God’s Word for You

Acts 18:27-28 We are saved by grace

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, November 11, 2020

27 When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For vigorously he kept defeating the Jews in public debate, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

After Apollos had been corrected and updated on the details of Jesus as the Messiah, as well as baptism, Apollos expressed a desire to go and preach somewhere else. This is understandable. He was by no means in disgrace, but it may have been uncomfortable for him to remain where he was, and so a simple change of location would benefit the church in many ways. He wanted to go to Achaia, southern Greece, which included cities like Athens and Corinth. From Ephesus, this meant a sea voyage of about two hundred miles. One of the most direct routes would have been to sail from the port of Kasadasi, skirt the northern shores of Samos and Ikaria, to make for the gap between Mikonos and Tinos to enter an island group called the Cyclades, pass Siros, go through the Strait of Kithnos to enter the Saronic Gulf, probably passing to the north of the island of Egina and anchoring in Cenchrea. From there he could travel on foot to Athens, Corinth, Tripoli, Sparta, or anywhere else in Achaia. Paul tells us that Apollos did indeed work in Corinth at some time (1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:4-6), but that doesn’t mean that Apollos would have begun there, since Silas and Timothy were already serving there (Acts 17:15, 18:5).

Possible Route from Asia Minor to Achaia

Here we see at least three important things for which to praise God in the journey of Apollos to Achaia. First, the blessing of vacancies in the ministry. Apollos was able to depart from Ephesus, and perhaps (as I have said) it was through a desire to serve elsewhere when he was shown that his previous preaching was deficient. Perhaps he could have remained, but sometimes it is good for a minister to leave a place and serve somewhere else for the good of the ministry. This can be good for the place he leaves as well as the place where he goes.

Second, notice the doctrine of God’s grace at the end of verse 27. It is by the grace of God that we come to faith in Christ, not by human decision or choice. If salvation depended on human choice, it would no longer be by grace (as the Bible says it is) and it would depend instead on the good work of a person’s decision. This would remove salvation from Christ and the gospel and make salvation a work of the law, which is both impossible and an abomination. As Paul said, “If righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21). I call it an abomination because salvation by my own decision leaves me with nothing but terror, and the constant uncertainty as to whether I had done enough to be saved, did I make such a decision correctly or out of order, and a thousand other doubts that come to mind. But as our Lutheran Confession summarizes: “Our churches teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by his death made satisfaction for our sins. God imputes this faith as righteousness in his sight (Romans 3, 4).” (Augsburg Confession, Art. IV).

Third, Apollos continuously proved in open debates that Jesus is the Christ. The Greek verb diakatelengcho (διακατελέγχω) means to defeat by means of debate. Also, the tense of the verb “to be” is present, not past, and so we can remember that Jesus “is” the Christ, not that he merely “was” the Christ. This was done publicly, and it was done over and over again. All of these details appear in the Greek text. This is a reminder (1) to the preacher to pay attention to the Greek and Hebrew original text, because of the wealth of information that is often present there which does not always seem quite so obvious in translation. This is also a reminder (2) to the Christian that our pastors need to be trained in the Bible’s languages. A pastor who says “Thus saith the Lord” should know just what it is that the Lord hath said.

Apollos took his encyclopedic knowledge of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, and laid out each prophecy about the Messiah over against the fulfillment in Jesus. In example after example, prophecy after prophecy, there is no fulfillment of the Messiah except Jesus of Nazareth. “No one,” Jesus said, “comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Andrew son of Jonah told his brother, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). And when the Samaritan woman said, “I know that Messiah, called Christ, is coming,” Jesus replied, “I who speak to you am he” (John 4:25-26).

Praise God for these things. Praise him for sending Jesus to rescue us. Praise him for the success of the gospel and of our pastors who preach the gospel. And praise him for the success of the gospel in our own hearts. You have been saved by the grace of God, “he rescued me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19), and for this we will praise him forever and ever.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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