Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Hello again, dear ones.
I can tell that my legs have been stressed. We had a great time skiing yesterday. Conditions weren’t perfect, but we found some nice areas of good snow. I was able to hang in there right up till closing time.
Now for my big list. Milling, signage, electrical work, shelving, fabrication of sign shop table, getting an old dump truck running—and lots more.
Blessings on your day.
Love, Dad/Ray
The “disciples” that Paul encountered in Ephesus were apparently disciples of John the Baptist’s ministry and, for whatever reason, had not yet been updated and upgraded with a fuller understanding of the theme of John’s ministry role and function—to help people get their dirty hearts cleaned up and prepared by means of repentance (a sincere seeking of God with a desire to please Him—A HEART AFTER GOD) to receive the Christ. And receiving Him is not optional, you know. Christ Jesus Himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6). That sounds pretty important to me.
There are many ways to connect dots in this passage, but I think it would be helpful to let Eugene Peterson retell the account in his paraphrased modern English (Acts 19:1-7, THE MESSAGE):
Now, it happened that while Apollos was away in Corinth, Paul made his way down through the mountains, came to Ephesus, and happened on some disciples there. The first thing he said was, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?”
“We’ve never even heard of that—a Holy Spirit? God within us?”
“How were you baptized, then?” asked Paul.
“In John’s baptism.”
“That explains it,” said Paul.
“John preached a baptism of radical life-change so that people would be ready to receive the One coming after him, who turned out to be Jesus. If you’ve been baptized in John’s baptism, you’re ready now for the real thing, for Jesus.”
And they were. As soon as they heard of it, they were baptized in the name of the Master Jesus. Paul put his hands on their heads and the Holy Spirit entered them. From that moment on, they were praising God in tongues and talking about God’s actions. Altogether there were about twelve people there that day.