Bible Strands
Acts 19:3
“Into what, then, were you baptized?” Paul asked. “The baptism of John,” they replied.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul asks a group of newly arrived believers in Ephesus which baptism they underwent, immediately after they confess they never heard of the Holy Spirit.
The words — The question hinges on εἰς (eis) and ἐβαπτίσθητε (ebaptisthēte), literally translating to “into what were you baptized?”
The thread — This inquiry bridges John’s wilderness preaching (Matthew 3:1) with the later apostolic command to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).
Why it lands — The text forces a direct comparison between a preparatory rite and the full revelation of Christ, requiring the reader to examine whether their own faith rests on incomplete instruction or complete truth.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Cross-references
- Acts 18:25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
- Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea
- Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
- Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
- Acts 8:16 For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.