Faithful Teachers

Acts 18:24-26 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 and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
 
APOLLOS arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria, Egypt, after Paul had left and before he returned. This timing helps us understand that God was placing his church into the hands of a growing number of trained, accomplished teachers. Obviously Paul and the other apostles could not sustain an increasing workload. The church needed more teachers and preachers. Aquila and Priscilla are developing into those leaders. Apollos has joined them.
   God had been preparing Apollos for ministry. Alexandria was the great learning center of the ancient world. Its vast library is estimated to have from 40,000 to 400,000 scrolls! Yes, that is a significant range, but consider even 40,000 hand-written scrolls teaching ad revealing theology, history, astronomy, biology, philosophy and mathematics! How much knowledge is that?
   But most importantly some of those scrolls contained the Law of Moses, the prophets and Hebrew history. Essentially, much of the Old Testament was there along with added scrolls on the Jews’ history and culture. Luke tells us Apollos understood God had moved the Jews’ history to Jesus. Without having directly heard the gospel, Apollos was very close to knowing it.
   Apollos wanted to teach what he knew, so he spoke boldly in the synagogue. That’s good, right? But when Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speak, they realized he needed to know and receive the full gospel. So they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
   This is the church. Jesus had taught Paul that the prophets pointed to him. Paul had instructed Priscilla and Aquila. They taught Apollos. Each of Jesus’ appointed teachers was a good servant to learn the full gospel truth. Each responded to God’s call to consistently advance the gospel.