During Paul’s second missionary journey, he met a couple at Corinth who would become some of his closest associates. They are mentioned six times in the New Testament: three times in Acts (18:2, 18, 26), and three times in Paul’s epistles (Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19).
“After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 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:) and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers” (Acts 18:1-3). Paul initially identified with Aquila and Priscilla because they worked in the same trade. The Jewish people took great care to teach their children a trade. In fact, a Jewish teacher, Rabbi Judah, is quoted as saying, “He that teaches not his son a trade, is as if he taught him to be a thief.”1 The inspired teaching of the New Testament shows that men ought to work to provide for their own. Second Thessalonians 3:10 says, “if any would not work, neither should he eat.” Ephesians 4:28 instructs, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Paul set an example of honest labor. Paul could hold up his hands and honestly say, “Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me” (Acts 20:34).
Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla made tents. This was no easy task. Tents in those days were made of leather or goatskin. This trade was likely a natural choice for Paul, since he was from Tarsus in Cilicia, a province known for its production of goats’ hair. 2
Aquila and Priscilla were not only fellow-laborers with Paul in the trade of making tents, but more importantly they were fellow-laborers in ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Acts 18:24, when Paul had returned to Antioch, Apollos, an eloquent man from Alexandria, came to Ephesus where Paul had left Aquila and Priscilla. Apollos had a serious defect in his teaching. He knew only the baptism of John, which was then void because the Lord’s baptism had replaced it (Mt. 28:18-20). Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos aside and taught him what he needed to know to complete his knowledge in the way of the Lord (Acts 18:25-26). This good teaching had positive effects that were far-reaching, even unto eternity. We may never know what sort of repercussions will come from us taking a little time to do a good deed.
To the church at Rome, Paul wrote, “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” (Rom. 16:3-4). It seems then that Priscilla and Aquila were able to return to Rome from which they had been banished by the decree of Claudius (Acts 18:2). No doubt, their exile from the capital city was not at first a pleasant experience, but look what great friends Paul gained by this occurrence. How many people do you know who would lay down their own necks for you? Priscilla and Aquila were such a couple. They obviously had brotherly love for the apostle Paul. They loved the Lord’s church; a congregation of the Lord’s church even met in their home (1 Corinthians 16:19). In the last letter Paul ever wrote, he greets this great couple (2 Timothy 4:19). Whether he saw their faces again in this life we cannot know, but they certainly were laborers together with the beloved apostle and desired to see each other in glory (1 Corinthians 3:9).
-Mark Day
- Conybeare and Howson. The Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984 reprint), p. 39
- Ibid., p. 40
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