus, which is in Asia. In the second missionary journey, the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from entering Asia. Instead, Paul received a vision from the Lord of a Macedonian man asking him to come help people in that region. Now, on his third missionary journey, Paul made his way into Asia.

TEACHING

Acts 19:1–6: In chapter 18, Apollos was introduced while ministering in Ephesus (v. 23). Now Apollos had moved on to Corinth while Paul entered into Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquilla originally brought the gospel to Ephesus, which was most known for its temple to Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus was an important political, educational, and commercial center.¹The church in Ephesus wasn’t established until this missionary journey, even though Priscilla and Aquilla first shared the gospel there in Acts 18. Paul would eventually stay in Ephesus for three years. When Paul left, he put Timothy in charge of the church. Paul charged Timothy to “remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:3). Constable noted, “Ephesus was a hotbed of superstition and occult practices.”²

Paul asked the disciples he found if they had received the Holy Spirit, but they had never even heard of the existence of the Holy Spirit. They had only been baptized into John’s baptism, a baptism of repentance from sin, in water. Paul explained the difference between John’s baptism and Jesus’ baptism, and they were baptized in the name of Jesus. What was the difference between John and Jesus’ baptisms? John the Baptist explained it himself: “‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). The minute you believe Jesus is the Messiah, you are baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

After learning this, Paul laid his hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fell, the believers spoke in other languages and prophesied. Similar instances happened throughout Acts:

• Acts 2: The church received the Holy Spirit, the fire of God fell, and they spoke in other languages.
• Acts 10: The Gentiles heard the gospel, the fire of God fell, they received the Holy Spirit, and then they spoke in other languages.

The Holy Spirit came into the lives of the disciples in verse 5 after they believed. Verse 6 described what happened when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. For us, being baptized in the Holy Spirit can happen instantaneously for some, but for others it may be a process in which we have to learn to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s leadership over a period of time. Either way, we are baptized in the Holy Spirit when the fire of the Holy Spirit burns off the dross of our lives.

Acts 19:7–10: Twelve men in all were baptized in the Holy Spirit in Paul’s initial conversation with the disciples. Over the next three months—the longest period Paul ever stayed at one synagogue with the exception of Corinth—Paul regularly went to the synagogue where he was “engaging in discussion and trying to persuade them about the things of the kingdom of God” (v. 8). Paul probably approached his time in the synagogue similarly to how he ministered in other places. He took the Old Testament Scriptures, especially the prophecies about Jesus, and showed them how they pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. After three months, those who would not believe began spreading slander about Paul and the disciples, so Paul left the synagogue and began “conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus” (v. 9). Tyrannus (meaning, “our tyrant”) could have been the owner of the lecture hall or the philosopher who conducted lectures at the lecture hall. Paul probably taught at the lecture hall from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., the time when Tyrannus’s lectures would not have been in session.³

After this went on for two years, “all the inhabitants of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the message about the Lord” (v. 10). These original 12 guys who were baptized with the Holy Spirit soaked up the Word of God and caused such a radical change that an entire continent heard the message.

Acts 19:11–12: The things Paul wore while making tents were taken to the sick, and those who were possessed by spirits, and the people were healed and delivered. The miracles Paul performed gave evidence that the message he preached was true.

CLOSING

God is a big God. Through the Holy Spirit, He wants to use each and every one of us. We must learn to depend on the Holy Spirit. When we do, lives will be changed.