Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus,
Paul ends his letter to Rome with a long list of greetings, and the first names on it belong to a married couple who shared his trade. Why does a letter that has just laid out the whole gospel end with personal greetings, and what does "fellow workers" mean here?
A government decree first threw this couple into Paul's path. One writer sees God's hand behind it.
The harsh decree of Claudius worked to throw them across Paul's path. This led to their conversion, and then to their later service, which earned the high praise of Romans 16:3-4. God overruled the decree of expulsion for good, making the wrath of man to praise Him.
They did not stay in one place. Their moves can be traced from letter to letter.
From the same chapter we learn that after Paul's ministry had ended they went to Ephesus. From 1 Corinthians 16:19 we learn that they were still there when that letter was written. But in writing to the Romans Paul greets them. So they had travelled back to Rome, and were in happy fellowship with the Roman assembly. 2 Timothy 4:19 tells us that once more they were back in Ephesus, where Timothy lived. Prisca is a shortened form of Priscilla. They were indeed strangers and pilgrims, but blessed to know that their wanderings were by the Lord.
Paul and Aquila shared the same trade as tent-makers. Yet the name Paul puts on them here is not drawn from that shared craft.
Here the apostle stamps them as his fellow workers in Christ Jesus. He does it all the more carefully because Aquila and he had worked in the same trade of tent-makers. But the everyday job disappears from view, however rightly it is noticed in its own place. Grace acknowledges this converted godly Jew and his wife, not only as workers in Christ Jesus, but as fellow workers with the apostle.
The same word is used of several others in Paul's letters, and it carries real weight because of who is handing it out.
Paul alone has given us his name, and in Philemon 24 he described him by the honourable title of "fellow worker." An honourable title we say, considering who Paul was, but one shared with others, as we see in that letter and elsewhere (Rom. 16:3, 9, 21; Phil. 2:25; 4:3; Col. 4:11).
The order of the two names is unusual, and commentators differ on what it means. One reads it as a mark of her spiritual leadership.
Two things strike us here. One is that Priscilla's name comes before her husband's. That was unusual at that time in the world's history, and in that part of the world. We note the same order in Romans 16:3. We can only conclude that the wife was more devoted spiritually, and the leader in the things of the Lord.
Another counts the six mentions and reads the varying order as a picture of a partnership in balance.
This couple are mentioned six times in the New Testament. Three times Aquila is mentioned first (Acts 18:2, 26; 1 Cor. 16:19) and three times Priscilla is mentioned first (Acts 18:19; Rom. 16:3; 2 Tim. 4:19), showing the balance this delightful couple kept — husband and wife, united in the interests of the Lord.
The greeting sits inside a letter recommending Phoebe to the church at Rome — Paul uses the occasion to name others too.
It is well to stress that this verse comes in Paul's letter of commendation for Phoebe. As she was visiting the Roman assembly, Paul took the opportunity to commend others for their service and their love, and also to greet the saints.
What made this couple useful shows most clearly in how they handled Apollos, a gifted speaker whose understanding was incomplete.
Aquila and Priscilla took him to themselves. I think this means they took him home with them. There, in the quiet, the privacy, the love and the hospitality of their home, they opened up the way of God to him more fully. What a delightful attitude this was! It was not an overbearing attitude, but an attitude of love.
Paul had never known this church as a gathered body, yet he names its people one by one.
Paul had never known the Roman Christians as an assembly, so he sends many personal greetings. This was the link that held. We see how touchingly his heart dwells on all the details of service that attached him to those who had given it. By grace he had searched into all the counsels of God. He had been allowed to see what could not be told to man here below. Yet he remembered all that these humble Christians — these devoted women — had done for him and for the Lord. This is love.
These greetings also show what was not in Paul.
He was highly gifted as an apostle. Yet his heart was large, and he delights to recognise others in the service of the Lord. In the apostle there was no unworthy pettiness — the jealous kind that lifts up self by putting others down. Nor does he think so highly of himself as to treat any kindness as simply his due.
- Moved. A hostile government decree pushed Aquila and Priscilla into Paul's path; God overruled it for good, and their later travels were "by the Lord."
- Named. Paul does not call them tent-makers but fellow workers in Christ Jesus — grace names them by the work they shared with him.
- Balanced. Priscilla stands first here. Some read that as her leading in the things of the Lord; others as the balance of a couple united in one work.
- Opened. In their home they taught Apollos the way of God more fully — not overbearing, but loving.
- Remembered. Paul had seen what could not be told to man here below. Yet he remembered every small service done for him, and named the people who did it.
(who for my life staked their own neck; to whom not *I* only am thankful, but also all the assemblies of the nations,)
Paul opens his long list of greetings in Rome with a married couple, and they come first because they once stood between him and death. Two questions follow: what does it mean to stake your neck for someone, and why do far-off churches give thanks?
Paul and Aquila shared a trade — both made tents. But the title Paul gives them in the verse before lifts them well above that.
Here the apostle stamps them as his fellow workers in Christ Jesus. He does it the more carefully because Aquila and he had worked at the same trade of tent-making. But the natural occupation drops out of sight, however rightly it is noticed in its own place. Grace acknowledges this converted godly Jew and his wife, not only as workers in Christ Jesus, but as fellow workers with the apostle.
Scripture never tells us what they did. But the wording shows they chose the danger with open eyes. (Older translations read "laid down their own necks.")
We don't know exactly what they did, but we learn that they were willing to put their necks on the block to save or help the apostle Paul. The words "they have for my life laid down their necks" show that they did not simply end up in a dangerous situation. They knowingly did what could well have led to their death.
Their act reaches the outer edge of what love can do. That edge is not only for heroes.
They had laid down their lives on Paul's behalf, though in God's mercy their lives had been preserved to them. This is the limit of human love according to the Lord's words in John 15:13. It is also what every Christian ought to do if the occasion arises, according to 1 John 3:16. We are here not only to show human kindness. As those who share in the divine nature, we are here to show divine love.
The law set one limit: love your neighbour as yourself. The same writer says what took this couple past it.
To love one's neighbour as oneself is the limit under the law. Only under grace is it possible to go a step beyond this, as for instance Aquila and Priscilla did.
Paul's thanks are personal, but he widens them. The reason is whose life they saved: no one else carried the apostleship to the Gentiles.
He owed them his life, and gladly announced that debt. He did it to their praise, so that the church of God would hold them in higher esteem. But once we see the value of the life they rescued, this smaller feeling — more natural in a way, though most precious — grows and sobers into solemn thanksgiving to God. The expression "all the churches of the Gentiles" is very full. Yet it was even so. To no one else had the Lord committed the apostleship to the Gentiles.
Husband and wife acted as one. Their names appear across the New Testament in a pattern that puts neither one ahead of the other.
The testimony at that time was above all in the hand of Paul, and Priscilla and Aquila staked their neck on his behalf. They had one neck. Scripture mentions this man and wife six times: three times the man first, three times the woman. That shows how fully they shared the things of God. The Spirit of God held them together with one mind and one desire. How blessed to serve like this in response to divine love.
No one handed this couple their place at the head of Paul's list. They earned it.
They had gained for themselves a good standing. They had worked their way into the confidence and esteem of the apostle and of all the assemblies. So it must be. We cannot jump into people's confidence and affection all in a moment. We must commend ourselves by a life of practical righteousness and personal devotedness.
Paul knew the deepest counsels of God. That never made him forget small kindnesses done to him.
By grace he had searched into all the counsels of God. God let him see what could not be made known to man here below. Yet he remembered all that these humble Christians — these devoted women — had done for him and for the Lord. This is love; it is the real proof of the power of the Spirit of God; it is the bond of love.
- Risked — they did not stumble into danger; they chose a path that could have cost their lives.
- Limit — laying down your life is the furthest love reaches, and every Christian ought to do it if the moment comes.
- Beyond — the law's limit was loving your neighbour as yourself; grace took this couple a step past it.
- Owed — the life they saved carried the Lord's work among the Gentiles, so churches that never met them give thanks.
- Remembered — trust like theirs grows out of a life of practical righteousness and devotedness, and Paul never forgot it.