Apollos: Mighty in the Scriptures
One of my favorite New Testament characters is the itinerant preacher Apollos. He bursts on the scene in Acts 18:24-28 and is mentioned again in 1 Corinthians and Titus 3. I like his combination of biblical knowledge and passionate delivery that God uses to change the lives of his hearers. Apollos is a role model for me.
Every one of us has someone we admire and respect. It might be an entertainer, an athlete, a spiritual leader.
Let me give you a couple of examples.
Blockbuster entertainer Taylor Swift. I don’t quite get the fascination with Taylor Swift. She seems like a decent enough person. She gives back. I know nothing of her personal life. She’s a genius at marketing. She’s presently dating NFL player Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Her followers are called “Swifties”. My daughter-in-law went to her concert in Seattle and had a great time.
Someone I read said Swift writes relatable lyrics in her songs: the love between a boy and a girl, the breakup of that love and so forth. She comes across as one of us even if she isn’t.
Coach Deion Sanders. Sanders, NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champion cornerback, is presently head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes of the PAC-12 Conference. He goes by the moniker “Coach Prime”. He led the Buffaloes to three straight wins to start the season before getting thumped by the Oregon Ducks in Eugene.
Sanders says he is a Christian. In one interview, he said he doesn’t see himself primarily as a coach but as a pastor, a minister, to the young men on his team. No wonder he’s seen as a role model to the African American community and players want to play for him.
Yes, people are looking for role models, people they can identify with. Even Paul said in 1 Cor.11:1 to imitate him in as much as he imitated Christ. But admiration and respect can lead to idolatry. Here’s what C. S. Lewis said in one of his sermons from the book, The Weight of Glory:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”
That’s why the story of Apollos is instructive not only by his example but because of the danger of trusting in a person more than God. We can easily fall into celebrity worship.
I like Apollos. He was itinerant preacher who helped churches wherever he went. He complemented the ministry of the apostle Paul and others. He was a gift to the church. The 16th century Reformer Marin Luther even thought Apollos was the anonymous author of Hebrews.
Let’s look at some of the qualities that endear him to me.
1. Apollos was a learned teacher steeped in the Old Testament
Apollos appears on the scene at the end of Paul’s second missionary journey. He must have arrived in Ephesus soon after Paul’s brief visit there described in Acts 18:19-21. Being Jews, Paul and Apollos were drawn to the Jewish synagogue to engage their fellow countrymen in dialogue about Jesus. Jesus himself, in Luke 4, reads from Isaiah 61, rolls up the scroll, and pronounces that this Scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing.
I liken Apollos to Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist who affirms a lot of biblical morality, but I’m not quite sure he knows Jesus yet.
Apollos was from Alexandria in Egypt, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea, home to a large Jewish colony who valued learning. Alexandria was the center of Hellenistic Judaism. They were enamored with Greek culture and thought. They tried to reconcile Greek philosophy with OT theology. It’s where the OT was translated into Greek.
Apollos was a product of his upbringing. He possessed a thorough knowledge of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. He had a command of the major themes in the text. The Greek word in Acts 18:24 translated competent or mighty is the word from which we get power. There’s something powerful in someone who has that command of the Bible. For example, when 20th century evangelist Billy Graham preached at his crusades, he often said, “the Bible says…”. It gave authority to what he said. He spoke what God said and not his own words. The same could be said of Apollos.
2. Apollos was a fervent orator whose arguments were persuasive as far as they went
He was aware of and spoke convincingly about the Messianic prophecies that pointed to Jesus. His powerful presentation style backed up the words he spoke. Literally the Greek word fervent in the NIV translation of Acts 18:25 means someone who is boiling or fervent in spirit. He was passionate when he spoke. And Apollos’s life corroborated what he said. He wasn’t a hypocrite.
But his teaching about Jesus was only accurate as far as it went. Apollos spoke only of the baptism of repentance of John the Baptist. This event pointed to Jesus but left out the cross and resurrection. This was the same kind of teaching that Paul encountered when he came to Ephesus in Acts 19.
By the way, if we’re going to speak accurately of Jesus, we must turn to the Scriptures. Listen to what Jesus said about himself and the Bible in John 5:39 and Luke 24:27:
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Apollos brought that powerful style and content to the synagogue in Ephesus. It was accurate as far as it went. He spoke boldly and freely of what he knew to be true about Jesus.
One of my preaching profs once said, “If there’s mist in the pulpit, there’s fog in the pew.” Apollos possessed a clear sense of what he was going to say and knew how to say it.
By the way, this kind of persuasive rhetoric can occur in written form too. As an example, many of you reading this receive by email Al Hulbert’s excellent weekly blog.
3. Apollos proved teachable when Priscilla and Aquila expanded his knowledge of Jesus to include the cross and the resurrection
Providentially, Priscilla and Aquila, mature fellow-workers with Paul whom he met in Corinth (Acts 18:2-3), heard Apollos in the synagogue. Their boldness and Apollos’s teachableness enabled him to speak more fully about Jesus. The gospel of Jesus in its purest sense is Christ crucified for our sins, buried, and raised from the dead according to the Scriptures (1 Cor.15:3-4).
The couple tweaked his message and filled in the gaps of his knowledge. Apollos absorbed and internalized that knowledge to more fully proclaim Christ.
It’s significant that Priscilla is mentioned first in this verse. She was a full partner with her husband. Her maturity and knowledge helped equip Apollos for ministry.
One of the signs of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is being a lifelong learner. We do not uncritically accept everything we read and hear. But we do use biblical discernment so that we may grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s always the need to deepen and clarify our faith.
4. Apollos’s new knowledge coupled with his passion for teaching gave him a wider scope of ministry
Evidently some Jewish Christians from Corinth, the capital of Achaia (modern day Greece), heard Apollos in the synagogue in Ephesus. They encouraged him to go to Corinth, even supplying a letter of introduction and commendation.
How refreshing in this age of shameless self-promotion to see others encourage Apollos to continue his ministry. Prov.27:2 says, “Let another man’s lip praise you and not your own.” There are too many self-appointed preachers today who lack the backing of a body of believers.
Apollos proved himself an encouragement to the church in Corinth (18:27b). Sometimes all I’ve done in the churches I’ve served was to provide a consistent voice in preaching over an extended period of time. That was enough, by God’s grace, to hold them together during a time of transition.
Interestingly, Apollos proved an even more effective evangelist with his more complete knowledge of Jesus (Acts 18:28).
5. Apollos’s popularity inadvertently formed factions in the Corinthian church
With Apollos’s increase in popularity, the people in Corinth chose sides. In 1 Cor.1:10-12, they divided on the basis of personality. Granted some preachers are better than others. We may like someone in ministry more than others. But that’s no excuse to divide into factions.
Maybe it’s our insecurities. It’s certainly our lack of trust in God.
There’s a psychological term called transference in which a person projects on someone else the emotions they felt for someone in their childhood. That person can do no wrong until they fail. Then there’s a whipsaw of emotion as that worship turns to abhorrence.
I’ve experienced this as a pastor. I respect genuine appreciation but despise flattery. I can sense when people put me on a pedestal. It never turns out well.
And dividing into factions never turns out well either. And Paul, in 1 Cor. 3, confronts the issue.
6. Paul addresses this problem by putting himself and Apollos in proper perspective as servants of Jesus and gifts to the church
Apollos and Paul are only servants of the gospel (1 Cor.3:5). They are not in competition; instead they complement each other. Paul was great at church planting; Apollos was good at building up a church. But only God gets the glory and causes growth (1 Cor.3:6-8).
Apollos and Paul are gifts to the church, not objects of worship (1 Cor.3:21-22). Can we get over exalting some while despising others?
As evidence of the warm partnership between Paul and Apollos, Paul encourages Titus in Titus 3:13 to materially support Apollos in his ministry. Paul and Apollos were never at odds with one another. They enjoyed mutual respect. They encouraged each other in their ministries because they understood how they complemented each other.
We live in a celebrity-driven culture, even in the church. Credit is often given to a person who leads a large church or ministry instead of rightly giving the glory to God. The story of Apollos reveals a man, who, though gifted, understands his place in the body of Christ. His position may be more visible, but he is never indispensable. Let’s strive to be churches who are not in competition but complementary in our ministries.