Apollos (Hastings' Dictionary)

An Alexandrian Jew (Ac 18"). Apollonius, of which Apollos is a natural abbreviation, is the reading of Cod. D, the chief representative of the Western text of the Acts, which is here very interesting, and probably presents a genuine tradition. He is described as 'fervent in spirit' (see lio 12"), as 'an eloquent man' (for Xi^iot means this rather than ' learned '), and as ' mighty in the Scriptures,' i.e. well versed in the Gr. OT.

He seems to have been connected with Alexandria by early residence as well as by race, for D records that his religious instruction was received ir rj varplSi. He came to Ephesus in the summer of 54, while St. Paul was on his third missionary journey, and there ' he spake and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John ; and he began to speak boldly in the syna- fogue.'

The precise character of his religious nowledge is not easily determined from these few words. It has been generally held that A.'s instruction in 'the way of the Lord' (v.''', see Is 40^ Mt 3') was such as any well-educated Jew might have gathered from teaching like that of the Baptist, based on the Messianic prophecies. This view is confirmed to some extent by the account of what happened when St. Paul returned to Ephesus after A. s departure.

He there found twelve disciples, who being asked, ' Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed ? ' returned an answer which showed their ignorance of any dis- tinctive gift of the Holy Spirit. They explained that they had formerly received John's baptism, but willmjjly accepted the Christian rite at St. Paul's hands. It is probable that these men were disciples of A.

, and that, having been influenced by his teaching in the synagogues of Ephesus, their knowledge of Christian truth fairly represented his. But Blass {in loc.) points out that the words nadr/ral and Trurrevaayrtt used of them are never used save of Christians, and thus some knowledge at the least of the Christian stoiy may be supposed to have been theirs. Indeed A. is said (v.^') to have taught dupi/Suj the things concerning Jesus, al- though he knew only of the baptism of John.

And so Blass suggests that, possibly from a written Gospel which had reached Alexandria, A. had learnt the main facts of the Lord's life, and that his ignorance of Christian baptism may be APOLLOS APOSTASY 125 ex|>lain«d by liis not having come in the way of Christian teachers. Taking' this view, the narra- tive proceeils naturally : ' lint when Prisiilla aiul Aqiiila heard liini, they took hitn iintu them, and exi>uuM>Ie(l unto him the way of IJoil aKfii^^arepov.'

It would seem probable, though the fact is not stated, that A. received baptism at their hands, as his followers in a like case did at the hands of St. I'aul. After some stay in Ephesus, A. determined to go to Corinth, an invitation to do so having come to him, according to the Western text, from certain Corinthians who were in Ephesus at the time.

They gave him letters of commendation, and when he arrived in Corinth 'he helped them much which had believed through grace ; for he powerfully confuted the Jews and tliat publicly, showing oy the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ' (Ac 18*"). In the spring of 57, A. having returned to Ephesus, we learn from 1 Co (see esp. 1'^ and 3°) that there were divisions amon" the Christians at Corinth, the names of Paul and A. (as well as of Peter) being used as those of party leaders.

* The question at issue may have been only as to the relative importance of Paul and A. in the founding of the Corinthian Church ; but it seems likely that there was also a dilFerence in the manner in which the gospel was presented by each. Possibly the eloquence of A. as contrasted with St.

Paul's rugged style (see I Co 2'"', 2 Co 11") appealed to a certain cultivated class at Corinth, and it may be (though for this there is no proof) that some doctrinal ditferences apjieared after the lapse of years. The teaching of^A.'s followers may, e.(f., liave ilcgenerated into Antinomian Gnosticism. However that may be, the Corinthian Church was a^tated by bitterly opposed factions as late as the time of Clement of Kome.

But it is unlikely that there was any personal disagreement between St. Paul and A. It has indeed been suggested that in 1 Co 2', St. Paul has the eloquent A. in his mind, and again in 2 Co 3', where he declares that he at least needed no commendatory letters ; and it is curious that A. is not mentioned at all as one of the founders of the Christian society at Corinth in '2 Co I'". Hut however we exjjiain these passages, they do nut prove anything like serious estrange- ment. In 1 Co 10"', St.

Paul, probably in answer to an invitation for A., says, 'As touching A., the brother, I besought him much to come unto you with the brethren, and it was not at all his will to come now [or ' not God's will that he should come now '] ; but he will come when he shall have opportunity.' A. may well have been unwilling to return at a time when his presence would inllame party sjiirit. The last mention of A. in the NT is in Tit 3". lie was then (A.l).

07) in Crete, or was shortly expected there; and St. Paul urges Titus to set him forward on his journey with Zenas, — a kindly message which, while it does not suggest per.soiial intimacy, does not suggest either any ditrerence of interest or hostility of sentiment. Jerome {iv loc.) tiiinks that A. retired to Crete until he heard that the divisions at Corinth were healed, and says that be then returned and became bisho|i of that city. It was hrst sugge.

sted by Luth»r, and the opinion ia now widely held, that A. wa^ the author of the Epistlo to the Hebrews. See Hebkews. LnnRATURP.. — Con.vbrare and Howdon, St. Paul, toL U. ch. xjv. Neaiuler, I'tiintiynr, l)k. Hi. :h. vii. Ue*:^aii, St. Partly pp. 240, ilta. KjLSa, Cum. on A^J, pp. 201-2. nnd In L'xpul. T(wti. HI. SftI : Wrtirhf. iTl. It. 8. J. H. IJKKNAUD. • Field, foUowlny Chry»o«tom, on 1 Co 4', sufni:e8tB that the nunee of the ri-al party Icmlcra are not Liiown to un, and 1 hat Bt.

Paul aiibstituted for thcia hin nut) nunto and that of ApuUoH. But, Ihoutfh hie not* is interestin(?. we prijfer to follow the •impler and more usual int^rprt-latiuii in the text.