“Just Who Was Apollos?”


BIBLE READING: Acts 18. 19-28
DISCUSSION                                                                 
                In Acts 18, we are introduced to a new character in God’s story of the growth of the church.  There isn’t a great deal of information we know about Apollos.  We know that he was from Alexandria, which was the intellectual center of Egypt and is most noted for its Library that later burned in 48 BC when Julius Caesar besieged the city.  At its height it was said that the Library of Alexandria may have contained over 400,000 volumes of scroll.  Apollos must have been a very educated man due to his “eloquence and competence in the Scriptures”.   Maybe he studied some of the ancient Scriptures when he was a child at Alexandria’s library.   Regardless of how he knew the Old Testament Scriptures, we know that he was not completely versed in the teaching of Jesus Christ.   At the time, he had only been acquainted with the baptism of John and had only taught what John had presented.  Thankfully, we have in the audience of one of his lessons, Pricilla and Aquila.  One day after listening to his message, Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside and teach him the more accurate things concerning Jesus. I have always been impressed by how willing Apollos was to listen to Pricilla and Aquila.  Today, most people do not like to be corrected, however not only does Apollos listen to their rebuke and re-education, he also adopts it.  We quickly see him carrying about the correct message of Jesus and being effective in his work.  Paul even acknowledges him in I Corinthians 3.6 as someone who had taught the truth effectively.  So, what is the lesson for us today concerning Apollos?  First of all, I would suggest that we should all be committed to becoming a lifelong student of the Scriptures.  Apollos was a man that never stopped trying to learn.  Next, we need to learn from Apollos’ example of how to handle correction.  No one likes to be corrected, but we all need it. If we would all learn from Apollos’ example, we would all not only be better students of the word, we would also be better people.
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