Early Women Disciples – Priscilla

“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks..” (Romans 16:3,4a)

When the apostle Paul came to the great city of Corinth, he went looking for a job. He found a couple that had set up business as tentmakers. He was happy about this since that was his own occupation, too. This evangelist team was Priscilla and her husband, Aquila. It is interesting that in all but one of the other references in the Bible to this couple, Priscilla is named first. And so, the Bible refers to them as a wife-husband team!

We usually think that in Bible times women had to be silent and stay in the background. Yet the apostle Paul gives great honor to Priscilla. Let’s see why. First, here is what we know about her.

Priscilla (or sometimes called more formally, Prisca) and her husband had apparently met and married in Rome. She had come from a noble Roman family. Aquila was a Jew from Pontus. They had a flourishing tent making business.

In 49 A.D., the emperor Claudius expelled all of the Jews from Rome. So, Priscilla and Aquila moved their business to Corinth. Corinth was the New York City of the first century. It was a major port with a very long history. The people there were as wealthy as anyone could be in those times. They were living there when Paul came around the spring of AD 51.

The three of them worked very hard at their trade. We are not sure if Priscilla and Aquila were converted to Christianity when Paul first met them, but they surely were converted very soon while he stayed in Corinth. Paul founded a church there and after eighteen months of ministry with his new team, the three of them left and went to Ephesus.

Because of their great wealth, Priscilla and Aquila were able to open their home for church meetings. They did this while living in Corinth, Ephesus and later in Rome.

Paul trusted Priscilla and Aquila enough to leave them in Ephesus while he went to Antioch. They opened another branch of their tent making business. They took complete charge of the mission in Ephesus.

A gifted man, named Apollos, came soon after. He was very knowledgeable in the Hebrew Scriptures (the only ones the New Testament believers had!) and he was an eloquent speaker. He was not completely up to date on the Gospel message however.

It seems that Apollos had participated in the “baptism of John” (Acts 18:25). What Apollos meant by this is that during the early times of the Church there were people who had received a baptism similar to the one that John the Baptist was doing a few years earlier while he was still alive (and before Jesus had fulfilled all the prophecies about Himself). During this baptism people were putting their faith in the promised Messiah but they had not heard about the Holy Spirit. These new believers had not heard about Pentecost. Paul came along and baptized these people in the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit fell on them as He had at Pentecost. (Acts 19:1-6)

And so, Priscilla and Aquila taught Apollos “the way of God more accurately.” (Acts 18:26) With their help, Apollos went on to be a powerful preacher.

The Bible says that Priscilla and Aquila took him aside. We can see from this that Priscilla played an active role in teaching him. She was not just in the background serving refreshments. She was teaching Apollos. Some churches do not allow women to teach males over the age of 12. I think that they are misinterpreting other verses in the Bible. This story certainly shows that women may be called to serve in the church with teaching.

Priscilla was also very successful at her business and there were other successful businesswomen mentioned by Paul as well. There was Lydia, whom Paul had already met in Philippi. (See last week’s posting about Lydia on this Blog.) There was also Chloe, who ran a business in Ephesus. These women all became zealous helpers for Paul. God used them mightily in this way to help spread the Gospel.

Eventually Priscilla and Aquila would end up in Rome. We know this, because Paul sent them affectionate greetings when he wrote a letter to the Roman Christians. There, he also greets the Church that is in their house.

Paul tells us that Priscilla and Aquila “risked their own necks” to save his life. We do not know the details of that story, but Priscilla is surely to be admired for her courage.

According to tradition, Priscilla and Aquila ended their lives as martyrs.

It is truly wonderful to see this example of a husband and wife team working together, not only at their business, but also in their mission. What a privilege it is for a woman when her husband has a business that she can be a partner in.

And in the Church we should be serving the Lord with the gifts He has given us. Priscilla certainly did!