THE CHURCH IN PROGRESS:
THE WORK OF THE APOSTLES

As they continued in Philippi, they cast a demon out of a slave girl who was being used by her masters for fortune telling. They were seized and dragged to the marketplace to face the authorities. They were charged with advocating custom unlawful for Romans to practice. They were put in the inner cell and fastened by their feet in stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns while other prisoners listened. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, and the doors of the prison were shaken open. The jailer awakened, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, fearing the prisoners were escaping and he would have to give his life for theirs. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here! “The jailer called for the lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in the house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God - he and his whole family” (Acts 16:16-34).

As Paul and Silas continue their journey, they left Athens and went to Corinth. While there they went into the synagogue to persuade both Jews and Greeks. When they were opposed by the Jews, Paul shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:1,5-8).

When Paul traveled to Ephesus he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:1-6).

When Paul wrote a letter to the brethren at Corinth, he reminded them that “the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are man, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1Cor. 12:12,13). (Read Acts 2:38; and Eph. 4:4-6 in connection with this scripture).

When Paul wrote a letter to the brethren in Galatia, explaining the difference in what the Law of Moses and the faith in Christ could do, he said: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:26,27). All of these passages prove that not only did the disciples preach the gospel, but they baptized people in the carrying out of the Great Commission.

-Gene A. Ellmore-