Unlikely Leaders

Church Politics at Corinth

This chapter is based on Acts 18:18-28.

After he left Corinth, Paul’s place to work was Ephesus. He was on his way to Jerusalem to attend a festival, so he could stay only a short time. He made such a good impression on the Jews in the synagogue that they begged him to stay with them. He promised to return, “God willing,” and left Aquila and Priscilla to carry on the work. ULe 100.1

At this time “a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.” He had heard the preaching of John the Baptist and was living proof that the work of the prophet had not been in vain. Apollos “had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.” ULe 100.2

In Ephesus, Apollos “began to speak boldly in the synagogue.” Aquila and Priscilla, recognizing that he had not yet received the full light of the gospel, “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” He became one of the most effective spokesmen for the Christian faith. ULe 100.3

Apollos went to Corinth, where “he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.” Paul had planted the seed of truth, and Apollos watered it. His success led some of the believers to value his efforts more than Paul’s work. This brought a spirit of rivalry that threatened to weaken the spreading of the gospel. ULe 100.4

During the year and a half that Paul spent in Corinth, he had purposely presented the gospel simply. “In demonstration of the Spirit and of power” he had declared “the testimony of God,” that their “faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4, 1, 5). ULe 100.5

“I fed you with milk and not with solid food,” he explained later, “for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able” (1 Corinthians 3:2). Many Corinthian believers had been slow to learn. Their growth in spiritual knowledge had not measured up to their opportunities. When they should have been able to understand the deeper truths, they were no more advanced than the disciples had been when Christ said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Jealousy and evil suspicions had closed the hearts of many against the full working of the Holy Spirit. They were infants in the knowledge of Christ. ULe 100.6

Paul had instructed the Corinthians in the alphabet of faith, as people who were ignorant of divine power on the heart. Those who followed him must carry forward the work, giving spiritual light as the church was able to bear it. ULe 101.1