THE EPHESIANS

[Alex2165]

THE EPHESIANS

Acts 19.1-3

Paul was quite surprised when he found in Ephesus some disciples who believing in GOD but have no idea about existence of the Holy Spirit! Or maybe they believed in John the Baptist alone.

This means they have absolutely no knowledge and no understanding Who Jesus Christ and His Father really Are, and because of it they do not know at all Whom they are truly worship and believe in.

But if we look on today's Christian world, on "disciples" of Christ who worship Him, the event with Ephesians does not looks extraordinary or unusual at all, actually it is very common condition effecting majority of so call Christians up to this day.

Having full Bible - the Holy Scripture in which clearly indicated and pointed out about existence of the Holy Spirit, people are still confused, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misread the Bible in all its entirety on this issue.

Even today many Christians from many different denominations still arguing about presentation of GOD as Holy Spirit in three Forms and still did not come up with unified decision or conclusion.

But at least no one today among Christians denying existence of GOD as Holy Spirit. Those who believe in GOD certainly believe that He is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit always associated with GOD.

Gentile Ephesians on the other hand if they knew about Christ from someone and seems accepted some of His Principals and Ideal but did not know that He represented Holy Spirit of His GOD Father and Himself is Holy Spirit, their worship nobody.

Worshiping GOD means worshiping the Holy Spirit, and worshiping GOD without knowing that He is the only Holy Spirit, means worshiping no GOD.

At first glance it seems that Ephesians were followers of John the Baptist and perhaps heard about upcoming Messiah but did not know Who He is and have been Baptized into John the Baptist.

I am sure that Paul explained them everything about Christ before he Baptized Ephesians into Jesus Christ, and that Baptism into Jesus Christ gave Ephesians the Holy Spirit of Christ by which they talk languages and prophesied, solidified their faith in Christ as the Holy Spirit and true GOD.

From this event arrives a certain question, "Who will be more easily converted to Christ, Gentiles who worshiping their false gods and suddenly heard about Christ, or those who have been introduced to the Torah and the Prophets and heard Gospel preached by Apostles and followers of Christ?"

 

[Alan Gross]

Paul was quite surprised when he found in Ephesus
some disciples who believing in GOD
but have no idea about existence of the Holy Spirit!

We could look at these verses like this:

WITH MOST VERY IMPORTANT PART
BEING FOUND IN VERSE 4, WHERE WE NEED TO BE SURE
THAT WE SEE VS 4 AS BEING CONNECTED WITH VERSE 5,
LIKE THIS:

JUST AS VS 4 IS TALKING ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN ERA GOSPEL
OF REPENTANCE AND BELIEF ON CHRIST JESUS
TAKING PLACE IN JOHN'S DAY
WHEN HE WAS PREACHING AND BAPTIZING, IN VS 4;

4 "Then said Paul, John verily baptized
with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people, that they should believe on him
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

VS 5 IS ALSO TALKING ABOUT THOSE 12 DISCIPLES
HAVING BEEN BAPTIZED BY JOHN AND THEIR BAPTISMS
HAD TAKEN PLACE BACK IN JOHN'S DAY AT THAT SAME TIME
THAT JOHN HAD BEEN PREACHING WHEREBY THEY'D BEEN SAVED
AND THEN THIS IS THE RECORD WHERE JOHN BAPTIZED THEM;

5 "When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."

CONVERSELY, WE DON'T WANT TO TRY TO PLACE VERSE 5
IN ANY WAY AS IF IT HAD SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN
ALREADY TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING IN VS 5 AS HAPPENING
BACK IN EPHESUS BY MISTAKENLY CONNECTING VS 5 TO VERSE 6
(INSTEAD OF VS 4, BEING THE VERSE WHICH CONNECTS TO VS 5);

That would look we were trying to make the 12 disciples in Ephesus
look as if their water baptism had been judged by Paul
to have been invalid, which had then caused him
to have to water baptize them, back there in Ephesus, however,
none of those men, nor anyone else, was baptized in water by Paul,
that day there in Ephesus, because they didn't have to be.

They already had John's Christian baptism, in The Name of Jesus Christ,
which had the Authority of God, after being saved by the Christian Gospel,
in their having repented and believed on Christ Jesus;

They had been saved under the preaching ministry of John the Baptist,
as the previous history Paul went into shows us,
since they would have had to have demonstrated they had repented and believed
before they were qualified to be water-baptized;
in vs 4b; "the baptism of repentance"

in vs 4c; "that they should believe on Him
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."

Verses 4 & 5 show us that these 12 disciples who were baptized
with John's baptism back under John the Baptist's preaching
had been immediately baptized by him, after they were saved,
by The Authority of God, by the man sent from God to baptize,
John the Baptist; when he "baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus",
shown in vs 5b; and how first in vs 4b;

"John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,"

and how it was in vs 5; "When they heard this,"
which was when they had heard the preaching of John the Baptist
that they were commanded to repent and believe on Christ Jesus
which was what The Holy Spirit Bore Witness with then, when The Lord saved them;

"they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus."

This verse 5, then, took place back during the time of John the Baptist's
preaching that they were to repent and believe on Christ Jesus;
and they had been saved under that preaching of John's, then;
5 "When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."

Then, the verse 6 returns to the narrative that was taking place in Ephesus;
and is talking about these 12 disciples who had been saved
under John the Baptist's preaching and baptized then, by his Authority,
at that time when John the Baptist was preaching, but they just had not heard
of The Anointing of The Most Holy Place, when Jesus Baptized
the church at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, with The Holy Ghost,
and they also had not heard of the Supernatural, Instantaneous,
Miraculous Gifts of The Holy Spirit that had been Imparted
to Jesus' followers, some before, most on that day,
and then some like these 12 disciples in Ephesus
who were now receiving The Gifts of The Holy Spirit after Pentecost.

Paul had every confidence in the testimony of their salvation,
and in the Authority of their baptism, afterward, after asking them,
in vs 3b; "Unto what then were ye baptized?
And they said, Unto John's baptism",
since Paul knew John the Baptist had preached repentance
and believing on Christ Jesus,
then, therefore, as saved souls, they were certainly already
indwelt by The Holy Spirit, when they had been regenerated in the New Birth,

however, Paul's initial question before learning about their salvation
and baptism had been searching to find out what understanding they had
of the Instantaneous, Miraculous Gifts of The Holy Spirit
and whether they had those Gifts of The Holy Spirit Imparted to them, yet,
when Paul had asked, in vs 2; "He said unto them,
Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?"

Yet, when those 12 disciples answered him and brought up
about having been baptized by John the Baptist, in vs 2c, they added,
"We have not so much as heard
whether there be any Holy Ghost."

Then, that is where we had Paul asking about their baptism in vs 3,
and this is when Paul goes back into the history of John the Baptist's time,
there in vs 4 & 5;
4 "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

5 "When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

So, then finally, with the narrative returning back again to that day in Ephesus,
Paul then Imparted to those 12 disciples The Gifts of The Holy Spirit
that they weren't previously aware had come,
again, first to some just before Pentecost
and to most of those on The Day of Pentecost,
and in this case there at Ephesus, those 12 received those Gifts
sometime after The Day of Pentecost, shown here in vs 6;
6 "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,
the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues,
and prophesied."

con't with a run-through of those verses, again;

 

[Alan Gross]

Hopefully, then that entire passage should be able to be read as post #2,
above, in THE EPHESIANS, where,
beginning with vs 1 referring to those 12 as "certain disciples",
which also gives us an indication that they were already all saved;

1 "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus:
and finding certain disciples,

And the subject matter in vs 2 is whether they had "received"
The Miraculous Gifts of "The Holy Ghost";

2 "He said unto them,
Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard
whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Then, we have the 12 answering Paul
about how that they had been baptized by John;

3 "And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?
And they said, Unto John's baptism."

Paul then begins to give the account of John the Baptist's baptism
being the Christian Baptism that he had been sent by God to perform,
which also had the requirement for any candidate for baptism
to first have brought forth evidence of their repentance and belief
in the Lord Christ Jesus;

4 "Then said Paul, John verily baptized
with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

Then, it was still in the days when John the Baptist had been
preaching and baptizing here in vs 5, where we see
when those 12 disciples had been baptized by John
just after they "heard this", which was John's message
that he had preached in vs 4,
that they were to repent and believe in Christ Jesus to be saved
and they were all then saved;

5 "When they heard this,
they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

Then, back there in Ephesus, in vs 6, since Paul had seen
that their salvation and water baptism were Biblically sound,
he Imparted to those 12 disciples the Miraculous Gifts of The Holy Ghost;
that they simply had yet heard about;

6 "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,
the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues,
and prophesied.

7 "And all the men were about twelve."