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.
and the assembly at their house. Salute Epaenetus, my beloved, who is [the] first-fruits of Asia for Christ.
Paul ends his letter to Rome by greeting a church that met in a private home, and one man remembered as the first convert of his region. Two questions follow: what does "in their house" mean, and why does Paul name a single convert?
Many homes belonged to Christians. Only some of them had a church in them.
This does not mean only the Christian members of the household, but those who were used to meeting there as gathered to the Lord's name. That seems to be the force of the phrase wherever it occurs (Rom. 16:5, 1 Cor. 16:19, Col. 4:15). There were many Christian households; but the assembly in any given house meant that there was a meeting in the house.
The setting was plain. Even in the capital of the empire, believers met in a private home.
The blessed Lord instituted His supper, not in a magnificent temple, but in "a large upper room." The church (or assembly) in the imperial city of Rome met in the humble house of Priscilla and Aquila (Rom. 16:5). The church was not a great building of stone or brick, but the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Aquila and Priscilla made tents. The trade needed a large room, and the room had a second use.
Further, he greets the assembly also in their house. The trade of tent-maker, if carried on at Rome, would naturally give him a large room, where quite a number could meet. We know that for a long time after this Christians regularly met like that.
What happened there was plain Christian life, and it leaves a question for any believer with a home.
In their house a company of people gathered. They worshipped the Lord there, they met for prayer, they met to read the word of God, and they met to do the things that pleased God and Christ… Is your house suitable for Christians to come and gather to the name of the Lord? Would the setting and the atmosphere of that house help people to gather to the name of the Lord? Would it help them to worship Him, pray to Him, and do everything proper to a Christian company? This is a very solemn thing to consider.
Paul greets the assembly in their house, not the whole church of the city.
An assembly met in the house of Priscilla and Aquila in Rome (Rom. 16:3-5), and an assembly met in the house of Philemon in Colosse; but we need not suppose that all the saints in those cities met in those particular houses. Others could meet elsewhere.
Older English versions read "the firstfruits of Achaia." Commentators here judge that the true reading is Asia. They point to a different household as the first converts in Achaia.
The reading "Achaia" in the traditional Greek text is wrong. The household of Stephanas were the first-fruits there, as we know from 1 Corinthians 16:16. The apostle could not say that Epaenetus devoted himself in an orderly way to the service of the saints as the Achaian household did. But in any case he is not without honour in the Lord, nor without the apostle's special affection.
Paul calls Epaenetus "my beloved." He uses the same words later in the chapter of a man named Stachys.
Paul describes him, like Stachys (v. 9), as "my beloved," which suggests to me that they were personal friends of his. Brotherly love reaches all believers. But there is room for personal closeness, and it in no way weakens the wider responsibility towards the brotherhood.
The word is a farming term. The first fruit gathered is only a sample of the crop. The comment below keeps the older reading, "Achaia."
He is "the firstfruits of Achaia" — a little picture, shall we not say, of the Church brought to glory. He is "a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1:18), just the beginning of the harvest still to be reaped. "Then each one will receive his commendation from God" is a fitting comment here (1 Cor. 4:5).
Behind the whole list of names lies a settled habit of remembering people one by one.
His heart, too, had for nearly all of them a description or a remembered service, which went straight to their heart, and made the remembrance personal and real… The fruits will come later… None of them are forgotten before God.
- House. A church "in their house" means people gathered there to the Lord's name. It does not just mean a Christian family lived there.
- Room. Their tent-making trade gave Aquila and Priscilla a large room. The question it leaves is whether your home could serve the same use.
- Limit. The assembly in one house was not all the believers in Rome; others could meet elsewhere.
- Reading. Commentators here read Asia, not Achaia, since Stephanas' household were the first converts in Achaia.
- Harvest. One first convert, loved and named, is the sample of a much larger harvest. God forgets none of them.