Why Hadn't They Heard?

By Donna Franklin

Texts:
Mark 1:1 - "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
Mark 1:4 – "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."
Acts 19:1-6 – "And it came to pass, that…Paul…came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
Acts 2:38 – "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Mark tells us that John the Baptist was “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Luke tells us, in the book of Acts, that Peter required every baptism to be in the name of Jesus Christ. Peter had been given the keys to the Kingdom and knew what Jesus had taught. And the other eleven apostles stood up with him in agreement.

Nowhere in the Acts of the Apostles did they baptize any way but in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 4:12 says "there is no other name..." Yet, here we learn that John the Baptist — from the very beginning — did NOT baptize in the titles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If he had, his disciples would not have told Paul they hadn’t so much as HEARD whether there be any Holy Ghost. He certainly would have explained to them about “the third person in God,” if he believed in such a thing.


What about Matthew 28:19, you say? Tell you what. Find someone who teaches the English language, and ask that person to diagram that sentence. They will show you how that “in the name” is a prepositional phrase and below it there will be three more prepositional phrases that belong to it. Do notice that “name” is SINGULAR. What does that mean? It means that all the titles listed below it are referring to a single name! Go back to the book of Acts, and I’m fairly sure you will be able to figure out what that name is. Yes, it is JESUS!

Edtorial Note: Sis. Donna Franklin is a faithful member of the United Pentecostal Church in Paoli, Oklahoma (Pastor Terry Erwin). She loves to write and is a strong believer in Bible truth.