"Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much heard whether there be any Holy Spirit. He said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? They said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. All the men were about twelve." (Acts 19:1-7.)

This conversion account is unique from all the others in that these men from Ephesus were baptized again. This is the only example in Scripture of this being done. This account also grabs our attention because of what Paul asked them; that is, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? We do not usually ask people that question when trying to determine if they have received proper baptism into Christ. Why did Paul ask them this question?

I have a sense of relief when I find out that the people with whom I am studying have never been baptized. It is a lot like marriage; it is just easier when they have not had a previous marriage. I wonder what Paul would ask people today with our present state of religious divisions and multiple difficulties surrounding baptism. The question Paul asked the men at Ephesus is still a powerful way to determine the validity of one’s baptism.

Before we can apply what happened at Ephesus, we need to understand as much as possible their situation. They had been immersed in water, but they had received only John’s baptism. No one that we meet today has been baptized under John’s baptism. Our religious situation today is not exactly the same as the one Paul encountered.

Paul acknowledged that John baptized with the baptism of repentance. It was also for the remission of sins. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." (Mark 1:4.) All of these elements (water baptism, repentance, for the remission of sins) are the same as ours. (Acts 2:38.) But after this, there are many differences between John’s baptism and our baptism into Jesus Christ.

John’s was called a baptism of repentance; ours could be called a baptism of faith. Paul said that John taught his disciples to believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (19:4.) When John’s disciples were baptized, they confessed their sins. (Mark 1:5.) We confess our faith in Jesus Christ before we are baptized. (Acts 8:37, Rom. 6:3-4, 17.) The disciples of John were not baptized into anyone’s name. But we are baptized in the name of the Lord. (Acts 10:48.) This does not mean necessarily something that was said, but rather what was done and understood. Christians understand that they are being baptized spiritually into the Body of Christ. We are being united with Jesus Christ in baptism. John’s baptism did not involve the "gift of the Holy Spirit," nor was it called being "born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:3-5.)

These disciples needed to be baptized into Christ because they had never been so baptized. The only baptism that they knew was probably learned from the preacher, Apollos, because he preached only the baptism of John long after the death of John the Immerser. (Acts 18:25.) Their baptism was invalid because John’s baptism was no longer valid. Brother Richard Oster wrote that they were "post-Pentecost believers following pre-Pentecost instructions." (The Acts of the Apostles, The Living Word Commentary, 1979, part 2, 87.) There is no indication that the apostles and others before Pentecost, who had received John’s baptism, were baptized again.

The account does not say, nor does any place in Scripture, that they were baptized again. It says, "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." (19:5.) It is true, of course, that they had been immersed in water. But biblical baptism involves much more than that. For this reason, Paul asked them about the Holy Spirit.

There are two considerations anytime the subject of the Holy Spirit is introduced. In this context, there is a direct connection between baptism and the Holy Spirit. (19:2-3.) There is also the account of Paul laying his hands on the twelve men and giving them the gifts of tongue speaking and prophesy after the Holy Spirit came upon them. (19:6.)

We know from other passages in Scripture that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were not for all believers. Paul asked the Corinthians who were clamoring over the gifts, "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Tongues? Interpret?" (1 Cor. 12:29-30.) The understood answer is no to all these questions. Everyone believer did not receive miraculous gifts of the Spirit of God.

But there is a connection between every believer and the Holy Spirit in baptism. The new birth involves being born "of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5.) This means that the new birth is not just something physical---as in our physical births. But neither is it just something physical when we obey the Gospel. The new birth is primarily a spiritual birth. The Spirit of God is involved in that birth. The Word of God is planted into our hearts when we hear it. But the germination of the Word occurs by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that a farmer plants seed into the ground. He then said, "The seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how." (Mark 4:27.) Baptized believers are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit when they are baptized. (Acts 2:38.) Peter later said, "And we are witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him." (Acts 5:32.)

One of the strongest statements of the role of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant is found in Galatians. Paul’s statements stand in bold contrast to the Judaizer’s Gospel which was so fleshy and physical. Paul wrote, "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." (Gal. 6:12.) He asked them earlier, "This only would I learn of you, Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh?" (3:2, 3.) Paul also clearly contrasted the works of the flesh to the fruit of the Spirit. (5:19-23.) "But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under the Law." (5:18.) "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (5:16.) Paul set both the works of the Law and the flesh over against the work of the Spirit in this powerful letter to the Galatians.

We should say that the Holy Spirit is found and is active in the first covenant. The Jews knew about the Holy Spirit. David asked God not to take his Holy Spirit from him. (Psa. 51:11.) But there is a special connection that the Holy Spirit has with the new covenant that it did not have under the old. Some of those are: the Spirit was poured out upon all flesh (Joel 2, Acts 2), the new birth, the new temple, miraculous spiritual gifts, the guidance of the Spirit after Jesus departed, and God’s Word being written upon fleshly tables of the heart by the Spirit. Paul said that the apostles were "able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter but of the spirit, for the letter kills but the spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6.)

The above information is essential before considering the question of being immersed again today. Paul wrote that there is "one baptism." (Eph. 4:5.) What does this mean? It is found in the context of keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is only one baptism that is necessary (two or more are not needed); there is one baptism that applies to all believers (the other baptisms in Scripture did not apply to everyone); there is one baptism that unites us with Christ for salvation.

We have already said that no one today is exactly like the twelve men at Ephesus who were baptized under John’s baptism that was no longer valid. Is there a time when baptism is not a valid baptism today? The answer is yes. But we have two extremes to consider. Some in the Restoration Movement carried this concept to such an extreme that many were exhorted to be rebaptized. Dr. John Thomas, editor of Apostolic Advocate, caused a great controversy over his insistence that many should be rebaptized. (See Roddy Chestnut’s Guided Research Paper, 1985, Harding Graduate School, "John Thomas and the Rebaptism Controversy in the Restoration Movement." Thomas rebaptized many in Virginia who were already serving as deacons, elders and ministers. They had to resign their work because they were considered babes in Christ! Alexander Campbell rightfully took him to task over this practice. Today many young students in Bible Universities and Colleges will desire to be rebaptized simply because of the massive infusion of knowledge about salvation that they did not previously understand. Presidents of those universities have to calm down the freshmen class because this fear of being lost spreads rapidly. When one starts the process of being rebaptized, then many others follow. They have to be told almost every year that such may not be necessary. It is not necessary just because they have learned something new about conversion.

The other extreme in applying Acts 19 is to say that there is never a reason to be "rebaptized." This is clearly not the case. A child could have been immersed so young that they did not experience a new birth at all. It was not based upon an understanding of the Gospel. The heart was not pricked by the Gospel. An older person may have been old enough, but did not submit his life to Jesus Christ. It is a difficult thing to willingly "fall into the ground, as a seed, and die." (John 12:24-25.) I have found in my studies with people, who are serious about salvation, that they are the only ones who really know what happened when they were immersed. What needs to be explained is simply the Gospel. There is only one Gospel; one Lord; one salvation. There are not many different kinds of new births. There is only one. The one desiring to be saved must sincerely decide whether they have obeyed the Gospel. It is not necessary to obey the Gospel twice. One can be born again only once, but one can be immersed in water many times. Conversion to Jesus Christ is the key.

There are many problems that exist in our religious setting. Here are just a few examples. 1) Infants being sprinkled. 2) Adults being taught that water baptism is only a physical thing, but that the real baptism which saves is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 3) Adults responding to be immersed for wrong reasons---to please others, to follow others, etc. 4) Responding to a message which says that the immersion is non-essential, unimportant and that you are already saved.

One of my teachers, brother Basil Overton, pointed out to our class that the letters of the New Testament were written to people who had already been baptized. The letters were written to explain more fully what they had done when they obeyed the Gospel. Every believer should learn much more about baptism after he is baptized. It is not necessary to be baptized again every time you learn something that you did not know before.