Paul Encounters False Religion at Ephesus (Acts 19:11–22)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, October 26, 2025

There is a war going on, but we cannot see it. A battle is underway, but we may not be aware of it. The enemy speaks words to bring us down, but we may not hear them. We are all under attack, but we may not be aware of it. We cannot perceive this war because it is a spiritual war. There is a spiritual battle going on. It is real, though we cannot see it, touch it, taste it, feel it, or hear it.

As a Christian, to deny this spiritual war greatly jeopardizes one’s relationship with God. As a Christian, to deny this spiritual war will keep one from being on the offensive rather than the defensive. As a Christian, to deny this spiritual war will mean being attacked. A Christian who denies spiritual warfare is like an aircraft carrier during World War II sitting in front of a German U Boat. A Christian must recognize the war that is taking place in the spiritual realm.

I mentioned attacks. You may wonder, “What do these attacks look like?” As a Christian, the attacks that we will experience are usually temptations to sin against the Lord. You may not realize it, but the main way we will experience this war that is going on is when you are attacked. The enemy, the devil and his forces, breaks through from the spiritual into the carnal world and attacks with an enticement to sin. And all sin is against the Lord (Psalm 51:4).

A Christian can experience other attacks from the enemy. However, I think this mainly happens when we invite the attack.

Paul is in Ephesus, and he encounters false religions. In the passage that we will look at, we see people in a position to experience demonic attacks. These people were not Christians. Yet, Christians must take the spiritual realm seriously.

My theme is: The seven sons of Sceva impersonate Paul, are beaten up by a demon-possessed man, and many are saved.

1. First, let’s look at what leads up to the spiritual warfare event.
   1. Acts 19:11-12:
   2. ¹¹ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
   3. Notice in verse 11, the passage talks about all that has been going on. Many people have been healed, and Paul has done miraculous things.
   4. Verse 12 tells us how far things have gotten. Now, they take handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul, and if they touch other people, they are healed. Also, the evil spirit would leave the person. So, this verse recognizes that this had to do with physical healing as well as demonic possession.
   5. Before we proceed, please note that this is not a form of witchcraft. There are two other instances in the Scriptures where something similar occurred. One is with Peter in Acts 5:15, the people wanted his shadow to pass before them.
   6. Another occurrence of something like this is in Luke 8:44, when a woman with an issue of blood came and touched the edge of Jesus’s cloak to be healed.
   7. All these incidents bring glory to God and not to man.
   8. We’ll see that as the narrative goes on.
   9. One thought is that Luke must have really enjoyed writing this one. This is filled with humor in every way.
   10. So, that is what is going on to lead up to this.
   11. They are in Ephesus, and Ephesus is full of witchcraft.
   12. One writes:
   13. Ephesus was reputed as a center for magic. The famous statue of Artemis, the centerpiece of her temple, was noted for the mysterious terms engraved on the crown, girdle, and feet of the image. Referred to as the “Ephesian scripts,” this magical gibberish was considered to have great power.²⁵ It was not by accident that Paul’s encounter with magic took place in Ephesus, nor is it a surprise that his converts there had been involved in such practices. Magic was part of Ephesian culture. Nor should one question the integrity of these Ephesian Christians who only now openly forsook such ways. Salvation involves a process of growth, of increasing sanctification. And after all, the Ephesian spells were not that remote from the horoscopes and board games that supposedly communicate telepathic messages with which many Christians dabble in our own day.^[1]
2. Now, in the next few verses, we have impostors.
   1. Acts 19:13-14: ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
   2. Jewish people are faking and impersonating Paul.
   3. It was common back then to have exorcists who went around trying to make a name and money for themselves. This case is no different. These individuals were impostors; they were fakes. They were not real.
   4. It is a big deal to fake who you are, right?
   5. My dad was a police officer before I was born. But he got to keep the uniform after changing careers. My brother and I used to try to get him to put it on. My dad used to tell us that it was a big deal to impersonate a police officer, and you cannot do that.
   6. Now, if it is a big deal to impersonate a police officer, what about impersonating one of Jesus’s handpicked apostles? One would think that is a big deal.
   7. This honestly is a big deal.
   8. More than one set of men is doing this, but the Bible gives us one example.
3. In verses 15-16, we have the case study.
   1. Acts 19:15-16:
   2. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
   3. Seven sons of Sceva: So, Sceva is their dad, and he is apparently a Jewish High Priest. There was a Jewish historian named Josephus, who listed all the High Priests, and this individual is not one of them. But it could be that he is a pagan high priest. It could be that he was an illegitimate high priest; it could also be that he was from the high priest family. So, there are different options here.
   4. Think about this, though: the High Priest is the only one to enter the Holy of Holies. Think about that with what happens. But to his credit, he may not have known what his children were doing.
   5. With him being a high priest, the people might have thought there was a special type of power within him.
   6. So, his sons impersonate Paul and try to cast out demons in his name.
   7. The demons talk through the man they possessed. Then the man becomes supernaturally strong, and the demon says, “Jesus, I know; Paul, I am familiar with; you, I don’t know.” The demon beats them all up and sends them on the street naked.
   8. Now, the translation might have missed something. The Bible says that the demon beat them all up, which is all seven sons. However, that could also be translated as “two.” So, there could have been two or seven.
   9. They are then thrown out on the street naked, which could mean with torn clothes.
4. What happens after this (Acts 19:17-20)?
   1. Acts 19:17-20:
   2. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
   3. Now, people see this. The word spreads.
   4. First, in verse 17, the Bible says that Jews and Greeks see this. Then it says, “The name of the Lord was magnified.” That is what we are here for.
   5. So, now many people are saved.
   6. Verse 18 states that those who believed now came out and confessed.
   7. What this really means is that they got rid of their occult stuff.
   8. See the next verse. They take them out on the street and burn them. They have a big bonfire getting rid of stuff.
   9. Sproul shares:
   10. Books were very expensive in the ancient world. The library of ancient Ephesus is still standing; it is a magnificent edifice that was richly endowed with books. Most of the books that filled that library pertained to the occult, books that promised power over nature and diseases. Yet the people were so stricken in their conscience by the truth of the power of the Holy Spirit that they saw immediately the difference between the real and the counterfeit, and they went and got the books for which they had spent much money and burned them.^[2]
   11. Verse 20, the Word of God spreads.
5. How do we apply this?
   1. Sproul shares:
   2. Satan does have power. He does not have the power of God, and whatever power he has is forbidden altogether for the Christian. Once we are committed to the things of God, we are to turn our backs completely on the things of darkness and the kingdom of Satan. If you want true power that will edify, come to the power of the cross.^[3]
   3. Do you get rid of stuff? Do you put the past behind you?
   4. Notice that spiritual warfare is real.
   5. Ephesians 6:12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

 What you need to know: As a Christ follower, you have Jesus within you. You are possessed by God! Also, Jesus said we are not alone (Matthew 28:20). Lastly, put on the armor of God (Eph 6:10-12).

Pray

²⁵ See B. M. Metzger, “St. Paul and the Magicians,” Princeton Seminary Bulletin 38 (1944): 27–30.

^[1] John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 405.

^[2] R. C. Sproul, Acts, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 330.

^[3] Ibid.

Paul Encounters Disciples of John (Acts 19:1–10)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, October 12, 2025

I have been preaching through the book of Acts for a long time. I hope we have all learned a lot. However, if we learn, it is not good enough. I mostly hope that the Word of God is transforming our lives.

Dr. David Palmer is the pastor at Kenwood Baptist in Cincinnati. He shared with a group how he grew up in a non-Christian home. At a certain age, he was given a Gideon Bible and eventually became a Christian. A few years later, he was in college when his roommate staggered into the dorm room. At that time, he remembers reading the Bible underneath his covers by flashlight. He thought, “What is it about this book that makes me so eager to read it?” Dr. Palmer continued: “Part of the new birth is a spirit-born appetite for the Word of God.”

As I was writing that, I started thinking about my own spiritual journey. When I was in high school, I started a Discipleship class. In that class, I was required to study the Bible for one hour once a week. This was an in-depth Bible study. At first, I thought it would be too much. I was a high school student involved in extracurricular activities with a part-time job. But I began studying the Bible. By the end of that class, I was studying a chapter a week and could not stop studying. I loved it! I was studying the book of Revelation one chapter at a time. There were times in my studies when I was practically moved to tears studying the Bible. I loved it!

Part of that discipleship class involved learning about the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. It is that subject that I wish to talk about today. I once heard a message in which someone shared about reading through the Bible when he was a non-Christian. At that time, the Bible did not make sense to him. Just a few weeks later, he gave his life to Christ and started reading the Bible again. Now, as a Christian, the Bible made total sense.

What is the difference? The Holy Spirit is the difference.

My theme today is: The disciples in Ephesus are baptized in the name of Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit.

1. Context is everything, so let’s begin with the context.
   1. Paul has been traveling from city to city preaching the Gospel. This is Paul’s second missionary journey.
   2. In the previous chapter, Paul was in Corinth and then set sail to Antioch of Syria.
   3. In the previous chapter, we were introduced to Priscilla and Aquila.
   4. At the end of Acts 18, we see Priscilla and Aquila teach Apollos more fully the way of Jesus.
2. Meet the disciples of John (Acts 19:1).
   1. Acts 19:1 (ESV) And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
   2. Verse 1 reveals that Apollos is staying in Corinth, while Paul travels through the inland route to Ephesus during this time. Ephesus was a very important city. Later, Paul would write the letter to the Ephesians. 1 and 2 Timothy were written to Timothy, who was pastoring the church in Ephesus.
   3. Disciples here refers to followers of John the Baptist; they did not know of Jesus (19:4).^[1]
3. John’s disciples are baptized in the name of the Lord, Jesus (Acts 19:2-7).
   1. Now, Paul meets some of John’s disciples. Paul asked them if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed.
   2. Acts 19:2–7 (ESV)
   3. ² And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴ And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” ⁵ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.
   4. I believe, based on John’s Gospel chapters 14-17 and Acts 2 and many other passages, that we do receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in Christ.
   5. Romans 8:9 is about this:
   6. Romans 8:9 (ESV)
   7. ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
   8. Now, Paul was struck by something. He knew that these 12 people (verse 7) were not saved. He could tell by something that they were not Christians. One thought is that they did not have the Holy Spirit. Certainly, when he asks them a question, their response makes it clear.
   9. The Bible does call them disciples, and this is likely the word “disciples” in a broad sense as followers of someone. They were followers of John the baptizer.
   10. They knew nothing about the Holy Spirit.
   11. They said in verse 2, they had not heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
   12. How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit?
   13. When you become a Christian, you are baptized with the Holy Spirit. If you have truly trusted in the blood of Jesus to cover your sins and have committed to making Jesus Lord of your life, then you are saved and have the Holy Spirit.
   14. Have your desires changed? The Holy Spirit is God living within you. He changes your desires to match God’s. What is the pattern? Do you have convictions concerning sin? There are sins of omission and commission. Sins of commission are things that you do, such as stealing. Sins of omission are actions that you are not taking that you should be doing. Do you have convictions as to doing the right thing?
   15. Do you have convictions to read the Bible?
   16. Do you have convictions to participate in the church community? I am not only talking about Sunday morning worship, but do you have convictions to be involved in corporate, small group Bible study? Do you have convictions to participate in ministry? The Holy Spirit wants you involved in these things. How do we know? The Bible tells us so.
   17. Do you have a hunger for the Bible?
   18. We must be convicted to walk by the Spirit as Galatians 5:16 and the following verses talk about.
   19. In this passage, these disciples tell Paul that they didn’t know that the Holy Spirit had come upon the people. Actually, it says they didn’t know about the Holy Spirit. But what is more likely is that they didn’t know that the Spirit had come upon the church. They knew about the Holy Spirit.
   20. In verse 3, Paul asked about their baptism. They said they were baptized in John’s baptism. Back then, they would be baptized “in the name of” someone. You’d be baptized in the name of the person you were a disciple of. It was a baptism of identification.
   21. I love verse 4: John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. John was pointing forward. He was telling the people to believe in the One Who was to come after Him, that is, Jesus.
   22. In verses 5-7: Paul then tells them the Gospel of Jesus, and they receive Christ. Paul prays over them, and they speak in tongues and prophesy, which in this case is evidence of the Spirit.
   23. Rydelnic shares: John’s baptism was a baptism of preparation. They would all be rebaptized into Jesus.
   24. The book of Acts is a transition book. There are abnormal passages in Acts.
   25. We should get our doctrine from the Apostles’ teaching, not their experiences. We have their teaching in the epistles.[2]
   26. Further, when he would have his students study the various ways the Holy Spirit came upon people in the book of Acts. There is no consistency. Sometimes they spoke in tongues, or sometimes, like the apostle Paul, they received their sight back.[3]
   27. Witherington III shares: The laying on of hands is also only sporadically associated in Acts with the receiving of the Spirit; for example, it is not mentioned in Acts 2 or 10. There is no evidence of a regular or formal association of the two being assumed by Christians before about a.d. 200.^[4]
   28. Verse 7 shares that the Holy Spirit came upon them. They then started speaking in tongues and prophesying.
   29. Witherington III shares: It is clearly the fact (and evidential value) of these manifestations, not the content of the prophesying, that Luke is concerned about, because he does not tell us the content. It is interesting that here we have in the Western text (itp, vgmss, and Ephraem) yet another clarifying addition—they spoke in “other tongues and they themselves knew them, which they also interpreted for themselves; and certain also prophesied.”^[5]
   30. Further, The sequence of v. 5 followed by v. 6 makes quite clear that the disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit by means of water baptism. Rather, the Spirit came when Paul laid hands on these disciples, and the evidence that this in fact had happened was that the disciples spoke in tongues and prophesied. This is much like what we find in Acts 8 with the Samaritans (see Acts 8:17). The narrative concludes by informing us that there were about twelve persons involved in this baptizing and laying on of hands.⁴⁷ This is the only example in all of the NT where rebaptism is mentioned, and the text makes quite clear that we are not talking about one form or act of Christian baptism being supplemented by another. John’s baptism, while valid and valuable as a baptism of repentance, was not Christian baptism.^[6]
   31. An application is that the Spiritual gifts are important, but just because you have not spoken in tongues does not mean you are not saved. That is what happened in this instance. But don’t discredit the work of the Holy Spirit.
4. Paul enters the synagogue (Acts 19:8-10).
   1. Acts 19:8–10 (ESV)
   2. ⁸ And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
   3. Paul continues his custom.
   4. He spoke for three months.
   5. He was reasoning and boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
   6. Verse 9 shows that there is once again resistance.
   7. Paul withdraws, but there are new disciples with him. Now, he is reasoning in the hall of Tyrannus.
   8. IVP BBC NT: Philosophers often lectured in rented halls; this could have been a guild hall as easily as a “lecture hall” (NIV). (If the former, Tyrannus is simply the owner; if the latter, he is the customary lecturer. Public life in Ephesus, including philosophical lectures, ended by noon; so if Tyrannus lectured in the mornings Paul used it in the afternoons; if no one else lectured there, Paul probably lectured there in the mornings, and did his manual labor afterward.) Either way, residents of Ephesus would view Paul as a philosopher or sophist (professional public speaker). Many early Greco-Roman observers thought that Christians were a religious association or club (like other such associations in antiquity), or a philosophical school that took the form of such an association.^[7]
   9. Verse 10 shows that this continues for two years. All these residents of Asia, this is modern-day Asia Minor, heard the Word of the Lord.
   10. The Bible says this includes both Jews and Greeks.
   11. IVP BBC NT: Ephesus was a cosmopolitan center from which word would spread quickly, especially if Paul were training disciples (as philosophers and rabbis typically did) and sending them out to spread the message.^[8]
   12. Again, from Dr. Witherington III: The further one proceeds in Acts 19, the clearer it becomes that Luke intends the material in this chapter and the next to depict the climax of Paul’s ministry and missionary work as a free man.^50,[9]
   13. Think about this: Is it not amazing that God saves us?

Is it not amazing that God sets us free from our sin? If God is who He is and He has done what He has done, does anything make sense than to live our lives as living sacrifices, that is Romans 12:1. God saved us from His wrath by sending His wrath upon His own Son. He slew Him and poured all of my sin upon His own Son. That is amazing.

But what is more amazing is that was not all Jesus did for us. He died in our place, yes, but then He sent us the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-18 is written about Jesus sending us the helper, who is the Holy Spirit.

Are you sensitive to His presence? Maybe today is the day to rededicate your life to Him. Maybe you have realized that your passions are not being conformed to Jesus’s? Where are you at in your spiritual life?

Let’s pray

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

^[1] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2125.

[2] Dr Rydelnic; Open Line on Moody Radio. 01.04.2020

Also; 05.08.2021

[3] Ibid., 07.11.2021

^[4] Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998).

^[5] Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998).

⁴⁷ Luke often uses ωσει or ως with numbers; see Acts 1:15; 2:4; 4:4; 5:7, 36; 10:3; 13:18, 20; 19:34. Since Luke says “about,” it is doubtful there is any symbolic significance in the number twelve despite Johnson’s insistence (Acts, p. 338).

^[6] Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 571–572.

NIV New International Version

^[7] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 19:8–9.

^[8] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 19:10.

⁵⁰ See Pereira, Ephesus, pp. 138–76.

^[9] Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 572.

Priscilla and Aquila Instruct Apollos (18:23–28)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, October 12, 2025

Do you believe the whole Gospel? I am not asking if you understood the whole Gospel, but do you believe the whole Gospel? Sometimes we step out into faith.

I once read an article asking if I am preaching the whole Gospel. What does that mean? Often, we stop our teaching and preaching at “just believe.” We never tell people they must follow Jesus. However, many people believe but do not trust or really do not even believe in Jesus.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Theologian killed by the Nazi’s in World War II. There is a great biography about him. He was a brilliant man who would not cave to the Nazis. Many other German churches were going along with Hitler’s anti-Semitic comments, but he would not. He was trying to organize churches that stayed true to Scripture. There was a time when he came to New York City to pursue his studies. His impressions of our American church were not good. He wrote:

By this time, Bonhoeffer is in his lower twenties and has almost, if not, completed his PhD.

[The Union students] talk a blue streak without the slightest substantive foundation and with no evidence of any criteria . . . They are unfamiliar with even the most basic questions. They become intoxicated with liberal and humanistic phrases, laugh at the fundamentalists, and yet basically are not even up to their level.[1]

On another occasion, he wrote:

In New York they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life.[2]

You see, Bonhoeffer came to the U.S. soon after a pastor in New York City made some waves. His name was Harry Emerson Fosdick. Listen to what Eric Metaxis writes about him:

Fosdick had been the pastor at New York’s First Presbyterian Church when in 1922 he preached an infamous sermon titled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” In it he laid out a kind of Apostate’s Creed in which he expressed his serious doubts about most of the historic assertions of the Christian faith, including the virgin birth, the resurrection, the divinity of Christ, the atonement, miracles, and the Bible as the Word of God. This sermon was the opening salvo in a battle that would rage particularly hotly through the 1920s and 1930s. The local presbytery immediately conducted an investigation, but as a son of the moneyed East Coast WASP establishment, Fosdick had little to fear. His defense was conducted by another establishment scion, John Foster Dulles, who would serve as Eisenhower’s secretary of state, and whose father was a well-known liberal Presbyterian minister. Fosdick resigned before they could censure him, and he was given the pastorate of the fashionably progressive Park Avenue Baptist Church, where John D. Rockefeller was a prominent member, and whose foundation’s philanthropic arm was run by Fosdick’s own brother.[3]

So, their Gospel was incomplete. Their teaching was incomplete, and it was on purpose. They needed to be corrected.

I want to look at a passage where a brilliant man was teaching and speaking, but he was incomplete in his understanding. So, he is corrected. Let’s look at the passage.

Acts 18:24–28 (ESV)

²⁴ Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, ²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

1. First, let’s talk about the passage. Meet Apollos.
   1. Apollos was a Jew, and he was by birth an Alexandrian.
   2. We are familiar with Alexandria, and we know that it was an area in Egypt that was highly sophisticated, boasting a very large library. The library would later have a fire, which was unfortunate because we lost a lot of good literature and history. Later, many noble theologians and church fathers came from Alexandria.
   3. He was an eloquent or a learned man. Apollos was a Greek Jew. Alexandria would have had the largest Jewish population outside of Palestine.
   4. Apollos will be referenced much more:
   5. 1 Corinthians 1:12 (ESV) ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”
   6. 1 Corinthians 3:5–6 (ESV)
   7. ⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
   8. You can also see 1 Cor. 3:22; 1 Cor. 4:6; 1 Cor. 16:12; and Titus 3:13.
   9. Apollos is used much more in the New Testament, especially in Corinth.
   10. In verse 25, Apollos was instructed by the Lord. He was fervent in Spirit. The Bible even says that he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. But he was only acquainted with the things concerning John. In Acts 19:3, there is another instance where people were only familiar with John’s teachings. Or John’s baptism. The Bible says that he was boiling in Spirit, and this means that he had fire within him. So, he was very passionate.
   11. But his message was incomplete. He only knew the things of John. Apollos only knew John’s baptism.
   12. But it does say that he was competent in the Scriptures and had been instructed in the way of the Lord. The passage says he spoke and taught about Jesus.
   13. It sounds to me like he was yet to know what God had been doing since Pentecost.
   14. He was likely saved in an Old Testament sense, or pre-Pentecost sense.
   15. So, in the next verse, Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and explain the Gospel more fully.
   16. Notice that after this, verses 27 and 28 show Apollos going to Corinth (Achaia would be the region around Corinth) and powerfully refuting the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
2. Apply:
   1. It is vitally important that we understand a complete Gospel. Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3).
   2. We must understand that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us (Acts 2; Romans 8:9).
   3. We must recognize, as Jesus said, that believing in Him means following Him.
   4. But what else? We must do our duty just like Priscilla and Aquila did. We must explain the Gospel more fully when people do not understand.
   5. What did Priscilla and Aquila do? They took him aside and explained the full Gospel to him. Again, we do not know all the details, but he knew Jesus, although perhaps not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
   6. Are you willing to do that? Are we willing to explain the complete gospel?
   7. Notice also that they did not correct him in the open; they followed the Jesus model. They took him aside and, in private, corrected him. That is based on Matthew 18:15-17.
   8. Everyone here who is a believer in Christ must be concerned with incomplete Gospel teaching. That means you must be prepared for the possibility that Jesus may use you to correct someone.

Remember Bonhoeffer? Later, Metaxis writes:

Bonhoeffer’s observations on American churches, especially in New York City, were closely related to his views on Union:

Things are not much different in the church. The sermon has been reduced to parenthetical church remarks about newspaper events. As long as I’ve been here, I have heard only one sermon in which you could hear something like a genuine proclamation, and that was delivered by a negro (indeed, in general I’m increasingly discovering greater religious power and originality in Negroes). One big question continually attracting my attention in view of these facts is whether one here really can still speak about Christianity, . . . There’s no sense to expect the fruits where the Word really is no longer being preached. But then what becomes of Christianity per se?

In New York they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life.[4]

What about more recently? In 2013, the Presbyterian Church, USA, sought to remove the phrase “The wrath of God was satisfied” from the song “In Christ Alone.”[5] They tried to take out part of the Gospel. The Getty’s held the copyright and would not allow it.

In Christ Alone:

In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (p. 99). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (p. 102). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[4] Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (p. 106). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[5] Presbyterians’ decision to drop hymn stirs debate; USA Today; Bob Smietana, August 5, 2013.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/05/presbyterians-decision-to-drop-hymn-stirs-debate/2618833/