4 Minute Read

Prepare Your Heart

To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.

Read God’s Word

Job 4-5
Acts 18:18-19:7

A Verse for Today

Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.

Acts 18:26 (CSB): “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.”

Reflecting on God’s Word

In Acts 18:24, we are introduced to a man named Apollos. We are told that he was “a Jew … a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures…”

In the next verse, we learned that he had been taught the word and was a passionate man who spoke accurately about Jesus. However, “he knew only John’s baptism” (Acts 18:25).

Simply put, John the Baptizer’s baptism was a baptism of repentance (Luke 3:3; Acts 19:4). John prepared the way for Jesus by calling people to acknowledge their guilt before a holy God, and to be baptized as a sign of their repentance.

The baptism that Jesus taught His disciples was not merely a baptism of repentance. It pictured the work of salvation that had already taken place in the life of the one being baptized. It also publicly identified the one being baptized with Jesus.

While the difference between John’s baptism and New Testament baptism may not seem significant to some, it was clearly enough for Priscilla and Aquila to take Apollos aside, privately correct him, and teach him the truth.

As I read of this brief encounter, it couple of things came to mind:

  • While it’s easy to disagree with someone else about matters of the Bible, don’t default to a public forum to air your concerns. As a general rule, be like Priscilla and Aquilla and seek to handle it privately before you go public.
  • Realize that some things are so important that they need to be addressed while other things can be overlooked. Dr. Albert Mohler wrote a great article on the importance of determining the level of error and how to respond to each one. (“A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity”)

There are plenty of people in Christendom who are like the Pharisees, believing they have everything figured out while looking down their noses at others. They publicly ridicule others while demonstrating their own prideful hearts.

The answer is not to go to the other extreme and tolerate error. If we love the Lord, His Word, and people who need to know the truth, then we cannot allow clear error. But we must be careful to handle things in a way that conforms with Scripture. Priscilla and Aquilla’s example lets us know that there will be times when we need to correct others but we should do it privately. There will be times when we should confront publicly as Paul did with Peter (Galatians 2:11-14). And there will be times when we simply overlook insignificant differences of opinion. We need wisdom to know the difference and respond accordingly.

Spend Time in Prayer

  • Ask God to help you to continue to grow in your understanding of biblical truth.
  • Ask God to help you to know if and when and how you are to confront someone in error.

Going Deeper

If you want to dig a little deeper into Priscilla and Aquilla’s conversation with Apollos, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:

“What is the significance of Priscilla and Aquila teaching Apollos?”

Sharing

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Matt Ellis is the pastor of White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky (whitehallbaptistchurch.org)