Enter your search text in the box above

Select a result to preview

Apollos

Apollos

Info

Notes

Summary

Apollos was a Jewish intellectual from Alexandria, the great center of Hellenistic learning, who became one of the most gifted teachers in the early church. Luke describes him with rare superlatives: "an eloquent man" (anēr logios), "competent in the Scriptures" (Acts 18#18:24), "fervent in spirit," and one who "spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus" (Acts 18#18:25). His rhetorical skill and scriptural mastery made him a formidable public figure.

Apollos arrived in Ephesus with incomplete knowledge. He "knew only the baptism of John" (Acts 18#18:25), meaning his understanding of Jesus was accurate but lacked the full post-Pentecost picture. Priscilla and Aquila, who were in Ephesus at the time, heard him teaching in the synagogue and "took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18#18:26). Apollos received correction from a tentmaking couple, with Priscilla named first (suggesting her leading role), and accepted it without apparent resistance. This demonstrates intellectual brilliance paired with teachability.

After instruction, Apollos crossed to Achaia with letters of recommendation from the Ephesian believers. In Corinth, he "greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus" (Acts 18#18:27-28). His impact was significant enough that a faction in Corinth began identifying with him: "I follow Apollos" (1 Corinthians 1#1:12).

Paul's response to the Apollos faction is generous. Rather than treating Apollos as a rival, Paul frames their relationship as complementary: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" (1 Corinthians 3#3:6). Both are called diakonoi, "servants through whom you believed" (1 Corinthians 3#3:5). Paul insists there should be no rivalry: "neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Corinthians 3#3:7). He applies this directly to both: "I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written" (1 Corinthians 4#4:6).

In 1 Corinthians 16#16:12, Paul reveals that he "strongly urged" Apollos to return to Corinth, but Apollos "was not willing to come now." Apollos exercised independent judgment, and Paul reported it without criticism. Their relationship, while cordial, was not hierarchical. Apollos was a coworker, not a subordinate.

The final mention of Apollos is in Titus 3#3:13, where Paul asks Titus to "do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey, seeing that they lack nothing." This places Apollos in active itinerant ministry late in Paul's career, traveling through Crete with provision from the churches.

Apollos has been a perennial candidate for the authorship of Hebrews - a suggestion first made by Martin Luther - given his Alexandrian learning, scriptural expertise, and rhetorical sophistication. The case is circumstantial but attractive.

References

Blog
Keybase
GitHub
unfoldingWord
Copyright © 2026 Jesse Griffin. All original work licensed as CC BY-SA 4.0. Scripture is from the Berean Standard Bible.