Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?--rather, "Received ye the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" implying, certainly, that the one did not of necessity carry the other along with it (see on Acts 8:14-17). Why this question was asked, we cannot tell; but it was probably in consequence of something that passed between them from which the apostle was led to suspect the imperfection of their light.
We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost--This cannot be the meaning, since the personality and office of the Holy Ghost, in connection with Christ, formed an especial subject of the Baptist's teaching. Literally, the words are, "We did not even hear whether the Holy Ghost was (given)"; meaning, at the time of their baptism. That the word "given" is the right supplement, as in John 7:39, seems plain from the nature of the case.
SIGNAL SUCCESS OF PAUL AT EPHESUS. (Acts 19:1-41)
while Apollos was at Corinth--where his ministry was so powerful that a formidable party in the Church of that city gloried in his type of preaching in preference to Paul's (1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 3:4), no doubt from the marked infusion of Greek philosophic culture which distinguished it, and which the apostle studiously avoided (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
Paul having passed through the upper coasts--"parts," the interior of Asia Minor, which, with reference to the seacoast, was elevated.
came to Ephesus--thus fulfilling his promise (Acts 18:21).
finding certain disciples--in the same stage of Christian knowledge as Apollos at first, newly arrived, probably, and having had no communication as yet with the church at Ephesus.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Acts 8:15-16
Acts 18:25
Ephesians 1:13
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