The Good News Translation takes him as the object of the verb helped, a verb which may also mean “encourage” or “urge.” The problem is that this verb has no stated object. To whom did the believers in Ephesus give help or encouragement, to Apollos or to the Corinthians? An American Translation* and Moffatt indicate that it was given to the church in Corinth, while New American Bible, New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Phillips, Barclay, LUTHER Revised, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée and Zürcher Bibel specify that the help was given to Apollos.

Urging them to welcome him there may require direct discourse in some languages: “They urged them, Please welcome Apollos when he comes there.”

Those who … had become believers translates a Greek perfect tense which has the force of “those who had believed and kept on believing.” Those who through God’s grace had become believers translates “those who through grace had believed,” but in the context grace is “God’s grace.” It is difficult in many languages to speak of becoming a believer through God’s grace. Grace in itself indicates an activity by God, and thus in many languages one cannot employ a preposition such as through to identify an instrument, particularly if this instrument is an event such as “grace” implies. Therefore the closest equivalent is “who had become believers in Jesus because God was so good to them.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .