Lessons From Acts – Lesson 32
Last time we saw that Paul left Corinth and took with him Aquila and Pricilla to Ephesus and left them there.
Acts 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
Acts 18:22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.
Paul went up to Jerusalem for the feast and then went to Antioch.
Acts 18:23 And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
After spending some time in Antioch Paul leaves and starts the 3rd Missionary journey. We see in verse 23 that the main focus of this trip is not starting new churches but visiting all the believers and strengthening them in the faith.
The Bible leaves Paul traveling to a church strengthening the faith of those there and then moving on to the next church and that goes on for a while. And we get no other details about that.
And then the scene for a few verses changes from Paul and goes to Ephesus where Paul left Aquila and Pricilla.
Acts 18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
Alexandria is in Egypt. In the Bible nothing spiritually good is ever attached to Egypt. Egypt is a picture of this wicked world.
The children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt. A picture of being born into the bondage of sin. Pharaoh was a type of the Devil who is the god of this world. In Egypt there is pain and suffering ordered by Pharaoh.
When they were redeemed they were brought out of that. They were delivered from that. They went from being under Pharaoh to being under Moses. Pharaoh a type of the Devil and Moses was a type of Christ.
Centuries later Egypt does Israel wrong and takes Gold and things from Israel and does not help them with Babylon.
Centuries later, after Jesus ascended, the first copies of N.T. scripture to be corrupted was in Alexandria.
Not long after that the first Bible teacher that came up with the false, unbiblical hearsay of Calvinism, lived in, you guessed it, Alexandria. And many other bad things came from Alexandria. For example a really bad thing that came from Alexandria was that the Bible was not literal but only figurative.
A huge amount of the false teaching of today has in some way its infant roots in Alexandria. All thru the Bible Egypt is bad. And from a biblical perspective and thru history Alexandria is bad.
We know that God did not add extra details to His word to make some kind of quota. It has to be so long and I am short a few words so I will add born at Alexandria. No.
All scripture has a purpose. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. So God has a reason of attaching Alexandria Egypt to Apollos by putting in between commas, born at Alexandria.
This is the way I take this. If Apollos had none of the traits that are associated with Alexandria, then born at Alexandria would not be there. You can be born in a place and be totally different from that place.
A person can overcome. A person can say no and be different than where he was born. If Apollos had no Alexandria traits in his character and personality, then where he was born would be irrelevant.
On the other hand if Apollos had some traits that were like Alexandria, then it makes sense to attach Alexandria to Apollos. If this is not the case, then where Apollos was born would have zero bearing on anything. And God does not put words in His word that have no purpose.
Just to be clear, born in Alexandria would not mean that this man is evil. Egypt is a type of the world. So attaching born in Alexandria would be saying that Apollos in some way is worldly. Apollos in some way had retained something in his character that aligns with the world.
Not completely worldly. We are not told the level of it. Just a hint that he has some kind of worldliness in his character. Enough so that he is rightly attached to Alexandria.
This is an example of a term called foreshadowing. A hint in dropped at the beginning of what is to come.
Acts 18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
He knew the O.T. scriptures well. Almost all of the N.T. is not written yet. And he was an eloquent speaker. And he came to Ephesus.
We see that in verse 25 he was introduced to the teachings of Jesus. But only to a point.
Acts 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
So what he knew he taught. And he taught them with some passion. Being fervent in the spirit. And he taught diligently the things of the Lord.
But his knowledge was not complete. He only knew the baptism of John.
Don’t pass over that too quickly. What does that indicate about him? It tells us that he never found a group of Christians and took any time to learn. All the churches at this time new about the great commission. All the Christians knew about 1st get them saved and then you baptize them outwardly as a picture of what has happened inwardly.
They all know that the baptism of John was about repentance and a forward looking to Jesus. John’s baptism was different and it was temporary. Everyone knew that. Everyone except Apollos.
That tells us that Apollos learned some of the ways of the Lord and then immediately went off teaching as if he is the expert. This exposes some serious character flaws.
He did not learn about Jesus and then go join some Christians and sit in the pew and learn a while. If he did that then he would not get to preach right away. I think he obviously wanted to be the one in the spotlight.
The time is 54 A.D. Paul wrote 3 books while at Corinth for that 1 ½. Those are being circulated but that is a slow process. Galations and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Most likely not everywhere yet. The book of James was written somewhere about 50 A.D.
About the time James said to Paul you go to the Gentiles and I will keep going to the Jews. That book also has not had time to get everywhere.
But there is one book that is everywhere by 54 A.D. And that is the book of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew was written in 37 A.D. Jesus ascended about 33 A.D. So only 4 years later Matthew was written.
Matthew has a clear statement about N.T. baptism.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matthew shows that Jesus did not say go baptize a repentance baptism of John. It clearly says baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
So Apollos learns some things from someone and sets off getting the attention I think he craves by preaching. And he never takes the time to go and read the Gospel of Matthew that has been around and getting copied for 17 years. Never even read it! If he did he would know about the Baptism that Jesus commanded.
Hopefully you are starting to see some worldly traits of Alexandria in Apollos.
He could speak eloquently. He wanted to use that and get what comes with that, but he did not want to be 2nd fiddle for a while.
So he just takes what little he knows and look where he goes. He goes to the synagogue because they will let him speak.
Getting a speaking gig at a church full of Christians would be difficult for a man who never read Matthew and did not know what was in it.
Aquila and Priscilla who are also in Ephesus hear about it. And they take Apollos under their wing so to speak and teach him where he is wrong.
Acts 18:26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
So Apollos learns. Give him some credit there. He obviously is willing to learn. I believe that Aquila and Priscilla taught him more than just about his error of Baptism. I think they would have made sure to cover all the basics.
And I think we see that in verse 27 because they give a letter to a group of Christians in a town in Greece to receive Apollos.
Acts 18:27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:
And those Christians that Aquilla wrote to did accept Apollos and his eloquent speaking and teaching did help them. And not a little. It says helped them much which had believed through grace.
So Apollos is not teaching works. He is not teaching salvation wrong. Look at the next verse and see that Apollos is good at preaching Jesus.
Acts 18:28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
So what we see so far is Apollos was born in Alexandria, which is hinting that Apollos has some worldly traits in his character.
Then we see that he wants to be the one speaking even though he has not learned the basics of Christianity yet. So he has a lack of patience, and he has some kind of desire to have eyes on him. He want others to listen to his eloquent speaking.
Wanting eyes on you and wanting a crowd to listen, wanting that for yourself is a worldly trait. Speaking and teaching the word of God is not to be about you. You do it not for yourself. You do it for others, and you do it to honor God.
While Apollos’ teaching was helpful and correct about who Jesus is, I think there is a worldly flaw in him about his motives.
And Apollos does not stay in Achaia. He leaves and guess where we find him. I am sure you know the saying, birds of a feather flock together.
Apollos who has some kind of worldly character flaw or even flaws, goes and finds the most carnal group of Christians there was at that time.
Acts 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Paul is visiting all the churches he can on this route and Corinth is on that route. So Paul stops there like he was all of the other churches. Paul is not there long.
And Apollos is at Corinth. Go to 1st Corinthians.
About a year and a half to maybe 2 years after Acts 19:1 Paul will write 1st Corinthians from Ephesus. And we find that Apollos is still there and he is still one of the leaders in the spotlight.
1st Paul establishes his authority.
1Co 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
That authority is something that Apollos does not have.
1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Notice the people Paul is writing to are saved. They are sanctified in Christ Jesus. They are just baby carnal Christians.
And notice this odd statement at the end of verse 2.
…with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Paul is writing to the entire church at Corinth. And both theirs and ours is not referring to lost and saved people. Paul says they are all saints sanctified in Christ Jesus.
So what is both theirs and ours talking about.
Ours is all those who were saved by Paul and anyone on his team. The Ours is all those who are saved by those who believe in the body of truth that Paul’s team believes in.
Who is the theirs. We find out a few verses later.
1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
There are divisions in the church at Corinth. And not just two. Multiple.
1Co 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
1Co 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
Apollos and those saved thru his preaching are one of the thiers. Apollos has one of the divisions. Apollos promoted himself and some people fell for it and would brag I am of Apollos.
And Apollos was an eloquent speaker. So no doubt they bragged about that and praised him for that. Apollos had found the environment that he wanted and used it to his advantage and for his satisfaction of self.
If Apollos was not that way as one of the leaders would have said no. He would have put a stop to it. Instead it got so bad that news reached Paul in Ephesus and he had to write a letter.
And Paul rebukes them all hard for what Apollos and the other thiers were doing and allowing.
1Co 1:13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
1Co 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
1Co 1:15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
1Co 1:16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
1Co 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
O’ Please catch it. Did Paul here just make a statement against eloquent preaching. Paul says I was not sent to preach with wisdom of words.
And that that type of preaching can make the cross of Christ of none effect.
And Paul says more about this in verses 25 thru 31.
1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
Apollos was wise after the flesh. Born in Alexandria. Mighty in eloquent speech.
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Paul is hitting it hard here. No flesh should glory in his presence. Apollos letting the Corinthians argue and be divided and praising Apollos saying I am of Apollos. Allowing that is letting your flesh glory in the presence of God.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
The only glorying that there should be is in the Lord. Apollos was wrong big time in this area. And it caused the carnality of the Corinthians to get worse.
And if you look at the rest of the book, you find area after area where the carnal Corinthians were off. And Apollos it seems was either on board with all of it, or he was indifferent to it.
Either way is bad.
What we have in Apollos is a preacher who could teach correctly about who Jesus is. And he even saw some saved and baptized.
But he is in it for the wrong reasons. Bottom line it is about Apollos. He is a carnal preacher.
His kind have been around since the beginning. They are still around today.
And like in the Corinthian church there are people today who will rally behind them. And brag about their talents.
And they will often use results as justification. Look at the size of our crowd. Look how many got saved. They use results to validate and use results as proof that their carnal, wrong motivation, glory in the flesh preacher, is right with God and meets the qualifications.
They ignore the example of Apollos in the Bible. Yes he could speak well, and yes for a short time that he was in Greece he was a help to Christians.
But look at the results of long term exposure. Look at the worldliness of the congregation of those under his leadership for an extended period.
So since we cannot use talent of speaking, and we cannot use amount of results when considering if a man is qualified, what do we use.
We are to use a book that was not yet written when Apollos was preaching.
1st Timothy and Titus. A preacher is to be not covetous, not a novice, not lifted up with pride, of good report, blameless, not self-willed, and so on.
When looking at those qualifications, Apollos did not measure up.
Those qualifications were not yet given as scripture. While the Corinthians should have known better and no doubt the Holy Spirit was trying to get thru to them, they did not yet have 1st Timothy and Titus.
Any church today that falls for an Apollos now is even more responsible for it because they have the clear qualifications in Scripture.
When you see an unqualified carnal worldly preacher who covets praise and is lifted up with pride and self. You can just mark it down. Most of the members of his church are going to be worldly carnal Christians.
And spiritually speaking the entire outfit will get more and more carnal just like what happened to the Corinthians.