John the Baptist Disciples
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 3 September 2023
The book of Acts is the historical record of the early church from the day of Pentecost through those early years. And we have studied Acts 18 and really begun what is one message in three parts. We’re studying how Judaism changed to Jesus. And beginning in Acts 18:18 the Holy Spirit gives us three incidents that illustrate to us the transition that was taking place from Judaism to Jesus.
When Christianity was established and the New Covenant was introduced, there were many Jews who found it very difficult to make all of the transition rapidly. Now, in our study here, we found the apostle Paul, though fully understanding Christ, and a believer in every sense, the apostle of the gospel of grace and the gospel of God, still taking a Nazarite vow which was part of Judaism.
So we see even Paul in transition. And then we saw Apollos in Acts 18:24 – 28 in transition. And here, we see the disciples of John the Baptist, an Old Testament saint. Jews ready for Messiah who believed that Jesus was that Messiah but didn’t understand the cross, didn’t understand the Resurrection. So they didn’t know all that Jesus had done. And so we meet these disciples.
These are twelve men who also are in transition. Remember that the whole of Judaism pervaded all of these people’s lives. Christianity came in and it took a while for all of the adjustments to take place. In some cases like Paul, he couldn’t let go of some old patterns. And Apollos just didn’t know the whole Gospel. And these twelve, they too were short of full knowledge.
And so the Holy Spirit had to bring them along to a full understanding of Christ and Christianity. Now the question that’s key to our discussion is in Acts 19:2, where Paul says, “Did you received the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Now, that question has become the favorite question of some movements in Christianity. The point of view that I take here is simply the exposition of this text.
But I want to approach it in the light of a current movement called Pentecostalism or also called the charismatic movement. The view that they take is that you can be a Christian and not possess the Holy Spirit. And at some moment, after your salvation, you then by a certain activity are allowed to know that the Spirit is available and that you can receive the Holy Spirit in certain ways.
Now this view is held by many Pentecostals. And some would say that the Christian has the Holy Spirit, but in a limited sense. Not in the sense of a permanent personal full and indwelling Holy Spirit. And so they would make a distinction between possessing the Holy Spirit and possessing the fullness of the Spirit or the Baptism of the Spirit. But really it means the same thing.
If a person receives only a part of the Spirit or have a limited sense of the Spirit, then you’re saying that the person hasn’t received the Spirit at all. For the Spirit is who He is and He must come in the fullness of who He is. Jesus promised that we would receive the Holy Spirit at salvation; then He meant the Spirit as the Holy Spirit is. And to believe that the Spirit comes in part is not biblical.
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.” Some charismatic people say that “well we receive Jesus as Savior but not as Lord.” Then later on made Him Lord of their life. That is wrong. Jesus is Lord. And you receive Him for who He is. And the same is true of the Holy Spirit.
There are no degrees in receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given in the fullness of who He is. It began in 1900 in Pentecostalism which resulted in Assemblies of God and Foursquare Churches. David du Plessis, a spokesman for this movement said this, “What happened during the years from Acts to 1900 was that the church lost its faith, lost the miracle gifts and lost the Holy Spirit.”
It is a wrong theology to assume that the Holy Spirit can only control the church until the end of the first century, then He lost control and man took it over for 1800 years. And finally, after 1800 years of struggle, the Holy Spirit got control again. God is not a God who can be victimized by men. Christ said, “I will build My church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”
The primary thing that a believer has to do is to exalt God. And it does not exalt God when you hold a wrong view of God, of His Son or of the Holy Spirit. That grieves the Holy Spirit. And so we’re not just talking about little things. We’re talking about the proper exaltation of God Himself in His Spirit. And these charismatics tell us that their movement is patterned after the book of Acts.
They say that the book of Acts becomes the norm for the behavior of the Christian. If you start basing everything on the book of Acts, you're going to find yourself in a lot of trouble. Because then there’s justification to do what Paul did. Take Nazarite vows, cut our hair and then have to go to Jerusalem and burn them in the Temple. It’s going to be a little tough since there’s no temple.
You’re going to have to allow for current revelation today. You’re going to have to allow for apostles today. You’re going to have to allow for all the signs and wonders and miracles that accompanied the early church and the various manifestations. Not just in some segments of Christianity, but throughout, unqualified. Now, I hope you know this is wrong. The book of Acts is a transitional book.
And as the new covenant arrives, the people come to Christ which is an instant miracle. They still find it difficult to make the full transition. And so in Acts, there are various transitional things occurring. There are some old things that just kind of die slowly. For example, the early church met in the synagogue. And there are some things in Acts that are new but not permanent.
They are just especially for the transitional period. And unless you understand that, you become confused. We saw three parts to transition. First, Paul was in transition. In Acts 18:18 Paul cut his hair in Cenchrea for he had a Nazarite vow on an Old Testament basis. And he did it to thank God for delivering him from Gallio and from those Jews in Corinth who wanted to take his life.
Paul also wanted to be in Jerusalem for this Judaistic feast. So Paul was still in transition. He had not yet been able to set aside all of these old features. Secondly, we saw Apollos who was a Jew from Alexandria. He was speaking and teaching Jesus. But he knew only the baptism of John, which means that he knew Jesus was the Messiah, but did not know of the cross and the Resurrection.
Acts 18:26 says, “Afterwards Aquila and Priscilla took him aside.” And it says, “They explained to him the way of God more perfectly.” They gave him full knowledge of the work of Christ and of course he believed and became a New Testament saint. And then he went, in verse 28, “He helped much them who believed through grace and he publicly convinced the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.”
Now there were 12 Old Testament Saints who were followers of John the Baptist, who had not yet even heard about all the features of Jesus Christ. They needed to be given the full knowledge that they might become a part of the church. Acts 19:1, “While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus.” And God wanted him to come back.
Paul started his third missionary journey, he went through south Galatia and confirmed the churches and strengthened them. And he keeps going till he comes to Ephesus. And he comes from the top road, down into Ephesus. Now verse 2, “And finding certain disciples.” Now, he meets twelve people who are introduced to him as disciples. The assumption is that they were New Testament believers.
Verse 2 continues, “Did you received the Holy Spirit when you believed?” The word disciple means learner, and there’s really no implication of Christianity. Verse 2 continues, “No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So there you have Christians who have not received the Holy Spirit. And, the Pentecostals use Acts 19 as a defense of their doctrine.
The issue about whether they were Christians is very debatable. “Why?” Well, they didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit in terms of His being granted. A Christian is somebody who believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If they had known about the cross, they would have known the Holy Spirit. For Christ had promised to give the Holy Spirit after His ascension.
Verse 3 says, “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them. “Into John’s baptism,” they replied. They didn’t even understand the baptism of Christ. Verse 4, Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” In the early church, when were people baptized? Immediately upon believing.
If these people were Christians who believed in the finished work of Christ, they would have known the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not know that the Holy Spirit was given. That implies they didn’t even know about Messiah Jesus. So Paul says to them, John was getting you all ready for Jesus. Verse 5, “When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Now, this is a major passage for those who would defend a gap between salvation and the Holy Spirit, that you get the Holy Spirit later. This is what used to be called the second blessing. That salvation is the first blessing and then you surrender or you yield later on and you get the Holy Spirit as a second blessing. The problem here is the failure to recognize the transitional nature of Acts.
Not all of the disciples of John the Baptist had all of the information about Jesus. And even after they had announced that Jesus was the Messiah, they had many questions. And John saw that Jesus was not setting up the physical kingdom they expected. And so he sends two disciples in Matthew 11:3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
If John in his own mind had some question about the fact that Jesus was that Messiah, it’s easy to understand that some of his disciples might not have understood all there was to understand about Jesus, right? And there’s another reason that they’re not the norm and that is because they’re a transitional group. And what happens in transition does not necessarily set the pattern.
If a Christian has to do something to get the Holy Spirit, then there are some Christians who never do that something so they never get the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the promise of God is invalidated in their behalf. No, the credibility of God is at stake. And, secondly, the credibility of Jesus is at stake in John 14:16. Jesus said, “I’ll pray to the Father, He shall give you another Comforter.”
Jesus said, “If you believe, out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.” He spoke of the Spirit. Who receives the Holy Spirit? All those who believe. And the only reason the Spirit was not given yet was because Jesus was not yet glorified. Once Jesus was glorified, the Spirit was immediately given. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “By one Spirit were we are all baptized into one body.”
Now, the Jews had received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Gospel had been preached in Samaria. And they had for 500 years separate temples at Mt. Gerizim. And so what happened in the founding of the church in Samaria was as those Samaritan believers came to Christ, if they had received the Holy Spirit right then on the spot and no Jews had seen it, there would have existed the same dichotomy.
So God, in His wisdom, withheld the Holy Spirit from them until Jewish apostles arrived. And the Jewish apostles saw them receive the Holy Spirit with the same manifestation that they had received on Pentecost. Now they could go back and say to the Jews in Jerusalem, “God has made the Samaritans one with us.” And so God withheld the giving of the Spirit for the Samaritans until the apostles came.
Remember what happened in the case of Cornelius in Acts 10? He also received the Holy Spirit, had the same manifestation of tongues as they had on the day of the Pentecost. And all the Jews that were standing there were shocked. Peter went back to Jerusalem and said, “Those Gentiles got the same thing we got.” You know why? That’s exactly what God wanted them to see.
Verse 6, “And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.” If you know God through Christ, the Spirit comes as a gift. When the Holy Spirit came, they spoke with languages and prophesied. God knew that they needed a strong convincing that the Spirit had come. Verse 7 simply says, “Now there were about twelve men in all.”
You know that in the church we’ve got people like Paul who are saved, and have come all the way to Jesus Christ, but they’re hanging on to legalism. They’re hanging on to old patterns, traditions. Even some Jewish people who find it very difficult to fully absorb themselves in the church. And I praise God for those Jewish Christians who function well in the ministry of the body of Christ. Let’s pray.