Paul's fifteen-hundred-mile journey begins with an orderly revisiting of churches in the region of Galatia and Phrygia (literally, "the Galatian region and Phrygia"). Luke is probably pointing here to the portion of Lycaonia in the province of Galatia and the ethnic region of Phrygia, also located within the province. Here Paul had planted churches during the first missionary journey (Acts 13—14; see note at 16:6). With exhortation Paul "shores up" all the disciples, making them firm to face persecution from without and false teaching from within (14:22; 15:32, 41; compare Ex 17:12 and Judg 16:26, 29 LXX). Paul's continuous practice should be ours: to continue to affirm and confirm converts in their faith so that they may become lifelong disciples.

Luke now catches us up on Apollos's ministry at Ephesus and Corinth in the interval between Paul's visits (18:24-28). Apollos (short form of Apollonius), an Alexandrian Jew, had evidently taken advantage of the education of that city and especially its Jewish community. Alexandria, known for its museum, library and ancillary learning facilities, boasted a Jewish population containing scholars who had produced the Septuagint and later counted Philo the philosopher among their ranks. Luke characterizes Apollos as learned and proceeds to specify his area of competence: a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures (literally, "being mighty in the Scriptures"). Luke further defines his expertise: Apollos has been instructed in the way of the Lord and is able to teach about Jesus accurately.

If Luke had not added the qualification he knew only the baptism of John, we would be inclined to think Apollos was a Christian, for he knew the gospel, the way of the Lord, which is to be identified with "things about Jesus" (compare Bruce 1988:358-59). When we understand with great fervor (zeon to pneumati) in the same way as Romans 12:11, "aglow with the Spirit," the picture of a regenerate Apollos lacking only Christian baptism seems complete. Luke normally presents Christian baptism as the outward sign that the inward reception of the Spirit at conversion has taken place (Acts 2:38-39; 9:17-18; 10:44-48). To present Apollos as having the Spirit without having obtained Christian baptism would be an anomaly. Of course some see the lack of reference to Christian baptism as an indicator that Apollos is considered to have the Spirit and therefore not to need the rite (Krodel 1986:355).

We encounter less difficulty, though, if we take Apollos to be a knowledgeable, fervent but unregenerate disciple of John the Baptist who believes Jesus is the Messiah but does not understand the present saving significance of his death and resurrection. Further, he is unaware of what Pentecost means for all who are baptized in the name of Jesus. The way of the Lord that he knows, then, is not the gospel, but God's way of salvation set forth in the promises of the Old Testament (Is 40:3-5/Lk 3:4-6; compare 1QS 8:13-14). The "boiling over of spirit" with which he speaks is the fervor of his own spirit (NIV) and not the Holy Spirit's glow. Apollos preaches boldly from the perspective of promise and preparation, an "underrealized eschatology" if you will, as if Ezekiel 36:25 had occurred but not verses 26-27.

The best analogy to Apollos today is a nominal, cultural Christian raised in the liberal theological tradition of the West. Such a person may display the same fervor and the same knowledge about the earthly Jesus' life and teachings. Whether in the "social gospel" of a prior generation or current calls to work for peace, justice, human rights and a safe, clean environment, there are echoes of the preparatory repentance preaching of John (Lk 3:10-14). These concerns rightly answer the venerable question "What would Jesus do?" But since they focus only on human effort, they trap the adherents in, at best, a life of humanly induced goodness and, at worst, the emptiness of dull religious practice. Salvation by grace and the blessing of the indwelling Holy Spirit are completely missed.

Priscilla and Aquila, having heard Apollos's preaching, invited him to their home (also possible: "took him aside") and explained to him the way of God more adequately. This couple's grace in considerately instructing Apollos out of the limelight and his grace in receiving their words mean that another person has entered the kingdom of the Messiah. Apollos needed and received "what all religious people desperately need—an experience of the substitutionary sacrifice of Calvary as the only basis of righteousness with the Lord, and an infusion of His Spirit as the only source of power to live life as He meant it to be lived" (Ogilvie 1983:271).

Complete in gospel and truly incorporated into the faith, Apollos desires to go to Achaia. The church encourages him and writes letters of commendation (compare 2 Cor 3;1). There Apollos proves a great help . . . by grace to the believers (1 Cor 3:6; 16:12; compare Acts 6:8; 14:26; 15:40; 20:32). Through a very effective apologetic ministry, completely refuting the Jews in public debate (compare 6:10), Apollos clearly demonstrates from the Scriptures (literally, "through the Scriptures") that Jesus was the Christ (literally, "that the Messiah is Jesus"—the word order shows the direction of the argument; compare 18:5).

Apollos now bears the unmistakable marks of a Christian: recognition and encouragement within the body of Christ, divine grace suffusing his natural abilities so that the effect is powerfully of God, and a clear witness to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the standard for any knowledgeable professing Christians who with ability and enthusiasm are trying to follow the teachings of Jesus in their own strength. If such persons are teachable like Apollos, they will learn the whole gospel and come to the Spirit and eternal life.

Luke picks up Paul's itinerary with the note that the apostle takes a hilly, higher-elevation route west to Ephesus. This was more direct than the regular trade route down the Lycus and Maenander valleys. Ephesus, "the principal trading center of Asia" (Strabo Geography 12.8.15), with its harbor and network of roads reaching into the interior, has caught Paul's strategic eye. It will serve well his purposes for penetrating a whole province evangelistically (19:10, 26).

From Paul's diagnostic questions and the response of the Ephesian disciples we quickly learn what Paul evidently suspects: these persons are not truly regenerate. Luke labels them disciples probably because at first their outward identification with the Christian believers led Paul to take them for true Christians. Does Paul's first question about receiving the Holy Spirit indicate that he sees none of the Spirit's fruit or giftings in their lives? The combination of questions certainly tells us that Paul assumes that saving faith, the reception of the Spirit and Christian baptism converge at conversion (see references at the discussion of Apollos, above, for Luke's accord with this view).

The disciples' response about the Spirit, which the NIV translates literally, should probably be taken to mean that they have not heard of the Holy Spirit's contemporary presence (compare Jn 7:39). If they do not know the Old Testament's witness to the Spirit's existence (Num 11:16-17, 24-29; Is 63:10-11; Joel 2:28-32), they certainly would know such a witness from the preaching of John the Baptist, whose baptism they had received (Lk 3:16). In fact, John's preaching of the imminent arrival of a Messiah in eschatological judgment tied closely together the baptism "with the Holy Spirit and with fire." His followers, even if they had heard about Pentecost, probably would not have seen it as the fulfillment of John's prophecy, for the purifying fire of final judgment had not immediately followed Pentecost. As Paul's corrective steps show (Acts 19:4-6), these disciples, like Apollos, are at best nominal Christians, and at worst simply disciples of John. In either case they are living without either the truth or the power of the Christian gospel.

How many professing Christians today could make the statement these twelve made: we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit? Perhaps they heard the good news of the Spirit's presence but did not really hear it, because they were resistant or not ready. Maybe they have not been taught a whole gospel, so that they do not expect to find the Spirit active today.

Paul's corrective is to preach the gospel to the twelve by pointing out the preparatory and therefore partial nature of the baptism of repentance and of John's message pointing to the Messiah who was to come. Though the Gospels never explicitly state that John called for faith in Christ, the status and role he gave to Jesus certainly imply it (Lk 3:16-17; Jn 1:27; 3:23-30). Paul makes the point that Jesus is this "coming one."

To receive the gospel qualifies one to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and this is what the twelve do (Acts 2:38-39). This is no "rebaptism," for after the triumph of Easter and the provision of full salvation blessings at Pentecost, a preparatory baptism of repentance is more than incomplete—it is obsolete (Lk 16:16; Eph 4:5).

Not as part of baptism but in order to communicate to these twelve that they are now incorporated into the church and the Spirit has indeed come, Paul lays hands on them (compare Acts 8:17). The Lord in his mercy gives outward manifestations, "other languages" (the NIV margin should be followed if the parallel to Pentecost [2:4] is to be fully shown) and prophecy, confirming to them that full salvation blessings are indeed theirs now.

As we reflect on conversion experiences at Pentecost, in Samaria and at Caesarea with Gentile God-fearers, what is unique to the various first-century situations and what is normative for all time? Unique items, given to demonstrate to various groups and to Jewish Christian observers the direct incorporation of various groups of non-Jews into the body of Christ, are the apostolic laying on of hands and the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit's presence, speaking in other languages and prophecy. Necessary precedents having been set, there is no need in God's economy for their normative repetition in every Christian's experience (Acts 15:7-11). But "repentance, faith in Jesus, water baptism and the gift of the Spirit . . . belong together and are universal in Christian initiation" (Stott 1990:305; Lk 24:46-47; Acts 2:38-39).