for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Parallel Translations
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for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
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And myghtely he overcame the Iewes and that openly shewynge by the scriptures that Iesus was Christ.
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For mightily hee confuted publikely the Iewes, with great vehemencie, shewing by the Scriptures, that Iesus was that Christ.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Acts 18:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 18:5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
- Acts 9:22 But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.
- Acts 26:22-23 Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen, how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.”
- Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
- Luke 24:27 Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
- John 5:39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
- Acts 17:3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
- Hebrews 7:1-10 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best plunder. They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives. We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes, for he was yet in the body of his father when Melchizedek met him.
- Acts 18:25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 28. He overcame the Jews. By this it appeareth…
28. He overcame the Jews. By this it appeareth to what use that ability which Apollos had (in that he was mighty in the Holy Scriptures) did serve; to wit, because he had a strong and forcible proof to reprove and overcome the enemies withal. Also, the state of the disputation is briefly set down, that Jesus is Christ. For this was out of question among the Jews, that Christ was promised to be the deliverer; but it was a hard matter to persuade them that Jesus, the Son of Mary, was this Christ, through whom salvation was offered. Therefore, it was expedient for Apollos so to dispute concerning the office of Christ, that he might prove that the testimonies of the Scripture were fulfilled in the Son of Mary; and that he might thereby gather that he was Christ.
Also, this place doth testify, that the Scripture is profitable not only to teach, but also to break the obstinacy of those which do not obey and follow willingly. For our faith should not otherwise be firm enough, unless there were an evident demonstration extant there of those things which are necessary to be known for salvation. Surely, if the law and the prophets had so great light, that Apollos did thereby prove manifestly that Jesus is Christ, as if he did point out the matter with his finger, the adding of the gospel must bring this to pass at least, that the perfect knowledge of Christ may be let [sought] from the whole Scripture.
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Wherefore it is detestable blasphemy against God in that the Papists say, that the Scripture is dark and doubtful. For to what end should God have spoken, unless the plain and invincible truth should show itself in his words? And whereas they infer, that we must stand to the authority of the Church, and they are not to dispute with heretics out of the Scriptures; their cavil is sufficiently refuted by Luke. For, seeing there was nothing more stubborn than the Jews, we need not to fear but that those weapons whereto Apollos trusted, and overcame them, shall suffice us against all heretics, seeing that by them we get the victory of the devil, the prince of all errors.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that…
28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Ver. 28. Convinced the Jews] Who might have been convinced out of their own Cabala, that Christ was come: but that seeing they saw, but perceived not.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Mightily; with great constancy, perseverance, and enduring of opposition.
Mightily; with great constancy, perseverance, and enduring of opposition.
Showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ; as Act 17:3. Some think that Christ ought to be the subject, and Jesus the predicate; and then the sense is, that Christ is our Jesus, or Saviour. The Messiah, that was sent from God, is the Saviour of the world.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 28. He mightily convinced the Jews] ευτονως διακατηλεγχετο;…
Verse 28. He mightily convinced the Jews] ευτονως διακατηλεγχετο; He vehemently confuted the Jews; and that publicly, not in private conferences, but in his public preaching: showing by the scriptures of the Old Testament, which the Jews received as divinely inspired, that Jesus, who had lately appeared among them, and whom they had crucified, was the Christ, the promised Messiah, and that there was salvation in none other; and that they must receive him as the Messiah, in order to escape the wrath to come. This they refused to do; and we know the consequence. Their city was sacked, their temple burnt, their whole civil and religious polity subverted, more than a million of themselves killed, and the rest scattered over the face of the earth.
1. THE Christian religion did not hide itself in corners and obscure places at first, in order, privately, to get strength, before it dared to show itself publicly. Error, conscious of its weakness, and that its pretensions cannot bear examination, is obliged to observe such a cautious procedure. With what caution, circumspection, and privacy, did Mohammed propose his new religion! He formed a party by little and little, in the most private manner, before he ventured to exhibit his pretensions openly. Not so Christianity: it showed itself in the most public manner, not only in the teaching of Christ, but also in that of the apostles. Even after the crucifixion of our Lord, the apostles and believers went to the temple, the most public place; and in the most public manner taught and worked miracles. JERUSALEM, the seat of the doctors, the judge of religion, was the first place in which, by the command of their Lord, the disciples preached Christ crucified. They were, therefore, not afraid to have their cause tried by the most rigid test of Scripture; and in the very place, too, where that Scripture was best understood.
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2. When the same apostles. carried this Gospel to heathen countries, did they go to the villages, among the less informed or comparatively ignorant Greeks, in order to form a party, and shield themselves by getting the multitude on their side? No! They went to Caesarea, to Antioch, to Thessalonica, to ATHENS, to CORINTH, to EPHESUS; to the very places where learning flourished most, where sciences were best cultivated, where imposture was most likely to be detected, and where the secular power existed in the most despotic manner, and could at once have crushed them to nothing could they have been proved to be impostors, or had they not been under the immediate protection of Heaven! Hence it is evident that these holy men feared no rational investigation of their doctrines, for they taught them in the face of the most celebrated schools in the universe!
3. They preached Christ crucified in JERUSALEM, where it was the most solemn interest of the Jews to disprove their doctrine, that they might exculpate themselves from the murder of Jesus Christ. They preached the same Christ, and the vanity of idolatry, in Athens, in Corinth, and in Ephesus, where idolatry existed in the plenitude of its power; and where all its interests required it to make the moat desperate and formidable stand against those innovators. What but the fullest confidence of the truth of what they preached, the fullest conviction of the Divinity of their doctrine, and the supernatural influence of God upon their souls, could ever have induced these men to preach Christ crucified, either at Jerusalem, or at Athens? I scruple not to assert that the bold, public manner in which the apostles preached the Gospel, among the Jews and Greeks, is a most incontestable proof of the conviction they had of its truth; and the success with which they were favoured is a demonstration that what they preached as truth God proved to be the truth, by stretching forth his hand to heal, and causing signs and wonders to be wrought in the name of the holy child Jesus. This is an additional proof of the sincerity of the apostles, and of the truth of Christianity. If Paul and Peter, Barnabas and Silas, had not had the fullest persuasion that their doctrine was of God, they would never have ventured to propose it before the Sanhedrin in JERUSALEM, the literati of CORINTH, and the Stoics and inexorable judges of the Areopagus at ATHENS.
4. We may be surprised to find that, even among the Jews as well as the Gentiles, there were persons who used curious arts. Those were inexcusable; these were to be pitied. Blind as every man is by nature, yet he is conscious that without supernatural assistance he can neither secure the good he needs, nor avoid the evil he fears: therefore, he endeavours to associate to himself the influence of supernatural agents, in order to preserve him in safety, and make him happy. Thus forsaking and forgetting the fountain of living water, he hews out to himself cisterns that can hold no water. The existence of magical arts and incantations, whether real or pretended, prove the general belief of the existence of a spiritual world, and man's consciousness of his own weakness, and his need of supernatural help. When shall the eye be directed solely to HIM from whom alone true help can come, by whom evil is banished, and happiness restored!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For he mightily convinced the Jews - He did…
For he mightily convinced the Jews - He did it by strong arguments; he bore down all opposition, and effectually silenced them.
And that publicly - In his public preaching in the synagogue and elsewhere.
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Showing by the scriptures - Proving from the Old Testament. Showing that Jesus of Nazareth corresponded with the account of the Messiah given by the prophets. See the notes on Joh 5:39.
That Jesus was Christ - See the margin. That Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain For he mightily convinced the Jews--The word is very…
For he mightily convinced the Jews--The word is very strong: "stoutly bore them down in argument," "vigorously argued them down," and the tense in that he continued to do it, or that this was the characteristic of his ministry.
showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ--Rather, "that the Christ (or Messiah) was Jesus." This expression, when compared with Act 18:25, seems to imply a richer testimony than with his partial knowledge he was at first able to bear; and the power with which he bore down all opposition in argument is that which made him such an acquisition to the brethren. Thus his ministry would be as good as another visitation to the Achaian churches by the apostle himself (see Co1 3:6) and the more as, in so far as he was indebted for it to Priscilla and Aquila, it would have a decidedly Pauline cast.
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Next: Acts Chapter 19
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 28. Mightily convinced—Nervously, or energetically and completely, refuted.
28. Mightily convinced—Nervously, or energetically and completely, refuted.
Publicly—Whether in synagogue, church-apartment, or agora. So popular was Apollos that a party arose with the motto, “I am of Apollos.”
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The partisan spirit was only in the narrow partisans, not in the noble leaders. Apollos was with Paul, or near him, at Ephesus, when he wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians, (1Co_16:12,) about A.D. 57. He declined, or rather deferred, then to go, according to Paul’s wish, to Corinth. Paul requests Titus (Tit_3:13) to “bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos” to him. This is the last mention of Apollos in the New Testament; but tradition makes him Bishop of Cesarea. From the smooth style and the tinge of Alexandrianism in the Epistle to the Hebrews, some eminent scholars, among them Luther, Tholuck, and Alford, have plausibly suggested that its author was not Paul, but Apollos.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 28. for he mightily convinced the Jews] The verb…
28. for he mightily convinced the Jews] The verb expresses more than is given thus. He brought the objections of the Jews to the test of Scripture and confuted them. The disciples, who had already believed, appear to have been suffering from Jewish gainsayers. It was by his power in the Scriptures that Apollos was helpful against these adversaries of the faith. The Revised Version has changed “mightily” into “powerfully” to little profit. Shakespeare says “you have mightily persuaded” (As you Like it, i. 2. 218).
and that publickly] By his discourses in the synagogue. This was an important feature in the help that Apollos gave. He was a learned Jew, able to set forth to whole Jewish congregations how their Scriptures were receiving their fulfilment. Thus they who already believed would be strengthened.
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shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ] See above, on Act_18:5. The Jews had complained before Gallio that St Paul’s teaching was a religion “contrary to the law.” Those who heard Apollos learnt that in Jesus they were accepting the “fulfiller of the law.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (28) He mightily convinced the Jews.—The conclusion to which…
(28) He mightily convinced the Jews.—The conclusion to which he led the Jews was the same as that which St. Paul urged on them. The process was, perhaps, somewhat different, as the line of argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews differs from that in the Epistle to the Galatians. To lead men on, after the manner of Philo, into the deeper meanings that lay beneath the letter of Scripture, to deal with them as those who were pressing forwards to the perfection of maturity in spiritual growth (Heb_5:11-14), instead of treating them as children who must be fed with milk and not with “strong meat” (i.e., solid food), as St. Paul had done (1Co_1:2)—it was natural that this should attract followers to the new preacher, and give him a larger measure of real or apparent success in dealing with the Jews than had attended the labours of St. Paul. As Apollos does not appear again in the Acts, it may be well to bring together what is known as to his after-history. At Corinth, as has been said, his name was used as the watchword of a party, probably that of the philosophising Jews and proselytes, as distinguished from the narrower party of the circumcision that rallied round the name of Cephas (1Co_1:12). Not a word escapes from St. Paul that indicates any doctrinal difference between himself and Apollos, and as the latter had been instructed by St. Paul’s friends, Aquila and Priscilla, this was, indeed, hardly probable. It would appear from 1Co_16:12, that he returned to Ephesus, probably with letters of commendation from the Church of Corinth (2Co_3:1). St. Paul’s confidence in him is shown by his desire that he should return once more to Corinth with Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus. His own reluctance to be the occasion even of the semblance of schism explains his unwillingness to go (1Co_16:12). After this we lose sight of him for some years. These, we may well believe, were well filled up by evangelising labours after the pattern of those which we have seen at Ephesus and Corinth. Towards the close of St. Paul’s ministry (A. D. 65) we get our last glimpse of him, in Tit_3:13. He is in company with Zenas, the lawyer (see Note on Mat_22:35), one, i.e., who, like himself, had a special reputation for the profounder knowledge of the Law of Moses. St. Paul’s feeling towards him is still, as of old, one of affectionate interest, and he desires that Titus will help him in all things. He has been labouring at Crete, and there also has gathered round him a distinct company of disciples, whom St. Paul distinguishes from his own; “Let our’s also learn to maintain good works” (Tit_3:14). After this, probably after St. Paul’s death, he wrote—if we accept Luther’s conjecture—the Epistle to the Hebrews, addressed, as some have thought, to the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and specially of Cæsarea, but, more probably, as I have been led to believe, to the Christian ascetics, known as Therapeutæ, trained, like himself, in the school of Philo, with whom he had formerly been associated at Alexandria. The mention of disciples of, or from, Italy in Heb_13:24 suggests a connection with some other Italian Christians than those of Rome, probably with those of Puteoli. (See Note on Act_28:14.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Powerfully confuted for mightily convinced, A.V.; the Christ for…
Powerfully confuted for mightily convinced, A.V.; the Christ for Christ, A.V. Powerfully confuted; diakathlegceto, one of St. Luke"s peculiar compounds, found nowhere else; eujtonwv here and Luk_23:10 (vehemently), but nowhere else in the New Testament. Theadjective eutonov, meaning "nervous," "vehement," and the adverb eujtonwv, meaning "vigorously," "with force," are very frequent in medical writers; eujtonwv is also found in the LXX oftwsan (Jos_6:7, Shmaine) eujtonwv, "Let them blow a loud blast." Showing by the Scriptures, etc. The same line of preaching as St. Peter and St. Paul always adopted when address-lug Jews. (see Act_2:13:17:3 Act_18:5, etc.) It is remarkable that the success of Apollos at Corinth seems to have been chiefly among the Jews, who had opposed themselves so vehemently to St. Paul (ver. 6). It is one of the many proofs of the singleness of eye and simplicity of purpose of the great apostle, that the success of this novice where he himself had failed did not excite the least jealousy. (1Co_16:12) St. Luke, too, Paul"s friend and biographer, here speaks of the powers and work of Apollos with no stinted measure of praise.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 28. “For he powerfully argued down the Jews, showing…
28. “For he powerfully argued down the Jews, showing conclusively by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.” Apollos, before his sanctification, eclipsed all by his native eloquence, electrified by his warm heart, filled with regenerating grace. Since he is sanctified, the burning pathos and Pentecostal Niagara of this mighty and abiding fiery baptism, added to his native eloquence, literally transforms the man into a cyclone of fire, bearing down everything in its wake, thus becoming a sun-burst on the gospel churches of Europe and Asia.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 27
See notes on verse 27
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain that Jesus
that Jesus
Apollos’ ministry seems to have gone no further; Jesus was the long expected Messiah. Of Paul’s doctrine of justification through the blood, and sanctification through the Spirit, he seems at that time to have known nothing. See Act 19:3-6.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.