Tackling Tradition 82: Acts 19:1 - 7

Those who make much of New Testament baptism have been known to assert that one must be baptized in the name of Christ in order to have received the Holy Spirit.       Some go so far to say that one must be baptized in order to do so.   One of their major prooftexts is Acts 19: 1 - 7. 19 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spiritwhen you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophe...
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Matthew On The Virgin Birth

According to some critics of the Bible, the Virgin Birth, & assorted Village Atheists & Skeptics, the author(s) of Matthew invented the Virgin Birth by reformulating or outright misquoting the text of Isaiah 7:14.  

The key to correctly understanding this text. Matthew’s citation of Isaiah 7:14 is found in the doctrine of Continuationism. The objection assumes Cessationism & it assumes that the Hebrew reading is the only correct reading.  However, if Continuationism obtains (WSC 5.3), then this objection disappears. 

The Hebrew version of Isaiah reads “young woman of marriable age.”   The LXX reads, “virgin.”  Which one is correct?   The solution is simple & elegant: 

Both!  The Hebrew points us to the child born in Isaiah’s name as an answer to Ahaz.   Matthew chooses the LXX version to point us to Christ.   From a continuationist perspective, God inspired both versions & inspired Matthew to use the LXX not the Hebrew.   


O LORD, Hear our prayer(s)!

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