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Acts 18:24-19:5-Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 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.
“Mark, I was so eager to be a member of the church of Christ! Here was a group of people trying to follow the Lord, trying to go by the Bible, and I wanted to be involved and help any way I could!”
Jeff (not his real name) had been a follower of Jesus since he was a child. He had been raised in a mainstream denomination that he later found to be practicing things the Bible forbids, so he left (to the anger of many in his family). He found a non-denominational church (which he later learned was pretty much not non-denominational but really all-denominational) where he decided to be baptized. However, he was again disturbed by some of the things taking place there, and left. Shortly after, he met the woman he would eventually marry, and she was a member of the church of Christ. After being introduced to New Testament Christianity, Jeff was thrilled!
“So, what happened?” I asked him.
“I met with the men of that church of Christ, and told them I wanted to help teach New Testament Christianity,” Jeff responded.
“I bet they were happy to have you be with them,” I said.
“Actually,” Jeff told me, “they told me I couldn’t be a member there unless I was rebaptized by them.”
I frowned.
“Why did they say that?” I asked.
“They told me my baptism had been rejected by God because I didn’t understand the phrase, “for the remission of sins” in Acts 2:38 when I got baptized. But I was baptized because I love Jesus and He commabds it (Matthew 28:19). Plus, I wanted to follow His Example. So I wouldn’t be rebaptized, and they wouldn’t accept me or my help.”
Jeff’s story was wrenching for me to hear, and it raises a lot of questions.
In the entire New Testament, there is only one example of what we would call rebaptism. It is the rebaptism of the twelve disciples in Acts 19, and is set in contrast with Luke’s introduction to Apollos.
Why was Apollos not rebaptized, and yet the Ephesian disciples were?
And what does this teach us about the subject of rebaptism today?
Let’s study.
First, we notice that Luke testifies Apollos was a man who had been “instructed in the way of the Lord.” Bock tells us:
“Apollos is instructed in the way of the Lord (τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ κυρίου, tēn hodon tou kyriou). This is probably a reference to his knowing the way to God and doing God’s will (Exod. 32:8; Deut. 5:33; Jer. 7:23; 1QS 8.13; Jervell 1998: 470). He knows about God’s work of salvation through Jesus and God’s plan tied to it…Especially important here is that there is no mention of baptism for Apollos, which Luke often mentions when one comes into the community.…Apollos teaches about Jesus accurately but knows only of John’s baptism. This lack of knowledge has created much discussion among commentators. Is Apollos really a Christian at this point (Witherington 1998: 564–66 has a full discussion)? The likely answer, as already suggested, is yes, despite the gap in his knowledge. At the least, the expression “fervent in spirit/the Spirit,” even if it points only to enthusiasm, is positive. The fact that he speaks about Jesus accurately is unlikely to be said of a non-Christian who preaches. Apollos is a figure caught in transition who ministers in the Diaspora and thus needs to be brought up to date. His preaching is not inaccurate, merely incomplete (Williams 1990: 324 describes him as a “Christian of sorts”)…Here both Priscilla and Aquila update Apollos on baptism, moving him beyond John’s baptism, probably to the gift of the Spirit, telling Apollos that the Spirit has come and acquainting him with the importance of the arrival of this eschatological promise (see 2: 16–36; 19: 2). Apollos now has a more accurate understanding of the gospel than before. Priscilla and Aquila must teach him but do so sensitively in private. The unit shows that not all who ministered in this early period had the full story of what God had done and yet they were effective as well as open to instruction.” (Darrell L. Bock, Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), 897-900 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic)
Schnabel concurs:
“(5) Apollos had been “instructed” (κατηχημένος) in the “Way of the Lord,” 11 learning about the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and Savior. Luke thus portrays him as a believer in Jesus. The Western text reads, “he had been instructed in his homeland in the word of the Lord,” which presupposes that Apollos was converted to faith in Jesus in Alexandria (a Christian community seems to have existed in Alexandria in the late 40s).” (Eckhard J. Schnabel,Acts (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Book 5), 1379-1380 (Kindle Edition): a Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan)
Some of what Apollos knew about Jesus seems to be implied from Luke’s statement here. The phrase “the way of the Lord” is drawn from Isaiah the Prophet, and has direct reference to the ministry of John the Baptist.
Isaiah 40:3-The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.
So Apollos had knowledge of John the Baptist being the forerunner of the Messiah, and he also had some important knowledge about Jesus Himself being the Christ. Aquila and Priscilla taught him the way of the Lord more accurately.
Well, what about the “disciples” in Acts 19?
There is disagreement as to whether these “disciples”’were actually Christians when Paul first meets them. On the one hand, it is true that in every other reference to the word “disciples” in Acts, this word has reference to disciples of Jesus (cf. Acts 1:15; 6:1, 2, 7; 9:1, 19, 26, 38; 11:26, 29; 13:52; 14:20, 21, 22, 28; 15:10; 18:23, 27; 19:9, 30; 20:1, 7, 30; 21:4, 16). On the other hand, Luke (the same author as the Book of Acts) also used the word “disciples” to sometimes reference followers of John the Baptist (Luke 5:33; 7:18, 19; 11:1).
Again, the phrase that Paul used here-“believed”-is found throughout Acts generally to refer to those who are followers of Jesus (Acts 2:44; 4:4, 32; 8:12-13; 9:42; 10:45; 11:17, 21; 13:12, 48; 14:1, 23; 15:5; 16:1, 34; 17:12, 34; 18:8, 27; 19:18; 21:20). However, Paul’s answer to these disciples in Acts 19 suggests that they had not even yet heard of Jesus, or of the Holy Spirit. Add to this that Luke appears to be showing us a contrast between Apollos and the twelve Ephesian disciples, and this seems to demonstrate that the Ephesians here were not even familiar with Jesus.. Notice Apollos has been instructed in the way of the Lord, knowing specifically about Jesus, while the Ephesians had to be told Who Jesus is. Again, Apollos is fervent in spirit (which the earliest Christians understood to include the idea that the Holy Spirit was working through him), while the Ephesians had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. The contrasts are striking. It is difficult to be certain if these disciples were Christians already or not when Paul first meets them, so there is certainly little room to be dogmatic.
There are thus two mainstream viewpoints regarding rebaptism from this text.
The first is that Apollos had been baptized with the baptism of John before Jesus came, but had since learned of Him and hence had no need to be rebaptized. If this is the case, then the reason why the twelve disciples had to be rebaptized was either that they did not yet know about Jesus and/or that they had been baptized with John’s baptism after Jesus had already died and been resurrected, and after John’s baptism was replaced by the baptism of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). In other words, the Ephesians (believers in Jesus or not) had been baptized with John’s baptism after it was no longer authorized to be practiced (Matthew 21:25; Luke 20:4).
The second alternative is that Apollos was rebaptized, and Luke just doesn’t record it. Reese tells us:
“After learning all these facts, who can doubt that Apollos was baptized into Christ – just like the followers of the Baptist whom Paul teaches are baptized (Acts 19:5)?” (Gareth Reese: New Testament History-Acts: A Critical And Exegetical Commentary, 17472 (Kindle Edition): Moberly, MI: Scripture Exposition Books LLC)
This is certainly a possibility.
However, we have to ask why Luke wouldn’t record this rebaptism? After all, he notes the rebaptism of the Ephesians just a few verses later. And again, why would Luke go to the trouble to highlight the contrasts between Apollos and the Ephesians, suggesting that the Ephesians had not even heard of Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
Now, what does all of this teach us regarding the subject of rebaptism today?
First, if a baptized person did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God Who had died for us, been buried and resurrected on the third day, coupled with repentance, this baptism was ineffectual. Indeed, the account of the eunuch clearly demonstrates this to be the case:
Acts 8:37-38-Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
Second, while the actual baptizer is not important as to the validity of a baptism (cf. John 4:1-2; 1 Corinthians 1:1-17), the purpose (s) for which a person was baptized are important. Was the baptism from Heaven, or from men? There are some forty reasons listed in the New Testament for a person to be baptized, and doctrinal misunderstandings do not necessarily invalidate baptism. After all, the vast majority of baptism passages in the Epistles are written to disciples who had been baptized while (for whatever reason) they misunderstood some very important facts about baptism, which then needed to be corrected. Yet these same folks were never taught that their baptism had been rejected by the Lord!
When I study with people who have questions about rebaptism, we usually look at faith, repentance, and authority.
Did they believe in Jesus when they were baptized?
Did they repent of their sins, the necessity of which is demonstrated by confessing Jesus as Christ (the Divine Messiah Who is Lord), when they were baptized?
Was the purpose for their baptism from Heaven?
If there is question about any of these areas, I generally encourage my friends to consider being rebaptized. I encourage them to renounce denominationalism and to embrace the cause of promoting New Testament Christianity together with us as members of the churches of Christ (Luke 8:11). There is room and work for all (Mark 13:34)!
Lord, help us to grow in Your grace and knowledge. Amen.