Act 18:24-28 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 24 A certain Jew named Apollos - One MS., with the Coptic and Armenian, calls him Apelles; and the Codex Bezae, Apollonius. It is strange that we should find a Jew, not only with a Roman name, as Aquila, an eagle; but with the name of one of the false gods, as Apollos or Apollo in the text. Query: Whether the parents of this man were not originally Gentiles, but converted to Judaism after their son Apollo (for so we should write the word) had been born and named. Born at Alexandria - This was a celebrated city of Egypt, built by Alexander the Great, from whom it took its name. It was seated on the Mediterranean Sea, between the Lake Mareotis and the beautiful harbour formed by the Isle of Pharos, about twelve miles west of the Canopic branch of the Nile, in lat. 31. 10'. N. This city was built under the direction of Dinocrates, the celebrated architect of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. It was in this city that Ptolemy Soter founded the famous academy called the Museum, in which a society of learned men devoted themselves to philosophical studies. Some of the most celebrated schools of antiquity flourished here; and here was the Tower of Pharos, esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. Alexandria was taken by the French, July 4, 1798, under the command of Bonaparte; and was surrendered to the English under General, now Lord, Hutchinson, in 1801. And, in consequence of the treaty of peace between France and England, it was restored to the Turks. Near this place was the celebrated obelisk, called Cleopatra's Needle; and the no less famous column, called Pompey's Pillar. This city exhibits but very slender remains of its ancient splendor. An eloquent man - Having strong rhetorical powers; highly cultivated, no doubt, in the Alexandrian schools. Mighty in the Scriptures - Thoroughly acquainted with the law and prophets; and well skilled in the Jewish method of interpreting them.

‏ Acts 18:24-28

Verse 24

A certain Jew named Apollos - One MS., with the Coptic and Armenian, calls him Apelles; and the Codex Bezae, Apollonius. It is strange that we should find a Jew, not only with a Roman name, as Aquila, an eagle; but with the name of one of the false gods, as Apollos or Apollo in the text. Query: Whether the parents of this man were not originally Gentiles, but converted to Judaism after their son Apollo (for so we should write the word) had been born and named.

Born at Alexandria - This was a celebrated city of Egypt, built by Alexander the Great, from whom it took its name. It was seated on the Mediterranean Sea, between the Lake Mareotis and the beautiful harbour formed by the Isle of Pharos, about twelve miles west of the Canopic branch of the Nile, in lat. 31. 10'. N. This city was built under the direction of Dinocrates, the celebrated architect of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. It was in this city that Ptolemy Soter founded the famous academy called the Museum, in which a society of learned men devoted themselves to philosophical studies. Some of the most celebrated schools of antiquity flourished here; and here was the Tower of Pharos, esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. Alexandria was taken by the French, July 4, 1798, under the command of Bonaparte; and was surrendered to the English under General, now Lord, Hutchinson, in 1801. And, in consequence of the treaty of peace between France and England, it was restored to the Turks. Near this place was the celebrated obelisk, called Cleopatra's Needle; and the no less famous column, called Pompey's Pillar. This city exhibits but very slender remains of its ancient splendor.

An eloquent man - Having strong rhetorical powers; highly cultivated, no doubt, in the Alexandrian schools.

Mighty in the Scriptures - Thoroughly acquainted with the law and prophets; and well skilled in the Jewish method of interpreting them. Verse 25

This man was instructed in the way of the Lord - Κατηχημενος; He was catechized, initiated, in the way, the doctrine, of Jesus as the Christ.

Being fervent in the spirit - Being full of zeal to propagate the truth of God, he taught diligently, ακριβως accurately, (so the word should be translated), the things of Christ as far as he could know them through the ministry of John the Baptist; for it appears he knew nothing more of Christ than what John preached. Some suppose we should read ουκ, not, before ακριβως, correctly, or accurately, because it is said that Aquila and Priscilla expounded the way of the Lord, ακριβεϚερον, more perfectly, rather more accurately; but of this emendation there is not the slightest necessity; for surely it is possible for a man to teach accurately what he knows; and it is possible that another, who possesses more information on the subject than the former, may teach him more accurately, or give him a larger portion of knowledge. Apollo knew the baptism of John; but he knew nothing farther of Jesus Christ than that baptism taught; but, as far as he knew, he taught accurately. Aquila and Priscilla were acquainted with the whole doctrine of the Gospel: the doctrine of Christ dying for our sins, and rising again for our justification; and in this they instructed Apollo; and this was more accurate information than what he had before received, through the medium of John's ministry. Verse 26

They took him unto them - This eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, who was even a public teacher, was not ashamed to be indebted to the instructions of a Christian woman, in matters that not only concerned his own salvation, but also the work of the ministry, in which he was engaged. It is disgraceful to a man to be ignorant, when he may acquire wisdom; but it is no disgrace to acquire wisdom from the meanest person or thing. The adage is good: Despise not advice, even of the meanest: the gaggling of geese preserved the Roman state. Verse 27

When he was disposed to pass into Achaia - There is a very long and important addition here in the Codex Bezae, of which the following is a translation: But certain Corinthians, who sojourned at Ephesus, and heard him, entreated him to pass over with them to their own country. Then, when he had given his consent, the Ephesians wrote to the disciples at Corinth, that they should receive this man. Who, when he was come, etc. The same addition is found in the later Syriac, and in the Itala version in the Codex Bezae.

Which had believed through grace - These words may either refer to Apollo, or to the people at Corinth. It was through grace that they had believed; and it was through grace that Apollo was enabled to help them much.

The words δια της χαριτος, through grace, are wanting in the Codex Bezae, the later Syriac, the Vulgate, one copy of the Itala, and in some of the fathers. But this omission might have been the effect of carelessness in the writers of those copies from which the foregoing were taken: the words convey the same idea that is expressed by St. Paul, 1Cor 3:6 : Paul planted, and Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Though this eminent man became the instrument of mightily helping the believers in Corinth, yet he was also the innocent cause of a sort of schism among them. For some, taken by his commanding eloquence, began to range themselves on his side, and prefer him to all other teachers. This evil St. Paul reprehends and corrects in his first epistle to the Corinthians. St. Jerome says that Apollo became bishop of Corinth. Verse 28

He mightily convinced the Jews - Ευτονως διακατηλεγχετο; He vehemently confuted the Jews; and that publicly, not in private conferences, but in his public preaching: showing by the scriptures of the Old Testament, which the Jews received as divinely inspired, that Jesus, who had lately appeared among them, and whom they had crucified, was the Christ, the promised Messiah, and that there was salvation in none other; and that they must receive him as the Messiah, in order to escape the wrath to come. This they refused to do; and we know the consequence. Their city was sacked, their temple burnt, their whole civil and religious polity subverted, more than a million of themselves killed, and the rest scattered over the face of the earth.

1. The Christian religion did not hide itself in corners and obscure places at first, in order, privately, to get strength, before it dared to show itself publicly. Error, conscious of its weakness, and that its pretensions cannot bear examination, is obliged to observe such a cautious procedure. With what caution, circumspection, and privacy, did Mohammed propose his new religion! He formed a party by little and little, in the most private manner, before he ventured to exhibit his pretensions openly. Not so Christianity: it showed itself in the most public manner, not only in the teaching of Christ, but also in that of the apostles. Even after the crucifixion of our Lord, the apostles and believers went to the temple, the most public place; and in the most public manner taught and worked miracles. Jerusalem, the seat of the doctors, the judge of religion, was the first place in which, by the command of their Lord, the disciples preached Christ crucified. They were, therefore, not afraid to have their cause tried by the most rigid test of Scripture; and in the very place, too, where that Scripture was best understood.

2. When the same apostles. carried this Gospel to heathen countries, did they go to the villages, among the less informed or comparatively ignorant Greeks, in order to form a party, and shield themselves by getting the multitude on their side? No! They went to Caesarea, to Antioch, to Thessalonica, to Athens, to Corinth, to Ephesus; to the very places where learning flourished most, where sciences were best cultivated, where imposture was most likely to be detected, and where the secular power existed in the most despotic manner, and could at once have crushed them to nothing could they have been proved to be impostors, or had they not been under the immediate protection of Heaven! Hence it is evident that these holy men feared no rational investigation of their doctrines, for they taught them in the face of the most celebrated schools in the universe!

3. They preached Christ crucified in Jerusalem, where it was the most solemn interest of the Jews to disprove their doctrine, that they might exculpate themselves from the murder of Jesus Christ. They preached the same Christ, and the vanity of idolatry, in Athens, in Corinth, and in Ephesus, where idolatry existed in the plenitude of its power; and where all its interests required it to make the moat desperate and formidable stand against those innovators. What but the fullest confidence of the truth of what they preached, the fullest conviction of the Divinity of their doctrine, and the supernatural influence of God upon their souls, could ever have induced these men to preach Christ crucified, either at Jerusalem, or at Athens? I scruple not to assert that the bold, public manner in which the apostles preached the Gospel, among the Jews and Greeks, is a most incontestable proof of the conviction they had of its truth; and the success with which they were favored is a demonstration that what they preached as truth God proved to be the truth, by stretching forth his hand to heal, and causing signs and wonders to be wrought in the name of the holy child Jesus. This is an additional proof of the sincerity of the apostles, and of the truth of Christianity. If Paul and Peter, Barnabas and Silas, had not had the fullest persuasion that their doctrine was of God, they would never have ventured to propose it before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, the literati of Corinth, and the Stoics and inexorable judges of the Areopagus at Athens.

4. We may be surprised to find that, even among the Jews as well as the Gentiles, there were persons who used curious arts. Those were inexcusable; these were to be pitied. Blind as every man is by nature, yet he is conscious that without supernatural assistance he can neither secure the good he needs, nor avoid the evil he fears: therefore, he endeavors to associate to himself the influence of supernatural agents, in order to preserve him in safety, and make him happy. Thus forsaking and forgetting the fountain of living water, he hews out to himself cisterns that can hold no water. The existence of magical arts and incantations, whether real or pretended, prove the general belief of the existence of a spiritual world, and man's consciousness of his own weakness, and his need of supernatural help. When shall the eye be directed solely to Him from whom alone true help can come, by whom evil is banished, and happiness restored!