Acts 18:18-28
Paul Returns to Antioch
18 So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow. 19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, 21 but took leave of them, saying, "I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing." And he sailed from Ephesus.
22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antioch. 23 After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
Ministry of Apollos
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 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.
26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; 28 for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
After staying quite a while in Corinth to reason and persuade all who would listen and were appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48), Paul made his way to Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:2-3). He continued reasoning with the Jews in the synagogue until it was time to move on to Jerusalem to keep a feast there, perhaps the Passover. He ended up in Antioch with a stopover in the church of Caesarea and then continued making follow up rounds at the churches all throughout Galatia and Phrygia “in order,” presumably in the order he had visited or planted them in the past. This demonstrates the need for following up on planted churches and individuals in them to aid in their sanctification growth in the faith, for we all take time to know the depths of our calling in Christ and need assistance in working our our salvation (Philippians 2:12) as we mature in Christ. We need to be taught the scriptures and their meaning for life and godliness (1 Timothy 4:8, 2 Peter 1:3, 12) and this is part of what we now refer to as discipleship, which is really everything from preaching and hearing the gospel to baptism into Christ and then teaching and being taught all things (Matthew 28:19-20) as we have ourselves learned from the word and Spirit through godly men. Discipleship includes strengthening with en as well as Paul was doing everywhere he went with purposeful acts. This same shepherding concern led Aquila and Priscilla to take Apollos aside after seeing and hearing God’s work in him. They took him aside to explain the way of God more accurately to him when they saw he only heard of the message and baptism of John’s repentance and not the baptism which immerses us into Christ Himself. Once they explained the gospel to him, Apollos built this on top of his understanding of the Old Testament scriptures and became a full gospel firehouse of effectual preaching and teaching wherever he went. Faithful men and women who discipled Apollos led him to a faithful and effective ministry in Christ through repentance to faith and the fullness of the teachings of Christ as the great commandment of Jesus was passed down from when he commissioned the disciples and all who would follow after them in making disciples of all nations. This Apollos was an immense help to strengthen the followers of Jesus Christ who “had believed through grace” as he powerfully contended earnestly for the faith (Jude 1:3) by demonstrating the presence and person of Jesus as the Messiah in the Old Testament (Luke 24:26-27, 32) to the Jews. That is part of the gospel and making disciples, to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God as foretold and come to pass in His life, death, and resurrection of hope for all who believe in Him and receive Him by the gift (Ephesians 2:8-10) of faith. Are we also faithfully making disciples?
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