Acts 18:24-28
Luke calls Apollos “a learned man,” but other translations call him an eloquent man, which refers either to his speaking ability, to his learning, or, from what we know of Apollos, both. He had access to the greatest collection of works available. He was probably trained in rhetoric, and able to communicate in a manner that held people’s attention.
Luke describes him as a man with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. Of course the Scripture he had knowledge of was the Old Testament. The “way of the Lord” that he spoke of with great fervor were the prophecies of Jesus. He was accurately teaching about the coming Messiah, and knew John the Baptist’s message on the baptism of repentance. There was a community in Ephesus of people influenced by John so it is possible that he learned from them.
He knew John’s declaration the Jesus was the Lamb of God, but he didn’t know that Jesus had come already. He knew nothing of Jesus’ death and resurrection, nothing of Jesus as Savior, and nothing of the Holy Spirit. He may have heard rumors about Jesus being the Messiah, but it had never been clearly explained to him.
Apollos shows us that no matter where we are in our knowledge or our walk with Christ we can grow. God calls people from all kinds of backgrounds. Some might be more charismatic than others. Some might have a better education. Some are regular people like the Galilean fishermen which Jesus called to follow him. We must not let anything, including ourselves, get in the way of progressing in our process of being Christians.