²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. ²⁵This 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; ²⁶and 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. ²⁷And 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, ²⁸for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

While Paul did not spend much time on his first visit in Ephesus, the new church there came to have a solid foundation in the Word. Priscilla and Aquila spent considerable time there. Aquila was from Pontus (Acts 18:2), and he may have come to Christ through the influence of his countrymen who heard Peter’s Pentecostal preaching in Jerusalem (Acts 2:9). He relocated to Rome and was driven out from there with other Jews by Emperor Claudius. After living in Corinth, he and his wife relocated to Ephesus at Paul’s instigation.

Somewhere along the way, they had become disciples and now had the opportunity to tutor a powerful preacher of the Scripture, a man named Apollos. Paul refers to this same Apollos in 1 Corinthians 1:12 and 3:22; some of the Corinthians had gathered around him into a sectarian sub-group. At present, what Apollos was teaching about Christ was accurate but not complete; he had only been exposed to the teaching of John the Baptist. Comparing with Paul’s experience on his return to Ephesus, there were others there who likewise had only known the partial story (Acts 19:1-4), possibly due to Apollos’ teachings.

Priscilla and Aquila became the prototype of all those who minister privately in support of those who minister publicly. They took Apollos aside and filled him in on the rest of the story of Christ. Apollos then left for Achaia and presumably Corinth (the place where Priscilla and Aquila came from), where he continued his powerful preaching, boldly refuting the Jewish establishment there. He adamantly preached that Jesus was the Christ. It was a Jewish message to Jewish people about their Jewish Messiah. Judging by the intensity of the words used to describe his ministry, it was not an easy sell.

This story serves as a setup for Paul’s return to Ephesus (Acts 19). There were some who “believed through grace.” Combined with Timothy’s later influence (1 Tim. 1:3), the believers there became a very well taught church!

Lord, help me to more boldly demonstrate the truth of the gospel.