Acts19:1

Translation

And then it happened that, PAUL, having passed through the highland parts in order to come to EPHESUS, and having found certain disciples, (while APOLLOS

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was in CORINTH,

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Paraphrase

This is what happened next; after LITTLE had travelled along the inland route to arrive at DESIRABLE, and after he sought out certain disciples, (this was while HE WHO FORMERLY BELONGED TO APOLLO was in the place of HELMETS WITH POINTY SPIKES),

Footnotes

1

It is interesting that Apollos’ name was not changed to something that honored the God of the Bible. It appears they were using the name he was known by, which meant “belonging to Apollo,” even though it had a pagan meaning. It may have been true that in some circles they gave him a different name, but it did not become well known. I have rendered the name in my paraphrase in a way that includes his new reputation as a follower of Jesus. Assumptions are sometimes required in the meaning of names, so this is not a surprise. God may have left his pagan name in place so that his life would stand in stark contrast to his name, forcing people to think of him as “formerly belonging to Apollo,” as I have indicated in my paraphrase.

2

The meaning of Corinth sounds funny to us, but it was intended to point to security and defense. Corinth was presented as a hard place to enter with an undesired message.