Acts 18:28 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

He mightily convinced the Jews. — The conclusion to which he led the Jews was the same as that which St. Paul urged on them. The process was, perhaps, somewhat different, as the line of argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews differs from that in the Epistle to the Galatians. To lead men on, after the manner of Philo, into the deeper meanings that lay beneath the letter of Scripture, to deal with them as those who were pressing forwards to the perfection of maturity in spiritual growth (Hebrews 5:11-14), instead of treating them as children who must be fed with milk and not with “strong meat” (i.e., solid food), as St. Paul had done (1 Corinthians 1:2) — it was natural that this should attract followers to the new preacher, and give him a larger measure of real or apparent success in dealing with the Jews than had attended the labours of St. Paul. As Apollos does not appear again in the Acts, it may be well to bring together what is known as to his after-history. At Corinth, as has been said, his name was used as the watchword of a party, probably that of the philosophising Jews and proselytes, as distinguished from the narrower party of the circumcision that rallied round the name of Cephas (1 Corinthians 1:12). Not a word escapes from St. Paul that indicates any doctrinal difference between himself and Apollos, and as the latter had been instructed by St. Paul’s friends, Aquila and Priscilla, this was, indeed, hardly probable. It would appear from 1 Corinthians 16:12, that he returned to Ephesus, probably with letters of commendation from the Church of Corinth (2 Corinthians 3:1). St. Paul’s confidence in him is shown by his desire that he should return once more to Corinth with Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus. His own reluctance to be the occasion even of the semblance of schism explains his unwillingness to go (1 Corinthians 16:12). After this we lose sight of him for some years. These, we may well believe, were well filled up by evangelising labours after the pattern of those which we have seen at Ephesus and Corinth. Towards the close of St. Paul’s ministry (A. D. 65) we get our last glimpse of him, in Titus 3:13. He is in company with Zenas, the lawyer (see Note on Matthew 22:35), one, i.e., who, like himself, had a special reputation for the profounder knowledge of the Law of Moses. St. Paul’s feeling towards him is still, as of old, one of affectionate interest, and he desires that Titus will help him in all things. He has been labouring at Crete, and there also has gathered round him a distinct company of disciples, whom St. Paul distinguishes from his own; “Let our’s also learn to maintain good works” (Titus 3:14). After this, probably after St. Paul’s death, he wrote — if we accept Luther’s conjecture — the Epistle to the Hebrews, addressed, as some have thought, to the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and specially of Cæsarea, but, more probably, as I have been led to believe, to the Christian ascetics, known as Therapeutæ, trained, like himself, in the school of Philo, with whom he had formerly been associated at Alexandria. The mention of disciples of, or from, Italy in Hebrews 13:24 suggests a connection with some other Italian Christians than those of Rome, probably with those of Puteoli. (See Note on Acts 28:14.)