Introduction
Have you ever had this situation? You leave a job position and all you hear from your former colleagues is how wonderful your successor is. He is so delightful, so inspiring to be around. He has flair that, well, you have your good qualities of course, but there is just something special about this guy. This is especially irksome when you know that the new guy is building on the hard work you had had to do correct all the difficult problems that do not exist for him.
Apollos
So who is the darling of the Corinthians? Reference has been made to him twice now, and Paul wants to discuss him more. His name is Apollos. What a gaudy name! Depending on your frame of reference, you think of the Greek sun god, Apollo, or the Rocky Balboa’s flashy boxing opponent.
Luke gives us some information on this fellow in Acts 18:24-28:
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
So Apollos is a hotshot preacher. He is “fervent in spirit,” i.e. he is enthusiastic in the way he spoke. He is described as an “eloquent man,” “learned” in the NIV. Whichever interpretation one may wish to give, it is evident that Apollos is a sharp, well-educated man. It is not inconsequential that Luke mentions he is a native of Alexandria, one of the centers of education in the Roman world. The man is a biblical scholar. The ESV’s “competent” does not convey well the Greek word which means “powerful.” Apollos knows his stuff and he knows how to deliver. No doubt, if he were around today, he would have his own radio and TV ministry.
This portrayal of Apollos as a star preacher is given of him before him comes to a full understanding of the gospel. Look again in verse 25: He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
It is unclear what is meant. Luke could mean that Apollos knew about Jesus. He had been baptized by John the Baptist and by his own zeal was preaching that Jesus was the Messiah. However, he had not been in Jerusalem at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and first believers. Thus, there were gaps in his understanding.
The scenario could also be the following. Apollos had been baptized by John the Baptist and soon afterwards returned to Alexandria or traveled elsewhere without knowing about Jesus personally. He could have then been preaching a message of repentance, such as John had done, and accurately presented what the Messiah would be like, as John had also done. Priscilla and Aquila then explained to him about Jesus. The latter seems preferable, because it is after his lessons that he then shows (v. 28) “by the Scriptures that the Christ [the Messiah] was Jesus.”
So, a star preacher is born. As Luke notes, Apollos transition into a full Christian preacher took place in Ephesus. Paul had recently passed through there on his way to other destinations. Guess where he was coming from? Corinth. Guess where Apollos travels to after Ephesus. You’ve got it! Corinth. What happened there? Luke tells us (27-28): When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
This is the man the Corinth believers have been looking for! Paul had started his ministry in Corinth by preaching to the Jews. Here is the result.
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:5-6).
Paul just doesn’t seem to have what it takes for real debate. He is okay with preaching the fundamentals, but when it comes to sophisticated reasoning, he is not on the “A” list. You can see what is happening at Corinth. Paul comes in and actually does have a successful ministry. Many turn to Christ, including notable Jews. A church gets started. No doubt, everyone is feeding from Paul’s sound teaching. Paul then leaves. Most likely, he has trained elders to take his place, though they likely are not leaders with great charisma seeing that they are not even mentioned in the letter, much less listed as one of the leaders with a following.
And though the believers were initially excited by their new conversion, that excitement is starting to wear off as they continue with the cares of daily life, with the inevitable problems that rise when people try to be a community, and especially as they try to witness to their neighbors who are not at all impressed with them. Corinth has magnificent temples and shrines. It has mystery cults and schools of philosophy. All they’ve got is the simple gospel that centers around the ignoble sign of the cross. And when they try to explain that their religion is an ancient one fulfilling the Jewish prophecy of a Messiah, their Jewish neighbors ridicule them. Where’s the power of the Messiah? Where is the wisdom of the cross?
Then comes Apollos, a Jewish scholar and debater, a man who knows how to take on the scoffers with their own language and weapons. In public debate he demolishes their arguments and demonstrates the supremacy of the gospel. Thus, as Luke says he greatly helped those who through grace had believed (27). He gave them pride in their faith. He made it sound like the glorious wisdom and power that it is suppose to be. No wonder church members were starting to say, “I follow Apollos.”
Text
How then does Paul handle the competition with this upstart? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
Paul puts into perspective who they both are in God’s kingdom. They are servants. Of whom? To the Lord. This is the essential concept for understanding church leadership. The head of the church is Jesus Christ. Everyone else is but a servant whose mission is to give glory to him.
In Apollos’ and Paul’s case, they are servants who serve by proclaiming the gospel. Many of the Corinthians came to faith through their ministries. Note, through them the Corinth saints came to believe in Christ and become his followers. The Corinthians did not come to believe in them and ought not to be thinking in terms of being their followers; otherwise, they are defeating the very purpose for which Paul and Apollos are exercising their gifts.
Paul notes further that they are servants as the Lord assigned to each. This is a critical concept to understand service to the Lord. Paul did not choose his work as an apostle. He did not take a career test to find out what matched his interests and abilities. We know through Acts his supernatural calling to serve as missionary and apostle for Christ. We don’t have a similar story for Apollos, but Paul’s point is that however anyone is called to service, they are given their assignment by the Lord who has prepared them for their particular labor.
Paul then discusses their distinctive work: 6 I planted, Apollos watered. He does a good job of capturing the nature of each man’s work. Paul is a pioneering church planter. His zeal is to take the gospel where it has not gone before. As he tells the Roman church in Romans 15:20: I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation. That is the work God has called him to do. Apollos, on the other hand, travels to churches and strengthens them through his teaching and apologetics. It is true that he began his ministry by going to new places, but that changes after his training from Priscilla and Aquila. Thus, Paul plants and Apollos waters.
But God gave the growth. Here is our third essential concept. The first is that ministers are no more than God’s servants. The second is that they only can do what they are assigned and equipped to do by the Lord. The third is that the fruit of their labor is the result of God causing the growth. Thus, though Paul can speak of the Corinthians as believing on Christ through his and Apollos’ ministries, he is mindful of what he said earlier in the letter – that the only reason their ministries bring spiritual fruit is that the Spirit of God is at work in the hearts of those whom God has chosen.
We can see where Paul is going with this. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Paul is not more important than Apollos because he is the church planter and Apollos merely waters what he started. For that matter, Apollos is not more important because he is the one who is really pumping life into the church. They are just doing their jobs, and without the real work of the Holy Spirit, they are nobodies capable of producing nothing. God, God is the power at work.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. It is somewhat unclear what Paul means by the planter and the waterer being one. It could be, as the NIV indicates, that the two servants have the same purpose in mind to glorify God. The other, and I think more likely, is that in the context of being servants of God they are one and the same; i.e. though they may be distinguished from one another by their specialties, they are nevertheless plain servants. God does not single one out as being more important or better than the other. Each will receive his wages from God according to the labor given him.
Paul then brings the teaching about him and Apollos to a conclusion: 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. Apollos and he are fellow workers, not competitors. They work together, not against one another. In this particular case, the Corinth Church is God’s church, or building, if you will, and they serve in it together as God’s servants.
With this perspective, look back again at the relationship between Paul and Apollos. The upstart preacher takes on a new light. Have you noticed that Paul never speaks ill of Apollos? It may be that he is trying to be gracious, but the more likely scenario is that Apollos is as troubled as he is about the situation and that the two men actually are fellow workers in the truest sense.
Paul mentions Apollos again at the end of his letter (16:12): Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
Why Apollos chose not to come is not told. Perhaps he wanted to avoid getting further entangled with the divisions at Corinth. What this verse reveals is that the two men have been together. It also reveals that they are on such good terms that Paul wants Apollos to go to the very church that pits the two men against one another, with Apollos coming out on top. That is either supreme naivety on Paul’s part, or supreme trust.
Paul mentions Apollos one other time in Titus 3:13: Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. In this verse we see Apollos serving as a messenger for Paul and receiving Paul’s blessing and support for his own ministry.
Paul sees Apollos as a fellow worker who complements, not threatens, his own ministry. Apollos is a trusted teacher who handles the Scriptures well. He does not have to be concerned that Apollos will lead the people back into legalism as is being done in the churches in Galatia, nor into other heresies, nor that he will preach for his own gain. Apollos will faithfully build on the foundation that Paul lays.
Lessons
The first lesson to gain from this situation at Corinth is to not create conflict where none exists. Paul and Apollos were not competitors, nor did they even represent differing sides of ministry. The Corinth believers created a false competition. It is easy to do. You appreciate one minister or other church leader, and you want to make sure that he does not get slighted. Certainly that happened when Apollos’ star rose. Some would have felt a necessity to claim allegiance to Paul, which all the more would make the Apollos fans vouch for their guy. Then, when an issue arose, the natural step for each group would be to claim that their guy saw things their way. It would not be a far reach, then, to attribute false motives and beliefs on the “other” guy.
No conscious malice gives rise to this progression, but it easily rises from being protective and defensive, and from being disappointed in one’s expectations. I think the number one cause for real conflict – not for differences of opinion – is the natural temptation to project what the “other side’s” motivation is. As soon as we speculate, “The reason they are doing ¬¬_______, is because they ________,” we have moved into dangerous territory that enhances conflict. Resist the temptation.
The second lesson is the primary one that Paul is making about himself and Apollos. We are servants of the Lord, no more and no less. Some of us have servant jobs that give us high profile. Being a preacher is such a job. Others have servant jobs that receive little notice. The job may be a low profile job, or the manner in which the person serves draws little attention.
With that kind of attitude, Paul and Apollos were able to avoid jealousy and a competitive spirit even when their so-called followers tried to foment such feelings. Paul wants the Corinth saints and us to understand that there are no ministry stars who get special praise from God. Jesus put the matter bluntly in Luke 17:7-10:
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
The stark reality is that God is no more impressed with the preacher who draws accolades for preaching the gospel, than the deacon who repairs the toilet bowl. Nor, for that matter, does he heap special praise on the one who does the lowly job. Each servant is doing the job assigned and can claim no greater claim on God’s praise.
I can’t close without commenting on the blessing of being nothing. The most comforting line is verse 7: neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. There is no burden of God depending on me to be special enough for his work. God did not choose me to be a minister because he saw potential which he hoped would bear fruit. He chose me to do what I do, and you to do what you do, because, well, who knows the mind of God except the Spirit of God. We’ll leave that mystery to him. It is God who gives to each of us our tasks and God who gives the results. He calls on us to be faithful to whatever he calls us to do. (And if the truth be known, he is the one who keeps us faithful.) What a blessing it is not to have to “stay on top;” a blessing not to have to compete for God’s attention; a blessing to strive for the same commendation that is available to all God’s servants whatever their role in his kingdom may be: Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23).
