Saturday 04 June 2011

Background

There is always more for us to learn - but that process needsgracious teachers and willing listeners. Both are seen in thisinteresting incident.

Apollos comes from Alexandra, a centre of education and philosophy.The details of his personal spiritual journey are not given but heis clearly someone who, having been taught about the "Way of theLord" (v. 25), is able to pass on that message to others witheloquence (v. 24) and "burning enthusiasm" (v. 25). He is able toteach accurately "the things concerning Jesus" (v. 25), butsomething is missing. Apollos knows only "the baptism of John" (v.25). He is presumably ignorant of the importance of Baptism in thename of Jesus - as was offered by Peter on the day of Pentecost(see Acts 2:38).

Reading this passage today it is perhaps difficult to imagine thissituation. How can someone know all that Apollos apparently knowsabout Jesus and be able to speak with such power and authority andyet be unaware of such an important aspect of the life of the earlyChurch. We need to remember that in the middle of the firstcentury, when these events took place, a more formal understandingof the key elements of the Christian faith was only gradually beingestablished. There were various strands of understanding, andissues regarding the essential elements of faith for a Christianbeliever were still being actively debated.

In this context, after Priscilla and Aquila had heard Apollosspeak, they "took him aside" (v. 26) and helped him to understandthe faith in more detail. The phrase "took him aside" may mean thatthey took him to their home or it may mean that they went quietlyto a corner for the conversation. What is clear is that they didthis in order to encourage him and to develop his understanding.This was not a matter of criticising him openly or embarrassing himin public.

Apollos, in response, takes their comments as constructivecriticism - by the time he leaves Ephesus the believers there areable to send him on his way with a letter of commendation (v. 27).There is much for us to learn from Pricilla and Aquila about how togive good advice - and from Apollos about how to receive it.

To Ponder

How are you going to keep on learning more aboutwhat it means to be a follower of Jesus?

What can you learn from this incident about howbest to give advice - and how best to receive it?