Acts 19v5

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

As we have seen from the previous two sections, Paul had met “certain disciples” (v1) in Ephesus during his travels, and asked them two very important questions:

Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? (v2)
Into what were you baptised? (v3)

It was obvious to Paul that these disciples needed something else to complete their knowledge of God and their salvation experience. He then revealed to them that Jesus was the Christ, anointed Messiah for all to believe in.

From this current verse, we can see that when these particular disciples heard all that Paul had to say, they were baptised “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” No doubt Paul had many words other than those recorded here, otherwise how would they have known of their need to be baptised again? This applies quite often to historical narrative scriptures, where a resulting action implies the words that were said in order to bring it about. Rather than slavishly write down every word that was said, the scriptures can be seen as a summary of the main issues being covered. By the same token, any scripture that mentions believers being baptised without mention of the name being used should not be taken to imply that there was no name being used as part of the baptismal formula for the believers in question.

The main point of this passage is to show the need to be baptised again if the revelation of how to do it correctly has been missing. These particular disciples had previously been baptised in a way that appears in the Bible – after the ministry and fashion of John the Baptist – but still there was something missing in the baptism they had already received. They had repented of their sins, as John would have required, and been immersed in water for the cleansing away of sin. (for an example of this, see Mark 1v4 {18 }) The part that was missing was the revelation of how to receive the complete remission of sin, as first revealed by Peter on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2v38 {56 }, Peter said that remission of sins came through baptism in the name of Jesus. Let us not forget that the Apostles were given power to remit sins by Jesus – as He said after His resurrection, in John 20v23: “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Let us also remember that it was Peter that was promised the keys to the kingdom of heaven by Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 16v19. On the day of Pentecost he was applying them, and opening up the kingdom of heaven to all that will believe in and come to Jesus.

For those that have repented of their sins – as these particular Ephesians had already – there is still the need to be baptised correctly in the name of Jesus. Even today within the church there are many sincere believers that have repented of their sins and been baptised, but baptised into a “name” that never happened in the Bible – the most common form of this mistake being to use the titles “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. If this is you dear reader, then as you read this book, and study the scriptures for yourself, I pray that you will come to realise that every baptism performed on or after the day of Pentecost that we have seen so far was performed in the name of Jesus. If you believe in the Bible as the Word of God, and sincerely repented of sinful ways, then you should find somebody to baptise you correctly – in the name of Jesus – as soon as possible. Perhaps others have already received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and speak in tongues as Jesus promised – I would like to remind you that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth” (John 16v13), even to the point of telling you when there is a need to be baptised again in the correct way. All we are required to do is trust the Holy Spirit as He ministers to you through God’s Word.

The responsibility to baptise correctly is even greater on the Pastor or church leadership – after all, the church leadership is the watchman, looking to the welfare of all of the souls under their charge. As Hebrews 13v17 says, you “must give account” for the believers entrusted to your care. If you find yourself leading a church that is not baptised according to the Word of God then you need to correct the mistake absolutely as soon as possible, before any die or Jesus returns and it is too late. If the church that you lead is having problems receiving the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, then perhaps you need to get the foundational teaching regarding baptism correct. In Paul’s mind, as well as all of the other Apostles from the day of Pentecost onwards, it is not possible to separate baptism in the name of Jesus and receiving of the Holy Spirit. Both of these are available to the believer, and should be received through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In answer to Paul’s two questions to these ‘certain believers’ that he met in Ephesus, let me summarise by saying:

Receiving of the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by speaking in tongues, is expected in every believer, and is part of the experience of Baptism.

Water baptism should always be performed in the name of Jesus so that the cleansing away and remission of sins can be completed in the life of the believer.