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Acts 19:2

in Acts 19

and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” “No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given.

KJV

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

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This verse in Acts 19

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Acts · Written before 735.

And he said to them: Did you receive the Holy Spirit upon believing? This means, Did you receive the laying on of hands, by which the Holy Spirit is usually given, after baptism?

This site's exposition

came to Ephesus

on Acts 19:1-2

Paul comes to Ephesus by the upper, inland route, arriving while Apollos is already teaching at Corinth, and finds certain disciples there whose exact status the chapter is about to test. Asked whether they received the Holy Ghost since they believed, they answer that they have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Ghost, a reply commentators have long weighed between ignorance of a distinct gift of the Spirit and, less likely given John's own teaching in John 1:33, ignorance that the Spirit had yet been given at all. The site's continuationist reading holds that these twelve are genuine but incomplete believers under John's preparatory baptism, still awaiting the fuller reality Pentecost brought, a reading held alongside others that treat them as disciples of John never yet joined to Christ at all. The bench notes that whichever reading is taken, the text moves at once to supply what is lacking rather than to debate the category.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Have ye received the Holy Ghost? - The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, as well as his sanctifying graces? We have not so much as heard - Whether there be any such gifts.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Have ye received the Holy Ghost - It is likely that these were Asiatic Jews, who, having been at Jerusalem about twenty-six years before this, had heard the preaching of John, and received his baptism, believing in the coming Christ, whom John had proclaimed; but it appears that till this time they had got no farther instruction in the Christian religion. Paul, perceiving this, asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed?
IT may be well to notice what question the Apostle did not put to these Ephesian disciples of John. He did not say to them, "Have you believed?" This would have been a very important question and it ought to be settled once and for all. Our faith must either be boldly affirmed or sorrowfully denied—it should not remain the subject of question. It is a great pity that so many Christians are always saying, "Have I believed?"

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

on Acts 19:1-3

Paul having passed through the upper coasts--"parts," the interior of Asia Minor, which, with reference to the seacoast, was elevated. came to Ephesus--thus fulfilling his promise (Ac 18:21). finding certain disciples--in the same stage of Christian knowledge as Apollos at first, newly arrived, probably, and having had no communication as yet with the church at Ephesus.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost--This cannot be the meaning, since the personality and office of the Holy Ghost, in connection with Christ, formed an especial subject of the Baptist's teaching. Literally, the words are, "We did not even hear whether the Holy Ghost was (given)"; meaning, at the time of their baptism.

The words behind it

20 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

15 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

John 20:22When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.9 worksRomans 10:14How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?9 worksActs 8:16For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.8 worksGalatians 3:5Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?6 works1 Corinthians 6:19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;6 worksActs 11:15–17As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.6 works
The other 9 cross-references, with their words ▾
John 7:39He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.5 works1 Samuel 3:7Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.5 worksActs 19:5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.4 works1 Corinthians 12:1–11Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.3 worksRomans 1:11For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,3 worksActs 2:17‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.3 worksActs 8:15–17On their arrival, they prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit.3 worksActs 10:44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message.3 worksActs 2:38–39Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.3 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 6:19

    Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 3:16

      Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

    • 2 Corinthians 6:16

      What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and…

    • 1 Peter 2:5

      you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    • Ephesians 2:21–22

      In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

    • 1 Corinthians 6:15–16

      Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

  • Through

    John 7:39

    He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

    it leads to

    • Acts 2:17

      ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

    • Joel 2:28

      And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

  • Through

    Galatians 3:5

    Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

    it leads to

    • Galatians 3:2

      I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Ascension — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
The Ascension — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
Acts: the study guide →Read Acts 19 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on Acts; Bede, Commentary on Acts; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1790: “Receiving the Holy Spirit” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament.

Read on in Acts 19 →