“The apostles were not dictators”

Sunday, April 08, 2018

There is an interesting verse as the first epistle to the Corinthians comes to a close. In it, Paul admonished the brethren to accept Timothy as a fellow worker (I Cor. 16:10). He then went on to talk about Apollos, saying “Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he was quite unwilling to come at this time; however, he will come when he has a convenient time.”  (vr. 12).

Think about how Paul had strongly urged Apollos to go to Corinth. It wasn’t a passing question like, “Hey Apollos, would you like to go?” There is no doubt the apostle had some strong reasons for wanting this man to go to Corinth. However, Apollos didn’t just say no. We are told that he was quite unwilling. It wasn’t that he despised the brethren at Corinth. The text make it clear that Apollos was very busy at that time and could not get away right then.

All of this teaches us an important lesson about respecting the opinions and advice of others. It wasn’t Paul’s place to “order” this teacher of God’s word to go to Corinth. Nor was Apollos showing disrespect to Paul, since he informed him that he would go when he had the time.

The danger that we must see is making assumptions which blow a situation out of proportion. For example, Apollos could have blasted Paul and assumed that Paul was thinking he wasn’t busy and could go at the drop of the hat. The apostle could have also told the brethren at Corinth that Apollos said he had something that was more important than coming to be with them. The fact is, whatever Apollos had going on, wasn’t to be measured by importance. Whatever he was doing needed to get done, and going to Corinth is something that was also needed.

All Christians would do well to learn from this example and work together and respect one another.

Chuck

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