Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos

“[Apollos] had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to spak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” Acts 18:25-26
In Acts 18 we are introduced to Apollos. He was a Jew from Alexandria, who, given his name, had obviously been born into a Grecian culture. He had learned about Jesus, and clearly believed in Him, else he would not have been speaking about Him, but we read “he knew only the baptism of John”. That is, the message that John the Baptist preached: “I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matt. 3:11). In Acts 19 we see that in Ephesus, likewise, there were people who only knew about John’s baptism of repentance (Acts 19:3-4). They did not know about the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).
There are people today who speak openly and publicly about spiritual things, and show that they have some level of understanding, but perhaps not as intimate a relationship with the Lord as they could have. It seems that was the case for Apollos. It’s important to note what Priscilla and Aquila did: they invited him to their home and explained to him in private the truth of the whole gospel message. They did not point out the shortcomings in his understanding of who Jesus was, in a public setting. Like them, we are to show grace and hospitality to others who might only have half the story, rather than humiliating them or treating them like a heretic.