Two
Sometimes, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had to shorten or even delete parts of a planned sermon. Occasionally, I have added explanatory or background materials to a sermon on this blog. So, once in a while the sermon presented here is longer than the sermon I preached. This is the rare occasion when the sermon presented here is shorter than the sermon as preached. This message was part of a tribute to a couple who were leaving our church, retiring to Florida after many years of serving the church. The omitted materials were examples of their service to our church. These omissions do not impact the Biblical lesson.
Acts 18:1 and others
In some religious traditions there doesn't seem to be too much room for the wife. Some extreme forms of these religions forbid women to drive, deny them the right to an education, and insist that the may not leave the home without being accompanied by the husband or a male relative.
From the beginning Christianity at its best—like Judaism at its best—recognized the contributions women could make to the spiritual community. Both Jews and Christians see Proverbs 31 as a word-picture of a “noble woman.”
We sometimes forget Christianity gave women a place of honor, respect, and equality which was almost unparalleled in the ancient world. When Paul addressed the relationship of husband and wife, as Dr. H. Schumacher, a Roman Catholic historian, argues, the apostle "...raises the status of the wife far above that accorded her by contemporary views to that of full equality with her husband."
A Christian Couple
With this in mind, we shouldn’t be too surprised when Luke introduces us to a Christian couple who made a difference in the life of the early church.
ACTS 18:1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
Because of their strict lifestyle and their radical monotheism, Jews who were faithful to their religion were not always welcome in the larger Roman world. Some Romans didn’t trust them and many just didn’t like them. Claudius ordered the Jews to leave in one of the many purges the Jews would endure throughout history.
Although it does not say so here, subsequent material makes it clear that this husband and wife were Christians. Despite the disruption they had experienced, they opened their home to Paul. Here Paul would have both a comfortable place to stay and regular meals; moreover he would have something to do that would add to his income, ease his conscience about depending upon their hospitality, and help him find a break from the demands of his ministry.
If this were all we knew of Priscilla and Aquila, they would merit our appreciation for the hospitality they had offered Paul. We discover more about them when they were on the road again.
On the Road Again
18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.
Once again, the couple was uprooted and settled in a new community. This time the move was made without the prompting of an imperial edict. Apparently they felt they might be able to aid Paul’s ministry further or somehow advance the kingdom. Doubtless, Paul felt the same way. I think verse 19 probably means Ephesus was where Paul would eventually leave Priscilla and Aquila. In any case, he doesn’t seem to have planned to remain there long, since he was determined to return to Jerusalem.
We don’t know all that these two newcomers may have done in Ephesus but there’s no reason to doubt that they immersed themselves into the Christian community there. They would have worshipped with their fellow believers and helped “disciple” any new believers who might have responded to the church’s witness.
Sometime after Paul left the couple behind they had an opportunity to make another important contribution to the work of the church. That opportunity came when they met another man whom we would dearly love to know more about. They met a fellow Jew from the fabled city of Alexandria, a city known for its beauty and for learning. Alexandria had a library with some 700,000 volumes.
24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
Luke’s account of the early church focuses on a handful of workers: Peter, Stephen, Philip, and, of course, Saul/Paul. Others appear in the account only long enough to whet our appetites for more information. One of these men was Apollos, a Hellenistic Jew from Alexandria, who appears to have been a scholarly and skilled teacher. Yet, in the early days following his conversion to Christ (Luke gives no details of that conversion) his understanding of the faith was somehow deficient. Luke reports that two Christians heard him and recognized his need for further knowledge. So, “Priscilla and Aquila …took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.” Fortunately, Apollos heard them with humility and went on to become a powerful and effective witness.
As we read this account, notice their courtesy and discretion in dealing with Apollos. We’re told “they took him aside,” so as not to embarrass or undermine his ministry. The word translated “took aside,” can mean to befriend or show hospitality. This is why several translations render the words as “they took him home with them.” This commitment of their time made a difference in Apollos’s ministry that is impossible to measure.
Sometime later, Priscilla and Aquilla were on the road again, again.
On the Road Again, Again
The couple, originally evicted from Rome during a pogrom against the Jews, appears three more times in the New Testament. In each case, they are actively involved in the work of the church.
In I Corinthians 16:19 we learn they were probably still in Ephesus and there was “a church in their house,” that is, they had opened their home for a band of Christians to meet in. They were most likely teachers in this “house-church.” Interestingly, Apollos had an active ministry at Corinth; so they had indirectly been a continued blessing to the church they had left behind when they moved to Asia Minor.
Romans 16:3 suggests they were, at least temporarily, back in Rome. The ban on Jews in Rome had been lifted in AD 54 so this would have been after that.
Then, 2 Timothy 4:19 puts them back in Ephesus.
Of course, this still doesn’t give us as many details as we would like about the double. Consider this, for example.
When Paul commended them in his letter to the Romans, he said, “ Greet Prisca [a diminutive form of Priscilla] and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”
Wouldn’t it be great to know what circumstances prompted that statement? But we are left only to imagine what Paul was referring to.
With all this in mind, let me move on to some observation about these two.
The Two
What can we say about Priscilla and Aquila that might be instructive to us today?
- They ministered where they were.
Every place they moved they quickly got busy ministering. So fare as we know they never suffered fro a crippling nostalgia. Think about this. They were unjustly forced to move from Rome where they probably had a successful business to the wicked seaport of Corinth. Yet they ministered. For the sake of the kingdom, they were willing to move from Corinth to Ephesus where the people not only worshipped the gods they worshipped in Corinth, some of the people even worshipped snakes. Yet they ministered. They seem never to have said, “If only we were back in Rome, then we could do something for Christ.”
They ministered wherever they were and wherever they were they found opportunities to minister.
Back to Priscilla and Aquila.
2. They ministered in a way that complemented each other as they pursued a common vision.
One commentator says of Priscilla and Aquila that we never see them apart. They are only mentioned together. They worked side-by-side for Christ. As such, they stand as an inspiration to every Christian married couple, reminding them of how they might build the kingdom together.
But back to Priscilla and Aquila. Doubtless, even though the Bible doesn't mention it, they had different talents or what we would call “skill-sets” today.
True, we never see either working alone, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t.
We might imagine either Priscilla or Aquila working alone in a local church but this would be pure speculation. What’s less speculative is that we can probably be sure each allowed the other to devote the time and energy needed to exercise whatever personal gifts they might have possessed.
Once again, as we look at Priscilla and Aquila, we see…
3. They ministered by taking people under their wings.
“Mentoring” is too formal a word for what Priscilla and Aquila offered. As we’ve seen, they were there with friendship, counsel, and hospitality to support and help. Whether it was the famous missionary Paul or the fledgling evangelist Apollos, they were willing to open their home and provide what each needed. In the case, of Apollos they gave him instruction and guidance that made him even more effective and accurate in his ministry. In the case of Paul, they offered a place to stay and an opportunity to work with his hands. We don’t know who else in Rome, Corinth, or Ephesus might have heard the names of Priscilla and Aquila and said, “I know them, the made a difference in my life.” You can bet they were there.
Conclusion:
Of course, this message is about Priscilla and Aquila, two people that Luke didn’t really have to tell us about. A modern editor might have said, this story about Paul making tents and Apollos getting it wrong detracts from the story line. Omit it.
Thank goodness the story is there. It reminds us that when a tireless, fearless missionary was tired and afraid, God sent someone to help him regain his strength. It reminds us that when a brilliant teacher needed to be taught, God sent someone to instruct him with tact and love. It reminds us of how couples can make a difference. It reminds us how God cares for the church, though the people he sends at just the right time.
