“ 19:1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul passed through the inland [1] country and came to Ephesus. There he found
some disciples. 2 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.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into
John's baptism.” 4 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.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in [2] the name of the
Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on
them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about
twelve men in all.” (Acts 19:1-7 (ESV)
It seems Apollos was not the only one to be a disciple or
Jesus, and yet only have the baptism of John. Paul runs into some disciples
like this in Ephesus, as it seems Apollos and Paul pass each other changing
places. These disciples have not even heard of the Holy Spirit, and because of
this Paul knows that they have not been baptized. Christian baptism comes with
the Holy Spirit.
However, we see here that baptism is not an optional thing
in the life of the Christian. One who believes cannot refuse to be baptized.
One who believes will want to be baptized.
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