Have you ever heard of the New Testament figure Apollos? He is only mentioned a couple times in the scripture. One time is in today’s passage and the other in Titus 3:13. Luke tells us in the book of Acts that he was well versed in the scriptures, was a great orator, and spoke boldly for Christ. Those in the synagogue opposed him at every turn, and Priscilla and Aquila took him under their wing and helped him to explain the scriptures even more accurately. In short, he was open to correction and wanted to teach right doctrine. Having learned from this correction he refuted the Jews that denied Christ and established through scripture that Jesus is the Christ.

We live in a society where correction seems to be looked down upon. We see this on a daily basis in social media. When one is corrected, even if it is very respectful, it is looked upon as some kind of attack. To view proper correction in this manner is an issue of pride, and scripture says that pride comes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18). Pride has an “I” in the middle, and so does sin. Sometimes we can get so hung up in being right that we not only lead ourselves astray, but others who may look up to us. In today’s reading we read that Apollos was known to be a respected scripture scholar, and he was even from Alexandria which was known as a center of learning. If anyone had a reason to be prideful it was him, but he did the exact opposite. He was open to correction so he could teach about Jesus more accurately.

We can learn something very helpful from Apollos. No matter how much training, or how much others praise us we must remain humble. We must be open to correction especially to those appointed over us. This will help us better proclaim that Jesus is the Christ as the scriptures teach. Let’s make it a daily goal to study the scriptures, pray, and perhaps even look for a spiritual mentor that can help us learn the faith in a deeper way. In addition, may we be open to the Holy Spirit and proclaim Christ just as Apollos did.