(Acts 18:22-19:1) Observe the following succession of events: “When (Paul) had landed in Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch. And after spending some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was proficient in the Scriptures” (18:22-24). After Luke wrote about Apollos meeting Aquilas and Priscilla, he continued: “Now it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus” (19:1).
Were Paul and Apollos in Ephesus at the same time? We don’t have biblical evidence that they ever met, but when Paul wrote to Titus that he would spend the winter at Nicopolis, he seemed to indicate that Apollos would join him there (see Titus 3:12-13). What we do know is that Paul believed that our diverse and distinct ministries should be blended as we serve God together. He wrote these words: “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” He contended that “the one who plants and the one who waters are one,” and that we are all “God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:5-9).
This is a strong testimony of the necessity of working together, always recognizing that it is God who provides the growth. Paul offered some good advice in other letters: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought” (Rom. 12:3); “With humility consider one another as more important than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). Paul summed it up succinctly: “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1 Cor. 3:7). Let us never forget this truth!
-Al Gary
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