In Acts 19 we continue to see the sovereignty of God at work in building His church. Some time after Apollos left Ephesus, Paul came to that city “and found some disciples” (Acts 19:1). From verses 2 and 3 we learn that these disciples: 1) had believed – they believed the accurate teaching concerning Jesus, likely by Apollos (Acts 18:25); 2) did not yet know about the giving of the Holy Spirit to those who believed in the Lord Jesus; and 3) had been baptized into John’s baptism – another sign that their original teaching had come from Apollos (see Acts 18:25 again). Paul proceeded to clarify what they had learned previously about baptism as well as what they had not learned about the Holy Spirit. He then baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus, at which time the Holy Spirit manifested His presence in the lives of these disciples of Jesus.
As he did in Corinth, Paul was willing to spend extended time in Ephesus to make disciples and establish the church there. We’ve already seen him baptize believers in the name of the Lord. Then verse 8 speaks of how he was going to the synagogue for three months to persuade the Jews concerning the kingdom of God; i.e., he continued doing evangelism. Finally when they were becoming hardened and speaking against the followers, or disciples, of Jesus, verses 9 and 10 state that Paul took them away to a school of discipleship where he was teaching them for two whole years. Their discipleship training included learning to do evangelism, as it says that all who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (v. 10b). Going in the task of evangelism, baptizing believers to identity with the church, and teaching the disciples how to follow Christ – Paul was obedient to the commission that Jesus had given to His apostles (Mat. 28:19-20): Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We have the same commission from the same Lord.