Apollos in Transition
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 27 August 2023
We have mentioned that the Book of Acts records for us transitions and we see the fading out of Judaism and the coming in of Christianity. We have to understand that it at times was a slow transition. Salvation is not a transition. It’s a momentary miracle. But losing all of the trappings of Judaism came a little slower. People would get saved and then find it hard to let go of everything.
Even today, with Jews who come to Jesus Christ, it is difficult to break with patterns that were so much a part of Judaism. Judaism in itself is such a distinct kind of life. A Jewish town while it was centered right in the midst of a pagan country still maintained an amazing uniqueness. And no matter how much interrelation it was, economically and culturally, it seemed never to be tainted by it.
And particularly around the time of Christ and the time of the New Testament. You couldn’t even enter a Jewish village without feeling like you had almost stepped into another world. You get that feeling today when you go to Jerusalem. When you happen to be isolated with a group of Orthodox Jews who are doing what only they do, you feel that somehow something’s wrong.
You would find the arrangements unique. You would find the clothing unique. So Judaism was not just a religion. It was a whole way of life. It pervaded every single human relationship. It pervaded every single attitude toward eating and drinking and clothing and all kinds of things in terms of economy. It was a way of life and you could never just eliminate Judaism.
But added to that, God wanted them to be a singular witness in the world so He gave them some other prescribed things that were not ethical. Some were just plain visual or external so that the world might see them as a unique people. You can find these in the Pentateuch. There were many prescribed rules that touched all phases of life. There have always been rabbis, which means teachers.
All these rabbis were teaching and adding to Scripture. And the esteem of a rabbi was so great that what the rabbi said was often written down. And all of these things were accumulated until today you have this large set of volumes known as the Talmud which are all of these rabbinical statements. But most of the interpretations and suggestions of all the rabbis are unnecessary and unbiblical.
All of this stuff was just laid on generation after generation. And in addition to that, God had set down a standard in the very beginning, in the Book of Deuteronomy 6, called the Shema, which says, the Lord our God is one Lord. And then these truths are to be taught to your children and their children. And they were to teach when they were sitting down, standing up, walking, all the time.
And at the core was the law, the ceremonies and the rituals that they had to keep. And they believed that if they kept all those laws, they’d get into heaven. Now, God in the Old Testament was a gracious God. Who is a pardoning God like thee and who gives grace? And it talks about that in the Old Testament. God says in Malachi that He remembers the names of those who are righteous.
And Abraham believed God. It was counted to him for righteousness. Faith is still the way of salvation in the Old Testament as today. And what happened was the Jews supplanted faith with law. And by the time of Christ, they believed that the only way you’d get into heaven was by keeping the law. And the guys out in front leading the whole mob were the Pharisees.
There was a rabbi named Yahudah. He was about to die. And at his death, he lifted up his hands to heaven and told God that none of those ten fingers had ever broken a single law. That is the sickest kind of self-righteousness. But both of those things tie those people down to the system. Well, here comes Paul and he’s telling others saying, “Grace. Grace. Forget all those laws.”
That’s why when Paul went into the synagogue the reaction was so violent. Because in their own frame of reference, they just couldn’t handle it. And that’s why that you have in Acts, when Jews get saved, there’s a time lapse before they’re physical trappings catch up with their soul that’s been recreated. That’s why there is a time gap between salvation and the release of obligations in Judaism.
Well, there’s a classic example in Peter. Peter knew the New Covenant. He was preaching on Pentecost, Acts 2:22 says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to these words,” and off he goes and preaches Jesus. He talks about the fact of what they had done to Christ, and later on he says, “You desire to murder, but you killed the Prince of Life and the Holy One,” but God resurrected Him.
Peter was really a Spirit-filled man. He had all the New Covenant features. He was in Christ. The law was a dead issue in terms of ceremony, but the moral laws are still good and the law of God in terms of ethics is still valid. But all of the ceremonies, rituals, codes and all that stuff added by all the rabbis was gone. And Peter was new in Christ and he was in a grace kind of operation.
And what happens? Acts 10:9-16 says, “The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the roof about noon. 10 He became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth.”
12 In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. 13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything impure and ritually unclean.” 15 Again, a second time, the voice said to him, “What God has made clean, do not call impure.” 16 This happened three times, and suddenly the object was taken up into heaven.”
What does that mean? Now, in the New Testament, Jews and Gentiles were going to be one in the church, and God didn’t want any difference anymore. And so God is saying to Peter, “Peter, all of the old distinctions are wiped out. My new body, the church, that’s the thing. One in Christ.” Peter actually said, “No, Lord.” Now, that’s flagrant disobedience. Transition hadn’t caught up with him.
Now, we want to live by biblical doctrine, but we should not be interested in going back. I’m not interested in all the trappings of Judaism. These people who are always in the framework of this Charismatic Movement, always want to adapt to the Book of Acts. Now, Acts just gives us the history of the early years as this decaying Judaism faded away and the New Testament came into fullness.
Salvation is not a process, but the transition is. Just because you are saved doesn’t change all your habits. Now the Holy Spirit knows how important it is for us to understand this phase of transition. And it’s important historically for us to get a good view of Acts, and a healthy view of what God is doing. And so, beginning at verse 18, the Holy Spirit just stops and shows us some people in transition.
Listen, it is not just sovereignty in the area of salvation where God is active. It is also in the area of service. God rules your life in terms of placing you in that place that He wants you to be, if you yield it to Him. Well, back to Acts 18:23, “After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”
And that’s the beginning of the third missionary journey as he takes off again, going to the very same places to teach those people that they might multiply. Verse 24, “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.” Meanwhile, Paul dropped Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus to strengthen believers.
Here we meet an extraordinary man, “a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria,” which is in Egypt, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.” Alexandria had a great Jewish population probably numbering one million. Apollos was raised on the principals of Judaism. He not only was a most eloquent orator but his content was real accurate.
He was without peer in the New Testament, as a preacher and as a speaker. He was an Old Testament scholar who could present it with power. Paul writes in I Corinthians and says, “You're carnal, there are divisions among you. Some say I’m of Paul, some say I’m of Cephas, some say I’m of Christ and some say I’m of Apollos.” So in the esteem of people he was ranked up there with Paul and Peter.
Now, in I Corinthians, there are some other interesting notes. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase.” So, he was really building on the foundation that Paul had laid. In I Corinthians 4:6 it says, “These things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sake.” So, Paul actually worked through and in Apollos.
Now, Apollos was a mighty man in the Scriptures. This indicates that he had taken his natural ability and refined it and honed it by study and diligence. And such a holy man he was that later on when he saw the factions in Corinth, it so grieved his heart that in I Corinthians 16:12, when Paul had asked him to go back, he wouldn’t go back to Corinth. The factions in Corinth weren’t their faults.
Verse 25, “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.” Apollos was taught by human oral repetition. Paul said in Galatians 1:11-12, “For I want you to know, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Now, the information Paul had, was directly from Jesus Christ. The information Apollos had, was from oral repetition. Only the apostles in the New Testament era claimed to have inspiration. Not Apollos. He learned at the foot of somebody who undoubtedly was taught by the Spirit of God. But it was different for Paul, to be isolated out in Arabia and getting all of this information directly from God.
When it says, “Apollos was instructed in the way of the Lord,” it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a Christian. Genesis 18:19 says, “For I know him.” the Lord says, “He will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” The way of the Lord is not a New Testament term. It is a broad and general term for Old Testament instruction in the things of God.
There was a path that God had laid out with ethics, codes, morality and standards, and that was the way of the Lord. You can read Psalm 25:8-9 and you’ll find the same idea and it’s in various places. What it’s saying there is he was instructed in Old Testament truth. In Isaiah 40:3 it started to focus on, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.”
All of a sudden, the way of the Lord starts narrowing down to Messiah. Toward an individual who is going to announce the Messiah’s coming. And if Apollos was instructed fully in the way of the Lord, the way of the Lord focused in then on the ministry of John the Baptist. Apollos was not a Christian yet but that he was a student of John the Baptist.
So look at Act 18:25. It says that Apollos “only knew the baptism of John.” Now, Apollos accepted the whole Old Testament all the way down to the fulfillment of it in John the Baptist. He accepted the message of John the Baptist that the Messiah was Jesus. But he wasn’t a Christian yet. Because he didn’t know what happened in the death, resurrection and Pentecost that followed the life of Jesus.
Verse 26, “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.” That is the greatest investment you’ll ever make because exactness in the Word bears fruit. And Apollos was an exacting teacher. Luke says, “I can tell you exactly, with perfect understanding, what God wants me to say.”
Priscilla and Aquila explained the way to him more perfectly. They didn’t write him off as a heretic. They gave him the truth of Jesus Christ. They explained what happened more perfectly. And Jesus came along and said in John 14:6, “I am the way.” And Christianity is called in Acts 9:2, “The way.” They told him the fullness of all the facts regarding Christ’s resurrection and His ascension.
Verse 27, “When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.” Achaia was where Corinth was. When he got there, he helped them much. He got saved. He helped the church much. Verse 28, “For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.”
He took the Old Testament and just proved that Jesus was Messiah. Well, here you meet two teachers in transition, Paul and Apollos. And how exciting it is to see what God is doing in their lives, and how grateful we are that the Spirit of God brought about the transition that they might have influence on us. And that using those two as an example for us all to follow in our life. Let us pray.