Acts 19:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

From this a great truth is revealed: those baptized in the name of Christ are completely cleansed from sins. If they had not been cleansed, these men would not have received the Spirit. Nor would they at once have been counted worthy of His gifts. And observe that the gift was twofold: tongues and prophecy. He rightly called John’s baptism a baptism of repentance, and not of forgiveness. He led them to the conviction that it did not bestow the latter. Forgiveness belongs to the baptism given afterward. Why, then, did they not teach after receiving the Spirit, while Apollos taught though he had not received Him? Because they were not so zealous or so instructed. But he was both instructed and exceedingly zealous. It seems to me that this man also had great boldness. Yet although he rightly taught that Jesus is the Christ, he still needed more exact instruction. Thus, though he did not know everything, he was counted worthy of the Holy Spirit because of his zeal, just as those who were with Cornelius were. Christ had no need of baptism, neither this baptism nor any other. Rather, baptism had need of the power of Christ. For the chief of all blessings remained this: that the one baptized should be counted worthy of the Spirit. Therefore, when Christ came, He added this gift of the Spirit.

The beginning of the sect of John’s disciples, which survived until modern times, should probably be placed as near as possible to the Gospel period. The disciples of John whom Paul met in Ephesus belonged to the second of these groups. It is unknown whether they became John’s disciples in Palestine and received baptism from him himself, or whether they were drawn into the fellowship of his disciples later. In any case, only this must be noted about them. Though they knew little concerning the person and teaching of Jesus Christ, they considered themselves entitled to be called Christians like the others. Luke calls them μαϑητάς in Acts 19:1. Paul indeed expected to find Christians in them. But when he entered into conversation with them, it became clear that they had as yet received nothing from the glorified Lord Jesus. They did not even know of the Holy Spirit. Paul gladly instructed them concerning the relation of John’s ministry to the ministry of Jesus Christ. He also taught them the relation of John’s baptism to the baptism which brought men into communion with Jesus Christ. This baptism made them partakers of the divine life proceeding from Him. Then he gave them Christian baptism, with the laying on of hands and prayer. And in John’s disciples there appeared the same signs of the descent of the Holy Spirit that had once appeared in the apostles.

He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” That is, when you believed in Jesus Christ. They answered, “We have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” This answer of John’s disciples cannot be understood to mean that they had no notion at all of the existence of the Holy Spirit. First, one must suppose that these disciples were Jews, since there is no evidence that there were then disciples of John among the Gentiles. In that case, although they could not have had a notion of God as triune in Persons, the idea of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God could not have been foreign to them. Second, as disciples of John and even as believers, they had to know his prophecy concerning baptism with the Holy Spirit through Christ; Mt 3:11. Finally, they do not say that they do not know whether there is a Holy Spirit. They say, “We have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” That is, when John’s disciples were brought to faith in Christ, they were catechized only in John’s teaching. They had not been told that believers in Christ receive the Holy Spirit. There had been no mention of the Holy Spirit as the gift of faith in Jesus Christ. Then the apostle revealed to them only the preparatory significance of John’s baptism in relation to Christ. He pointed out that, in order to receive salvation, it was necessary to be baptized with Christ’s baptism. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. By laying hands on them, Paul brought down upon them the Holy Spirit. This was plainly shown to all when they began to speak in other tongues and to prophesy. In all they were about twelve men.

For John, while baptizing, preached that He Who was coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit; Mt 3:11 and parallels. From the Old Testament writings they undoubtedly had to know that the Holy Spirit exists. Therefore, their answer does not concern the existence of the Holy Spirit. It is not as though they did not know of the very existence of the Holy Spirit, that He exists as the Spirit of God. They speak of the Holy Spirit in the same sense as in Jn 7:39. They speak of the being and actions of the Holy Spirit in the world. Had He been given to the world by the Messiah preached by John? Had this Messiah baptized the world with the Holy Spirit, as their teacher John the Baptist foretold, or not yet? In other words, they had no knowledge of all that had happened in Jerusalem since the preaching and death of their teacher. One cannot think that they obstinately refused to believe in the Lord Jesus, preached by the Baptist as the Messiah. For as soon as they heard about Him, they were immediately baptized; verse 5. No, they simply did not know the events in Jerusalem since the death of the Baptist. How this happened is difficult to imagine. Perhaps from that time they lived in some corner of the world where the preaching, and even rumors, of Christ Jesus had not yet penetrated. Only now, after moving to Ephesus, did they hear of this. Before meeting the apostle, however, no one had explained it to them precisely, because their stay in Ephesus was so recent.

It was therefore natural for Paul to give the same instruction to the other newcomers from Alexandria, who knew only the baptism of John. And so he asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” The word “believed” (πιστεύσαντες) shows that these persons, like Apollos, were received as believers in Christ; see Acts 18:26-28. The postponement of baptism by those who believed also occurred later. Yet the disciples or companions of Apollos had not received baptism and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Spirit through ignorance, as at first was also the case with Apollos. They knew the teaching concerning Christ, the Messiah and Savior, as something openly preached. But what was performed hiddenly, as a mystery, they may not have known. The sacred and mystical actions performed over those newly come to faith may not have been disclosed to everyone indiscriminately. For Christ said, “Do not cast your pearls before swine, nor give what is holy to dogs” (Mt 7:6). According to Blessed Theophylact, “Paul knew that they did not have the Holy Spirit, but he wished to speak in such a way that, once they learned what they lacked. They themselves would ask for it.” As for the disciples’ statement that they had not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit, Bishop Michael explains that this must not be understood as though they did not know of the very existence of the Holy Spirit. They were not saying that they did not know that He exists as the Spirit of God. They speak of the Holy Spirit in the same sense as in Jn 7:39. That is, they speak of the being and actions of the Spirit in the world. Had He been given to the world by the Messiah preached by John? Had the Messiah baptized this world with the Holy Spirit, as their teacher John the Baptist foretold, or not yet? In other words, they had no knowledge of all that had occurred in Jerusalem since the preaching and death of their teacher. But how could it happen that John’s disciples knew nothing of Christ Jesus? Hieromonk Gregory resolves this by saying that they lived somewhere in an obscure corner. Only just before the Apostle Paul’s preaching did they appear in Ephesus, when Apollos had already departed from there.