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Today's Pathway: I Corinthians 16:12-14 As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.

Yesterday we saw that Paul had sent Timothy to minister to the Corinthians. In verse 12 we see that he had also wanted to send Apollos. It is probable that Paul desired for Apollos to go because there were factions in the church there that declared themselves to be "of Apollos" (I Corinthians 1:12). Having Apollos himself go there to reject their partisanship and teach them the sinfulness of their divisiveness might have been helpful. However, Apollos was unwilling to go at that time, but would attempt to go later at a more opportune time. There is no evidence of Apollos being wrong or rebellious here. Paul was a great man of God, but that doesn't mean that he knew the specifics of God's will for everyone else. On a practical note, some pastors today seem to think that they can tell members of their congregation what God's will is for their lives. I'm not speaking about teaching Biblical facts and principles, but rather having the authority to tell church members where they should live, who they should marry, what job they should take, etc. I personally heard a pastor preach that his church members should give him "veto power" over the decisions that they make simply because he was their pastor. This is foolishness. If the Christian is doing something sinful, then the pastor should speak to him. But, in areas where the Bible does not give specifics, the Lord can lead individuals in the way that He wishes, which may not be the way that the pastor wishes. This is apparently similar to what is happening in Apollos' life.

In verse 13-14 Paul gives further instructions to the church. He lists five simple statements as to what they should be doing. First, he writes "watch ye". The idea is to "wake up and be on guard". Jack Hunter wrote,

"The sense here is to watch, be vigilant against all the evils that he had exposed amongst them, the evils of dissension, fornication, litigation, fellowship with demons, abuses at the Supper etc. We in our day cannot afford to be self-satisfied, for many dangers lurk all around us, and only vigilance will detect the danger early enough to enable us to raise the warning."

The third expression is "quit you like men". In the Greek language this expression is only one word. It simply means this: "be a man". The word "quit" has changed meanings over the centuries. Today it means to stop doing something. When the King James Version was translated it meant to "acquit yourself". So Paul is telling them to conduct themselves like men. Matthew Henry commented,

"Act the manly, firm, and resolved part: behave strenuously, in opposition to the bad men who would divide and corrupt you, those who would split you into factions or seduce you from the faith: be not terrified nor coaxed by them; but show yourselves men in Christ, by your steadiness, by your sound judgment and firm resolution." The fourth statement is "be strong".

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me".

How are you doing with these five simple statements?