Today we see some disciples in Acts who had not heard of the Holy Spirit. They did not know about Jesus. They had been baptized into John's baptism. Notice that Paul in no way considered them to be baptized believers. They had not heard the proclamation of Jesus. They had been baptized as a sign of their repentance, but that is not Christian baptism. It is John's baptism. Paul baptized these people with a trinitarian baptism when they had heard the proclamation of Jesus as Lord, the fulfiller of the prophecies announced by John and his disciples.
How many people are still practicing John's baptism, not seeing the mighty efficacy of Christian baptism! We require adequate signs of repentance. We require testimonials. We require people to prove that they have believed well enough. This is foreign to the New Testament, where people receive the proclamation of the Gospel and are baptized, buried with Christ and raised to newness of life. As the Lutheran confessions say, it is not water, but water made effective by the Word of God, which regenerates through this sacrament.
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