εγενετο 1096 5633 V-2ADI-3S δε 1161 CONJ εν 1722 PREP τω 3588 T-DSM τον 3588 T-ASM απολλω 625 N-ASM ειναι 1511 5750 V-PXN εν 1722 PREP κορινθω 2882 N-DSF παυλον 3972 N-ASM διελθοντα 1330 5631 V-2AAP-ASM τα 3588 T-APN ανωτερικα 510 A-APN μερη 3313 N-APN ελθειν 2064 5629 V-2AAN εις 1519 PREP εφεσον 2181 N-ASF και 2532 CONJ ευρων 2147 5631 V-2AAP-NSM τινας 5100 X-APM μαθητας 3101 N-APM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. Upper coasts (ta anwterika merh). Coasts is a bad rendering. Better, as Rev., "the upper country;" lit., parts or districts. The reference is to districts like Galatia and Phrygia, lying up from the sea-coast and farther inland than Ephesus. Hence the expedition of Cyrus from the sea-coast toward Central Asia was called Anabasis, a going-up.Certain disciples. Disciples of John the Baptist, who, like Apollos, had been instructed and baptized by the followers of the Baptist, and had joined the fellowship of the Christians. Some have thought that they had been instructed by Apollos himself; but there is no sufficient evidence of this. "There they were, a small and distinct community about twelve in number, still preparing, after the manner of the Baptist, for the coming of the Lord. Something there was which drew the attention of the apostle immediately on his arrival. They lacked, apparently, some of the tokens of the higher life that pervaded the nascent church; they were devout, rigorous, austere, but were wanting in the joy, the radiancy, the enthusiasm which were conspicuous in others" (Plumptre, "St. Paul in Asia Minor").
Robertson's NT Word Studies
19:1 {While Apollos was at Corinth} (en twi ton apollw einai en korinqwi). Favorite idiom with Luke, en with the locative of the articular infinitive and the accusative of general reference (#Lu 1:8; 2:27, etc.). {Having passed through the upper country} (dielqonta ta anwterika mere). Second aorist active participle of diercomai, accusative case agreeing with paulon, accusative of general reference with the infinitive elqein, idiomatic construction with egeneto. The word for "upper" (anwterika) is a late form for anwtera (#Lu 14:10) and occurs in Hippocrates and Galen. It refers to the highlands (cf. Xenophon's _Anabasis_) and means that Paul did not travel the usual Roman road west by Colossae and Laodicea in the Lycus Valley, cities that he did not visit (#Col 2:1). Instead he took the more direct road through the Cayster Valley to Ephesus. Codex Bezae says here that Paul wanted to go back to Jerusalem, but that the Holy Spirit bade him to go into Asia where he had been forbidden to go in the second tour (#16:6). Whether the upper "parts" (mere) here points to North Galatia is still a point of dispute among scholars. So he came again to Ephesus as he had promised to do (#18:21). The province of Asia included the western part of Asia Minor. The Romans took this country B.C. 130. Finally the name was extended to the whole continent. It was a jewel in the Roman empire along with Africa and was a senatorial province. It was full of great cities like Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, filadelfia, Laodicea (the seven churches of #Re 2;3), Colossae, Hierapolis, Apamea, to go no further. Hellenism had full sway here. Ephesus was the capital and chief city and was a richer and larger city than Corinth. It was located at the entrance to the valley of the Maeander to the east. Here was the power of Rome and the splendor of Greek culture and the full tide of oriental superstition and magic. The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the world. While in Ephesus some hold that Paul at this time wrote the epistle to the Galatians after his recent visit there, some that he did it before his recent visit to Jerusalem. But it is still possible that he wrote it from Corinth just before writing to Rome, a point to discuss later. {Certain disciples} (tinas maqetas). Who were they? Apollos had already gone to Corinth. They show no connection with Priscilla and Aquila. Luke calls them "disciples" or "learners" (maqetas) because they were evidently sincere though crude and ignorant. There is no reason at all for connecting these uninformed disciples of the Baptist with Apollos. They were floating followers of the Baptist who drifted into Ephesus and whom Paul found. Some of John's disciples clung to him till his death (#Joh 3:22-25; Lu 7:19; Mt 14:12). Some of them left Palestine without the further knowledge of Jesus that came after his death and some did not even know that, as turned out to be the case with the group in Ephesus.
