The first verse takes up the story of Paul where 18:23 left off, and brings him to Ephesus. His work there falls into the following categories:
as apostle (19:1-7);
as apologist (19:8-10);
as miracle-worker (19:11-20).
The disciples who professed to be ignorant of the Holy Spirit (19:2) must have been Gentiles if we take their statement in a precisely literal way, for all Jews would recall the Old Testament teaching of Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10, etc. These men were believers (19:2) and had been baptized as disciples of John the Baptist (19:3). Possibly the description “disciples” (19:1) is meant to fit this case, as in Matthew 14:12, though it is just conceivable that they were disciples of Apollos, whose earlier life as an incomplete believer seems to have matched theirs (18:25). At all events we are clearly meant to see here:
An exceptional circumstance of a small (hence the number is given, 19:7) group of men who had believed in Christ (as the coming One, heralded by John) and had received a pre-Pentecostal baptism in anticipation of the Messiah’s coming. Their Christian knowledge and experience therefore, while sincere and genuine, was defective.
A transition from the anticipatory baptism of John (and Apollos?) to the fulfillment—baptism which is the norm in the gospel age. In Ephesians 1:13 Paul states explicitly the accepted sequence, with the same aorist participle in the Greek (“having believed”) to be construed as coincident in time with the action of the chief verb. So, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit at the time of your believing?” corresponds exactly to the Pauline teaching: “At the time of your believing you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” No interval is envisaged, and the possibility of believing without the sealing of the Spirit is not entertained. This is why the Ephesian disciples are an exceptional case.
A polemic against remaining content with John’s baptism and a pre-Pentecostal faith and experience. The men were encouraged to submit to Christian baptism, which was followed by apostolic ordination and the gift of “tongues” (19:6).
Notes 19:1: the wording implies that Paul’s attention was drawn to these men and their needs. Hence his query (19:2). 19:2-3: the intimate connection between baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit is plain (2:38; 1 Corinthians 12:13). John’s baptism is described in 1:5; 11:16; 13:24f.,18-25, and John’s Gospel, 3:23ff. A Johannine movement persisted in the later centuries.
