Who were Priscilla and Aquila?

A converted Jew of Pontus, husband of Priscilla, whom Paul first met at Corinth. Acts 18:2. He and Paul worked together as tent-makers. Aquila and Priscilla had been driven from Rome as Jews by an edict of the emperor Claudius. They travelled with Paul to Ephesus, where they were able to help Apollos spiritually. Acts 18:18-26. They were still at Ephesus when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:19); and were at Rome when the epistle to the saints there was written, in which Paul said they had laid down their necks for his life, and that to them all the churches, with Paul, gave thanks. Rom. 16:3-4. In Paul's last epistle he still sends his greeting to them. 2 Tim. 4:19.

From Athens Paul proceeded to Corinth , the then capital of Achaia. He left what had been the great seat of learning to work in the centre of licentiousness; for if Athens was famed for its philosophers, etc., Corinth bore an unenviable reputation for immorality, in connection especially with the temple of Venus . Here he first met with Aquila and Priscilla, who had recently left Italy because that Claudius Cæsar had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome . This godly couple now became acquainted with Paul, and commenced a friendship which lasted for life. Their being of the same trade - tent-makers - may have first drawn them together. The friendship, however, now formed was enduring; and when Paul left Corinth , and touched, upon his way to Judæa, at Ephesus , Aquila and Priscilla accompanied him thus far, and there remained for a time (1 Cor.16:19). Aquila being a native of Pontus , Asia Minor was his country. We never read of his presence in Judæa. These two were zealous labourers in the Lord's work. Apollos owed much to them, and Christians in towns where they resided were indebted to them for a place in which to meet to show the Lord's death. Acts 18:26 tells us of the help they were to Apollos. 1 Cor.16:19, Rom.16:3-5 acquaint us with their service to Christians by an assembly meeting in their house, as well as their service to Paul in laying down their own necks for his life, a service to be thankfully remembered by all the assemblies of the Gentiles. To the last Paul had them in remembrance (2 Tim.4:19).

The wife of Aquila. She and her husband are called by Paul "my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus." Paul met them at Corinth, and they travelled with him to Ephesus, where they were enabled to expound unto Apollos the way of God more perfectly. Priscilla is sometimes mentioned before her husband. Acts 18:2, 18, 26; Rom. 16:3; 1 Cor. 16:19; 2 Tim. 4:19.

Paul was not long alone. He found in Corinth a certain Jew, called Aquila, who though of Pontus by race (like his namesake of a later date, who, however, was a Jewish proselyte and translated the Old Testament into Greek most literally), had just come from Italy, with Priscilla, his wife. This is their first mention in scripture. We hear of them afterwards in Ephesus and of the assembly at their house. Later still they were found once more in Rome, and saluted as Paul's fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, 'who for my life staked their own necks, to whom not I only am thankful, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles' (Rom. 16:3-4). There also we hear of the assembly at their house. In the last Epistle which our apostle ever wrote he bids Timothy salute them once more and for the last time in Ephesus.

The occasion of their coming from Italy at this time was because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Suetonius, the Roman biographer of the Caesars, states that this emperor, because of a Jewish outbreak, 'impulsore Chresto', expelled them from Rome. The Latin words cited are probably an error on his part, but may allude to violence on the side of unbelieving Jews against those who believed, or may be a confusion (owing to Roman jealousy) with the preaching of the Messiah elsewhere. Bp. Pearson is of opinion that this expulsion happened about A.D. 52, in which year Tacitus (Ann. xii. 52) puts the Senate's decree for expelling the 'mathematici' or 'Chaldaei'; but whether they were identical or connected is uncertain. It is known that Claudius was deeply indebted to Herod Agrippa the First for his nomination to the empire, and did not forget him but rewarded the Herod family: so one could hardly suppose so hostile an attitude towards the Jews, while Herod Agrippa was in Rome; and we can easily understand that, if enacted in his absence, the decree soon fell through. This consideration clears up the statement of Dio Cassius (lx. 6), which some have supposed to contradict St. Luke, as well as Suetonius, that the emperor did not expel them, but ordered them not to congregate in Rome. If we distinguish the times, all is clear and true.

But God made use of the edict to bring Aquila and his wife into lifelong communication with the apostle. Whether they were converted or not before they first met is not quite certain. Much stress has been laid on Aquila's description as 'a certain Jew', rather than as a disciple; but this may be satisfactorily enough accounted for, both as qualifying the place of his birth, and as furnishing the ground of his quitting Rome for Corinth. Then we must bear in mind that, as the Romans and strangers in general did not in these early days distinguish Christian Jews from their brethren after the flesh, so Paul repeatedly designates himself a Jew afterwards in this Book (Acts 21:39; Acts 22:3). The apostle never speaks of them as his children in the faith, however warmly he may greet or characterize them. Certain it is that they were abundantly blessed through him, as he graciously owns the large debt due to them, not by himself only, but by all the assemblies of the Gentiles.

We never hear of this devoted pair in Judea, they were widely known outside the land among the Gentiles where assemblies met. Their wealth or their trade afforded the means to welcome the gathering of saints at their own house; a circumstance not unusual in those days (or even much later, as we know from the Acta Martyrii S. Justini, Ruinart). So we see also in the cases of Nymphas and Philemon. It abides now a happy resource where a few can only thus be gathered to Christ's name according to His word. That they should first wait for a bishop is either an Ignatian tradition or a notion at the present day flowing from the same unbelieving superstition which gave birth to the tradition in the past. Only the ever-living truth of 'one body and one Spirit' would call for fellowship in such an act. Independency is a denial of true church action.

Paul leaves Athens and is directed to Corinth, a city as loose and licentious as Athens, but where the gospel nevertheless found a response. There he found a Jew named Aquila who had come with his wife Priscilla from Italy. They had been forced out of Rome by an edict of Caesar against Jews. There is no indication of whether they were Christians at that time, but because Aquila and Paul were both tentmakers, they worked together, Paul staying with the couple in their home. At least they were certainly Christians before Paul left Corinth.

In any case, there seems to have been an assembly in Rome towards the end of the 5th decade. For in the year 49 AC the Emperor Claudius published an edict that all Jews had to leave Rome. Aquila and Priscilla, who certainly were Christians already when Paul met them in Corinth (Acts 18:2; Rom. 16:3), had to leave then as well.

Two things strike us here. One is that Priscilla’s name should come before her husband’s, an unusual thing at that time of the world’s history and in that part of the world. We note the same order in Romans 16:3, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks.” We can only come to the conclusion that the wife was spiritually more devoted, and the leader in the things of the Lord.

ii) The Inhabitants of the Home - Priscilla and Aquila

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), indicating the balance that was held in this delightful couple, husband and wife, united together in the interests of the Lord. It is not only the Lord personally (thank God for that), but it is "Christ and His church", and as we read this short section about Priscilla and Aquila we find that Paul and all the assemblies were indebted to them for their service. We also learn that in their home the assembly was gathered and performed the various functions associated with it. What a privileged and dignified home! They were thoroughly committed to the glory of Christ and to His interests upon earth.

In Corinth they came into contact with the great vessel who was used by the Holy Spirit to bring out the truth of the church in such a distinctive way - Paul, who was given the truth of the mystery, that saints on earth are united with each other and with Christ in glory forming the body of Christ, something unheard of in Old Testament times (Acts 18:2-3), and Paul took them with him on his journey to Ephesus (vv.18-19). In doing so he placed great confidence in them, in directing them to go to certain assemblies and perform various functions there (e.g. vv.24-26). The apostle, with his discernment and wisdom, was able to see the value of this husband and wife and he used them accordingly.

iii) The Instruction of Apollos in the Interests of Christ in their Home

However this may be, the end of the chapter gives another remarkable witness of grace. Apollos is brought before us, taught by Aquila and Priscilla, who "took him to them, and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly." I doubt whether it would have been according to the will of God for a woman to have done so alone; but she, along with her husband, instructed him as they could. Now Priscilla, as I cannot doubt, knew more than her husband; it was therefore desirable that she should contribute her help. Still the Lord's ways are invariably wise; and it is very evident that it was in conjunction with her husband, not independently of him, that this grave task was carried on.

"Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus (which [οἵτινες†] for my life staked their own neck, to whom [οἷς†] not, I only give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles), and the assembly at their house." (Ver. 3-5.) Here the apostle stamps them as his fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, the more carefully because Aquila and he had wrought in the same trade of tent-makers; but the natural occupation disappears, however rightly 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. Nor this alone: they had for his life risked their own neck, and thus earned the thankfulness not of himself only, but of all the assemblies of the Gentiles too. Further, he salutes the assembly also in their house. The trade of tent-maker, if pursued at Rome, would naturally furnish him with a large room, where not a few might assemble. We know that for a considerable time after this Christians were in the habit of so meeting, as is shown for example in the answer of Justin M. to the prefect Rusticus.

"Salute Epaenetus, my beloved, who is [the] firstfruits of Asia for Christ." Achaia in the received text is wrong. The household of Stephanus 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 like the Achaian household; but at any rate he is not without honour in the Lord nor without the apostle's special affection.