Acts 18:27

Exhorting (προτρεψάμενοι) Originally, to turn forward, as in flight. Hence, to impel or urge. The word may apply either to the disciples at Corinth, in which case we must render as A. V., or to Apollos himself, as Rev., encouraged him. I prefer the former. Hackett very sensibly remarks that Apollos did not need encouragement, as he was disposed to go. Helped (συνεβάλετο) The radical sense of the word is to throw together: hence, to contribute; to help; to be useful to. He threw himself into the work along with them. On different senses of the word, see notes on Luke 2:19; and see on Luke 14:31; and compare Acts 4:15; Acts 17:18; Acts 18:27; Acts 20:14. Through grace Grace has the article, the special grace of God imparted. Expositors differ as to the connection; some joining through grace with them which had believed, insisting on the Greek order of the words; and others with helped, referring to grace conferred on Apollos. I prefer the latter, principally for the reason urged by Meyer, that "the design of the text is to characterize Apollos and his work, and not those who believed."

Acts 18:27-28 . And when — Having received this more perfect instruction in the Christian faith; he was disposed to pass into Achaia — That he might preach the word at Corinth, and other places in that province; the brethren — Of Ephesus; wrote, exhorting the disciples there to receive him — With all affection and respect, as a person whose character well deserved it. And when he was come — To Corinth; he helped them much which had believed — Was eminently serviceable in edifying and confirming those who had embraced the gospel; (for Apollos did not plant, but water; which was the peculiar gift he had received;) through grace — Through which only any gift of any one is rendered profitable to another. For he mightily convinced the Jews — Which, from his great knowledge of the Scriptures, he was better able to do than to convert the heathen. Greek, ευτονως τοις Ιουδαιοις διακατηλεγχετο , he strongly, or vehemently, confuted the Jews; and that not only in private converse, but by public preaching; showing by the Scriptures — By appealing to many striking passages of them, which he quoted; that Jesus was Christ — The true and only Messiah; and that the salvation of men, of the Jews as well as Gentiles, depended upon their receiving and submitting to him.

It seems Apollos tarried some time at Corinth, and became so zealous and useful a preacher there, that the fame of his labours reached the apostle during his abode in Ephesus; and occasioned him, in the letter which he wrote from that city to the Corinthians, to say, ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ,) I have planted, Apollos watered.

To pass into Achaia; to Corinth, which was in Achaia. The brethren wrote; who were at Ephesus. Helped them much which had believed through grace; Apollos helped them much by his eloquence, zeal, and constancy, which all are the gifts of God; but, especially, that they believed was through grace; for faith is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8 , and it was given unto them to believe, Philippians 1:29 .

Acts 18:27 . Βουλομένου , when he was wishing ) The good wishes of good men ought to be furthered.— διελθεῖν , to pass through ) He had without doubt heard what Paul had done in those localities, especially at Corinth.— προτρεψάμενοι ) having exhorted him [but Engl. Vers., “ exhorting the disciples to receive him”], thus inciting forward One who was already running.— ἔγραψαν , the brethren wrote ) The subjects of their recommendation may be gathered from Acts 18:24-25 .— τοῖς μαθηταῖς , the disciples ) who were at Corinth, or even on the way leading to it.— συνεβάλετο ) contributed much help , by the command which he had of useful words. Join with this verb the διὰ , through grace [but Engl. Vers., those who had believed through grace ]. To him who believes, through the grace wherein he is strong, every power of all is rendered a means of profit .— τοῖς πεπιστευκόσι , to those who had been brought to the faith ) Apollos watered , he did not plant [ 1 Corinthians 3:6 ]; and was better able to convince (confute) the Jews, than to convert the Gentiles.

27, 28. And when he was disposed—"minded," "resolved." to pass into Achaia—of which Corinth, on the opposite coast (see on [2052]Ac 18:1), was the capital; there to proclaim that Gospel which he now more fully comprehended. the brethren—We had not before heard of such gathered at Ephesus. But the desire of the Jews to whom Paul preached to retain him among them for some time (Ac 18:20), and his promise to return to them (Ac 18:21), seem to indicate some drawing towards the Gospel, which, no doubt, the zealous private labors of Priscilla and Aquila would ripen into discipleship. wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him—a beautiful specimen of "letters of recommendation" (as Ac 15:23, 25-27, and see 2Co 3:1); by which, as well as by interchange of deputations, &c., the early churches maintained active Christian fellowship with each other. when he was come, helped them much—was a great acquisition to the Achaian brethren. which believed through grace—one of those incidental expressions which show that faith's being a production of God's grace in the heart was so current and recognized a truth that it was taken for granted, as a necessary consequence of the general system of grace, rather than expressly insisted on. (It is against the natural order of the words to read them, as Bengel, Meyer, and others, do, "helped through grace those who believed").

Verse 27. - Minded for disposed , A.V.; pass over for pass , A.V.; encouraged him, and wrote to for wrote exhorting , A.V.; and ... he helped for who ... helped , A.V. To pass over into Achaia . Nothing can be more natural than the course of events here described. In his intimate intercourse with Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos had necessarily heard much of the great work at Corinth, and the flourishing Church there; and so he longed to see for himself and to exercise his powers in watering what St. Paul had so well planted ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ). Priscilla and Aquila having heard his eloquent sermons at Ephesus, and being interested in the Corinthian Church, seem to have encouraged him, and to have joined with the other disciples at Ephesus in giving him commendatory letters to the Church of Corinth. Encouraged him ; προτρεψάμενοι , a word found nowhere else in the New Testament, but used in classical Greek and in the Apocrypha, in the sense of "exhorting," "urging." Προτρεπτικοὶ λόγοι are hortatory words. In medical writers a "stimulant" is προτρεπτικόν . There is a difference of opinion among commentators whether the exhortation was addressed to Apollos, as the R.V. takes it, or to the brethren at Corinth, as the A.V. understands it.

It seems rather more consonant to the structure of the sentence and to the probability of the case that the exhortation was addressed to the Corinthian Church, and not to Apollos, who needed no such encouragement, Προτρεψάμενοι ἔγραψαν is equivalent to "wrote and exhorted." Acts 18:27

27 . And when he was minded to pass over into Achaia ] The original expresses more than an inclination on his part; he wished to go. We find from Acts 19:1 that the centre of his labours there was Corinth. Being acquainted with the philosophy and learning of Greece he was well fitted to be a preacher to the Greeks as well as to the Jews, and he may have felt that Corinth was the place where he could do most good. We are not told of any Apostolic commission to Apollos, but we know from 1 Corinthians 1:12 , &c. that he came to be regarded by some Corinthians as the equal of St Paul, and that there arose some strong party feeling in that Church, which is rebuked in St Paul’s letter to them. We cannot suppose that this was brought about by Apollos, for St Paul speaks of him as watering what he himself had planted, and it may be that the knowledge of the existence of such a spirit accounts for the unwillingness of Apollos to come back to Corinth ( 1 Corinthians 16:12 ) which we read of somewhat later. the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him ] Here the A. V. makes the disciples in Achaia the object of the exhortation. The construction in the original is not quite clear, but the order of the words seems in favour of the Revised rendering, “the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples, &c.” though the pronoun “him” is not expressed in the Greek.

Here we find the first instance of letters of commendation sent from one Church to another. “The brethren” at Ephesus must have been a small number, but Aquila and Priscilla would be well known to the Christians in Corinth. who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace ] So far as the Greek is concerned the last two words may be connected either with “helped” or “believed.” But as the history is occupied with the work of Apollos, it seems more natural to explain the “grace” spoken of, as the gift which was already in Apollos, and which the more full instruction that he had just received had tended to increase. He had formerly been but partially enlightened. Now that he knows the truth in Christ, his former ability becomes more helpful still. His work seems rightly estimated by St Paul, “he watered” what the Apostle had “planted” ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ).

Acts 18:27 . Διελθεῖν εἰς τ . Ἀχαΐαν ] probably occasioned by what he had heard from Aquila and Priscilla concerning the working of Paul at Corinth. προτρεψ . οἱ ἀδ . ἔγραψ . τοῖς μαθητ . ἀποδ . αὐτ .] The Christians already at Ephesus (doubtless but few at first, Acts 18:19 f.) wrote exhorting (issued a letter of exhortation) to the disciples (the Christians of Achaia) to receive him hospitably as a teacher of the gospel. So Luther, Castalio, and others, also de Wette and Ewald. The contents of their letter constituted a λόγος προτρεπτικός , Plat. Clit. p. 410 D. But many others, as Erasmus, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, following Chrysostom ( προπέμπουσι κ . γράμματα ἐπιδιδόασιν ), refer προτρεψ . to Apollos [92] as its object, not to the ΜΑΘΗΤΆς (“sua exhortatione ipsum magis incitaverunt fratres et currenti addiderunt calcar,” Calvin); according to which we should necessarily expect either a defining ΑὐΤΌΝ with ΠΡΟΤΡΕΨ. , or previously ΒΟΥΛΌΜΕΝΟΝ ΔῈ ΑὐΤΌΝ.ΣΥΝΕΒΆΛΕΤΟ ] he contributed much ( contulit , Vulg.; profuit , Cod. It.), helped much , Den. 558. 13; Plat. Legg. x. p. 905 C; Polyb. i. 2. 8, ii. 13. 1; Philo, migr. Abr. p. 422 D.