Acts 18:23-28

Acts 18:23-28

After staying in Antioch some time,

Paul left and traveled in orderly sequence

through the Galatian country and Phrygia,

bringing strength to all the disciples.

A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria,

an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus.

He was an authority on the Scriptures.

He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and,

with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus,

although he knew only the baptism of John.

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.

And when he wanted to cross to Achaia,

the brothers encouraged him

and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.

After his arrival he gave great assistance

to those who had come to believe through grace.

He vigorously refuted the Jews in public,

establishing from the Scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you today for introducing me through your Son and Spirit into your own divine life. I do not in any way deserve this great gift and yet you generously offer it to me out of love. I pray that all people may enjoy the gift of divine life.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Paul’s Third Missionary Journey: The First Reading follows the end of Paul’s second missionary journey (A.D. 50-52) and narrates the beginning of his third journey (A.D. 53-57). During his second journey, Paul had stayed in Corinth for about a year and a half (Acts 18:11). Paul left Timothy and Silas to care for the Church in Corinth, and departed the city with Aquila and Priscilla, a married Jewish Christian couple who had been deported from Rome by the Emperor Claudius in A.D. 49. The party stopped at Ephesus, and Paul left the couple behind to evangelize there. The city of Ephesus would become the focal point of Paul’s third journey. Paul made his way to Antioch, his home base, and remained there “some time” (Acts 18:23). The First Reading picks up with Paul departing on his third journey and proceeding through Galatia and Phrygia, the area that he had earlier evangelized.

2. The Ministry of Apollos: The First Reading describes the preaching of Apollos in the city of Ephesus during Paul’s absence and before Paul’s arrival (Acts 19:1). Apollos had a Greek name but was a Jew from Alexandria in Egypt. While Apollos was able to preach accurately about Jesus, about John’s preaching on preparing the way of the Lord, and about the baptism of John, Apollos needed Priscilla and Aquila to explain the Way of God more accurately. Apollos knew about some of Jesus’ deeds and sayings, but not with the full truth of Jesus’ identity as the Christ, Jesus’ mission, Jesus’ death and resurrection, the mystery of the Church, and the Sacrament of Baptism. Priscilla and Aquila likely taught Apollos that “the Lord proclaimed by John is the crucified and risen Lord Jesus and that ‘the Way of the Lord’ is the path of discipleship that one enters through baptism into Christ” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, 288). Aquila and Priscilla had been with Paul in Corinth for a year and a half and had learned much from Paul. They were a husband-and-wife team who were able to pass on the doctrine of the Christian faith and build Apollos up in the faith.

3. The Primitive Church: After this encounter with Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos left Ephesus and went to Corinth in Achaia and proclaimed from the Scriptures that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah (the Christ). “The success of Apollos in establishing the faith was noted by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:6), who said that Apollos had watered what Paul had planted. A group of Christians, however, formed a separatist faction in the Corinthian community in Apollos’ name. Paul did not consider Apollos at all responsible for the formation of the faction (1 Corinthians 3:3-9; 4:6), as Paul clearly respected Apollos as a fellow laborer. Instead Paul tries in 1 Corinthians to break down the divisions among the Corinthian Christians” (Catholic Bible Dictionary, “Apollos,” 58). We know from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, that the house of Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus was used as a primitive Church (1 Corinthians 16:19). “Hence, we come to know the most important role that this couple played in the environment of the primitive Church: that of welcoming in their own house the group of local Christians when they gathered to listen to the Word of God and to celebrate the Eucharist. … In the house of Aquila and Priscilla, therefore, the Church gathered, the convocation of Christ, which celebrates here the Sacred Mysteries” (Benedict XVI, February 7, 2007). Aquila and Priscilla would one day return to Rome, where they once again welcomed the church into their home (Romans 16:3-5). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have revealed to me the mystery of divine life and how I am called to share in that life. Teach me to pray and converse with the Father in union with you. May the Holy Spirit animate my prayer and inspire me to ask for good things from the heavenly Father.

Living the Word of God: Thanks to the faith and apostolic commitment of the lay faithful, of families, of spouses like Priscilla and Aquila, Christianity has reached our generation. They placed their talents and resources at the service of the Church. How can I imitate Priscilla and Aquila, who worked with Paul to evangelize? Apollos and Paul also each placed their natural gifts and talents at the service of the Gospel. What gifts and talents do I have from God that could benefit the extension of God’s Kingdom?