"And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized 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. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve."
We left off yesterday's lesson about half way through the quote that was being analyzed.
As promised, today's lesson is concentrated on the last few verses and further explains the verbiage applied in that quote.
In verse 4 Paul said; "John verily baptized with the BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE (having nothing to do with water), saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. Paul affirmed that the "baptism" those "certain disciples" had previously undergone was no more than a change of mind toward acceptance of, and belief in, John's message that the Messiah was soon to appear.
As we already have shown, the message "to prepare" was the sole purpose of John the Baptist's ministry. In this application, we see that the phrase "baptism of John" refers to the message John brought, and has nothing to do with the Hebrew ritual water immersions he also administered.
Paul, seeing that those disciples had not yet heard, accepted and believed in the fullness of Jesus' eternal soul saving ministry and sacrifice, preached Jesus Christ crucified to them whereby, upon believing and acceptance, they were "baptized" into, (sanctified by) "the name of the Lord Jesus". Paul made them aware of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, whereas they obviously believed in it to the point of salvation and receipt of the Holy Ghost. This was affirmed when Paul said; "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
Therefore, the phrase "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.", as it is applied in this text, means that those disciples were educated to, immersed within, and sanctified by, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ through faith in Him.
We know from previous lessons that to be baptized into Christ is to put on Christ like a protective coat, "For ye are all the children of God BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Galatians 3:26-27~
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Galatians 3:26-27~
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