5 things happen in this section:
(i)
Paul's
encounter with some of John's disciples
(19:1 - 7)
(ii)
Paul preaches in the synagogue at Ephesus (19: 8 -
10)
(iii)
God
does extra-ordinary miracles through Paul
(19:11,12)
(iv)
Paul's "imitators" (the 7 sons
of Sceva) come to grief (19:13 - 16).
(v)
The triumph of the Gospel (19:17 - 20)
In this exposition we shall only focus on the first 7 verses.
In Ephesus the apostle Paul
found some disciples of John (12 of them
cf. 19:7) who were believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ – the Messiah,
but we are told that they had not yet
heard of or received the Holy Spirit. They, said they had received the baptism of John only, but not the baptism in or with the Holy Spirit.
To
understand this we need to turn to Matthew
3:11,12, where John the Baptist explains the difference between his
ministry and that of Jesus the Messiah:
11 “I baptize you with water for
repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I
am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and
gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable
fire.”
Paul explains the difference between John’s Baptism of
repentance and Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This is gripping stuff and so very important
to understand. All four Gospels refer to this event. Mark and
John speak of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, but only Matthew and Luke mention the baptism with fire. The immediate context in Matthew and Luke is
the coming judgment (Matt. 3:7-12; Lk.
3: 7-17).
How are we to understand
these two baptisms- the baptism of the Holy Spirit , and the baptism with fire?
We know that the Lord Jesus came
to announce and to inaugurate the kingdom of God [Matt. 4:17,23]. He came to seek and save that which was
lost. He came to gather in His sheep.
His sheep are marked by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (of which the
water baptism signifies that reality). However that is not all which Jesus came
to do. In separating His sheep for Himself, He excludes those who do not
repent. That is the implication of Matt.
3:12. These will be baptized in the fire of His judgement. It is utterly
important to understand that Jesus is not only the Saviour of His people. He is
also the Judge of those that do not believe. They are destined for the fire of
judgement (2 Thess.1:3-10; Rev. 20:11-15).
So these 12 disciples
in Ephesus had already embraced the
preparatory ministry of John, and in that sense they were OT believers, but the
fullness of the NT message had not yet
been revealed to them. We may imagine then, that when Paul found these
Ephesian disciples, that he sensed that something was lacking in their
experience, and he began to probe them with
questions. What was the
baptism of John saying and what was it lacking?
(i)
What
the baptism of John signified : Remember that John
was preaching to ethnic Jews, God's
covenant people, having the sign of the covenant, circumcision. Look at Matt. 3:6: "They were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they
confessed their sins." This is why his baptism was called "a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins" (Mk 1:4).
He challenged the Jews to admit that they were sinners. He told them that they desperately needed to get right with God. John was thus
saying that being a Jew was no guarantee
of being right with God. This baptism
was a way by which they were saying that they needed more than to depend upon their ethnic Jewishness. Being a Jew could not save them from the coming wrath of God. They needed to repent from their sins and turn to God. It was to these that John, the forerunner of the Messiah said: "Confess your sins, repent, and seal this with baptism, because God's wrath is hanging
over you like the axe that is laid to the root of the trees.” (Matt 3:9)
(ii)
What the baptism of John was lacking : Although John was pointing the repentant Jews to Christ,
they still needed to come to embrace Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the
promised gift of the Father, by which Christ would enter into each believer in a way
which the prophets Jeremiah (33:31-34) and Ezekiel and Amos had spoken
of .
And so, when Paul asks
these 12 believers in Ephesus, "Did
you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" - they answer: "No, we haven't even heard
there is a Holy Spirit" (which may simply mean that they haven’t heard that there is a Holy Spirit to be received, and not necessarily that they haven't
heard of
'Holy Spirit' before).
Paul presses on: "But you were
baptized?" "Yes!" "Then
what baptism did you receive?" John's baptism, of course". The penny drops. Paul understands
what has happened, and therefore the rest of the narrative makes sense. There
was an essential aspect missing. The Holy Spirit, the promised gift of the
Father, had not yet descended on them. In fact they were probably in exactly the same category as Apollos in 18:24-26. They had received John's baptism - a baptism of repentance, which placed them in exactly the same category as the believers in Acts 1, prior to Pentecost. And so Paul
lays his hands on them, and they receive the Holy Spirit in the same manner as the
believers did in Jerusalem, with signs following: speaking in other languages,
and proclaiming the truth of God as it is in Jesus - just as at Pentecost (Acts 2). They are now completely on par with
the experience of their brothers/sisters in Jerusalem.
A TWO TIER EXPERIENCE?
During the the 70’s and into the 90’s
of the last century a text like
this was a veritable battleground. The
Pentecostal and charismatic movements saw texts like these as proof-texts for a
two tier experience of God. This
teaching was originally found in the
holiness movement (popularized by the early Keswick teaching of the 1800’s – the doctrine of entire sanctification), and this was largely absorbed by the Pentecostal movement and some
Charismatic groups. In essence they said that, subsequent one’s salvation one
needed to experience the baptism in or with the Holy Spirit in order to become a Spirit –filled
Christian - a more complete Christian. Many Christians disagreed over this teaching and many more
despaired over the fact that they had not experienced such a thing
and that they did not speak in tongues or prophesied, thus feeling that
they were ‘second class’ Christians.
The question is this: Notwithstanding such an indication, does the book of Acts teach such a two tier
Christian experience?
The struggle which modern
evangelical Christians, committed to the
inspiration of the Word of God, have has
often been along the line of Hermeneutics - principles of interpretation. Is the
book of Acts meant to be literally applied to our situation today? Or are
there unique situations described
here which are related to a
particular historical time frame (i.e. such as the historical coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost), so that we must be careful
to distinguish between issues that pertain to a particular historical
situation, and on the other hand discerning issues
that are of timeless principle?
So we have this passage here in 19: 1 -
7 that seemingly indicates a 2 tier Christian experience. Should
we expect to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, subsequent to our salvation and accompanied by a speaking in tongues or prophesying? And from
19: 11 - 12 we
might ask whether we should
expect that happening today? Should
these things be seen in our services/
ministry of the church?
There are many that would say "yes!”
These things ought to be expected and they are normative. They are called 'Continuationists' . Those that say that Pentecost was a once off , unique historical experience, introducing the promised Holy Spirit into the world are called 'Cessassionists' . They would question whether these early sign gifts are needed today. They would also point to the fact that the modern miracles
claimed by these do not match up to the power of Pentecost. They would say that the book of Acts in general, and such a text in particular is misapplied by our Pentecostal
friends. They would say that they have ignored the fact that the
Book of Acts is historical narrative i.e. that it reports on events in the historical development of the early church, and as such is descriptive of what happened . It
does not attempt to be doctrinally prescriptive.
What we see in the book of Acts is a
progressive movement of the Holy Spirit, after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit begins in Jerusalem, and continues into Judea, Samaria and the
ends of the earth. It is like a ripple effect. The Holy Spirit moves out in
concentric circles. He begins in Jerusalem (Acts 2) and Judea. In Chapter 8, following the death of Stephen and scattering of the church, the gospel
comes into Samaria, and there we see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the same way (8:14), and then on the gentiles in Caesarea (10:44-48)
and now lastly here in Ephesus in Acts
19:1-7.
Just as Jesus said in Acts
1:8!
Ephesus was so to speak at the end
of the world. The Holy Spirit had now been given to the gentiles at the end of the world, and with this goal achieved we hear nothing more of this kind of activity . The Holy Spirit had been outpoured. The point was
made. The Holy Spirit was given illustratively to people who had been ignorant of the full work
of God and who have not heard of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They were still living in the O.T. which
culminated with John the Baptist. They had not known or understood that the new
times had been ushered in by Jesus. Though believing in the Messiah, through their understanding of the OT prophecies, they had not been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit to understand the person and work of Christ
fully.As soon as these dear people had realized all this, Pentecost caught up with them.
But the big point about Spirit baptism is this : Jesus baptizes every true believer with or in the Holy Spirit. In fact, only the Holy Spirit can reveal Jesus and His
finished work on the cross to us. Only the Holy Spirit can help us to believe in Jesus. The Holy Spirit enables us in this regard in these three areas:
(i)
Repentance
(ii)
Faith in Jesus
(iii)
Spirit Baptism.
All this should be followed by water baptism which is an identification of the true believer with the Lord Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection from the dead.
All these are are indispensable aspects in Christian
experience. They are normative!
Are these signs found in your life?
Is the name
of the Lord Jesus held in high honour in your life? (19:17)
Have a you followed Him in every way?
RECEIVING THE SPIRIT
OR SPIRIT BAPTISM: A sign of Salvation
Here in this passage we are told \ that "the Spirit came
on them" (19:6). It happened
in response to the understanding they had received. It happened all in one go.
There was never a two - stage initiation. These people became converted through the sovereign action of God by the
Holy Spirit. Illustratively, Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 3:16 ; 6:19 all teach that the Holy Spirit fully dwells in us at conversion.
There are other operations of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer after we are
converted, but they are the subject of
another discussion, and these often
depend upon our obedience to Christ.
