Acts 19:5

Acts 19:5. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The willingness on the part of these followers of John the Baptist to be baptized anew in the name of the Lord Jesus, tells us that they had committed no error in doctrine, no mistake in looking upon their master John as Messiah; they confessed by submitting to the Christian rite that the baptism of John was simply provisional and preparatory. And so these passed in Ephesus, as doubtless did many another disciple of the great Forerunner in other lands, from the imperfect to the perfect Christianity, giving up nothing of their former belief, only adding to it the higher doctrines, especially those relating to the results worked by the death and resurrection of the Messiah and the later outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This verse has been the subject of much controversy among the early Protestant divines, who to oppose the Anabaptists and out of hatred to Rome, a very positive doctrine having been laid down by the Council of Trent on the question of the difference between the baptism of John and that of Christ haw attempted to give it a very unnatural meaning. They understand it thus: ‘When they namely, the hearers of John heard this testimony of his concerning Christ, they were baptized by John in the name of Jesus,' thus denying their re-baptism by Paul. But now that the Anabaptist danger is a thing of the past, now that decrees of the Council of Trent, if they embody an obvious truth, as is the case here, can quietly be accepted by Protestant as well as Romanist, the plain meaning of the text is generally received, and all expositors now agree that these disciples of John were re-baptized with the Christian baptism. That this had taken place before is almost certain, for on the day of Pentecost we read (Acts 2:41) how three thousand of the hearers of Peter and his companions were baptized. It is probable that among this multitude some, perhaps many, had already received the baptism of John.