Yesterday we noted that the Kingdom of God expands not only because of well- known Christian leaders but also because of the number of faithful foot soldiers. Some of them are better known than others. One of the most delightful couples in the NT is Aquila and Priscilla. Every local church today is blessed with husbands and wives who serve the Lord side by side.
AQUILA & PRISCILLA (ACTS 18:2, 18, 19; ROMANS 16:3; 1 CORINTHIANS 16:19; 2 TIMOTHY 4:19)
As we piece together the few references that we have of them it would appear that they got used to uprooting and moving home. It would be useful to have a simple map and trace their movements around the Roman Empire. In Acts 18:2 we are told that Aquila was from Pontus (North Eastern Turkey) a town on the Black Sea. He was a leather-worker. He may well have been converted when people returned home following the Day of Pentecost bringing the gospel with them (Acts 2:9). For some reason he and Priscilla left their homes and took up residence in Rome. When the emperor Claudius expelled all the Jews from Rome in AD 49 they made their way to Corinth. The apostle Paul arrived shortly after this and spent 18 months in their home. When Paul left to go to Ephesus he took this couple with him and left them there. It seems likely that following Claudius’ death in AD 54 they returned to Rome (Romans 16:3). It was not long however before they were back in Ephesus (2 Timothy 4:19). Wherever they went they served the Lord together. Piecing all of the above references together we can make the following observations.
- They used their home as a guest house. None of us mind having Christian guests staying with us for a weekend but can you imagine joyfully sharing your home with a Christian worker for 18 months! This couple had Paul stay in their home for his season of ministry in Corinth. When Paul wrote to the church at Rome from Corinth around AD 57 he sent special greetings to this godly couple in Romans 16:3, 4 greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Let us not gloss over those words they risked their lives for me. When we read the book of Acts we notice that wherever Paul went trouble erupted (Acts 16:22; 17:5, 6, 13). By hosting Paul they really were risking their lives – but they gladly did it for the sake of the gospel. Corrie Ten Boom once asked a visiting preacher to shelter a mom and an infant from the Germans during the Second World War. The response she got was; “No! We could lose our lives for this Jewish child.” Corrie’s father took the child and said “you say we could lose our lives for the child. I would consider this as the greatest honour that could come to my family.” If you know the Ten Boom story you will know that both her father and sister ultimately died for hiding Jews in their homes. Paul commends Aquila and Priscilla for risking their lives.
- In Acts 18:24-26 we see that they used their home as a teaching centre. An Alexandrian Jew called Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He was a learned man. As vrs 25, 26 says; he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Quite clearly this educated man’s grasp of Christian doctrine was defective. If we had been in that congregation and heard Apollos preach we would have said; “we had better send out an SOS for Paul.” Not this godly couple. They invited him to their home for a meal and taught him what was lacking. He needed to hear about the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection, the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the place of the church. We can safely say that Apollos’ success as a preacher was due more to what he learned in Aquila’s and Priscilla’s home than what he learned from the professors in Alexandria. Perhaps married couples should be looking around the church for more people who they can positively impact with the Scriptures.
- They used their home as a venue for church services in the cities of Ephesus and Rome (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:3-5). Even though they did not stay in their various homes for very long they quickly made their homes available to believers as a gathering point for worship. In most parts of the west we have the blessing of church buildings to congregate in. Of course in some Middle Eastern and Eastern countries house churches are the norm and many unknown modern day Aquila’s and Priscilla’s are offering their homes as a worship venue. The very least we can do is to open our homes as bible study venues. I know a lot of ink has been wasted on wondering why Priscilla’s name is mentioned first in four out of the six references to this. There are many reasons why this could have been the case. One reason is that she came from a higher social class. Aquila was a Jew from Pontus whereas Priscilla was from a noble Roman family. I have a more intriguing suggestion. Paul had stayed in this couple’s house for so long. Who cooked his meals, washed his clothes and performed all other domestic duties. Perhaps the only reason Paul mentioned her first was to honour her for her service to him.