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Commentary on Acts 19 verses 1–7
Ephesus was a city of great note in Asia, famous for a temple built there to Diana, which was one of the wonders of the world: thither Paul came to preach the gospel while Apollos was at Corinth (Act 19:1); while he was watering there, Paul was planting here, and grudged not that Apollos entered into his labours and was building upon his foundation, but rejoiced in it, and went on in the new work that was cut out for him at Ephesus with the more cheerfulness and satisfaction, because he knew that such an able minister of the New Testament as Apollos was now at Corinth, carrying on the good work there. Though there were those that made him the head of a party against Paul (Co1 1:12), yet Paul had no jealousy of him, nor any way disliked the affection the people had for him. Paul having gone through the country of Galatia and Phrygia, having passed through the upper coasts, Pontus and Bithynia, that lay north, at length came to Ephesus, where he had left Aquila and Priscilla, and there found them. At his first coming, he met with some disciples there, who professed faith in Christ as the true Messiah, but were as yet in the first and lowest form in the school of Christ, under his usher John the Baptist. They were in number about twelve (Act 19:7); they were much of the standing that Apollos was of when he came to Ephesus (for he knew only the baptism of John, Act 18:25), but they had not opportunity of being acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla, or had not been so long in Ephesus or were not so willing to receive instruction as Apollos was, otherwise they might have had the way of God expounded to them more perfectly, as Apollos had. Observe here,
I. How Paul catechised them. He was told, probably by Aquila and Priscilla, that they were believers, that they did own Christ, and had given up their names to him; now Paul hereupon takes them under examination.
1.They did believe in the Son of God; but Paul enquires whether they had received the Holy Ghost, - whether they believed in the spirit, whose operations on the minds of men, for conviction, conversion, and comfort, were revealed some time after the doctrine of Jesus being the Christ, - whether they had been acquainted with, and had admitted, this revelation? This was not all; extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were conferred upon the apostles and other disciples presently after Christ's ascension, which was frequently repeated upon occasion; had they participated in these gifts? "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Have you had that seal of the truth of Christ's doctrine in yourselves?" We are not now to expect any such extraordinary gifts as they had then. The canon of the New Testament being long since completed and ratified, we depend upon that as the most sure word of prophecy. But there are graces of the Spirit given to all believers, which are as earnests to them, Co2 1:22; Co2 5:5; Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14. Now it concerns us all who profess the Christian faith seriously to enquire whether we have received the Holy Ghost or not. The Holy Ghost is promised to all believers, to all petitioners (Luk 11:13); but many are deceived in this matter, thinking they have received the Holy Ghost when really they have not. As there are pretenders to the gifts of the Holy Ghost, so there are to his graces and comforts; we should therefore strictly examine ourselves, Have we received the Holy Ghost since we believed? The tree will be known by its fruits. Do we bring forth the fruits of the Spirit? Are we led by the Spirit? Do we walk in the Spirit? Are we under the government of the Spirit?
2.They owned their ignorance in this matter: "Whether there be a Holy Ghost is more than we know. That there is a promise of the Holy Ghost we know from the scriptures of the Old Testament, and that this promise will be fulfilled in its season we doubt not; but so much have we been out of the way of intelligence in this matter that we have not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost be indeed yet given as a spirit of prophecy." They knew (as Dr. Lightfoot observes) that, according to the tradition of their nation, after the death of Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Holy Ghost departed from Israel, and went up; and they professed that they had never heard of his return. They spoke as if they expected it, and wondered they did not hear of it, and were ready to welcome the notice of it. The gospel light, like that of the morning, shone more and more, gradually; not only clearer and clearer, in the discovery of truths not before heard of, but further and further, in the discovery of them to persons that had not before heard of them.
3.Paul enquired how they came to be baptized, if they knew nothing of the Holy Ghost; for, if they were baptized by any of Christ's ministers, they were instructed concerning the Holy Ghost, and were baptized in his name. "Know you not that Jesus being glorified, consequently the Holy Ghost is given? unto what then were you baptized? This is strange and unaccountable. What! baptized, and yet know nothing of the Holy Ghost? Surely your baptism was a nullity, if you know nothing of the Holy Ghost; for it is the receiving of the Holy Ghost that is signified and sealed by that washing of regeneration. Ignorance of the Holy Ghost is as inconsistent with a sincere profession of Christianity as ignorance of Christ is." Applying it to ourselves, it intimates that those are baptized to no purpose, and have received the grace of God therein in vain, that do not receive and submit to the Holy Ghost. It is also an enquiry we should often make, not only to whose honour we were born, but into whose service we were baptized, that we may study to answer the ends both of our birth and of our baptism. Let us often consider unto what we were baptized, that we may live up to our baptism.
4.They own that they were baptized unto John's baptism - eis to Iōannou baptisma that is, as I take it, they were baptized in the name of John, not by John himself (he was far enough from any such thought), but by some weak, well-meaning disciple of his, that ignorantly kept up his name as the head of a party, retaining the spirit and notion of those disciples of his that were jealous of the growth of Christ's interest, and complained to him of it, Joh 3:26. Some one or more of these, that found themselves much edified by John's baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, not thinking that the kingdom of heaven, which he spoke of as at hand, was so very near as it proved, ran away with that notion, rested in what they had, and thought they could not do better than to persuade others to do so too; and so, ignorantly, in a blind zeal for John's doctrine, they baptized here and there one in John's name, or, as it is here expressed, unto John's baptism, looking no further themselves, nor directing those that they baptized any further.
5.Paul explains to them the true intent and meaning of John's baptism, as principally referring to Jesus Christ, and so rectifies the mistake of those who had baptized them into the baptism of John, and had not directed them to look any further, but to rest in that. Those that have been left in ignorance, or led into error, by any infelicities of their education, should not therefore be despised nor rejected by those who are more knowing and orthodox, but should be compassionately instructed, and better taught, as these disciples were by Paul. (1.) He owns that John's baptism was a very good thing, as far as it went: John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance. By this baptism he required people to be sorry for their sins, and to confess them and turn from them; and to bring any to this is a great point gained. But, (2.) He shows them that John's baptism had a further reference, and he never designed that those he baptized should rest there, but told them that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus, - that his baptism of repentance was designed only to prepare the way of the Lord, and to dispose them to receive and entertain Christ, whom he left them big with expectations of; nay, whom he directed them to: Behold the Lamb of God. "John was a great and good man; but he was only the harbinger, - Christ is the Prince. His baptism was the porch which you were to pass through, not the house you were to rest in; and therefore it was all wrong for you to be baptized into the baptism of John."
6.When they were thus shown the error they were led into, they thankfully accepted the discovery, and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Act 19:5. As for Apollos, of whom it was said (Act 18:25) that he knew the baptism of John - that he rightly understood the meaning of it when he was baptized with it, though he knew that only - yet, when he understood the way of God more perfectly, he was no again baptized, any more than Christ's first disciples that had been baptized with John's baptism and knew it referred to the Messiah at the door (and, with an eye to this, submitted to it), were baptized again. But to these disciples, who received it only with an eye to John and looked no further, as if he were their saviour, it was such a fundamental error as was as fatal to it as it would have been for any to be baptized in the name of Paul (Co1 1:13); and therefore, when they came to understand things better, they desired to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and were so: not by Paul himself, as we have reason to think, but by some of those who attended him. It does not therefore follow hence that there was not an agreement between John's baptism and Christ's, or that they were not for substance the same; much less does it follow that those who have been once baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (which is the appointed form of Christ's baptism), may be again baptized in the same name; for those that were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus had never been so baptized before.
II. How Paul conferred the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost upon them, Act 19:6. 1. Paul solemnly prayed to God to give them those gifts, signified by his laying his hands on them, which was a gesture used in blessing by the patriarchs, especially in conveying the great trust of the promise, as Gen 48:14. The Spirit being the great promise of the New Testament, the apostles conveyed it by the imposition of hands: "The Lord bless thee with that blessing, that blessing of blessings," Isa 44:3. 2. God granted the thing he prayed for: The Holy Ghost came upon them in a surprising overpowering manner, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied, as the apostles did and the first Gentile converts, Act 10:44. This was intended to introduce the gospel at Ephesus, and to awaken in the minds of men an expectation of some great things from it; and some think that it was further designed to qualify these twelve men for the work of the ministry, and that these twelve were the elders of Ephesus, to whom Paul committed the care and government of that church. They had the Spirit of prophesy, that they might understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God themselves, and the gift of tongues, that they might preach them to every nation and language. Oh, what a wonderful change was here made on a sudden in these men! those that but just now had not so much as heard that there was any Holy Ghost are now themselves filled with the Holy Ghost; for the Spirit, like the wind, blows where and when he listeth.
Accordingly, in the Acts of the Apostles, we find that men who had "John's baptism" had not received the Holy Spirit, whom they knew not even by hearing. That, then, was no celestial thing which furnished no celestial (endowments): whereas the very thing which was celestial in John-the Spirit of prophecy-so completely failed, after the transfer of the whole Spirit to the Lord, that he presently sent to inquire whether He whom he had himself preached, whom he had pointed out when coming to him, were "HE.
"And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts" - meaning what we have read as to Caesarea and the other places - "came to Ephesus, and having found certain disciples." But whence had those, being in Ephesus, the baptism of John? Probably they had been on a visit at Jerusalem at the time of John's preaching, and did not even know Jesus.
"And it came to pass, while Apollo was at Corinth, that Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came," etc. While Apollo was at Corinth, it came to pass that Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, where, having found certain disciples, he asked if they had received the grace of the Holy Ghost when they were baptized. They declared that they were entirely ignorant of that name, but had been consecrated in John's baptism. Paul baptized them while invoking the Trinity, and the Holy Ghost came upon them, making them able to prophesize in various tongues. Paul, staying there for three months, preached about the Lord Christ in his customary manner.
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SUMMARY
Acts 19:1 serves as a pivotal narrative transition in the book of Acts, marking the commencement of the Apostle Paul's significant and extended ministry in the prominent Roman city of Ephesus. This verse precisely situates Paul's arrival in Ephesus, detailing his journey through the inland regions of Asia Minor, and crucially notes the concurrent ministry of Apollos in Corinth, thereby establishing a chronological and geographical framework for the continued expansion of the early Christian movement. Paul's immediate action upon arrival—seeking out existing disciples—foreshadows the deep pastoral and theological work that will characterize his time in this strategic hub.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several literary techniques to convey its meaning and advance the narrative. Transition is evident in the opening phrase, "And it came to pass," which signals a shift in the narrative focus to a new phase of Paul's ministry. Geographical Detail is crucial, with specific place names like "Corinth," "Ephesus," and the descriptive "upper coasts" grounding the account in a tangible historical setting and illustrating the vast scope of Paul's missionary travels. The mention of Apollos's location functions as a Chronological Marker, providing a precise temporal context and demonstrating the interconnectedness of various ministries within the early church. The verse also uses Conciseness to pack significant information—Paul's journey, his destination, a temporal reference, and his immediate action—into a single, impactful sentence, setting the stage efficiently for the detailed account of his Ephesian ministry that follows.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Acts 19:1 beautifully illustrates the sovereign orchestration of God in directing the movements and ministries of His servants. It portrays a divine strategy at play, where key individuals like Paul and Apollos are deployed to different, yet equally vital, geographical and spiritual fronts. This verse underscores the collaborative nature of the early church's mission, where the work of evangelism and discipleship was not confined to one individual but was a shared endeavor, each worker contributing according to their gifts and calling. Paul's immediate search for "certain disciples" highlights the ongoing importance of nurturing existing believers, recognizing that the growth of the church is as much about deepening faith as it is about initial conversion. This foundational work of strengthening and teaching those already in the fold is essential for the robust expansion of the gospel.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Acts 19:1 offers profound insights for contemporary believers and the church today. It reminds us that God is actively at work, orchestrating circumstances and guiding His people to fulfill His purposes. Just as Paul was strategically led to Ephesus, we are called to discern God's leading in our own lives, whether in our vocations, ministries, or personal relationships, recognizing that every sphere can be a mission field. The verse also highlights the beauty of collaborative ministry; the work of the Kingdom is too vast for any single individual or church. We are encouraged to celebrate and support diverse gifts and callings within the body of Christ, understanding that different individuals may be called to different places or roles, all contributing to the whole. Furthermore, Paul's immediate focus on "finding certain disciples" emphasizes the vital importance of discipleship and community. Our mission is not merely to proclaim the gospel but to intentionally connect with, nurture, and equip fellow believers, ensuring they are grounded in truth and growing in spiritual maturity. This calls us to be attentive to the needs of those already within the faith, fostering environments where they can deepen their understanding and walk with Christ.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is Apollos's location mentioned in this verse?
Answer: The mention of Apollos's location in Corinth serves multiple purposes. First, it acts as a chronological marker, helping to situate Paul's arrival in Ephesus within the broader timeline of early Christian ministry. Second, it highlights the collaborative and interconnected nature of the early church's work. While Paul is moving to Ephesus, Apollos is actively ministering in Corinth, demonstrating that the gospel was spreading through various gifted individuals in different strategic locations. This also sets up the later discussion in 1 Corinthians where Paul addresses divisions among believers who were aligning themselves with either Paul or Apollos, emphasizing that both were servants of Christ.
What does "upper coasts" refer to?
Answer: The phrase "upper coasts" (Greek: anōterika merē) refers to the "upper parts" or "interior regions" of Asia Minor. This indicates that Paul traveled through the elevated central plateau of the region, likely passing through areas like Phrygia and Galatia, rather than taking the more common coastal roads. This suggests a thorough and perhaps circuitous journey, during which Paul may have revisited and strengthened churches he had previously established or ministered in new, less accessible areas before reaching the major hub of Ephesus. It underscores the extensive and deliberate nature of his missionary travels.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Acts 19:1, while seemingly a straightforward geographical and chronological marker, profoundly contributes to the Christ-centered narrative of Acts. Paul's strategic movement to Ephesus, a city steeped in pagan idolatry and occult practices, is a direct fulfillment of Christ's commission to spread the gospel "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Paul, as an apostle uniquely called by the risen Christ (Acts 9:15), is faithfully extending the Kingdom of God by establishing a strong beachhead for the gospel in a major metropolitan center. His immediate action of "finding certain disciples" underscores the ongoing work of Christ through His Spirit to gather and perfect His church. These disciples, though perhaps incomplete in their understanding of the Holy Spirit (as revealed in Acts 19:2), were nonetheless followers of Jesus, demonstrating that Christ was already at work drawing people to Himself. The concurrent ministry of Apollos in Corinth further illustrates that the Lord of the harvest is continually raising up and deploying laborers for His harvest (Matthew 9:38). Ultimately, every step Paul took, every disciple he found, and every word he preached in Ephesus was for the exaltation of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and the expansion of His glorious reign.