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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 650. His Qualification for the Work
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His Qualification for the Work
Dean Farrar expresses the common view of this passage when he says that Apollos must have been very imperfectly acquainted with the doctrines of Christianity if he did not know any baptism but that of John. And when it is stated a few verses farther on that St. Paul found at Ephesus, after the departure of Apollos, twelve men who were baptized into John's baptism, it has been freely believed that they were converts whom Apollos had made, and that he had actually told them nothing of Jesus, but left them disciples of the Baptist. That belief, however, is contradicted by the narrative itself. For, as Dr. Blass points out, these men are called “disciples,” an expression which, standing by itself, is never used except of Christians. They are also said to have “believed,” another word which is appropriated to faith in Christ. And then, the way in which St. Luke speaks of Apollos himself, that “he taught carefully the things concerning Jesus,” is unintelligible if Apollos did not know or did not teach anything beyond the preaching and the baptism of John.
Accordingly, Dr. Blass suggests that Apollos did know accurately the story of our Lord's life, and taught it; but that he was unacquainted with any other baptism than John's. Whereupon the interesting inquiry arises, How did Apollos acquire the knowledge which he possessed? Was it from a book, or from viva voce intercourse with Christians? Surely, if he had been converted by a Christian missionary, he would have been taught by him the necessity for Christian baptism. But if he learned from a written Gospel, it might have been one as full in its account of our Lord's words and deeds as Mark's or Luke's, and yet have said no more than these do about Christian baptism.
If this suggestion could be accepted, it would certainly have an interesting bearing on the date of the publication of the Gospels. To know that a written Gospel had found its way to Alexandria at so early a date as the conversion of Apollos is with one stroke to settle some of the keenest controversies of our day.
But the word translated “instructed” (κατηχεῖσθαι) is that which is specially employed of oral instruction. Almost unknown outside the New Testament till the early Church seized it to signify that course of instruction which converts underwent before they were admitted to baptism-(the word “catechumen” is simply its present participle), it is used there for a report that is carried from mouth to mouth, or for teaching that is derived “from viva voce intercourse with Christians.” And the Revised Version actually reminds us of this, by explaining in the margin that the Greek for “instructed” is “taught by word of mouth.”
Dr. Wright's solution of the problem is as follows:-Apollos had been baptized by John. He had been taught to expect the Messiah at once. Possibly Jesus had been pointed out to him as such. He then, according to the Western text of Act_18:25, returns to Alexandria, where rumours would reach him from time to time of what was happening in Palestine. He would hear of our Lord's ministry, of His mighty works, His rejection, crucifixion, and resurrection. For a long time report would give him only the broad outlines of the facts, but in the course of twelve or fifteen years one of those catechists whom the Church of Jerusalem sent out in large numbers visited the metropolis of Egypt. This itinerant was neither apostle, evangelist, nor preacher. He had learned by heart, and was anxious to teach others, “the facts concerning Jesus,” and he formed a class for that purpose. Apollos became one of the pupils, and, like Theophilus, was “orally instructed” in the way of the Lord, until he became perfect and was able to teach others also. For when he came to Ephesus, “being fervent in spirit,” he could not keep silence, but “repeated by rote, and taught accurately the facts concerning Jesus.”1 [Note: The Expository Times, vii. 243.]
2. Among his hearers were Priscilla and Aquila, who discovered that the preacher's knowledge of “the way” was imperfect. Accordingly, when Priscilla and Aquila had heard him in the synagogue, “they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more carefully.” These two Jewish Christians-as we learn from the early part of the chapter-were “tentmakers,” with whom St. Paul had made acquaintance at Corinth, and whom he had left at Ephesus a short time previous to the arrival of Apollos. They became the religious instructors of this Alexandrian stranger, who in their hands was a most willing learner. Thus here we have an eloquent man, a learned man, a fervent man, not unwilling to be taught, and taught too by plain and homely people who were engaged in business. One of these teachers, moreover, was a woman. In making this observation we are certainly not justified in suggesting that Scripture throws any contempt on learning or scholarship. We have seen the very contrary in the case both of this Jew of Alexandria and of St. Paul himself. Still the fact is as stated here. The secular training of Apollos came from a very distinguished source, his high religious training from a very lowly one. How frequently has this been the case since! Those who have been eminent in University honours have often learnt their best lessons of religion even from the poor, and often from women, in the retired hours of domestic life. By such methods God's Providence brings all parts of a man's experience into harmony, and causes all to bear upon the one point of active service. Those men who produce great religious results on the minds of others have usually drawn their own teaching from very various sources. Many things are made tributary to that stream of wide influence, which in the end flows full and strong. There must, however, be a teachable spirit if the benefits are to be fully realized. We must become children, if we are to be high in the Kingdom of Heaven.
It would seem probable, though the fact is not stated, that Apollos received baptism at the hands of Priscilla and Aquila, as his followers in a like case did at the hands of St. Paul.
You cannot, as the Sophist proposed to do (that was part of his foolishness), take and put truth into the soul. If you could, it might be established there, only as an “inward lie,” as a mistake. “Must I take the argument and literally insert it into your mind?” asks Thrasymachus. “Heaven forbid,” answers Socrates.1 [Note: Walter Pater.]