Acts 19:1-10
The Apollos-Priscilla-Aquila-Paul-Holy Spirit connection is a bit confusing in chapter 18’s ending and chapter 19’s beginning. When he came to Ephesus Apollos knew only about the baptism of John (Acts 18:25). Paul had left Priscilla and Aquila behind when he left Ephesus (Acts 18:19) and they instructed Apollos more accurately (Acts 18:26). So Paul comes to Ephesus some many months later, following his time in Jerusalem and Antioch (Acts 18:22) and …spending some time there… (Acts 18:23), then traveling through Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23) before finally arriving at Ephesus. So when he arrives in Ephesus after these many months, with Priscilla and Aquila having been there the entire time that he had been traveling, these Ephesians did not know about the Holy Spirit. Paul had been with Priscilla and Aquila some 18 months in Corinth; I would have thought that he would have instructed them more completely in the Holy Spirit and His work in believers’ lives. But these Ephesian disciples knew only of the baptism of John – what they might have learned from Apollos. So there is some confusion therein that I cannot resolve, as to Priscilla and Aquila’s ministry in Ephesus.
Ephesus was a bustling port city during Paul’s three years there. (Their harbor has now silted over and it is some three miles from the Aegean Sea.) As a major commercial center, Paul’s ministry there was easily extended out into the rest of Asia (Acts 19:10) – actually Turkey/Asia Minor as we know it today. Later we will read the Epistle to the Colossians. The Colossians were very likely one of the beneficiaries of Paul’s Ephesian ministry, with Colossae being some 120 miles east of Ephesus.
Slava Bohu!
That is indeed confusing, Fred. Makes me think that Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila might not have been there long. Paul didn’t seem to join them in Ephesus. I hadn’t made that connection.
Maybe, but Paul, presumably writing from Ephesus sometime during his long time there (and after his earlier travels) says, “Aquila and Prisca greet you warmly in the Lord, with the church that meets in their house.” (I Corinthians 16:9) So they must have stayed in Ephesus when Paul left after first visiting there.