Acts chapter 18

vs 19

The way this is written, Paul's leaving Priscilla and Aquilla makes it sound more like he just parted company with them so that he could go stir up trouble in the synagogue. But it could be a future reference to them not going on with Paul when he leaves for wherever is next.

vs 20

Why did he do that? I don't ever remember reading that before. Incredible. It's obvious that Paul was on his way back home, and that this was more of a test visit to see if the ground would be ripe for more ministry. After all, he had spent over a year and a half in Corinth by this stage.

Still, it seems odd for him to turn down a ministry opportunity.

vs 21

Always leave them wanting more :P Seriously, though, perhaps he was just missing Antioch and his friends and stuff. Hard to think that when people had asked to hear the gospel more, he didn't hang around.

vs 22

So after a quick visit to Jerusalem, probably an updated report, shake some hands, and then he's back to his home church.

vs 23

Paul is torn between spending time at Antioch, and visiting all these places he's been. Again, this third trip starts the same way as the second trip - by visiting existing churches and encouraging the disciples. It seems like Paul's on his own for this trip.

vs 24

Apollos isn't a very Jewish name :P

vs 25

Ahh, now, if he was teaching about Jesus accurately, even though he only knew about John's baptism, does that mean he was teaching about the Messiah that was to come (but not calling him Jesus) or that he knew about John's baptism of Jesus, but didn't know anything else? I'm actually going for option 1, as it seems more likely.

You might ask "How can he teach accurately if he doesn't know anything about Jesus?" Well, if Jesus really was the Messiah, and John TB really was a prophet, then everything John TB said about the Messiah would be correct.

vs 26

Isn't it great that Paul left Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus! It has been suggested that P&A maintained homes in several towns, and so were pretty rich. They pop up all over the place. Anyway, P&A had been attending the synagogue in Ephesus obviously, but hadn't been teaching publically. Instead, they took people off to their homes to teach them privately.

vs 27

We know that P&A had been working, because there are enough believers in Ephesus now to encourage Apollos to go to Achaia. Of course, this might not be directly after this time, but could have been some time afterwards. I'm not sure how chronological Acts is. It seems pretty straightforward, but there might be some convolutes.

vs 28

Which I'm assuming was the need in Achaia at the time. Apollos' gifting was obviously linked to the proclaimation of God's word and its proper interpretation. So once P&A explained it to him, he was probably able to go even deeper into Scripture and find more truth about the Messiah waiting there.

So here we have a person who was able to refute the Jews, via the Scriptures, and tell them that Jesus was the Messiah, even though he had never seen or met Jesus! Phenomenal.