Acts 18:24 - 19:10

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Acts

Rusty's Notes

ACTS 18
THE ELOQUENT APOLLOS

• Apollos In Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila begin visiting the synagogue to locate any Jewish or God-fearing seekers.
• They follow up with those who were impressed with Paul’s message when he was there.
• Priscilla and Aquila share the gospel with a man named Epaenetus, and he receives it.
• Epaenetus becomes the first convert in Ephesus.
• Romans 16:5 - Greet also the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who is the first convert, to Christ from Asia.[1]

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

• Although he was Jewish, Apollos was probably knowledgeable in other customs since he came from a major Roman city where Jews were more influenced by Graeco-Roman culture than they were in Judaea and the nearby regions.[2]
• When Paul departed from Ephesus for Jerusalem, he left his friends Aquila and Priscilla behind to carry on the witness in the synagogue.
• Imagine their surprise one Sabbath to hear a visiting Jewish teacher named Apollos preach many of the truths that they themselves believed and taught!
• He came from Alexandria, the second most important city in the Roman Empire.
• A center for education and philosophy, the city was founded by (and named after) Alexander the Great, and it boasted a university with a library of almost 700,000 volumes.
• The population of Alexandria (about 600,000) was quite cosmopolitan, being made up of Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and Jews. At least a quarter of the population was Jewish, and the Jewish community was very influential.

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. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

• Apollos knew the Old Testament Scriptures well and was able to teach them with eloquence and power.
• He was fervent (“boiling”) in his spirit and diligent in his presentation of the message.
• He was bold enough to enter the synagogue and preach to the Jews.
• The only problem was that this enthusiastic man was declaring an incomplete Gospel.
• His message got as far as John the Baptist and then stopped!
• He knew nothing about Calvary, the resurrection of Christ, or the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He had zeal, but he lacked spiritual knowledge (Rom. 10:1–4).[3]
• In the Gospels and Acts, it is precisely the Holy Spirit who distinguishes the baptism of John from that of Jesus (cf. Mark 1:8; Acts 1:5).[4]
• Apollos’ message was not inaccurate or insincere; it was just incomplete.

After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately. 27 When he 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. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.[5]

• Aquila and Priscilla did not instruct him in public because that would have only confused the Jews.
• They took him home to a Sabbath dinner and then told him about Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
• They led him into a deeper knowledge of Christ; and the next Sabbath, Apollos returned to the synagogue and gave the Jews the rest of the story!
• It is noteworthy that Priscilla took an equal role with her husband in further instructing Apollos.[6]
• In fact, so effective was his ministry that the believers in Ephesus highly recommended him to the churches in Achaia.
• The mention of the Ephesian brothers who provided a letter of recommendation for Apollos is significant because it is the first clear evidence that a church had by now been established in Ephesus.[7]
• Here Apollos not only strengthened the saints, but he also debated with the unbelieving Jews and convinced many of them that Jesus is the Messiah.[8]

 
ACTS 19
TWELVE DISCIPLES OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
SUMMER 54
1 While Apollos was in Corinth,

• When Apollos arrives in Corinth, he argues with and refutes the local Jews in the synagogue with his apologetic savvy, his logic, and his rhetoric.
• He also encourages the Corinthian believers who have believed by grace.
• The Corinthians are spellbound by Apollos’ masterful Greco-Roman oratory.
• As a result, some of the Corinthian believers, mostly made up of Greeks, begin to rally around Apollos.
• Because Apollos is so gifted a speaker, they begin to criticize Paul as a less capable orator and a less spiritual person.
• (1 Cor. 1:12; 3:4–6, 22; 4:6).
• It is unfortunate that a clique gathered around him and helped bring division to the church, because he was definitely one of Paul’s friends and a trusted helper (1 Cor. 16:12; Titus 3:13).[9]
• Evidently Apollos returned to Ephesus. When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, probably in the latter part of his Ephesian ministry, Apollos was with him in Ephesus (1 Cor 16:12).[10]

Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus.

• Show map of 3rd Missionary Journey
• When Apollos leaves, Barnabas pays a visit to Corinth to strengthen the church. (1 Corinthians 9:6 – Corinthians are familiar with Barnabas.)
• Peter and his wife also visit Corinth. (1 Corinthians 9:5)
• Peter is noted for his signs and wonders.
• As is his custom when visiting a church, Peter performs some healings in the city.
• As a consequence, a Corinthian party, mostly made up of Jews, develops around Peter. (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:22; 9:5)
• The Jews are known for being awed by signs and wonders. (1 Corinthians 1:22 - For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,[11])
• In reaction to the growing divisions, some of the Corinthians declare that Paul is their only apostle, while others are claiming that they exclusively follow Christ and not men.
• The church in Corinth is becoming fractured. Parties are developing around the different apostolic workers who have visited the church. (1 Corinthians 1:12-13. 3:4-9. 21-23)
• Paul leaves Antioch with Titus.
• The two men head up through Tarsus through the Cilician Gates to South Galatia.
• They visit and encourage all the Galatian churches, strengthening them in their faith.
• The Galatian churches have not seen Paul in four years!
• Paul gives each church instructions concerning the Jerusalem relief fund.
• From South Galatia, Paul picks up Gaius (from Derbe) and Timothy (from Lystra) to accompany him to Ephesus.
• Paul, Titus, Gaius, and Timothy take the upper country and make their way by land to Ephesus in Asia Minor.
• When they come to Ephesus, they meet three brothers whom Paul has sent for: Sopater (of Berea), Aristarchus, and Secundus (both of Thessalonica).
• Paul will train these six men in Ephesus for the work of planting churches.
• Their mission is to expand the community that God has purposed from the beginning so that His nature will be expressed throughout the earth.
• These men will also serve as delegates from their respective churches when delivering the relief fund to the church in Jerusalem.
• While Luke does not explicitly tell us that Paul picked these men up to go with him to Ephesus, we know they are there in Ephesus with him.
• The following passages of Scripture put all eight men in Ephesus during the time that Paul was there: Acts 19:22; 20:4; 21:29; 1 Corinthians 4:17; 16:10,20 (Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus).
• One can infer that Titus is there since Luke never mentions him throughout Acts, yet we know he is present on many occasions from Paul’s letters.
• We learn from 2 Corinthians 8 that Titus represented Corinth for the Jerusalem relief fund, and it is clear from the letter to Titus that Paul trained him.

Sharpening the Focus:

• Ephesus is a free Greek city located at the mouth of the Cayster River, which flows into the Aegean Sea.
• It is the largest city in Asia Minor.
• The population of Ephesus is 225,000, and it has a large Jewish population.
• Ephesus is a seaport and is the first ranking city of Asia Minor in commerce, wealth, politics, and religion.
• It is the New York of the ancient world.
• The city has a central hub that connects the eastern world with the western world, making it a magnificent city of wealth.
• The city’s wealth is reflected everywhere, from its marble-paved main street to the mosaic floors in its aristocratic homes.
• One of the seven wonders of the world is also there: the great temple of Artemis (in Latin her name is Diana; she is a nature-fertility goddess).
• It took 220 years to build this temple. Built out of pure white marble, it is the largest building in existence at this time and is known worldwide.
• The temple is 220 feet by 425 feet. It is supported by 127 columns, each of them 60 feet high, and is adorned by some of the greatest sculptors of the age.
• In the temple resides a statue of Diana, which the Ephesians believe fell from the sky. Ephesus is also the center for magical arts and occult practices in Asia.

He found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

• For Paul a true disciple of John, a completed disciple of John, was a Christian. That is the whole point of the present narrative.[12]

“No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

• John’s disciples would surely have been acquainted with the Spirit and especially with his teaching that with the coming of the Messiah the Spirit would be poured out (cf. Luke 3:16).
• What they would not be aware of, if they had not heard of Jesus’ death and resurrection and of the event at Pentecost, was that this proclamation of John had been fulfilled in Christ.[13]

3 “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them.
“Into John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy. 7 Now there were about twelve men in all.

• These 12 men, along with Priscilla, Aquila and Epaenetus, form the nucleus of the Ephesian Church.
• Two other Greek converts are made and added to the church – Tychicus and Trophimus.
• The body of Christ is born in Asia!

 
IN THE LECTURE HALL OF TYRANNUS
8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

• The Jews rejected Paul’s teachings.

10 This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

• hardness of heart set in (Heb. 3:7ff), so Paul left the synagogue and moved his ministry to a schoolroom, taking his disciples with him.
• He probably used the room during the “off hours” each day (11 a.m.to 4 p.m.), when many people would be resting.
• In the Greco-Roman world, the business day ended at 11 AM when most of the city ate a meal followed by a nap!
• Paul ministered in this way for about two years and “all they who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks”[14]
• Philemon owns a slave named Onesimus.
• Paul leads Philemon to Christ, and he becomes a help to Paul.
• After their short stay, Philemon and Onesimus head back to their home in Colosse.
• Around the same time , a man named Epaphras visits Ephesus. Epaphras is also from Colosse.
• Paul leads him to the Lord, and Epaphrus stays in Ephesus for a time to learn from Paul and the church.
• Epaphrus then heads back to Colosse.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ro 16:5). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ac 18:24). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 479). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 396). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ac 18:12–28). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 397). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[7] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 397). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 480). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 480). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[10] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 398). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[11] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 1:22). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 399). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[13] Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 399). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[14] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 481). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.