Apollos

Apollos , in the New Testament, Alexandrian Jew who became a Christian missionary.

Apollos. A ‘learned’ Jew of Alexandria, apparently already a Christian, though ‘knowing only the baptism of John [the Baptist]’ (Acts 18: 24–5). M. Luther and others have argued that he was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Apollos An Alexandrian Jew who is said to have ‘taught accurately the things concerning Jesus’ (Acts 18: 25) and yet, amazingly, ‘knew only the baptism of John’. Priscilla and Aquila filled in his inadequate knowledge and in Corinth Apollos soon became a leading teacher, revered by some above Paul (1 Cor. 1: 11–12; 4: 6–7). He returned to Ephesus and declined Paul's generous invitation that he should pay another visit to Corinth (1 Cor. 16: 12). Perhaps they both suspected his absence would improve the chances of harmony in the Church there. Apollos has been proposed as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews in view of its apparent similarity in style and vocabulary to Alexandrian Judaism. If so, the epistle might have been addressed primarily to the Hebrew faction at Corinth (cf. 2 Cor. 11: 22) about 53 CE.