Acts 19:4

4 Then Paul said: John baptized the people with the baptism of penance saying: That they should believe in him, who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus.

Acts 19:4 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 19:4

Then said Paul
In reply to their answer, understanding them that they were baptized by John, he takes it up, and gives an account of John's baptism: showing how agreeable it was, and that it was the same baptism with the baptism of Christ, being administered in his name:

John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance;
which required repentance antecedent to it, and was a fruit and effect, and so an evidence of it:

saying unto the people;
the people of the Jews, the common people, the multitude that attended on his ministry:

that they should believe on him, which should come after him,
that is, on Jesus Christ; so that he preached faith in Christ, as well as repentance towards God; and made the one as well as the other a necessary prerequisite unto baptism; which shows, that his baptism and Christian baptism are the same.

Acts 19:4 In-Context

2 And he said to them: Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? But they said to him: We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost.

3 And he said: In what then were you baptized? Who said: In John’s baptism.

4 Then Paul said: John baptized the people with the baptism of penance saying: That they should believe in him, who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus.

5 Having heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them: and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.