We were going through this passage in our Morning Devotion when suddenly a voice asked me this question: who discipled Apollos? I couldn’t answer the question because there is no other place in the Bible prior to this time when Apollos was mentioned. I couldn’t see who he came into contact with before he became a Christian. In fact, this passage is his introduction. However, I started to meditate over the question, relating my lessons to our church of today and began to see that there are a lot of young ‘Apollos’ all around us today. Some are already in positions of authority while others are exhibiting several gifts of the Holy Spirit and are held at very high esteem. Now look at how Apollos was introduced:
Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor b and taught about Jesus accurately
He came from one of the major cities in the Roman Empire, Alexandria in Egypt. Obviously, that was where he gave his life to Christ. Nobody knows the number of years he attended church or the positions he occupied, but it’s obvious that for him to be vast and have ‘a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures’ and ‘had been instructed in the way of the Lord’ shows that he was not a recent convert. He must have gone through the Beginner’s Class or what some people call Follow-Up/Discipleship Class. He must have sat under his pastor’s ministrations so many times. But in spite of all these credentials, I still wonder why is it that he knew only the baptism of John. Why is it that he needed the way of God to be explained to him more adequately?
So what happened? He seemed to have come to Ephesus with missions in mind and probably with the blessing of his church in Alexandria. He continued to Corinth and was greatly used by God, but that was after his encounter with Priscilla and Aquilla. The credential He had been instructed in the way of the Lord seems to be part of the referral letter that he came with from his church. But, how come that he knew only of the baptism of John? So I ask again, who discipled him? Who brought him up? Who was his pastor?
For Apollos, he was fortunate to meet seasoned men like Aquila and Priscilla his wife, who brought him to the house, sat him down and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Apollos took some time out to learn, but for a lot of people today, they have run very far with half-baked theology. Their doctrine is warped and they are shouting around. The gospel that gave birth to them was ‘inaccurate’ and they continue to spread inaccurate gospel. If you listen to some of them, you discover that they do not understand the basics of the gospel of Jesus. They talk about Jesus they have not experienced and are not willing to allow rule as Lord in their lives. They are speaking very boldly and with fervor but both their experience of God and doctrine are not definite and are inaccurate. A generation that has these set of people as the ones that dictate doctrinal direction for the church is really in trouble. Unfortunately, many of them are already in positions of authority and think themselves as something and no longer listen to counsel.
