Day 266: Acts 19:1–7

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” “No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit” (v. 2).

Acts 19 begins with Paul’s meeting an interesting group of believers. They did not know about the Holy Spirit, and they had received only the baptism of John. These people were in a strange situation—in limbo between the Old and New Testaments. Paul told them of Christ with the result that they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and prophesied.

These original converts knew virtually nothing about the Holy Spirit. Even their knowledge of the Old Testament didn’t help much because the Spirit’s activity was so different after the coming of Christ. Remember, only about a hundred people in the Old Testament were ever described as having the Holy Spirit in or on them. Prior to Christ and the birth of the New Testament church, the Spirit’s purpose was not to mark salvation but to empower certain individuals for designated tasks. Since the birth of the church, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in every believer in Christ (see Rom. 8:9). John’s baptism was a sign of repentance in anticipation of the coming Christ. Christian baptism is a mark to demonstrate the salvation Christ has given and the receipt of the Holy Spirit.

God knew the concept of the Holy Spirit would be difficult for new believers to understand as He raised up His church, so God made His Spirit obvious. He sometimes accompanied His Spirit with a sudden physical evidence such as speaking in tongues. Few topics have caused division like speaking in tongues. But no matter what you believe about tongues, Paul was clear on at least two points concerning the activity of the Holy Spirit:

1. All believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit resides in all believers equally (see 1 Cor. 12:13).

2. Not all believers spoke in tongues (see 1 Cor. 12:30).

Many believe God never uses the gift of tongues today. Many others believe God always gives the gift of tongues to every true believer. I believe we are wise to avoid words like always and never. He told us to love one another, not judge one another.