Acts 19:1-8

Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus

19:1 While ¹  Apollos was in Corinth, ²  Paul went through the inland ³  regions ⁴  and came to Ephesus. ⁵  He ⁶  found some disciples there ⁷  19:2 and said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” ⁸  They replied, ⁹  “No, we have not even ¹⁰  heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 19:3 So Paul ¹¹  said, “Into what then were you baptized?” “Into John’s baptism,” they replied. ¹²  19:4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, ¹³  that is, in Jesus.” 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, 19:6 and when Paul placed ¹⁴  his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came ¹⁵  upon them, and they began to speak ¹⁶  in tongues and to prophesy. ¹⁷  19:7 (Now there were about twelve men in all.) ¹⁸ 

Paul Continues to Minister at Ephesus

19:8 So Paul ¹⁹  entered ²⁰  the synagogue ²¹  and spoke out fearlessly ²²  for three months, addressing ²³  and convincing ²⁴  them about the kingdom of God. ²⁵ 

[19:1]  ¹ tn Grk “It happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:1]  ² map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[19:1]  ³ tn Or “interior.”

[19:1]  ⁴ tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”

[19:1]  ⁵ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “and found.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:1]  ⁷ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[19:2]  ⁸ tn The participle πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") is taken temporally.

[19:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “they [said] to him” (the word “said” is implied in the Greek text).

[19:2]  ¹⁰ tn This use of ἀλλά (alla) is ascensive and involves an ellipsis (BDAG 45 s.v. ἀλλά 3): “No, [not only did we not receive the Spirit,] but also we have not heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” However, this is lengthy and somewhat awkward in English, and the ascensive meaning can be much more easily represented by including the word “even” after the negation. Apparently these disciples were unaware of the provision of the Spirit that is represented in baptism. The language sounds like they did not know about a Holy Spirit, but this seems to be only linguistic shorthand for not knowing about the Spirit’s presence (Luke 3:15-18). The situation is parallel to that of Apollos. Apollos and these disciples represent those who “complete” their transition to messianic faith as Jews.

[19:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:3]  ¹² tn Grk “they said.”

[19:4]  ¹³ sn These disciples may have had their contact with John early on in the Baptist’s ministry before Jesus had emerged. This is the fifth time Luke links John the Baptist and Jesus (Acts 1:5; 11:16; 13:25; 18:25).

[19:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “laid.”

[19:6]  ¹⁵ sn The coming of the Holy Spirit here is another case where the Spirit comes and prophesy results in Acts (see Acts 2). Paul’s action parallels that of Peter (Acts 8) and not just with Gentiles.

[19:6]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verb ἐλάλουν (elaloun) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[19:6]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἐπροφήτευον (eprofhteuon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[19:7]  ¹⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “So entering the synagogue, he spoke out fearlessly.” The participle εἰσελθών (eiselqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:8]  ²¹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[19:8]  ²² tn Or “boldly.”

[19:8]  ²³ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 19:8. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[19:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “addressing them persuasively.” The two participles διαλεγόμενος and πείθων (dialegomeno" and peiqwn) can be understood as a hendiadys (so NIV, NRSV), thus, “addressing them persuasively.”

[19:8]  ²⁵ sn To talk about Jesus as the Christ who has come is to talk about the kingdom of God. This is yet another summary of the message like that in 18:28.