Acts 19:1-4 Apollos, Paul, and Disciples of John the Baptist

By Bob DeWaay

As Apollos is in Corinth, Paul encounters disciples of John the Baptist (JTB) in Ephesus who had not heard of the Holy Spirit. We look at the material in Luke/Acts to help understand whether these disciples of JTB understood the gospel and needed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit or were deficient in their understanding of the gospel itself. We also preview the address that Paul makes to the Elders in Ephesus in Acts 20 to better understood roles in the local church. The terms for presbyters, overseers, and shepherds (used in the form of nouns or verbs) are used of the same group. These terms do not support the type of  hierarchical structure that develops later in church history. There is much discussion about implications of this.  The matter of table fellowship and status honor is revisited as well. My claim is that Luke portrays Apollos in a different light (given that he understood the person and work of Christ) than these other disciples of John the Baptist. At issue: were these disciples of JTB Christians who were born of the Spirit but needed to receive the baptism of the Spirit as a second blessing? This will be picked up in our next Sunday School