What does First B Jackson teach about incomplete faith?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on incomplete faith centers on the story of Apollos in Acts 18. He was eloquent, scripturally grounded, and accurate in what he taught about Jesus, but he knew only John's baptism. That is the precise shape of the problem: not false teaching, but true teaching that stopped short. What he had was real as far as it went, and that is exactly why it needed to be filled in rather than torn down.
Both Pastor Ray and Pastor Mark have used this passage to make the same pointed argument: repentance without the cross of Christ is, at bottom, futile sin management. John's baptism called people to acknowledge their sin, turn toward God, and bear visible fruit. None of that is wrong. But it has no power to hold on its own. Jesus himself addressed this directly in Luke 11, where an evil spirit leaves a person, finds the house swept and tidy, and returns with seven worse companions. The house was clean, but nothing had taken up residence in it. Willpower can produce a cleaner-looking life for a time, but it cannot do what only the cross can do.
The corrective in the passage is also part of the teaching. Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos in the synagogue and did not shame him publicly or argue with him. They took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately. He received it, and then crossed to Corinth, where he used his gifts to demonstrate from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. First B holds this up as the pattern: incomplete faith is not met with dismissal but with patient, fuller truth.
Taught from Acts 18:24-28 · Luke 11 · Luke 3:1-18 · Matthew 12 · John 3:30
The passage taught · Acts 10
1 Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
2 a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.
3 At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 He, fastening his eyes on him, and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- July 6, 2025 The Way of God More Accurately Pastor Ray walks through Acts 18, showing how Paul, Apollos, and a handful of disciples in Ephesus were all taught the way of God more accurately, and what that means for us.
- December 29, 2013 Futile Sin Management Without the Cross Acts 18 sermon on Apollos, who preached repentance powerfully but knew only John's baptism. What is sin management without the cross of Christ?
- December 29, 2013 He Only Knew John's Baptism Acts 18 traces Apollos, a gifted teacher who knew repentance but not the cross, and asks what sin management looks like without the redemption Christ alone provides.