Acts 19:2

‘And they said to him, “No, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given.” '

Their reply explained why it was that there was no obvious open evidence within their lives of the Spirit. They claimed that they had not known that the Holy Spirit, Whom John had promised would come through the Messiah, had in fact been given. (Literally, ‘whether the Holy Spirit (Whom John had promised)  was,' that is, had come).