Thought for the Week

If you were to watch the assembly of a present-day church, you would likely see babies being carried in and perhaps old people coming in with walkers, canes and wheel chairs. As it should be, the church is comprised of all age groups. In the same way there are people at all stages of spiritual development. Some need spiritual milk for they are babes in Christ. Some crave spiritual meat. They are hungry and eager for solid spiritual food. We can judge the natural age of church folk but we can not easily judge their spiritual age and development.

In the last "Thought," we looked at the spiritual development of Apollos. We encounter him as a Believer in God and God's plan of salvation, but he had only progressed to the story of John the Baptist and not so far as the life and ministry of Jesus. His encounter with Aquila and Priscilla brought tremendous changes in his spiritual development. He became a spiritual babe and moved on to becoming a strong believer in and proclaimer of the Gospel.

The story in the Book of Acts now shifts back to the Apostle Paul. The shift spans months of time. Paul returned to Jerusalem, offered his sacrifice, fulfilled his vow, enjoyed fellowship with the Jerusalem church and moved on to Antioch. There he gave the report of his missionary journey, likely including successes and failures.

After a period of time, he moves on overland toward Ephesus. He had promised to return there. He did. He encounters a dozen men. In the course of conversation, he asks them about their beliefs. I am thinking they were Jews, likely who had been dissatisfied with their spiritual condition.

If we could back up perhaps 30 years, we would find they had had an encounter with John the Baptist or others who had such an encounter. They accepted John's fervent calls for repentance from sin, and preparation for the coming Messiah. This is as far as they have come, likely because they had no further word. We find them in much the same state Apollos had been in when he met Priscilla and Aquila.

To Paul's question, "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" They answer, "No." This lets us know they had not heard the completion of John's message. John preached One was coming, mightier than he, who would baptize them with the Holy Ghost and fire. Clearly they had been longing for something more. So when Paul told them the next part of the story, likely some three years worth, they readily were re-baptized, this time in the Name of Jesus. As Paul placed his hands on them during baptism something like happened on the Day of Pentecost, happened again here in Ephesus. They received the Holy Ghost, spoke in tongues (to glorify God), and prophesied (to help others come to faith). (See Acts 2:4 & 11 and also 10:46.)

Paul moved on to the Ephesus synagogue to preach and teach about Jesus, The Christ. He was able to continue for several months before opposition along with persecution came against him.