Acts 19:2 (King James Version)
He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Acts 19:2 (New International Version)
...and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
| 2 | and | asked | • | them | • | , | “ | Did | you | receive | the | Holy | Spirit | when | |||||||||||||
| τε2 | εἶπέν1 | πρὸς3 | αὐτούς4 | Εἰ5 | → | → | ἐλάβετε8 | ►6 | ἅγιον7 | πνεῦμα6 | → |
| you | believed | ?” | ||
| → | πιστεύσαντες9 |
| • | They | answered | , | “ | No | , | we | have | not | even | heard | that | there | ||||||||
| δὲ11 | οἱ10 | πρὸς12 αὐτόν13 | Ἀλλʼ14 | → | ►20 | οὐδʼ15 | ← | ἠκούσαμεν20 | εἰ16 | → |
| is | a | Holy | Spirit | .” | |||
| ἔστιν19 | ►17 | ἅγιον18 | πνεῦμα17 |
Acts 19:2 represents one of the most consequential mistranslations in the KJV, where a single preposition fundamentally altered Christian theology by suggesting the Holy Spirit’s reception occurs after conversion rather than at conversion. The KJV renders Paul asking the disciples “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” while all modern translations translate “when you believed,” a difference that is not slight.[1]
The Grammatical Foundation
The Greek literally reads “Having believed, did you receive?” with “having believed” (pisteusantes) as a Greek aorist past participle and “did you receive” (elabete) as the main verb, also in the aorist.[2] The tense of the participle normally shows its relation to the main verb, and because this participle is in the past, this normally means that its action precedes the action of the main verb.[2] The King James translators, as good Greek scholars, translated the participle “since ye believed” to bring out that the believing must take place before the receiving.[2]
The Theological Distortion
Entire theologies of a second reception of the Holy Spirit have been based upon this KJV rendering, and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is materially impacted by how one translates this passage.[1] The preposition “since” creates temporal distance between faith and Spirit-reception, suggesting a gap—a second, distinct experience. This single word choice spawned the Pentecostal and charismatic doctrine of Spirit baptism as a post-conversion blessing.
The Modern Challenge
Modern versions generally translate “since ye believed” as “when you believed,” but this translation is based on their theological presuppositions.[2] However, receiving the Spirit involves a definite outpouring of the Spirit, and it hardly seems that receiving the Spirit is being defined as believing in Acts 19:2.[2] Matthew 22:25 provides a parallel: “Having married a wife, he died”—clearly distinct events where the marrying preceded the dying, probably by some time.[2]
The KJV’s rendering, while grammatically defensible from one interpretive angle, created a theological schism that persists today—all from a single preposition’s ambiguous translation.
[2] Ralph Dell Colle et al., Perspectives on Spirit Baptism: Five Views (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004), 65–66.
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