Acts 13 through 19 cover the broadest geographical and theological sweep of the book, Paul's missionary journeys carrying the gospel from Antioch to Cyprus, to Asia Minor, to Macedonia and Greece, city by city, synagogue by synagogue, marketplace by marketplace. The gospel moves into new territory in every chapter, and opposition follows close behind. Through it all, the standard of salvation established in Acts 2:38 never wavers. When Paul finds disciples who have not received baptism in Jesus' name and the Holy Spirit, he addresses it immediately. When a jailer in Philippi cries out wanting to know how to be saved, the household is baptized the same night. Acts 13–19 is the missionary expansion of the blueprint, and the blueprint never changes regardless of which city the missionaries enter.
"Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."
"And he brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' So they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.'"
"Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent."
"And finding some disciples he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' So they said to him, 'We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.' And he said to them, 'Into what then were you baptized?' So they said, 'Into John's baptism.'... And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied."
The first missionary journey begins not with a church committee vote or a human strategy session but with a specific directive from the Holy Spirit during a time of worship and fasting in the church at Antioch: "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (13:2). The laying on of hands followed, and they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. This is a pattern worth noting: the same Spirit that was poured out in Acts 2 is now actively directing the mission of the church, selecting missionaries, and sending them out. The church does not merely pray for guidance and then do its own thing, the Holy Spirit is operationally involved in the direction of the gospel's advance.
Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:16–41) is one of the most complete proclamations of the gospel in the book of Acts. He traces Israel's history, identifies John the Baptist as the forerunner, announces Jesus' death and resurrection, and declares that through this Jesus is preached the forgiveness of sins, something the law of Moses could never fully provide. Justification from all things. Complete and final. The sermon ends with a solemn warning: "Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: 'Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, even if one tells you'" (vv.40–41, quoting Habakkuk 1:5). Many believed. The Gentiles begged that these words be preached to them on the next Sabbath. And on the following Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God.
Opposition from the Jewish leaders drove Paul and Barnabas away, and they turned to the Gentiles with one of the most important theological pivots in Acts: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" (13:46). This is not a rejection of Israel but a fulfillment of prophecy, God had always planned for the gospel to reach the nations. And the Gentiles rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed (v.48).
In Philippi, Paul and Silas cast an evil spirit out of a slave girl who had been bringing her masters great profit through fortune-telling. Her masters, enraged at the loss of their income, dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates, who had them beaten with rods and thrown into prison, their feet fastened in the stocks. The situation by every natural measure was catastrophic, they were beaten, imprisoned, and in pain. And at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. The response to suffering was not silence, bitterness, or despair. It was worship.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. The jailer, awakening and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword to kill himself, supposing the prisoners had fled, a jailer who lost prisoners could face execution under Roman law. Paul cried out with a loud voice: "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." The jailer called for a light, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and asked the question that every human heart, in its most honest moments, asks: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
Paul and Silas answered: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (16:31). This verse is often used to argue that belief alone is sufficient for salvation and that nothing else is required. But look at what happens immediately after: Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house (v.32). They preached to him. Then the jailer took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And immediately he and all his family were baptized (v.33). "Believe" in Paul's answer was not a full description of the process of salvation, it was the starting point. The full response included hearing the Word, and then immediate baptism, the same night, the same hour. This is not a contradiction of Acts 2:38 but a confirmation of it: belief leads to baptism, and the baptism happens immediately.
Athens was the intellectual capital of the ancient world, the city of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It was filled with idols, and Paul's spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city given over to idolatry (17:16). He reasoned in the synagogue with Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and also in the marketplace with whoever happened to be there. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers engaged him in debate, some dismissing him as a babbler, others curious about his teaching on the resurrection. They brought him to the Areopagus, the Court of the Hill of Mars, and asked him to explain this new doctrine.
Paul's sermon at the Areopagus is a masterclass in contextualizing the gospel without compromising it. He begins where his audience is, not condemning them immediately but acknowledging their religious devotion: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious" (17:22). He uses their own altar inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" as a bridge: "The One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you" (v.23). He quotes their own poets: "For in Him we live and move and have our being" and "We are also His offspring" (v.28). He meets them in their philosophical framework. And then he makes the turn that no Athenian philosopher could accommodate: this God who made everything and needs nothing has set a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has ordained, and He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
The universal command Paul delivers at Athens is one of the most sweeping statements in all of Acts: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent" (17:30). All men. Everywhere. The command is not restricted to a culture, a generation, or a religion. It is a command for all humanity in every age. The reason is the resurrection, God has appointed a day of judgment, and the resurrection of Jesus is the proof. Some mocked at the mention of the resurrection. Some said they would hear him again. But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris. The gospel takes root even in the most philosophical, skeptical soil in the world.
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul came to Ephesus and found some disciples, people who were already identified as believers in some sense. He asked them a question that every Apostolic pastor should ask every person who comes through the church door: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" Their answer was startling: "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." Paul pressed further: "Into what then were you baptized?" They said: "Into John's baptism." John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, Paul explained, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. This was sufficient in its time. But Jesus had come. The Spirit had been poured out. There was now a baptism in Jesus' name that superseded John's preparatory baptism.
Paul's response to discovering these twelve disciples was immediate and non-negotiable: he baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Not "your baptism is close enough." Not "you believed, so you're fine." He rebaptized them, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then he laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied (19:5–6). Three things happened in sequence: rebaptism in Jesus' name, laying on of hands, Holy Spirit with tongues and prophecy. The pattern is identical to every other conversion in Acts. The name matters. The Spirit is not optional. And Paul, the greatest theologian the church has ever produced, treated both as essential enough to lead already-believing disciples through the complete process.
The revival that followed in Ephesus was extraordinary. Paul taught daily in the school of Tyrannus for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks (19:10). God worked unusual miracles through Paul, handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them. When the sons of Sceva tried to exorcise an evil spirit using the name of Jesus without the authority of the Spirit, the demon leaped on them and they fled naked and wounded, demonstrating that the name of Jesus without genuine Spirit-filled relationship is empty. Many who had practiced magic arts burned their books publicly, valued at fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed (19:20).
Acts 19:1–6 is one of the most significant passages in all of Acts for Apostolic theology, and it deserves to be read slowly and carefully. These were already "disciples", people who had faith, who were seeking God, who were not strangers to the things of God. But Paul's first question was not "are you serving God faithfully?" It was "did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" The absence of the Spirit was immediately identified as a deficiency that needed to be corrected. When Paul discovered that their baptism was John's baptism rather than baptism in Jesus' name, he did not accept that as sufficient. He baptized them again, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then the Holy Spirit came with the evidence of tongues. Paul, who wrote Romans 8:9 ("if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His"), would never have left people in the condition of Acts 19:2. The Spirit is not peripheral. The name is not peripheral. If Paul considered it necessary to rebaptize people who had only received John's baptism, what does that say about people today who have been baptized with titles instead of the name of Jesus? The Ephesus passage is not a historical curiosity, it is the clearest single passage in Acts showing that Paul himself required the full Acts 2:38 standard for people he found who had not yet received it.
Stay Connected
Free Bible studies and devotionals delivered regularly, no spam, just Scripture.