Aquila was a Jew from Pontus in Asia Minor, and Priscilla (also called Prisca) was his wife. They we're tentmakers by trade, as was Paul, and they met Paul in Corinth after the emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome around AD 49 (Acts 18:1–3).
They became Paul's close friends and co-workers. Paul lived and worked with them in Corinth for eighteen months (Acts 18:11), and they accompanied him when he left for Syria (Acts 18:18).
House Churches and Apostolic Work
Priscilla and Aquila hosted churches in their homes in three cities: Corinth (1 Cor. 16:19), Ephesus (Acts 18:26), and later Rome (Rom. 16:3–5). This made them key figures in the spread of the gospel in the eastern Mediterranean. The “domestic church” was a fundamental institution of early Christianity, and this couple appears to have been one of its most active facilitators.
At Ephesus, they took Apollos aside and explained the way of God more accurately to him (Acts 18:26). This is significant because it shows a married couple — including a woman — teaching a learned male preacher. Priscilla is named before Aquila in four of the six times the couple appears in the New Testament, which suggests she had a prominent role in the community.
Risking Their Lives
In Romans 16:3–4, Paul says that Priscilla and Aquila “risked their necks for my life” and that “all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks” to them. The specific incident is not recorded, but it indicates the depth of their commitment to Paul and to the gospel.
They returned to Rome after Claudius's expulsion order was lifted, and they we're back in Ephesus near the end of Paul's life (2 Tim. 4:19). Nothing is known of their deaths.
“ Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.”
Romans 16:3–4“ Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.”
2 Timothy 4:19Sources
- Acts 18:1–3, 18–19, 24–26; Romans 16:3–5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19.
- Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 7 February 2007.
- Priscilla, “Oxford Reference.”
- Ben Witherington III, Women in the Earliest Churches (Cambridge, 1988), 122–140.