Lives of Scripture

Aquila, a Jew originally from Pontus, and his wife Priscilla had recently come from Italy after the emperor Claudius ordered all Jews to leave Rome, and settled in Corinth, where Paul met them and stayed, working together at their shared trade of tentmaking (Acts 18:1-3). The couple accompanied Paul to Ephesus and remained there when he moved on, and it was there that they encountered Apollos, an eloquent and scripturally learned preacher who nonetheless knew "only the baptism of John" -- an incomplete understanding of the gospel; "they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately" (18:18-26), a striking picture of a husband-and-wife team correcting and completing the theology of a gifted public teacher, done privately and without public embarrassment. They hosted a church in their home, first apparently in Ephesus and later again in Rome once they had returned there (Romans 16:3-5; 1 Corinthians 16:19). Paul calls them "my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life," indicating some unrecorded moment of real danger they faced on his behalf (Romans 16:3-4). Aquila appears consistently alongside his wife across six New Testament references, a couple whose shared trade, shared home, and shared ministry made them some of the most practically valuable partners in Paul's mission (Acts 18:2, 18, 26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19).