Did the “disciples” get baptized again on the day of Pentecost or was
Jesus baptism the same as for the forgiveness of sins?

This is a fairly common question. Unfortunately, to answer the
question requires speculation. The Bible simply does not answer this
questions. You can assume that the answer you get to this question may
have as much to do with the pre-conceptions of the one giving the answer
than any particular available fact.

Having undercut my own answer, let me throw out my own
speculation, for what it is worth. First of all, you are assuming that
the disciples (by this I am assuming you mean the apostles) were in fact
already baptized. This seems like an excellent assumption, given that the
apostles had been “gaining and baptizing disciples (John 4:1,2). Were the
disciples “rebaptized” into Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and to
receive the Holy Spirit (to quote Acts 2:38)? What I can say on that is
that in my opinion, yes, the were “rebaptized.” I say this for a couple
of reasons. First, when Peter preached the first gospel sermon in Acts 2,
it says that “the people were cut to the heart” and “Those who accepted
his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their
number that day.” (Acts 2:37,41). Probably a significant proportion of
the believers on that day had already been baptized in the baptism of
John, and the passage implies (although it does not specifically say) that
these people were baptized into Christ on the Day of Pentecost. If one
can establish that some of Peter’s hearers were “rebaptized,” then it is
not a great stretch to apply this to the apostles as well.

In addition, there is the example in Acts 19:1-5 of the
disciples who had undergone John’s baptism, yet were rebaptized when they
were taught more fully about Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. These
things taken together cause me to more or less assume that the apostles
themselves were rebaptized into Jesus Christ at some point before they
baptized the 3000 on that day in Jerusalem in Acts 2. Remember, however,
that this is speculation and does not have the clear authority of
scripture to back it up, so please take this with a grain of salt.

John Oakes

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