Number 62 | October 18, 2005

Co-Workers: Prisca and Aquila

This is the first in a new Ekklesia Then & Now series looking the people Paul referred to as "co-workers" (Greek, sunergos sunergos, literally worker-worker). This was not a label Paul threw around lightly. Indeed, he applies it to only fifteen people, ranging from the well-known (Luke, Mark, Timothy, Titus) to the somewhat-known (Clement, Philemon, Prisca and Aquila) to the barely-known (Aristarchus, Demas, Epaphroditus, Jesus Justus, Urbanus). I chose to open this series with Prisca and Aquila because of Peculiar People, my novel of the early church, in which they are the primary ancient characters.

There are six references to Prisca and Aquila in the New Testament, spanning a period of about fifteen years, from which we can gather a general chronology of their life:

Aquila (or his forefathers) came from Pontus, on the southern shore of the Black Sea, to Rome (Acts 18:2). We do not know precisely where in Pontus Aquila came, but the best candidate is the town of Sinope, which had a large Jewish population. We do not know why or when Aquila relocated to Rome. Aquila's name means "eagle," while Prisca means "primitive" or "original" (Priscilla is apparently a nickname, meaning "little Prisca." They were Jewish leather-workers, Paul's vocation, who were primary in the business of making tents (Acts 18:3).

In a parenthetical remark in his Lives of the Caesars (25.5.4), the Roman historian Suetonius (ca. 110) reports that Emperor Claudius (41-54) expelled some Jews from Rome because of "disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus" (an apparent misspelling of "Christus." Conflicts between Jews and Christians were not uncommon in the earliest days of the church, particularly since Christianity was, at that point, viewed as a sect of Judaism, and the beliefs of the Jesus followers would have been viewed as blasphemous by mainstream Jews. Aquila and Prisca were among the Jews who left Rome.

In about the year 51, Paul first arrived in Corinth during his second missionary journey. The fact that he stayed with Aquila and Prisca (Acts 18:3) suggests that they were already Christians. This is not certain, but would Paul, having experienced significant difficulties from Thessalonian Jews (Acts 17:5ff), it seems unlikely that he would choose to reside with Aquila and Prisca unless they shared his faith, and if he had converted them, Luke almost certainly would have mentioned it. The seed of the Roman church may have been visitors from Rome present in Jerusalem on Pentecost (Acts 2:10), and Catholic tradition holds that Peter visited there in about AD 45.

Why Aquila and Prisca chose to move to Corinth, as opposed to choosing a closer town within Italy, is not known. It could have been a business decision based on good economic opportunities in Corinth. The city had been destroyed by Roman General Lucius Mummius in 146 B.C. over a series of perceived insults to Rome by the Corinthians, but it was re-established in 44 B.C. by Julius Caesar and colonized primarily by freedmen. As one of the fastest-growing cities in the empire, located at the strategic crossroad between Rome and the West, Corinth was a real boom town.

On the other hand, Corinth also had a reputation as one of the most sordid cities in the empire. With a reported thousand prostitutes serving at the Temple of Diana, its name became synonymous with fornication (Korinthiazomai). Such an atmosphere might have been attractive to enthusiastic Christians seeking to expand the influence of the Gospel, so Aquila and Prisca's motivation may have been missional.

Paul remained in Corinth for about eighteen months, probably staying with Prisca and Aquila during the entire time. For a time, he worked with them at tent-making, but when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, he devoted himself entirely to preaching the Gospel. Aquila and Prisca undoubtedly had many opportunities to learn from Paul, and they soon became trusted friends and co-workers. When Paul left Corinth in about AD 53, Aquila and Prisca accompanied him to Ephesus (Acts 18:18).

Paul only remained in Ephesus for three weeks, and when he proceeded on to Syria, he left Aquila and Prisca behind. It is apparent that he did so to establish a beachhead for the church pending his planned return. Paul understood that he could not shepherd all the churches he had established in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and Macedonia and Achaia (modern Greece). For the churches to remain strong and for their influence to spread, they required strong Christians he could trust. His faith in Aquila and Prisca speaks volumes.

Shortly after Paul left Ephesus a powerful speaker named Apollos arrived (Acts 18:24, ca 54). Prisca and Aquila heard him speak in a synagogue and, recognizing that his knowledge of Christ was not complete, took him aside and filled in the gaps (Acts 18:25-26). They also must have told him about the church in Corinth because Apollos soon wanted to go there. Apollos' effectiveness in Corinth, attested to by Luke (Acts 18:27-28), shows that the instruction he received from Aquila and Prisca bolstered his ministry.

When Paul returned to Ephesus, he renewed his friendship with Aquila and Prisca, and when he wrote to the Corinthian church about the problems reported by a delegation who came to Ephesus, he includes their greeting to their former associates (1 Corinthians 16:19).

After Nero replaced Claudius as Emperor in AD 54, the expulsion of the Jews from Rome was lifted. Sometime thereafter, we know that Aquila and Prisca returned to their former city because Paul greets them in his letter to the Roman church (Romans 16:3-4, written from Corinth in about AD 58). I think it is likely that they did so at Paul's urging. He had long hoped to visit the capital, but he knew nothing of the church there. What more effective way to gain information than to send his trusted friends back? In the first half of the last chapter of Romans, Paul greets a large number of Roman Christians, most of which he could never have met. It is probable that he learned of these people from Aquila and Prisca.

In the last biblical reference to Aquila and Prisca, Paul, writing from Rome around AD 66, greets them in his second letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:19). He had sent his younger protégé to Ephesus to combat some false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3). For some reason, perhaps to escape Nero's severe persecutions of Christians as scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, Aquila and Prisca left Rome and returned to Ephesus.

No legends of Aquila and Prisca inform us of their activities beyond the move back to Ephesus. A St. Prisca is a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church and while some have identified her as the same Prisca as the wife of Aquila, most authorities doubt that. German church historian Adolph von Harnack suggested in about 1900 that Priscilla was the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, primarily because of the anonymity of the author, but there is no evidence for this assertion.

From the biblical record of Aquila and Prisca, there are a number of things we can glean a number of important lessons from the life of Aquila and Prisca.

They worked together as a couple
With the exception of Luke's notation of Aquila's origins, Aquila and Prisca are always mentioned together, both in their church activities and their vocation. Many commentators have commented on the order of their names in the citations because in four of them, Prisca is mentioned before her husband (Prisca and Aquila), which is contrary to the norm of the time. Some have speculated that this may indicate that Prisca had a higher social status, but that assumes that Luke and Paul would have cared about her pre-Christian status, which is doubtful. It would be a mistake to read much of anything into the juxtaposition of their names except that it is apparent that neither Paul nor Luke believed one was more important than the other.

They were willing to move to serve the Gospel
Some commentators have questioned the authenticity of New Testament writings based on Aquila and Prisca's history, and others may be surprised by the frequent moves. One scholar, for example, insists that Romans 16 cannot be an authentic part of Paul's letter to the capital city because they were in Ephesus when he wrote 1 Corinthians in about AD 56 and again when he wrote 2 Timothy in about 66. In reality, however, it makes perfect sense for Paul to have dispatched them to Rome after Nero lifted Claudius' ban.

Some may also be surprised by the amount of travel Aquila and Prisca experienced, supposing that such relocations would have been unusual in the ancient world. While it is true that most people were born, lived, and died within the same city, others traveled extensively. It was common, for example, for the sons of Roman citizens to be sent to tourist attractions as part of their education, and other citizens traveled to major events, such as the Poseidian Games just outside of Corinth. Sea travel was relatively safe in the First Century and not particularly expensive. The Roman navy had cleaned most of the privates out of the Mediterranean a century earlier, and passage aboard cargo ships (if one was willing to ensure open-air accommodations on the deck) was cheap and easy to find. If one was motivated to travel, as early Christians certainly were to spread the Gospel, such travel would not be unusual.

They practiced hospitality
Aquila and Prisca opened their homes on numerous occasions. They hosted Paul for eighteen months during his first visit to Corinth, and one can imagine (although we're not told so) that Timothy and Silas stayed with them too when they arrived. While their leather-making vocation would place them in the middle class of society, their houses were probably not large, so the presence of others would have impinged significantly on their privacy. In fact, like the vast majority of people, they may have lived in apartments (insulae).
Furthermore, from Paul's letters, we know they hosted churches in their home in both Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:19) and Rome (Romans 16:3).

They were prepared to risk anything for the Gospel
In Romans 16:4, Paul tells us that Aquila and Prisca "risked their necks for my life." The literal meaning of the word translated "risk" (hupotithemi) is "to lay down." This is not some trivial willingness to put oneself in possible danger, but a very real act of selfless protection of another. We don't know exactly what happened, but Paul's comment suggests that were it not for them, he would have died. We know that Paul faced a number of threats during his ministry, but perhaps the most dangerous was the riot of the silversmiths in Ephesus. Luke tells us that the crowd was "filled with rage" (Acts 19:28) and later that the town clerk advises them they should "do nothing rash" (Acts 19:36). Faced with a serious loss of income because of Paul's condemnation of the idols they produced, the crowd of silversmiths, joined by others, appears to have been in the mood for a lynching. Perhaps Aquila and Prisca protected him at this time at their own peril.
In addition, there move from Rome to Corinth represented a considerable risk. Corinth, the center of immoral Diana worship and as carnal as city as existed in the empire, would seem a hostile environment for the moral imperatives of the Gospel. If Aquila and Prisca made that decision as Christians, which I believe is likely, it is a courageous one that affirms their commitment to Christ Jesus.

They were bold in protecting proper doctrine but discrete in their correction
When Apollos came to Ephesus, he was unfamiliar with Christian baptism, knowing "only the baptism of John" (one of repentance but not of associating with Christ Jesus). They must have seen Apollos' potential as an effective preacher of the Gospel, so they took him aside and "explained to him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26). Too often today, Christians are willing to overlook inaccuracies from a powerful teacher, perhaps believing that an inaccurate message is better than no message at all. On the other hand, it is notable that Aquila and Prisca took Apollos aside to teach him. They did not challenge him in front of the non-believers he was addressing, showing that they were very sensitive to the need for Christians to remain united.

They were reliable and trustworthy
The term sunergos sunergos that serves as the basis of this ET&N series implies that Paul considers them his equals in evangelizing the world and in shepherding the church. He brought them to Ephesus to establish the church, he may have sent them back to Rome to help the church, and he may have even asked them to return to Ephesus to assist Timothy. Between Corinth and Ephesus, Aquila and Prisca spent at least three years working alongside Paul, and Paul's greeting suggest a distinct personal warmth. It must have been very difficult for them to remain in Ephesus when Paul sailed for Syria. It must have been even more difficult for them to return to Rome.

This truly remarkable couple was probably quite ordinary before they encountered the Gospel. Through their association with other believers and their devotion to God, they accomplished extraordinary things. They were part of the earliest churches in three of the most important cities in the Roman world. Their example is one which teaches us that God can use our ordinary lives to accomplish extraordinary things.

One of the things I truly look forward to if I make it to heaven is meeting Prisca and Aquila because they are the primary characters in my novel, Peculiar People. In the novel, an estranged young archaeologist unearths a long-hidden scroll in the ruins of ancient Ephesus and discovers it contains the personal story of this incredible couple. If they're familiar with the book, we may have a good laugh over the fictional aspects!

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NEXT ISSUE: Paul's Co-Workers - Aristarchus

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