Holy Bible - Obsidian Study Guide

Priscilla and Aquila

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Priscilla and Aquila

Overview

Profile

Priscilla and Aquila are the premier married couple in the apostolic mission, mentioned six times in the New Testament and always together — Paul never names one without the other. They are a single ministry unit. Aquila was a Jew from Pontus (on the Black Sea coast of modern Turkey); Priscilla is the more frequently named of the two, and in four of the six references her name comes first — an unusual ordering in the ancient world that many interpreters take as a marker of her greater prominence in ministry. They were tentmakers by trade, and their craft gave them a cross-cultural, economically independent platform for ministry wherever they settled.

Paul first met them at Corinth during the Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. They had recently arrived from Rome, having been expelled along with the broader Jewish community by the Emperor Claudius’s edict (around AD 49), an expulsion known from the Roman historian Suetonius as connected to disputes in the Jewish community over “Chrestus” — very likely conflicts about Jesus. Paul “because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers” (Acts 18:3). For eighteen months in Corinth they shared home, workshop, and mission. When Paul sailed for Syria, Priscilla and Aquila went with him as far as Ephesus — where they remained when he pressed on to Antioch.

At Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila demonstrated a ministry gift that ranks among the most consequential acts of private instruction in the New Testament. Apollos — an eloquent Alexandrian Jew, “mighty in the scriptures,” “fervent in the spirit,” teaching and preaching “diligently the things of the Lord” but knowing “only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:24-25) — came to Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila heard him in the synagogue, “took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:26). Apollos then crossed to Achaia and “mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ” (Acts 18:28). The intellectual giant of Alexandrian Judaism who would become one of the most effective preachers of the early church received his theological completion through the private instruction of two tentmakers. First Corinthians reveals that Apollos became a major figure in the Corinthian church — an “Apollo” party competed with Paul’s and Peter’s — and the theological formation Priscilla and Aquila gave him shaped that entire ministry.

By the time Paul wrote Romans (approximately AD 57, from Corinth), Priscilla and Aquila had returned to Rome — perhaps after Claudius’s death lifted the expulsion — and were again hosting a house church: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles” (Romans 16:3-4). Paul states plainly that they had risked their lives for him — probably a reference to the Ephesian crisis, though the specific occasion is not narrated. His gratitude extends beyond himself to “all the churches of the Gentiles” — a remarkable acknowledgment of the breadth of their influence. Second Timothy 4:19, Paul’s last letter, closes with “Salute Prisca and Aquila” — they appear at the beginning and the end of his preserved correspondence.

Key Events

Key Verses

“And found 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

“And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” — Acts 18:26

“Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks.” — Romans 16:3-4

Cross-References

  • Paul (Apostle) — met in Corinth; shared their home; they risked their lives for him; greeted at the end of his last letter
  • Corinth — where Paul first met them; where they worked together as tentmakers
  • Ephesus — where they settled and where they instructed Apollos
  • Paul’s Second Missionary Journey — the journey on which they first partnered with Paul
  • Acts — Acts 18 records their introduction, their work with Paul, and the Apollos episode

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