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, in Jesus.” (Acts 19:4)

The turn of a new year often leads us to ponder where we are in life. Have we accomplished what we had hoped by this stage of life? Are there areas in which we need to grow, or new skills we need to develop? Such thoughts may lead us to determine that we will adjust our behavior in the coming year. Will our resolutions last?

When Paul arrived in Ephesus during his third missionary journey and met a group of John’s disciples, he wondered if they had advanced beyond their allegiance to John. In so many words, he asked, “Are you there yet?” 

As we consider our own lives as followers of Jesus, it’s helpful to check on our own spiritual progress and ask ourselves, “Are we there yet?”

Disciples of John (vv. 1-3)

Today’s text continues a narrative from the previous chapter. Near the end of his second missionary journey (described in Acts 18:18-21), Paul and his partners Silas and Timothy had traveled to Ephesus in the company of Priscilla and Aquila. Luke was probably in the party, too. As narrator, he had begun using the pronoun “we” after 16:10. 

Paul stopped in Ephesus only briefly, paying a visit to the local synagogue for a discussion with Jewish leaders, who wanted him to stay longer. Paul declined, but he promised to return (18:19-21). He then set sail for Caesarea and traveled to Jerusalem for a visit with church leaders before venturing back north to Antioch. 

Priscilla and Aquila remained in Ephesus, where they took Apollos under their wing, teaching him a fuller and more accurate understanding of the gospel before sending him on to Corinth (18:24-28). Sometime afterward, Paul traveled through the interior highlands of Asia Minor (now Turkey), moving westward on his way back to Ephesus, a bustling city near the southeastern coast. After his arrival in the city, Paul happened upon a dozen disciples who still had much to learn. [DD]

Biblical evidence suggests that the movement sparked by John the Baptist had continued for some time after his death, rather than being wholly subsumed by the Jesus movement (see Matt. 9:14, 11:2; Luke 7:8, 11:1; John 1:35, 4:1; and Acts 18:25). 

Luke first describes the group as “disciples” (v. 1) before quoting Paul’s question to them: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” We might have expected him to ask if they had been baptized in the name of Jesus, but Luke was more focused on the Spirit. The group responded that they had “not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit” (v. 2). That suggests that they had not yet come into contact with Priscilla and Aquila, who were at work there. Ephesus was a large and pagan city, however. Artemis was the patron deity and Christians probably needed to keep a low profile, so there easily could have been pockets of believers who did not know each other. 

Paul’s question about baptism led to an explanation that group members knew only the baptism of John. Whether they had also heard about Jesus, or sought to follow him, is not said (v. 3).

Disciples of Jesus (vv. 4-7)

Paul explained that John’s work was not complete, but preparatory. He had called people to “believe in the One who was to come after him, that is, Jesus” (v. 4). The group required no additional persuasion, for Luke reports: “On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (v. 5). [DD]

The story isn’t just about baptism, however, or whether the name of Jesus was invoked, so much as it is about the Holy Spirit. In conjunction with their baptism, Paul laid his hands on them, with powerful results: “the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (v. 6). The coming of the Spirit and its effects recalls earlier accounts in which Jewish believers received the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2), and Gentile believers in Caesarea had a similar experience (Acts 10), though neither of those involved the laying on of hands. [DD]

The letter of Second Timothy, which claims to have been written by Paul, instructs Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1:6). “The gift” is probably a reference to the Spirit. 

But what about modern readers? How do we know if we have received the Holy Spirit? Are we deficient if we haven’t spoken in tongues or prophesied? Many Pentecostal or charismatic Christians believe in a baptism of the Spirit that is secondary to water baptism, and often use the laying on of hands as a symbolic way of invoking the Spirit. Tongues or prophecy are typically expected as signs of the Spirit’s presence. 

On the other hand, while a similar practice is sometimes described in the New Testament, it is not necessarily normative. We have no record that Jesus taught his followers to baptize new believers and then require evidence of receiving the Spirit. Luke usually connects baptism in Jesus and the reception of the Spirit as a single event, with or without the imposition of hands. [DD]

Perhaps we are to understand that unusual manifestations such as tongues speaking were important during the early days of the church, effective within that culture as a public sign of God’s new work in Jesus and a needed reminder that, despite Christ’s ascension, he remained present through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. 

Baptists generally hold that God’s Spirit is always present with believers and does not need to be invoked through special ceremonies. The process of baptism by immersion necessarily involves placing hands on the candidate, and no further imposition is necessary.

Believers may or may not experience tongues or “prophesy” through public testimony, for the presence of the Spirit can be manifested in many ways. A variety of “spiritual gifts” or “fruits of the Spirit” allow us to demonstrate the Spirit’s presence and power as we show love, kindness, and generosity to others. Other New Testament texts also speak of spiritual gifts or spiritual fruit as characteristic behaviors and functions that benefit the church (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-30; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11).

Joseph A. Fitzmyer has noted that Luke’s primary intent in this text was not so much to explicate doctrine regarding the Holy Spirit as to show how Paul was able to win over related groups and bring them into the mainstream faith of the early church, a process that included the presence or guidance of the Holy Spirit (The Acts of the Apostles, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 31 [Doubleday, 1998], 642). 

Could it be significant that Luke made a point of saying that “there were about twelve of them” (v. 7)? There could have been more, or less – but invoking the number 12 would no doubt lead readers to think of the 12 tribes of Israel, or the 12 apostles. Perhaps Luke wanted readers to imagine those 12 as emblematic of believers in Asia, or as symbolic of John’s disciples as a fringe group that had become fully legitimated by the presence of the Spirit and empowered to do the work of the kingdom though their community. 

Disciples at work (vv. 8-10)

Following the encounter with John’s disciples, as Luke depicts it, Paul shifted to his usual strategy of going to the synagogue in hopes of persuading local Jews to accept Jesus as the promised messiah. There he “spoke out boldly,” Luke says, “and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God” (v. 8). 

Surprisingly, the synagogue leaders in Ephesus allowed Paul to preach about Jesus for three months: in Thessalonica, Paul had been thrown out of the synagogue and forced to leave town after just three weeks (Acts 17:1-9). The apostle’s welcome eventually wore out, however. “When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus” (v. 9). 

Luke’s language recalls Old Testament references to the “stubbornness” of Israel during the exodus from Egypt. As rabble-rousers there had criticized both Moses and God, some synagogue members “spoke evil of the Way,” leading Paul to relocate. “The lecture hall of Tyrannus” was probably a type of school, perhaps a place for philosophers to wrangle. Whether Paul rented the space or used it freely is unstated. In either case, it is impressive that his daily exhortations attracted so many believers that they apparently could not fit into a house, as they did in other cities. [DD]

Paul remained in Ephesus for at least another two years, using it as a mission hub for preaching and teaching, making disciples, and no doubt sending followers to preach in the surrounding area. Luke enthusiastically claimed that “all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord” (v. 10). Even allowing for considerable hyperbole, that’s an impressive assertion.

While readers may get hung up on questions about receiving the Spirit or speaking in tongues, this is the bottom line – we are called to believe and live out the gospel so that all might see the Spirit at work in us, and the word of the Lord will be heard in our land, too. 

Are we there yet?