Acts 19:4 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance. — The words may fairly be regarded as giving the summary of what was actually a fuller teaching. The distinctive point in it was that the baptism of John was, by his own declaration, simply provisional and preparatory. He taught his disciples to believe in Jesus, and belief implied obedience, and obedience baptism in His name. It is not without significance that the list of elementary doctrines in Hebrews 6:1-4, addressed, we may believe, by Apollos to those who had once been his disciples, includes what those who are now before us might have learnt from him in their spiritual childhood, and that he then passes on to describe the higher state of those who had been “illumined,” and had “tasted of the heavenly gift,” and been made “partakers of the Holy Ghost” (Hebrews 6:4-6).