Acts 19:1-7 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” And 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, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.
This passage has differences and similaritities with some of the other passage that record the giving of the Holy Spirit. The first key is that they were disciples when Paul first meant them. That is the term used in the gospels of both disciples of John and Jesus. These disciples had not received the gift of the Holy Spirit because they had not believed in Christ as the Messiah; they had repentance but not faith, and then were baptized to demonstrate that faith. This is one of the rare occasions where the laying on of hands is mentioned in the giving of the Spirit, where it is a clear testimony to others that this is a signficant change in where the Church was going - Followers of John are now joining the Church.
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