After Paul had been encouraged by a vision of the Lord Himself in the night he stayed on in Corinth for 18 months teaching them the Word of God. Then he was attacked by the Jews and dragged before the courts.Acts 18:12 But the Proconsul, Gallio, threw the case out, saying that since it involves disputes about words and names and their own law they ought to settle it themselves. Acts 18:15
As they were ejected from the court , they seized Sosthenes the Synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court.
Acts 18:17 Beat him (etupton). Inchoative imperfect active, began to beat him, even if they could not beat Paul. Sosthenes succeeded Crispus (Act_18:8) when he went over to Paul. The beating did Sosthenes good for he too finally is a Christian (1Co_1:1), a co-worker with Paul whom he had sought to persecute. RWP
After some time Paul with Acquila and Priscilla sailed from Cenchrea for Syria. Acts 18:18
| Cenchrea where Paul, Acquila and Priscilla went aboard ship |
On arriving at Ephesus Paul left Acquila and his wife there promising to return if God willed it.
He went on to Caesurea, and then to Jerusalem, gave his report to the church, then travelled back to his headquarters in Antioch in Syria Acts
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| Cenchrea on the Coast of the Gulf of Saronkos Koplos |
Apollos a Jew of Alexandria
1. He was a Learned Man Acts 18:24 He was a native of Alexandria, a man of great learning and well versed in the Scriptures. Today it is the second City of Egypt with 4 million population.
“This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.vv24-25
Apollos is the only preacher in all the Bible to be called ‘mighty in the scriptures’.
At the very least, Apollos had an intimate knowledge of the OT with an ability to teach Scriptural truth in all of its depth and nuance.
At best, Apollos could recite the OT text verbatim, since to be ‘mighty’ in any religious text often meant to have memorised its contents.
It is interesting that of all places Apollos hailed from was the Ancient city of Alexandria, a city in Egypt near the mouth of the Nile. The city was founded by Alexander the Great in about 300BC and boasted a large Jewish population.
Alexandria not only had many Jews, it was also a city of many books. It was home to the ancient world’s largest library.
Let me tell you some more about this notable city and library:-
1. Carved into the library wall was this famous inscription: The place of the cure of the soul.
2. It was the first known library to gather a serious collection of books beyond its country’s borders, and was in fact charged by its royal family to collect all of the world’s knowledge.
3. Library staff would collect foreign texts for library use and storage, and make copies to send back to their owners.
4. Alexandria soon became the leading producer of papyrus and books (scrolls) in the world.
5. The Library was also home to a host of visiting international scholars, funded by the Ptolemaic dynasty. The kings paid for their travel expenses, lodgings and financial support so they and their families could live in Alexandria while their studies took place.
6. As a research institution, the library filled its stacks with new works in mathematics, astronomy, physics, natural sciences and other subjects.
7. Alexandria was the city where the Greek translation of the OT (the Septuagint) by as many as seventy Jewish scholars took place a couple of hundred of years before Christ. Incidentally, this was the translation Jesus read from during his earthly ministry and portions of the Septuagint are quoted by the NT writers.
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| Alexandria Egypt today |
Applications.
1. We need many more young Travelling Preachers who are “Mighty in the Scriptures”. and know how to expound them. Are you will to put in the effort to become like Apollos.
2. He came from a city of learning. He was learned and had applied himself to know understand and quote the Scriptures.
There nothing wrong with someone searching for the truth and really understanding the Word of God. See <http://teaminfocus.com.au/did-jesus-exist/comment-page-1>
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