Christians Who Have Not Received The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit
Acts 19:1-7
Acts 19:1-7 (NKJV) [1] And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples [2] 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." [3] And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." [4] Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." [5] When they heard [this,] they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [6] And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. [7] Now the men were about twelve in all.
Note 1 at Acts 19:1: These twelve men (Acts 19:7) were born again (see note 2 at John 3:3 and note 5 at John 3:7). Otherwise, they would not have been called disciples (see note 8 at John 8:31). It was certain that they were not the Pharisees' or anyone else's disciples except the disciples of Jesus, or else Paul would not have asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost since they had believed. He would have known that people cannot receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost until they have first believed on Jesus (see note 27 at John 14:17).
Therefore, these men had believed (Acts 19:2) in Jesus, but they were not operating in the power of the Spirit that came through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2, see note 1 at Acts 18:24). This shows that Christians can be born again without having the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from being born again (see note 6 at Acts 2:4).
They heard about the Spirit baptism, believed, were re-baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5), and then immediately received the baptism of the Holy Ghost with gifts of the Holy Spirit evident (Acts 19:6). This proves that there does not have to be a waiting period or tarrying for the Holy Ghost (see note 4 at Luke 24:49).
