Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 19:4

"And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus." — Acts 19:4 (ASV)

John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance.—These words may fairly be regarded as giving the summary of what was actually a fuller teaching. The distinctive point in it was that John's baptism was, by his own declaration, simply provisional and preparatory. He taught his disciples to believe in Jesus, and belief implied obedience, and obedience baptism in His name. It is not without significance that the list of elementary doctrines in Hebrews 6:1-4, addressed, we may believe, by Apollos to those who had once been his disciples, includes what those who are now before us might have learned from him in their spiritual childhood, and that he then passes on to describe the higher state of those who had been illumined, and had tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost (Hebrews 6:4–6).