Add parallel Print Page Options

23 After he spent[a] some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia[b] and Phrygia,[c] strengthening all the disciples.

Apollos Begins His Ministry

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker,[d] well-versed[e] in the scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in[f] the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm[g] he spoke and taught accurately the facts[h] about Jesus, although he knew[i] only the baptism of John.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Acts 18:23 tn Grk “Having spent”; the participle ποιήσας (poiēsas) is taken temporally.
  2. Acts 18:23 sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor, or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch. The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.
  3. Acts 18:23 sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia. See Acts 16:6.
  4. Acts 18:24 tn Or “was a learned man.” In this verse λόγιος (logios) can refer to someone who was an attractive and convincing speaker, a rhetorician (L&N 33.32), or it can refer to the person who has acquired a large part of the intellectual heritage of a given culture (“learned” or “cultured,” L&N 27.20, see also BDAG 598 s.v. λόγιος which lists both meanings as possible here). The description of Apollos’ fervent speaking in the following verses, as well as implications from 1 Cor 1-4, where Paul apparently compares his style and speaking ability with that of Apollos, suggests that eloquent speaking ability or formal rhetorical skill are in view here. This clause has been moved from its order in the Greek text (Grk “a certain Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus, who was powerful in the scriptures”) and paired with the last element (“powerful in the scriptures”) due to the demands of clarity and contemporary English style.
  5. Acts 18:24 tn Grk “powerful.” BDAG 264 s.v. δυνατός 1.b has “in the Scriptures = well-versed 18:24.”
  6. Acts 18:25 tn Or “had been taught.”
  7. Acts 18:25 tn Grk “and boiling in spirit” (an idiom for great eagerness or enthusiasm; BDAG 426 s.v. ζέω).
  8. Acts 18:25 tn Grk “the things.”
  9. Acts 18:25 tn Grk “knowing”; the participle ἐπιστάμενος (epistamenos) has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.