of apocrypha, “hidden, secret,” seems, toward the close of the second century to have been
associated with the signification “spurious,” and ultimately to have settled down into the latter.
The separate books of this collection are treated of in distinct articles. Their relation to the canonical
books of the Old Testament is discussed under Canon Of Scripture, The.
•New Testament Apocrypha— (A collection of legendary and spurious Gospels, Acts of the
Apostles, and Epistles. They are go entirely inferior to the genuine books, so full of nonsensical
and unworthy stories of Christ and the apostles, that they have never been regarded as divine, or
bound up in our Bibles. It is said that Mohammed obtained his ideas of Christ entirely from these
spurious gospels.—ED.)
Apollonia
(belonging to Apollo), a city of Macedonia, through which Paul and Silas passed in their way
from Philippi and Amphipolis to Thessalonica. (Acts 17:1) According to the Antonine Itinerary it
was distant 30 Roman miles from Amphipolis and 37 Roman miles from Thessalonica.
Apollos
(given by Apollo) a Jew from Alexandria, eloquent (which may also mean learned) and mighty
in the Scriptures; one instructed in the way of the Lord, according to the imperfect view of the
disciples of John the Baptist, (Acts 18:24) but on his coming to Ephesus during a temporary absence
of St. Paul, A.D. 54, more perfectly taught by Aquila and Priscilla. After this he became a preacher
of the gospel, first in Achaia and then in Corinth. (Acts 18:27; 19:1) When the apostle wrote his
First Epistle to the Corinthians, Apollos was with or near him, (1 Corinthians 16:12) probably at
Ephesus in A.D. 57. He is mentioned but once more in the New Testament, in (Titus 3:13) After
this nothing is known of him. Tradition makes him bishop of Caesarea.
Apollyon
or, as it is literally in the margin of the Authorized Version of (Revelation 9:11) “a destroyer,”
is the rendering of the Hebrew word Abaddon, “the angel of the bottomless pit.” From the occurrence
of the word in (Psalms 88:11) the rabbins have made Abaddon the nethermost of the two regions
into which they divide the lower world; but that in (Revelation 9:11) Abaddon is the angel and not
the abyss is perfectly evident in the Greek.
Apostle
(one sent forth), in the New Testament originally the official name of those twelve of the
disciples whom Jesus chose to send forth first to preach the gospel and to be with him during the
course of his ministry on earth. The word also appears to have been used in a non-official sense to
designate a much wider circle of Christian messengers and teachers See (2 Corinthians 8:23;
Philemon 2:25) It is only of those who were officially designated apostles that we treat in the article.
Their names are given in (Matthew 10:2-4) and Christ’s charge to them in the rest of the chapter.
Their office.— (1) The original qualification of an apostle, as stated by St. Peter on the occasion
of electing a successor to the traitor Judas, was that he should have been personally acquainted
with the whole ministerial course of our Lord from his baptism by John till the day when he was
taken up into heaven. (2) They were chosen by Christ himself (3) They had the power of working
miracles. (4) They were inspired. (John 16:13) (5) Their world seems to have been pre-eminently
that of founding the churches and upholding them by supernatural power specially bestowed for
that purpose. (6) The office ceased, a matter of course, with its first holders-all continuation of it,
from the very condition of its existence (cf. (1 Corinthians 9:1)), being impossible. Early history
and training .—The apostles were from the lower ranks of life, simple and uneducated; some of
frankie
(Frankie)
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