Acts 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures.25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Acts 18:24–28
Many a preacher strives to connect with his congregation through his sermons. He’ll say “in my time that I have with you this morning, I’d like us to focus on,” or “I want to share my heart with you this morning,” or “we’re continuing to walk our way through John’s gospel as we have been for a number of months.” These talks range from “feel good” homilies” to didactic analyses of each and every Greek word in a passage. These sermons can be dominated by lengthy stories, rants, or incisive or mushy quotes. Some preachers ride familiar hobby horses each week, or are preoccupied with eschatology to the point of being no earthly good, or feel responsible to constantly share current events as would a newscaster or commentator. All this to say, they are in possession of a bully pulpit which can be misused.
When Apollos bursts onto the scene in Ephesus, in the common vernacular, we’d describe this phenomenon as a “star being born.” He was an eloquent, dynamic (Gk. dynatos) Alexandrian Jew, undoubtedly with a befitting stature and presence. His messages were biblically updated to the teachings of John the Baptist, until he received the penultimate tweak from Priscilla and Aquila, Paul’s coworkers, who told him the rest of the story (Paul’s version), that Jesus had come and completed his mission. From there on he was virtually unstoppable.
This account reveals what is vitally necessary in a preacher and in his preaching. It teaches us that good preaching is powerful, scriptural, accurate, bold, clear, and gracious, not clever, smooth, or flattering, or offered from a position of superiority (see 1 Corinthians 1:17, 2:1, Romans 16:18, 1 Thessalonians 2:5). We must remember as eloquent as Apollos was, Paul was unimpressive and contemptible in his speech, by his own admission (2 Corinthians 10:10), yet both were powerful mouthpieces for God.
One more point about Apollos. He was not easily persuaded (1 Corinthians 16:12), an attribute that is vital to holding fast to sound doctrine, though potentially frustrating to his peers! This is a requirement of those who would serve as an “elder” in the church, and certainly as its pastor-teacher.
9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Titus 1:9
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