Acts 18:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: He began to speak 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.

NIV: He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

NASB: and he began speaking boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately to him.

CSB: He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

NLT: When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.

KJV: And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

NKJV: 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.

When Paul left Corinth for Ephesus, he brought his new friends Priscilla and Aquila along. They stayed in Ephesus while Paul continued his return trip to Jerusalem and Syrian Antioch. While going to synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila hear the teaching of Apollos, a Jewish man from Alexandria. He is passionate about Jesus and boldly shares John the Baptist's baptism of repentance. But he has limited information about Jesus (Acts 18:19–25).

The text doesn't explain what Apollos doesn't know. Alexandrians did know about the crucifixion and resurrection, and some brought Jesus' offer of salvation to Syrian Antioch (Acts 11:20). Likely, Apollos knew everything John the Baptist taught, including that Jesus is the Messiah (John 1:23, 29–34), but he hadn't experienced the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16).

Once Apollos fully understands, he's unstoppable. He goes to Corinth and continues Paul's work of showing how Jesus matches the description of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures (Acts 18:27–28). He makes such an impression, some of the Corinthian believers break into factions, some claiming to follow Paul and some Apollos. It gets so bad Paul is led to remind the Corinthian church that Jesus is their Savior, not these mortal teachers (1 Corinthians 1:12–13).

The story of Apollos is one of humility. We don't know why Priscilla's name is often mentioned before her husband's, but clearly, Apollos willingly takes correction from a woman. When Paul speaks of Apollos's work in Corinth, he does so without jealousy. He says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:6). Because the early evangelists work as a team, the message of Jesus spreads rapidly throughout the Roman Empire, just as Jesus had planned (Acts 1:8).

Acts 18:24–28 records a short interlude featuring Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos. Priscilla and Aquila became fast friends with Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:1–3). When Paul left Corinth, he brought the couple along and stationed them in Ephesus. Apollos is a Jewish teacher from Alexandria who preaches the baptism of repentance that John the Baptist taught (Mark 1:2–8). Apollos knows some about Jesus, but after Priscilla and Aquila explain how He is the Messiah who offers salvation, Apollos becomes a powerful evangelist and continues Paul's work in Corinth.

Acts 18 recounts the end of Paul's second missionary journey. He leaves Athens for Corinth, in southern Greece, and works with Priscilla and Aquila as a tentmaker until Silas and Timothy rejoin him. The team stays eighteen months with no significant pressure. Eventually, Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila sail east to Ephesus. Paul leaves a short time later for Judea and Syrian Antioch before returning to Galatia for his third missionary journey. Meanwhile, Priscilla and Aquilla host the church in Ephesus and train a talented speaker named Apollos to be a minister of Christ.

Acts 18 covers the last half of Paul's second missionary journey and the first part of the third. He and his team have traveled down the east coast of Macedonia and Greece to Corinth (Acts 17) where they will spend eighteen months. Paul will stop briefly in Ephesus on their way back to Judea before visiting Jerusalem and Syrian Antioch. From there, Paul will return to Galatia in modern-day Asia Minor before returning to Ephesus for an extended stay (Acts 19). He will revisit the churches in Macedonia and Greece before facing arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.