Acts 19:1-10

Baptism in Christ through water and in the Spirit are two separate acts.

There is power in the name of Jesus and it is carried out through the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:1-10

19 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”

So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7 Now the men were about twelve in all.

8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

While the term disciples usually refers to followers of Jesus, these people were likely originally followers of John the Baptist, since they had received his baptism. Speaking in tongues is likely a reference to an act related to worship, not miraculously speaking in another person’s native language. In Acts, speaking in tongues is related to the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering believers. 

Paul’s lengthy stay in Ephesus allowed him to use the city as his base of ministry operations for his third missionary journey. Because Ephesus is a key city for travel and business, it allowed Paul’s testimony of Jesus to spread throughout the Roman province of Asia (a region on the west coast of modern-day Turkey). People visiting Ephesus had the opportunity to hear Paul preach the gospel, and those who believed would have then spread the message to the various places they visited and lived. Faithlife Bible.

These 12 men had been baptized into the baptism of John the Baptist, but they had never heard about the Holy Spirit. All they knew was that One mightier than John was to come. They did not know that Jesus the Messiah, the One mightier than John had already come. He had died for their sins, had been raised from the dead, had ascended to the Father, and had already sent the Holy Spirit. They needed to hear the rest of the gospel. As soon as this happened, these men could place their faith in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit.

Baptism was a ritual used by the Jews as a picture of cleansing and purification. Gentiles who converted to Judaism would go through the rite of purification as their first act of worship. They would dip themselves in water as a sign of being cleansed from their old way of life. Before entering into the temple to worship, Jews would dip themselves in ritual bathing pools to show their desire for purification. But the dipping performed by John the Baptist was a call for repentance rather than mere ritual cleansing. His baptism was a call to people to turn to God and to identify with the coming Messiah who would forgive their sins. In the name of the Lord Jesus was a declaration of ownership, an identification with Jesus as Lord and Savior of one’s life.

The Holy Spirit was received without the laying on of hands. By laying on his hands here, Paul was demonstrating his apostolic authority. This speaking in tongues was a sign to others that they were part of the body of Christ.

From Ephesus, other churches were born in Asia Minor—in Colosse, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Note the sequence of events. Paul tried explaining the things of the kingdom of God to the Jews in the synagogue for three months. After he was finally rejected, he took those who had believed and started a new “school” for the study of the Scriptures in the facilities of a philosopher named Tyrannus. During the two years that Paul conducted these classes, all who dwelt in Asia heard the gospel. This indicates that Paul and the students of the school did more than study; they must have witnessed to others as well. NKKJ Bible.

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto 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.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mark 1:4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Acts 8:16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.