While there may have been a faction of Christ followers who were loyal to Peter and to the Jerusalem Pillars in Corinth, there may have been an even greater rivalry between the followers of Paul and Apollos (cf. 1 Cor 1:12). However, Paul reminds his audience that he was on the same team as Apollos and, using a gardening metaphor, points out that Paul planted the seed in Corinth and Apollos watered it but God was responsible for making it grow (3:5-9). Indeed, it is as ridiculous to form a Paul-party, an Apollos-party, or a Cephas (i.e. Peter)-party than it is to form a Christ-party, for these are all Christ’s messengers and the Christ congregation should not be divided (1:12-13). Later in the epistle, Paul informs the Corinthians that he urged Apollos to visit them, but that Apollos was waiting for a more opportune time to visit them (16:12). There is also instructions to show Apollos hospitality in Titus 3:13.
But who was Apollos? Here is how he is described in Acts 18:24-28 (NRSV):
“Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.”
Acts 19:1 documents that Apollos was in Corinth while Paul was travelling through Asia Minor to Ephesus. In Ephesus, Paul met some other individuals who were followers of John the Baptizer, but Paul announced to them how a baptism in the Spirit was available through Jesus (19:1-7). It is during the two to three years that Paul spent in Ephesus (Acts 19:10; 20:31) that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Commentators might debate to what extent Apollos was behind the problems that Paul perceived in Corinth. For example, was Apollos in the background when Paul proclaims the paradoxical wisdom that God’s anointed was put to death in a humiliating and brutal manner through crucifixion, in contrast to conventional wisdom and understandings of power (1 Cor 1:18-2:16; 3:18-23), or that Paul was seen as unimpressive and ineloquent in person (1:17; cf. 2 Cor 10:10)? Is there some polemic against Apollos in the book of Acts, since it was Paul’s co-workers Priscilla and Aquila who had to correct his theology? Besides commentaries on 1 and 2 Corinthians, here are a few studies I have quickly found on the subject:
- Dickerson, Patrick Lynn. “Apollos in Acts and First Corinthians.” Unpublished PhD Dissertation. University of Virginia, 1998.
- Hartin, Patrick J. Apollos: Paul’s Partner or Rival. Paul’s Social Networks: Brothers and Sisters in Faith series. Collegeville: Liturgical, 2009.
- Ker, Donald P. “Paul and Apollos – Colleagues or Rivals?” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 77 (2000): 75-97.
- Mihaila, Corin. The Paul-Apollos Relationship and Paul’s Stance Toward Graeco-Roman Rhetoric: An Exegetical and Socio-Historical Study of 1 Corinthians 1-4. Library of New Testament Studies 402. London: T&T Clark, 2009.
- Smit, Joop F. F. “What is Apollos? What is Paul? In Search for the Coherence of First Corinthians 1:10-4:21.” Novum Testamentum 44.3 (2002): 231-251.
- Wilson, Andrew. “Apostle Apollos?“ Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56.2 (2013): 325-335.
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