Acts 18:25

See critical note on the proposed omission of the verse and reading also in. κατηχ., cf. Luke 1:4, “taught by word of mouth,” R.V., margin;. adds ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, and Blass holds that we may learn from this that some form of Gospel teaching had already been known in Egypt. But how far had Apollos been instructed? It is commonly held that he only knew the Baptism of John and nothing further, and that he was imperfectly acquainted with the facts of our Lord's life. But he is said to have taught accurately (ἀκριβῶς) “the things concerning Jesus” (see critical note), and not only so, but, as Blass also points out, the mention of the twelve disciples at Ephesus has previously been taken to mean literally that these men were disciples of the Baptist, and had never heard of Jesus, whereas the words used to describe them, μαθηταί and πιστεύσαντες, are never used except of Christians. What is the conclusion? That whilst Apollos, like these twelve men, was acquainted with no other Baptism than John's, he may have known quite as much of our Lord's words and deeds as was contained in the Gospel of St. Mark in its mutilated form, Acts 16:8, which tells us nothing of Christian Baptism. And if we further ask from what source did Apollos gain this accurate information, Blass answers: “videlicet non sine scripto aliquo Evangelio”. If, he urges, it had been otherwise, and Apollos had been instructed by some disciple of the Apostles and not through a written Gospel, the position of things in the text would be reversed, and Apollos would have been imperfectly acquainted with our Lord's life and teaching, whilst he could not have failed to know of Christian Baptism as the admission to Christian churches. Blass therefore believes that before the year 50 (he places the Conference in 45 or 46) written Gospels were to existence, and he evidently leans to the belief that St. Marks Gospel, or some first edition of it, was the Gospel from which Apollos was instructed (see in loco, and cf. also Philology of the Gospels, p. 30). But the word κατηχ. on this view must be taken not to include but to exclude, at all events mainly, a reference to catechetical teaching, and this from the use of the word in the N.T. is most unlikely. In the majority of the cases, as Blass admits, the word denotes oral teaching, although he maintains that this meaning is not always strictly kept. In the N.T. the word is used only by Luke and Paul, altogether eight times, in six of which it is used with reference to oral instruction, according to Mr. Wright: “Apollos: a study in Pre-Pauline Christianity,” Expository Times, October, 1897 (but see also in answer, Blass, Philology of the Gospels, p. 31). Mr. Wright suggests that Apollos may have derived his knowledge of “the facts concerning Jesus” from one of the many Catechists who were sent out from Jerusalem, and visited in large numbers the capital of Egypt, and by him Apollos like Theophilus was instructed in the way of the Lord. This view certainly gives an adequate meaning to κατηχ., but still it seems strange that a Catechist, even if his chief business was to catechise or instruct in the facts of the Gospel history, should say nothing about Christian Baptism; surely a Catechist would himself be a baptised member of Christ. It is possible that Apollos may have deliberately decided to abide as he was; he may have said that as the Master Himself had fulfilled all righteousness in John's Baptism, so that Baptism was sufficient for the servant. But on this view one has to suppose that no news of the events of Pentecost had reached Alexandria, although Egyptian Jews had been present at the feast. But the news which Apollos may have received had been imperfect, cf. Acts 19:2-3, and he had not therefore abandoned his position as a follower of the Baptist, who accepted the teaching that Jesus was the Messiah without knowing fully how that claim had been fulfilled, who had been baptised with the Baptism of the Baptist unto repentance without knowing the higher blessings conferred by membership in the Body of the Risen and Ascended Lord: see further Expository Times, vol. vii., pp. 564, 565; Hermathena, xxi. (1895); Weiss and Zöckler, in loco. ἐλάλει καὶ ἐδίδασκεν : Blass prefers ἀπελάλει, which Wright, u. s., p. 11, renders “repeated by rote”. ζέων τῷ πνεύματι, cf. Romans 12:11, this fervency was shown not only in speaking what he knew, but in teaching it to others, cf. Acts 18:11, where the same word is used of Paul's instructions. We can scarcely take ἐλάλει as privatim, ἐδίδασκεν publice (Bengel). ἀκριβῶς : “accurately,” so often in classics, and as agreeing best here with this verse and the comparative in Acts 18:26; on the use of the word in medical writers see Hobart, p. 251; Weiss, Meyer's Kommentar, Luke 1:3, also compares the similarity between St. Luke's phrase and Galen's dedication of his work to a friend (he also finds a parallel in Jos., C. Apion., i., 10); see also below on ἀκριβέστερον and its employment by Dioscorides. The word occurs in Luke twice, Luke 1:3; Acts 18:25, and elsewhere in Matthew 2:8, and twice in St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Ephesians 5:15, whilst ἀκριβέστερον occurs four times in N.T., and each time in Acts, cf. Acts 18:26; Acts 23:15; Acts 23:20; Acts 24:22.