Character Studies - ElectronicGospel

D. No Luther1. it fell to the apostle Paul to clean up the mess that Apollos had inadvertently created in Ephesus(Acts 19:1-7)2. now in Corinth, Apollos became an unintentional rival to Paul, possibly because he was moreeloquent (cf. Second Corinthians 10:10) and invited the loyalty of those Christians who are drawn asmuch by truth as by the messenger himselfa. Paul does not accuse Apollos of creating this problem intentionally, however, and takes notethat other preachers have been drawn into Corinthians’ habit of sowing denominational seeds (FirstCorinthians 1:10-13, 3:4-6, 9)b. in fact, it seems as if Apollos feared returning to Corinth because of the saints’ adulation forhim (First Corinthians 16:12)3. Apollos is no Martin Luther, denominational founder, but then again, Luther did not exactlyintend to be that Luther either"I ask that men make no reference to my name, and call themselves not Lutherans, but Christians. Whatis Luther? My doctrine, I am sure, is not mine, nor have I been crucified for anyone. St. Paul, in FirstCorinthians i, would not allow Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christians. How thenshould I, poor, foul carcass that I am, come to have men give to the children of Christ a name derivedfrom my worthless name? No, no, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names, and call ourselvesChristians after Him whose doctrine we have.” 14. he is mentioned once more in the New Testament, about 10 years later, still journeying andpreaching the gospel, then passing through Crete (cf. Titus 3:13)II. Some ApplicationsA. Teaching Error1. that Apollos was teaching the gospel imperfectly is beyond dispute, but some might argue that hiseloquence, inexperience, or tangible results make him deserving of greater latitudea. the only greater latitude that Aquila and Priscilla showed Apollos was the kindness of takinghim aside privately to correct his incomplete doctrineb. in no way did they tolerate or overlook his teaching, for its tangible result was that people feltsaved when they were not!2. many in Ephesus fancied themselves disciples and are accommodated in that belief, even asanother preacher must go about the often arduous task of convincing them to be rebaptizeda. today, some are baptized into various denominations and for all sorts of reasons and feel savedbecause a false teacher has convinced them, since he was also convincedb. it then falls to others to attempt to show them from the scriptures that the great commissionordered that disciples be baptized and the cause was for the remission of sins, not denominationalmembership (Acts 2:38-41)c. these people feel saved even though they have never complied with what the New Testamentdescribes and it is awfully hard to convince them that they should remove all doubt and do it right3. what was Apollos’s errora. first, he was unintentionally neglecting a part of the gospel in his teaching and preachers arerequired to proclaim every word, including those words that present inconvenience and unpopularity1. he must preach the word in season and out (Second Timothy 4:1-5)2. he must not shun to declare every word (Acts 20:25-27)b. second, he was misleading people into thinking they were saved when they were not1. no matter how sincere and eloquent and effective he was, the end result was worse thanleaving people untaught completely; they were taught wrong2. Aquila and Priscilla were sensitive to Apollos’s own discipleship and honored his sinceritywith a rebuke that was initially private, but had he rejected them, it would have become more public outof necessity to protect souls in Ephesus3. in fact, it did become more public as others went behind him cleaning up the mess and Lukewrote down what happened for us to read todayc. his sincerity earned him the chance to be rebuked privately at first, but his refusal would havemade him a hypocrite and the term “false teacher” would have settled upon his educated head (SecondPeter 2:1-212! Jeff S. Smith