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1 Corinthians 16:12
ESV Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
NIV Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
NASB Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly encouraged him to come to you with the brothers; and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has the opportunity.
CSB Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but he was not at all willing to come now. However, he will come when he has an opportunity.
NLT Now about our brother Apollos — I urged him to visit you with the other believers, but he was not willing to go right now. He will see you later when he has the opportunity.
KJV As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time.

What does 1 Corinthians 16:12 mean?

One of the issues dividing the Corinthian church was a completely unnecessary conflict over which apostle or teacher the people should be loyal to (1 Corinthians 1:10–12). Paul rejected this as foolish and made it clear that he did not consider other Christian leaders, including Apollos, to be competition, but instead "God's fellow workers" (1 Corinthians 3:9).

In fact, Apollos had been working with Paul in Ephesus. When Paul decided to send Timothy and others to Corinth, he writes now that he "strongly urged" Apollos to go, as well. This should demonstrate to the Corinthians once more that Paul does not see himself in competition with Apollos and, in fact, would see great value in Apollos spending more time with the Corinthians.

Apollos, though, chose not to go. Language experts disagree whether the text should read that it was God's will for Apollos not to go or if Apollos himself simply did not want to. Some suggest that perhaps Apollos did not want to add to the divisions among the Corinthians by spending time with them again, but that is speculation.

Paul adds that Apollos will come when he has the opportunity.
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