Priscilla and Aquila #96

Priscilla and Aquila were a married couple who were among the most valued co-workers of the apostle Paul. They are mentioned six times in the New Testament, always together (Acts 18:2, 18, 26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19). Priscilla is a diminutive form of the name Prisca, which Paul uses in his letters, while Luke uses Priscilla in Acts. They show how ordinary working people, hosting believers in their home and business, helped carry the early church.

Biblical Significance

Acts introduces them in Corinth, where Paul met “a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome” (Acts 18:2). The Roman writer Suetonius also mentions a disturbance among the Jews of Rome under Claudius, usually dated around AD 49, though the exact date is debated. Because they shared Paul’s trade as tentmakers, or perhaps leatherworkers, Paul stayed and worked with them (Acts 18:3).

They later traveled with Paul to Ephesus and stayed there when he moved on (Acts 18:18-19). In Ephesus they heard a learned and enthusiastic preacher named Apollos, who knew only the baptism of John. Acts says that “they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:26). Apollos went on to become influential in Achaia. It is notable that Priscilla is named first in this verse, and in several other places, which many interpret as a sign of her prominence in the work, though other explanations are possible.

Paul greets them warmly in Romans 16:3-5 as “my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks,” adding that all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks for them, and greets the church that meets in their house. Their home was a meeting place for the church in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:19) and evidently again in Rome. Paul sends them greetings at the very end of his life (2 Timothy 4:19).

Legacy

Priscilla and Aquila embody the role of the “tentmaking” believer: someone whose ordinary work supports the mission and whose home becomes a center of teaching and fellowship. Their instruction of Apollos is often noted as an example of private, respectful correction. Some scholars, beginning with Adolf von Harnack around 1900, have suggested that Priscilla may have written the Letter to the Hebrews, but there is no direct evidence, and the proposal remains speculative. The couple’s story shows how much of the early church’s spread depended on lay partners who welcomed, taught, and protected others.