¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”;^(A) another, “I follow Apollos”;^(B) another, “I follow Cephas^[a]”;^(C) still another, “I follow Christ.”

⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”^(A) are you not mere human beings?

⁵ What, after all, is Apollos?^(B) And what is Paul? Only servants,^(C) through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed,^(D) Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.

²² whether Paul or Apollos^(A) or Cephas^[a](B) or the world or life or death or the present or the future^(C)—all are yours,

²⁴ Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos,^(A) a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.^(B) He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor^[a](C) and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.^{(D) 26} He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila^(E) heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

²⁷ When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia,^(F) the brothers and sisters^(G) encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. ²⁸ For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures^(H) that Jesus was the Messiah.^(I)