Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
With the baptism of repentance (baptisma metanoiav). Cognate accusative with ebaptisen and the genitive metanoiav describing the baptism as marked by (case of species or genus), not as conveying, repentance just as in Mark 1:4 and that was the work of the Holy Spirit. But John preached also the baptism of the Holy Spirit which the Messiah was to bring (Mark 1:7 f.; Matthew 3:11 f.; Luke 3:16). If they did not know of the Holy Spirit, they had missed the point of John's baptism.
That they should believe on him that should come after him, that is on Jesus (eiv ton erxomenon met auton ina pisteuswsin, tout estin eiv ton Ihsoun). Note the emphatic prolepsis of eiv ton erxomenon met auton before ina pisteuswsin with which it is construed. This is John's identical phrase, "the one coming after me" as seen in Mark 1:7; Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16; John 1:15. It is not clear that these "disciples" believed in a Messiah, least of all in Jesus. They were wholly unprepared for the baptism of John. Paul does not mean to say that John's baptism was inadequate, but he simply explains what John really taught and so what his baptism signified.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 19:4:
Acts 18:6
Acts 18:25
Revelation 2:1
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