We can see from the record in Acts 18 that Apollos was very good. Not only was he pious and godly like Gamaliel; he also knew the way of the Lord. However, although Apollos knew the Lord’s way, he did not know God’s economy in full. This lack of knowledge is indicated by the fact that he knew only the baptism of John. Of course, John the Baptist testified to the Lord, and Apollos received the Lord and knew the way of the Lord to a certain extent. The Lord’s New Testament way had been in practice for many years, but Apollos did not know God’s economy further than the ministry of John the Baptist. Apollos was very knowledgeable in the Scriptures and was regarded as a great teacher, yet in his knowledge of the Lord’s move he had not gone further than the ministry of John the Baptist.
There is a lesson for us to learn from the case of Apollos in Acts 18. We may think that we are in the way of the Lord, but we may not actually be up-to-date with the Lord’s move. We may not have the vision concerning His present move on earth. Apollos was good, scriptural, and powerful in expounding the Word, yet he was backward concerning the Lord’s move. This is the situation among many Christians today. They love the Lord and they know the Scriptures to some extent, but they are not up-to-date in the Lord’s move. During my Christian life I have met a number of saints like this. These saints did not realize that the Lord had gone on further in His move. Their vision fell short of the Lord’s move.
As we consider the case of Apollos, we all need to humble ourselves and empty our spirit. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 5:3). To be poor in spirit is not only to be humble but also to be emptied in our spirit, emptied in the depths of our being. Many of the Jewish leaders knew of God’s move in the Old Testament, but they did not see that God intended to have a new start for His New Testament economy. These religious leaders were full in their spirit. Therefore, the Lord Jesus pointed out that we all need to be poor in our spirit. We need to be poor in spirit so that we may see the Lord’s up-to-date move.
If we read through the Bible carefully, we shall see that from the time of Genesis 4 onward the Lord has been moving step by step. He moved in a particular way at the time of Enosh and Enoch; in another way at the time of Noah; and in still other ways at the time of Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and Zechariah. The Lord had a further move through John the Baptist.
Because the Lord is always advancing in His move, we should not be content with where we are. Instead, we should humble ourselves and be unloaded of anything that is filling our spirit so that our spirit may be able to receive something new concerning the Lord’s move.
Acts 19:1 and 2 say, “Now it came about that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper districts, came to Ephesus and found some disciples, and said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.” Here we see the deficiency in the result of Apollos’ ministry, which lacked a complete revelation of God’s New Testament economy. Although Apollos was very good, there was a deficiency in the result of his ministry, and this caused a problem. Therefore, when Paul came to Ephesus, it was necessary for him to fill up the deficiency in the ministry of Apollos.
We need to learn from the situation in 19:1-7 that we may not be complete in our ministry, and this lack may cause a deficiency that will need to be filled up by others. However, before that deficiency can be filled up, trouble may be caused by our imperfect ministry. Because this may be the case with us in our ministry, we need to humble ourselves and pray that no ground will be given to the enemy to come in to damage the church life.
In 19:3-7 we see that the deficiency was filled up through Paul. In verse 3 he asked the disciples in Ephesus, “Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John’s baptism.” This is the last mention of John the Baptist in the New Testament. “Here at last, he wholly gives place to Christ” (Bengel). There was in John’s disciples a thought of rivalry between John and Christ (John 3:26). John’s ministry was to introduce Christ (Acts 19:4). Once Christ had been introduced, John’s ministry should have ceased and been replaced by Christ. He must decrease and Christ must increase (John 3:30).
In Acts 19:4 Paul said to those in Ephesus, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” Here the Greek word translated “in” literally means “into.”