Apollos was Jewish, a native of Alexandria in Egypt, the second most important city of the Roman Empire and this city had a high population of Jewish people living there as well as business and trade. Alexandria was known for its great university.

Apollos was a notable scholar, orator and debater. He would have encountered disciples of John, The Baptist, carrying his message of the Soon Coming of The Messiah. With the communication of the day, the news of Christ did not spread from one area to the next, but through the traveling of the disciples. However, Apollos traveled himself across the Mediterranean Sea to Ephesus.

Priscilla, (who was a co-teacher with Paul, The Apostle) and her husband, Aquilla, lived in Ephesus, a city port on the coast was a leading commercial City in Asia Minor, for land and sea transportation, and was the capital city of the province of Asia. (modern day Turkey). Paul had been traveling with the couple, who embarked at Ephesus, but Paul sailed on hoping to return to them.

Apollos arrived in the City and decided to speak at the local synagogue. Priscilla and Aquilla heard him preach boldly of the message of John, The Baptist, on confession of sin, repentance and turning to God. Immediately Priscilla and Aquilla noticed he was a very learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. He spoke with great zeal, but did not speak of the new life in Christ. They invited him to their home, and explained to him the works of God more adequately. They found that Apollos only knew of John The Baptist's teaching and had not heard at all that Christ had come, fulfilled God's mission during His Life, Death and Resurrection. He had not known that the Holy Spirit had been sent from God, on the Day of Pentecost. His teachings were based on repentance, but not on the finished Work of God.

Priscilla instructed and trained Apollos in the Word of God since John, The Baptist and he became one of the best speakers of scripture for the Church and to those who opposed the message of Christ. He preached enthusiastically. He was a willing student for he knew the Jewish Scriptures well and he could pick up easily what Priscilla was teaching him.

With his skills of a speaker and debater, as he learned of Christ, his knowledge became more complete and God used his gifts greatly to strengthen, build and encourage the believers in the early church with greater boldness. Reason and learning is powerful in the right hands, the right situation and for the rights and knowledge of the things of God.

There were a few disciples in Ephesus who had heard Apollos preach earlier, and still only had the message of John, The Baptist. Like Apollos, they had only a limited knowledge and understanding of Jesus but were soon taught the full Truth of Christ. He stayed living with them in Ephesus while he matured in the teachings of Christ. Apollos did not hesitate at learning to become a student again to become a better teacher.

The Christians at Ephesus were encouraged by his teachings and urged him to go to Corinth as he wished to travel to Greece with the message of Christ. These new leaders were emerging under the headship of Christ for the next years for the strengthening of the church. Priscilla, her husband Aquilla and Apollos.

A letter was sent and on arriving in Corinth he was a great help to the Christian church. Apollos had carried on ministering in Corinth and worked in the church Paul had earlier established, edifying the converts of Christianity. Apollos became a very popular teacher in Corinth and a fruitful dynamic ministry, he made an enormous impact for Christ, as a popular speaker, interpreting and applying the Old Testament to Christ. Apollos had built on the foundation of Christ that Paul had already laid.

Many of the preachers became popular and the people started to follow the teacher instead of following the message and Paul had to rebuke the people for this. It is fine to be loyal to a teacher but not to fight and argue about it for they were all teaching the same message, of the Truth of Christ, and as teachers they were all equal in being their guides to point them to Christ.

Apollos was a great debater, skilled in the Word of God. His ability and skill, through the power of The Holy Spirit, enabled him to satisfy many in Greece of the Truth of Christ through logic and debate with Jewish Traditionalists, very forcefully and very effectively. Paul admired the knowledge and the preaching of Apollos, his fellow minister, against false teaching, and his public debates of scripture against those who followed the Law of Moses, rejecting Christ.

Paul sent Apollos to the Isle of Crete with letters of instructions for Titus, who was teaching there. Apollos did return to Ephesus during Paul's ministry there.

As Christians we should always be teachable and any stage of our lives and at any age.

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Managed by Stefan Kreslin,Last updated August 2017