Apollos was the eloquent Jew from Alexandria whom Priscilla and Aquila instructed more fully in the Christian way.
Acts 18 describes Apollos as learned in the Scriptures, eloquent, and fervent in teaching. He knew about Jesus and taught accurately about him, but his knowledge was incomplete: he knew only the baptism of John. Priscilla and Aquila took him aside privately and explained the way of God more accurately, a scene that highlights instruction without public humiliation.
Afterward, Apollos traveled to Achaia, apparently with a letter of recommendation from believers in Ephesus. In Corinth he became a forceful public defender of the Christian message, arguing from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.
Paul later mentioned Apollos alongside himself in 1 Corinthians, where factions had formed around different Christian teachers. Paul rejected the rivalry, emphasizing that ministers serve the same God. Apollos was therefore a distinct early Christian leader, not another name for Paul, Philip, or Stephen.