We may say that Paul became weak in Acts 21 and followed the advice of James. Some may argue that Paul was not weak, but that he was very strong to keep his word that to the Jews he became a Jew (1 Cor. 9:20). They may excuse Paul, but the Lord did not allow him such an excuse. We know the Lord did not excuse Paul because on the last day of the vow that Paul had agreed to participate in, He brought the whole thing to an end. Paul had paid the charges for the poor votaries, and with just one more day they could have completed the vow. However, the Lord did not allow such a thing. As a result, all of Jerusalem was brought into an uproar, and Paul was arrested and put into prison.
This matter is very serious. Even Paul’s ministry was turned at this point because there was some involvement there. We should not get ourselves involved in things of this kind. It is altogether a serious matter to weaken God’s economy or to make it gray. As for Paul, he was pure, and God was, therefore, able to use him in another way, to write the Epistles. It was very good for Paul to write the Epistles, such as Ephesians, Philippians, and the others written while he was imprisoned. Nevertheless, the writing of these Epistles was all of Paul’s ministry after Acts 21. These are serious matters.
We need to go back to consider something concerning the case of Barnabas. He was faithful, and he was the one who brought Paul in (Acts 9:27). He was also a companion apostle to Paul. However, he had an opinion. To us, that was not a serious matter. Surely Barnabas was not a Judaizer, but because of his opinion, he took his way to carry out the so-called ministry. That was the termination of the record concerning Barnabas in the book of Acts. Not only in the Bible, even in history it is hard to trace any record concerning Barnabas after this point. What a sober word this is for us today!
Then at the end of Acts 18, Apollos came in. He came neither from the source of Peter nor from the source of Paul, but from some other source. We cannot trace from what source Apollos came, but he appeared in chapter eighteen, teaching the Scriptures and knowing only the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-28). It was necessary for Apollos to be merged in with Paul’s ministry, the more the better. Although he may have been very much one with Paul, his case became a problem.
In Corinth Apollos became a problem, and Peter became a problem. I could not find out whether or not Peter himself had ever gone to Corinth. However, his ministry became a problem there, not because of Peter, but simply because there was such a thing as Peter’s ministry. There was a following of Peter’s ministry since there were those who said, “I am of Peter” (cf. 1 Cor. 1:12). Apollos was also there, and there were those who said, “I am of Apollos.” I do not believe that Apollos had any intention to cause trouble, but the trouble came, not because of Apollos, but because of his ministry and its following. Paul was a man in the Spirit, and he did not condemn Peter, nor did he condemn Apollos. Rather, in speaking things negatively, he mentioned his own name first (1 Cor. 1:12). We need to consider these matters carefully to see the peril that is before us today. In Corinth, Peter’s ministry and its following and Apollos’s ministry and its following created a problem that almost caused a division.
Suppose I were Apollos. In such a case, do you think the Lord would use me more and more? If I had a ministry that was used as Apollos’s, do you think that my usefulness to the Lord would be increasing all the time? Paul’s ministry was never used in that way. His ministry was the major item in God’s New Testament ministry. Such was not the case with the ministry of Apollos.
In any case, at Corinth there were problems due to these three kinds of service, that of Peter, of Apollos, and of Paul. I do not believe that Apollos conducted himself in a way to be one with Paul to the uttermost in God’s New Testament economy (see 1 Cor. 16:12). He was not divisive, and he did not separate himself from God’s New Testament ministry. Nevertheless, we could not see in the Scriptures that Apollos was one hundred percent one with Paul in God’s New Testament economy.