Insights Regarding Apollos of the Bible
Apollos was named after the pagan Greek god of music, light, medicine, war, love, etc. Apollos was most notably mentioned for his important role in the early church defending the Christian faith in Achaia against the Jews in public debate! Apollos who was from Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures (Acts 18:24).
He was a learned man who
spoke fervently, boldly and openly about the Lord Jesus, but was additionally aided by Priscilla and Aquila regarding the way of God (Acts 18:26).
Why The Corinthian Christians Liked Apollos
The region of Achaia, which included Corinth, was an area in which Apollos of the bible was of great help and became highly esteemed. The God-given abilities of Apollos enabled him there to vigorously refute the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 18:28). That basic characteristic of Apollos reveals the
final spiritual authority that the scriptures held in the early church and upon which Apollos based his preaching (2 Tim. 3:16,17).
The church in Corinth had favorite preachers, including fluent Apollos (1 Cor. 1:12). The Corinthians were so attached to certain preachers that it caused division. Paul rebuked the Corinthians over that:
For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Cor 3:4-7)
Apollos, who
watered, had a slightly different task from Paul, who
planted precious gospel seeds. Both did that through preaching God's word. For Apollos to
water was to strengthen the believers.
NOTE: to publicly correct doctrinal error is New Testament and was practiced by Apollos and other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to understand the love chapter (1 Cor. 13) with that in mind!
Imagine going throughout the Roman Empire, which worshiped the pagan god Apollos, while being named Apollos yourself! Apollos was like that, as he pointed people to Jesus.
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Help Apollos
Paul told Titus to help Apollos materially with all that he needed (Titus 3:13). That suggests, as with other servants of God, Apollos didn't have a lot of support backing his preaching ministry.
Imagine going throughout the Roman Empire, which worshiped
the pagan god Apollos, while being named Apollos yourself!
Summarizing Apollos
- Apollos knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18:25)
- No actual words of Apollos are recorded, as with Philip the evangelist or Stephen the martyr
- Apollos was not designated an apostle or evangelist, though he did a similar work
- Apollos seemingly traveled and preached alone, unlike many of the apostles (1 Cor. 9:5)
- Paul saw a definite need for Apollos to return to Corinth (1 Cor. 16:12)
- Apollos powerfully debated publicly from the scriptures with non Christians, which helped the saints
- Apollos was a very popular preacher like Peter and Paul, especially among the Corinthian Christians (1 Cor. 1:12)
- Apollos had no recorded miracles of God, unlike the apostles (Acts 5:12 cf. 2 Cor. 12:12), Philip the evangelist (Acts 8:6,7) and Stephen (Acts 6:8)
- Apollos never changed his pagan name, unlike others who did have a name change (Acts 4:36; Col. 4:11; etc.)
- Eloquent Apollos (Acts 18:24) was opposite, speaking-wise, from the apostle Peter and John (Acts 4:13)
Apollos was unique!
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