WWUTT 1116 Baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus?

The Need to Know the Whole Gospel

The Apostle Paul met some disciples who knew about the baptism of John, but they did not know about the baptism of Jesus. We must all be baptized into His name when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Acts, and now we're up to chapter 19, where Paul returns to Ephesus. I'll begin reading here in verse 1. 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. There were about twelve men in all. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. And we'll stop there for now. So I explained this a little bit last week, that what we see here in chapter 19, in Paul's encounter with these disciples, this may be a little bit more detail into what kind of exchange probably happened between Priscilla and Achilla when they witnessed to Apollos.

Remember that Apollos was very learned in the scriptures, but he only knew of Jesus' ministry up to John the Baptist. He didn't know about the crucifixion, the resurrection, his ascension into heaven, and then the giving of the Holy Spirit.

So they had to take Apollos aside and basically share with him the gospel that he did not know. But those details aren't really given to us, because in chapter 18, verse 26, it says Priscilla and Achilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And then verse 27 says, and when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him. So that's it. We don't get any sort of detail into this exchange between Priscilla and Achilla in how they witnessed to Apollos.

We get a little bit more detail in what Paul shares with these disciples when he tells the gospel to them. So it's likely that Priscilla and Achilla's witness to Apollos was very similar. It was very much the same.

So let's come back again to Acts 19, verse 1, and it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth. So he came to Ephesus. Paul was there in Ephesus. He couldn't stay. He goes back down because he's going to venture up through Syria and Antioch and back into Asia Minor and encourage the Christians in those churches where he had planted.

That was the work that he had to do next. So he couldn't stay there in Ephesus. He said, if it's the Lord's will, I'll come back to you. He left. This guy named Apollos shows up, and he's an eloquent speaker, very competent in the scriptures and had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit, spoken, taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

That was in chapter 18, verse 25, after Achilla and Priscilla visited with Apollos and shared with him the gospel. He left Ephesus and went back to Corinth. He went up to Corinth and was sharing the gospel there.

So he became a more effective missionary after what Priscilla and Achilla did for him. Of course, he became more effective because now he was equipped with the gospel. And it says that the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

So he goes up to Corinth, which was a pretty big deal. He was obviously competent enough in the scriptures and eloquent enough a speaker that they sent him to Corinth. That was a pretty thriving church.

And apparently, Apollos was a smart enough guy and well-knowledged in the scriptures and the gospel that they trusted him to be able to teach there in that church. So that's where he goes. He leaves Ephesus, goes up to Corinth.

Paul comes back to Ephesus. This time, he doesn't come by way of the sea. He comes by way of the land because he went back through that region, encouraging the churches. So Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

And there he found some disciples. Now, it's possible that that word is used here to describe these men who are going to become disciples of the apostle Paul, because that's certainly what happens. Eleven of them, they begin following Paul.

They go throughout Ephesus and the surrounding area preaching the gospel. But it's more likely that this word is used to describe these men who are already followers of Jesus. But they don't have the Holy Spirit.

Why? Because they don't know the gospel. They haven't heard about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, rising again from the grave. And whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.

They don't have any knowledge or understanding of that, or that Jesus had ascended into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God and is interceding for us on our behalf. They don't know that Jesus sent his Holy Spirit.

What happened at Pentecost? They don't know about that. And that anyone who believes in Jesus is filled with his spirit. They only know about Jesus up to the baptism of John. Why is that the extent of what they know about Jesus?

Because they learned about this from Apollos. This was likely when Apollos was ministering there in Ephesus, and it was before Priscilla and Achilla had filled him in on the gospel that these men heard that testimony from Apollos.

Then they went out from hearing Apollos preach, sharing the scriptures, sharing about John the Baptist, hearing about the baptism of Jesus. And they never went back to Apollos after he heard the gospel so that they could get filled in on the rest of this stuff.

Now, Paul doesn't know Apollos yet at this time, at least as far as what we know, according to the story that's being told here in Acts. And so he comes to Ephesus and finds these guys who only know about Jesus up through the baptism of John.

He needs to share the gospel with him. So, like I said before, this is likely what Priscilla and Achilla had to do for Apollos. He wasn't a Christian either because he didn't know about Christ's death and resurrection and ascension into heaven.

He doesn't know about Jesus coming back again. He doesn't know about the giving of the Holy Spirit who is with us until Jesus returns. So Achilla and Priscilla had to fill the rest of that in for Apollos.

And then he became a Christian. It says here that Paul baptized these guys. We don't get that kind of explanation between Priscilla and Achilla sharing with Apollos. But I would argue that it's likely that Apollos was baptized.

We just don't have the details of that story because again, back in chapter 18, verse 26, it says they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And then we don't get any story after that.

Then we jump right from them having to teach Apollos in the gospel to he wished to cross to Achaia and the brothers said, sure, go. Well, there's a whole lot of stuff happening in between those two verses in between verses 26 and 27, some details that aren't filled in for us.

So what we have here between Paul and these men is likely more of that detail that would have happened between Priscilla and Achilla and Apollos. So Paul finds some disciples and says 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 Paul said into what then were you baptized? And now they're disciples that we've got that there in in verse one, he found some disciples.

Why are they disciples? They're followers of Jesus and they've been baptized. But what kind of baptism did they get? And they said, we were baptized 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. So on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus that had not yet happened. And I would argue, once again, that this was likely the case between Priscilla and Achilla and Apollos as well.

Apollos didn't know about the Holy Spirit, so he had to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Previously, he only knew about the baptism of John. That's what we have in verse 25, chapter 18, verse 25. He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John, and that's what these guys know here as well.

Chapter 19, verse three, Paul said into what then were you baptized? And they said into John's baptism, they only knew what Apollos knew before Apollos knew the gospel. But then after Apollos knew the gospel, they didn't come back to Apollos to hear the gospel.

So they still only know the baptism of John. They are followers of Jesus because they're described as disciples, but they only know of the baptism that John gave to Jesus. And then they don't know any of Jesus ministry after that.

Many of the miracles, the things he taught, his crucifixion, resurrection, ascension into heaven, et cetera, et cetera. So Paul tells them that baptizes them into the baptism of Jesus. 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. When John was baptizing, he was preparing people for the coming of Jesus. His baptism was to cleanse them, to prepare Israel, to wash them. It was symbolic in this sense because it was a cleansing to prepare them for the coming of the righteous one.

They had to be washed, made new, made clean so that they were worthy to be in his presence. This was also symbolic of needing their hearts to be washed so that they would be conditioned for what it was that Jesus was then going to come and teach.

He was going to teach things that were far greater than what John the Baptist had to say, because what Jesus had to say was going to be a revelation of the father. He was going to come and speak about the kingdom of heaven because he came from heaven.

He was going to reveal to the people his father who was in heaven because he personally knew the father who was in heaven. He was going to speak of the Holy Spirit that he was going to send to them because that Holy Spirit was going to be sent by Christ himself.

So there were much greater things that were taught by Jesus than were taught by John the Baptist. John was really the last prophet before the arrival of Christ. Jesus is the revelation of those things that John the Baptist talked about.

And then some for Jesus is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets. So so Paul fills them in on all of that. A baptism that you received was in preparation of the coming of Christ. But now that Christ has come, now that he has died and was buried and resurrected again, you need the baptism of Christ, not a baptism in preparation for Christ's coming, but now a baptism with him in your sins and the resurrection with him unto new life.

Once again, this is why Apollos needed to be baptized, even if he had been baptized in John's baptism. He needed to be baptized again after hearing the message that Priscilla and Akilah shared with him because he needed the true baptism, the baptism of Christ, which was a baptism with him in sin and risen again with him to new life.

Those sins have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me, as Paul had preached. So he baptizes these guys again. And upon baptism, upon being baptized into the baptism of Christ, into the name of Christ, when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

There were about 12 men in all. Now, the reason they spoke in tongues here was to evidence, of course, that they had received the Holy Spirit. But this is not normative for all of us because we've not seen this being normative throughout the book of Acts.

There's only like three occasions where we see the Holy Spirit come upon a person and they demonstrate this Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues. There's only a few occasions where we see that in Acts. The reason why this is demonstrated here is because of the work that Paul is going to commission them to do.

They're going to go throughout Ephesus. They're going to go throughout this whole region sharing the gospel. In order to do that by the power of the Holy Spirit, they needed to be able to speak in the multiple languages that were represented in this region.

Ephesus was a port city. It was a very popular city. In fact, it was the most populous city in Asia Minor. There on that western bank of what is modern day Turkey, you would go from Ephesus across the Aegean Sea over to Athens, or maybe you would even go further out to Rome.

But this was a major port city, and so there were a lot of different nationalities speaking a lot of different languages here in Ephesus. They had the gift of the Holy Spirit to prophesy in tongues that they might witness to those who spoke these different languages there in that region.

This is not speaking gibberish like, oh, we have the Holy Spirit. So abatabotadabatakabah, you know, that wasn't what it was they started doing here. They were actually speaking languages, real languages of men.

Anytime we're reading about speaking in tongues, that's what we're talking about. It's not anything else. It's never gibberish. It's never nonsense. It is speaking in the languages of men so that they might hear the gospel proclaimed to them and the prophecy that comes by the apostolic ministry.

There were about 12 men in all. I think I said 11 earlier. Anyway, 12. So this is somewhat symbolic also of the work that Jesus did and called 12 disciples. Now Paul has 12 disciples as they're going to go throughout this area sharing the gospel.

I had mentioned back at the start of our study of the book of Acts that two men are most prominent in the book of Acts, and that is Peter and Paul. And what we see in both of these men are similarities to some of the things in the life and time of Christ.

The reason for that is because all of us need to be imitators of Christ. We need to, in some way, be after our Lord and Savior and desire Christ-likeness that we might be more like him. Now, this does not mean that we all must go after 12 disciples, but one of the things that Luke is doing here as he's writing Acts is showing some of the parallels between Peter and Paul and Jesus as these two men represent Christ and are preaching Christ and are imitating Christ.

A lot of the persecution that they go through, some of the struggles that they have, the things that they have to endure, the fact that Peter and Paul are largely homeless and they just go from place to place sharing the gospel.

Some of these things are meant to mirror the life and time of Christ. And so here where Paul meets some disciples and brings them to Jesus through the sharing of the gospel and they go out preaching, Luke is sure to tell us here that there were 12 men in all because this is Paul as an imitator of Christ having his own 12 disciples.

The Holy Spirit is upon them as they go out preaching the good news. In verse 8, he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of tyrannous.

This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. One of the things that we're seeing here is that Paul has an even deeper connection with some of the folks in Ephesus than he has had elsewhere.

Nowhere else in the places where he has gone sharing the gospel do we have a description of him gaining 12 disciples and being as thorough in the preaching of the gospel to that region as he is right here.

Paul develops very close, tight-knit relationships with the people of Ephesus. As we're seeing, he's already been here longer than he was in even Corinth, which was about 18 months, give a little bit more because he was there longer after you had the whole episode between Galio, who was the proconsul of Achaia.

So he was there a little bit longer, but he's definitely spending more time in Ephesus than anywhere else. He has such a deep affection for this church by the time he leaves. And we get that from Acts, from the story that's told here, especially in Acts 20, his last conversation with the elders there.

And even the way that he writes to them in his letter to the Ephesians, you see just how much Paul has endeared himself to this particular church. We'll read more about that tomorrow as we continue in Acts 19.

Here we get to probably one of my favorite stories in the book of Acts, and that's the story of the sons of Sceva here in Ephesians. More of the adventures of Paul and his disciples in Ephesus as we continue our study tomorrow.

The Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus

But what we've read today, I think one of the things that is demonstrated to us today from Acts 18, verse 24, through Acts 19, verse 10. One of the things that's demonstrated for us here is the importance of knowing the whole gospel of Jesus Christ.

Remember that when Jesus commissioned his disciples in Matthew 28, he said to them, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. So we must teach all that Christ has commanded. We can't just leave it up to, I've told that person about God. They need to know about Jesus.

They need to know that God sent his son who was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, who lived a perfect life. We need to teach them what Jesus taught, the things that he did, confirming, showing, demonstrating that he is the son of God who has the power over all creation and the power over death itself.

He died, giving his own life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He was buried. He rose again from the dead bodily and showed himself alive to over 500 brothers, over 500 witnesses. According to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he ascended into heaven before their very eyes.

He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, where he intercedes for us. He gave his Holy Spirit. All of us who are followers of Jesus are indwelt with the spirit of God, that we might leave the old ways that we lived in, the sinful ways and the passions of our flesh, and that we might live a new life in Christ Jesus.

Jesus is coming back again. We live as his kingdom people in this world in anticipation of his return. And these are the things that we must tell people about Jesus, so they will turn from their sin, put their faith in Christ and so live, baptized in his name so that they may also declare, I've been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me, share the whole gospel, leave nothing out, love it from beginning to end until Jesus returns at the end.

The Great Commission and the Full Gospel Message

Let us pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for considering our need and sending your son to die for our sins. And I pray this glorious message of the gospel is cherished by us day by day, and we seek to live it out even in the righteousness of Christ that we must be pursuing daily as we grow in sanctification.

Be with us today. Give us courage and boldness to share the gospel with others. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.