What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit?
Acts 19: 1-7 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7 Now the men were about twelve in all.
Once the Devil was walking along with one of his cohorts. They saw a man ahead of them pick up something shiny. "What did he find?" asked the cohort.
"A piece of the truth," the Devil replied.
"Doesn't it bother you that he found a piece of the truth?" asked the cohort.
"No," said the Devil, "I will see to it that he makes a religion out of it."
Klyne Snodgrass, Between Two Truths - Living with Biblical Tensions, 1990, Zondervan Publishing House, p. 35.
The verses we just read present us with two of the most basic questions in Christianity; what does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit? In this short encounter between Paul and 12 men in Ephesus we are faced with some unanswered questions. These 12 are called “disciples.” And, we assume, when we hear the word disciple that they are followers of Jesus, therefore Christians. But after Paul questions them, their answers leave us wondering; “What does it mean to be a Christian?” Their answers also concern the receiving of the Holy Spirit; does every believer receive the Holy Spirit? Does it happen immediately? Or do I have to do something to receive Him?
These are very basic questions in Christianity, but believe it or not, not everyone answers them in the same way. And the danger to that is that how you answer these questions can mean the difference between heaven and hell, or at least effectiveness or ineffectiveness.
Prayer
We’re going to do three things this morning, first I need to remind you of the background of this passage. Second, we will look at the question, what does it mean to be a Christian, and third the question, what does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?
I. Background
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
I just need to refresh your memories concerning the story of this passage. Over the last couple weeks, we were introduced to this man named Apollos who was a follower and preacher of the message of John the Baptist. Two Christians named Aquila and Priscilla meet him in the synagogue and show him that his doctrine is incomplete; He needs to know Jesus. So the teach him, and this further energizes him, because now he can preach that the Messiah has come, not that He is coming. And eventually he leaves Ephesus to help out with the church work in Corinth.
Now remember that all of this had happened while Paul was absent. He had left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus to complete the Nazarite vow he had made earlier. That meant that he had to go to the temple in Jerusalem to make an offering. But remember that he had promised the Ephesians in verse 21, “If God so wills I’ll come back.”
God did will and brought him back to Ephesus. He left Jerusalem and started what we call his third missionary journey, went through south Galatia and visited the churches he had started before. And now he finally makes it back to Ephesus. And immediately, upon his return, of course he starts talking to anyone he can find about Jesus. And we are told that he meets 12 who are called disciples. What do we know about these 12 men? Let’s read.
And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So, they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Now this is a very interesting, and maybe somewhat confusing passage of Scripture. Because we are left with a lot of very important questions. The first and most important question is, “Are these men Christians already when Paul meets them?” You say, “Why is that important?” Because it helps us to know the answer to the question, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” And that is the most important question of all. That question is the answer to where you will spend eternity.
So, different people have answered that question in different ways. Some say they were already Christians, some say no they were not. Let’s look at those who say they are already Christians. Their whole argument that they are already Christians rests on two words; disciples and believe. It says that Paul found some disciples when he returned to Ephesus. It says that he asked them if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed.
So, some would argue, they are disciples and they believe, therefore they are already Christians. And that’s where we address the question, what does it mean to be a Christian?
I think this is a very instructive narrative for us. Because how many times have you run into some person, in your life, started talking about spiritual things, and they started using “Christianeze?” They started talking like Christians talk? They used all the right words? They go to church. They believe in God. They pray. They believe. They believe in Jesus. Because our nation was founded by many Christians and somewhat built on Christianity, the vocabulary of Christianity permeates our society.
I happened to be looking this week at Christian idioms. Did you know that there are many things that people say, Christian and non-Christian, that came originally from the King James Bible? People talk about having a “broken heart.” That came from Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to those with a broken heart. Job 19:20 speaks of Job escaping by the “skin of his teeth.” We talk about insignificant things as a “drop in the bucket.” Isaiah 40:15. Speaking of Job, he was described as nothing but “skin and bones” in Job 19:19-20. And there are many many such idioms that originally came from the King James Bible.
So, what does that tell us? That just because it quacks like a duck doesn’t mean it is necessarily a duck; better look at the walk and looks.
These 12 men are called disciples and Paul referred to when they “believed.”
II. But were these 12 Christians? Let’s look at those two important words; disciple and believe.
There are two obvious questions; of whom were they disciples, and what did they believe?
Of whom were they disciples?
A. Disciple means simply a learner, or follower.
And some have pointed out that if we look at the use of the word disciple in the rest of the book of Acts, it always means a learner or follower of Jesus.
But if we look at the gospels, a disciple can be a learner or follower of anyone.
Matthew 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Matthew 10:24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
John 9: 28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.
And not only that, but even those who were called Jesus’ disciples, weren’t all saved, or Christian.
John 6:66 says, “And many of his disciples turned their backs and walked no more with Him.”
Judas was originally a follower and learner in the ministry of Jesus. Just because he is called a disciple, doesn’t make him a Christian.
But hold on, doesn’t it say that they believed? Paul asks them “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Since it says that they believed, then doesn’t that mean that they are Christians? Well, there are three things to consider here. First, is a question for you. Is a person a Christian just because they say they believe? Right off the bat I ask, “Well what did they believe?” We’ll get to that in a minute. Second, this passage doesn’t say that they said that they believed. Paul asks the question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Paul could have met them, and based on their conversation about Messiah, he may have assumed that they were Christian. We’ll get back to that.
But the third thing to consider is the answer to my question, Is a person a Christian just because they say they believe? No.
Here we get back to Christianeze, Christian vocabulary. A lot of people go to church, say they believe, know the gospel stories, know how to talk the talk. But look at what the Bible says,
John 2: 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
These were believers, even followers of Jesus. But it was momentary. It was a flash in the pan. Most would fall away. They had head knowledge, but it didn’t change their hearts. Later Jesus would say,
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
And James would later write,
2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
So, just because you say you believe, call yourself a disciple, doesn’t mean you are. Again, what does it mean to be a Christian? Whose disciples are they? And what are they believing?
B. So, were these 12 Christians when they met Paul?
And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
A better translation of this last phrase would be, And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether [a]the Holy Spirit was given.
1. They didn’t know that the Holy Spirit had been given.
a. Jewish people would have been familiar with the promise of the Spirit.
Numbers 11:29 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
Isaiah 44:3 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
Ezekial 36:26 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Joel 2:28 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
The Jews knew about the promise of the Spirit of God on them. These 12 didn’t know that it had already happened. So, what does that mean?
b. They didn’t know about the events of Pentecost; 40 days after resurrection.
When the Spirit of God came on the disciples of Jesus, then 3000 were saved and received the same Spirit. They didn’t know that Samaritans and Gentiles had received the indwelling Spirit. So, this really casts some doubt in Paul’s mind about who these followers are following, who these learners are learning from. So, he asks them,
3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
Aw, now the pieces are coming together. Paul realizes that he has made an assumption based on a common vocabulary. “Disciples and believe”
2. They were only baptized with John’s baptism.
What was John the Baptist’s baptism? It was anticipatory. It was when a person believed John’s message that Messiah was coming, and so they were making an outward commitment to prepare themselves, by repentance for His coming.
verse 4 is Paul says unto them, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance that you should believe on Him who should come after him, that is our Messiah Jesus.”
But doesn’t that mean they were Christians? No, let’s go back to when John was baptizing. It says in the gospel that John was in the wilderness of Judea, and that thousands were going out into the wilderness to hear him, and thousands were baptized. This is before Jesus even came on the scene. There were thousands who believed. So let me ask this. Do we know what happened to all those thousands? Did they all get to meet Jesus later? Did they all get the opportunity to see the events of Jesus’ life, crucifixion, and resurrection? We don’t know what happened to all of them. —thousands came to John for baptism—but they got what little message they got—some may have been pilgrims from around the Roman empire coming for a feast—after they hear John, and are baptized by him, they go home, back to the Gentile world. All they know is that Messiah is coming and I need to get my heart and life right in preparation. We don’t know that these had even heard of, or seen Jesus.
C. So, who were they disciples of? John the Baptist—doesn’t that make them Christians
And even if they had heard of Jesus, didn’t necessarily mean they understood who Jesus really was. In Matthew 11, 1 through 3, even John the Baptist himself seems to have had an incomplete theology. He didn’t seem to understand that Jesus wouldn’t be the Lion until after He had been the Lamb.
So, they had only been baptized with John’s baptism. They haven’t received the Holy Spirit, they haven’t had believer’s baptism.
In the first century, what’s the first thing that happened after putting your faith in Jesus? Baptism; the 3000 who were saved at Pentecost were immediately baptized. Philip immediately baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch. Cornelius, Lydia, the Philippian jailor and their households were immediately baptized after they came to faith. So it is impossible to think that these 12 were already Christians because they only seemed to know John’s preaching and John’s baptism.
Why is this important? Because words like believe and disciple don’t make you a Christian. The doctrine you were taught, your repentance, and faith and trust in the Lord make you a Christian.
What is the definition of Christian in our society? There are several. This is what Merriam Webster says what makes a Christian,
one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ
But do you know what the Bible says in James 2, What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?.... 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Webster also defines Christian as,
a member of the Christian denomination
But Jesus says that Satan sews tares among the wheat.
We need to know what being a Christian is for two reasons; one to be sure that we are Christians, the other is to be sure that when we meet “disciples” who “believe” we don’t just assume they are Christian, and leave them on the road to perdition.
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