PROCLAIMING CHRIST FROM THE SCRIPTURES
Apollos, a Jewish believer in Jesus from Alexandria, Egypt, was an eloquent preacher of the gospel. But the power of his preaching wasn’t in his eloquence, but in his accurate use of the Scriptures to explain how they reveal Jesus as the Messiah.
We don’t know very much about Apollos. He had arrived in Ephesus and started preaching about Jesus when Paul’s friends, Aquila and Priscilla, heard him. They took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately to him. Imagine that. This powerful and persuasive young man was humble and teachable enough to listen and learn from this tent-making couple. Not only that, but when they heard that he had been thinking about visiting Corinth, they encouraged him to go, writing to the believers there to welcome him.
So, Aquila and Priscilla, who had been discipled by the apostle Paul, discipled and encouraged Apollos. They helped him go to their former home in Corinth. There he was a great encouragement to the believers that Paul had actually first led to the Lord. Perhaps the Lord saw the need to send them a strong Bible preacher to follow after the church-planting Paul to help them continue to grow.
Certainly that’s how Paul saw it in his letter to the Corinthians: “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6).
We may not know the Scriptures very well when we first believe, but reading and hearing the Bible taught is necessary for our Christian growth. Are you a member of a church that proclaims Christ from the Scriptures?
PRAYER: Dear Father, we thank You for Jesus and for Your Word. Help us to grow in the knowledge of our Savior and Lord through the reading and study of Your Scriptures. Fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit that we might boldly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ. In His name we pray, amen.