In Acts 18 and 19, we run into something interesting. There were believers who knew all about Jesus, but only knew about the baptism of John. The first case we see is Apollos in Ephesus. Luke describes the situation this way:
“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” (Acts 18:24–26)
Luke doesn’t address the question of what happened to Apollos personally. Was he rebaptized? We don’t know.
Another group of Ephesian believers was rebaptized. Luke tells us:
“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.” (Acts 19:1–7)
We’ve already discussed the unusual description of how they received the Spirit. If someone wants to comment on that, I don’t mind; I’m just not going to go over that again.
I do want to look at the meaning and importance of baptism, based on these two stories. Like always, Luke doesn’t give us a lost/saved timeline to know exactly what happened with these people. Apollos is merely called a Jew who had been instructed in the way of the Lord; the believers in Ephesus are called “disciples.” Each believed in Christ and had been baptized. Yet something needed to be corrected.
Something real happens when we are baptized. You can know the right things about Jesus and believe in Him, yet still be lacking. You can still be missing something. Something real happens when we are baptized.
I like what N.T. Wright says in Surprised By Hope:
Successive Christian generations have struggled to find language to do justice to the reality of what happens in baptism and of what happens in the Eucharist. It is perhaps not surprising that they have largely failed because in fact the sacraments are designed to be their own language, ultimately untranslatable, even though we can describe what is going on from various angles, themselves all inadequate. (Kindle edition, location 4078)
Just because we find it hard to explain the hows and whys and whats doesn’t mean that baptism is a mere symbol. The water isn’t magical. The hands of the one doing the baptizing hold no special powers. But the act of being baptized in the name of Jesus changes our relationship with God.