Abstract
Water and fire went together and were seen as both destructive and salvific in Judaism at the time of the New Testament. In Acts Spirit baptism was assumed to follow water baptism (unless it preceded it). Acts 19.5 is the exception: those bap tized by John were rebaptized. It is not an exception. Acts 19.1-7 is made up of two sources: Acts 19.1D, 3, 4, 5, 7 Paul's encounter with those baptized in the name of John the Baptist; and Acts 19.1B, 2, 6, Paul's meeting with believers in Jesus who did not know that the Spirit was widely available, on whom he laid hands so that they received the Spirit. In the first source the usual pattern is preserved if we conjec ture ἐπíστεvσαν for ἐβαπτiσθησαν (Acts 19.5). The present text is a scribal corruption, the result of customary usage combined with an attempt to 'correct' a mistake.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.