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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Psalm 1

Book I
Psalms 1–41

Psalm 1

Two Responses to God’s Word

The Way of the Godly Leads to Blessing

1 How blessed is the man
    who does not walk in the advice of the wicked,
    who does not stand on the path with sinners,
    and who does not sit in a meeting with mockers.
2 But his delight is in the teaching[a] of the Lord,
and on his teaching he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season,
    and its leaves do not wither.
Everything he does prospers.

The Way of the Ungodly Leads to Destruction

4 Not so the wicked!
No, they are like the chaff which the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Conclusion

6 Yes, the Lord approves[b] of the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 1:2 The Hebrew torah is traditionally translated law, but the term torah also includes other types of instruction besides legal regulations, so here it is translated with the more general term teaching.
  2. Psalm 1:6 Literally knows

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