A Tribute to Priscilla and Aquila
A Couple in Service to Christ
They wore neither mitre nor crown. Their hands were more familiar with leather and canvas than with scrolls and scepters. And yet, their names shine in Scripture like a double star, inseparable, faithful, and zealous for the Kingdom. Priscilla and Aquila, tentmakers and soul-builders, were quiet but indispensable pillars of the early Church.
Jews by birth, exiled from Rome under Claudius, they were met by Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:2–3), and immediately joined him in labor and in the Spirit. They gave the apostle not just shelter but fellowship and strength, at a time when the nations were only beginning to hear the Gospel.
But their role went far beyond hospitality. They were wise teachers and courageous servants. When a man named Apollos, eloquent yet still incomplete in his understanding, began preaching in the synagogue of Ephesus, it was Priscilla and Aquila who took him aside to explain the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:26). Not with pride, but with gentleness and truth, they helped a powerful preacher grow into a mature proclaimer of Christ.
In Rome, in Ephesus, in Corinth, wherever the Church was being shaped, their names appear. Paul calls them “my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,” and he adds with gratitude that they risked their lives for him (Romans 16:3–4). They were not apostles in the strict sense, nor writers of epistles, but quiet and faithful pillars, upon whom God built His Church.
Their home? Always open. Always a church. In Corinth and in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:19, 2 Timothy 4:19), they hosted the gathered believers, turning their roof into a sanctuary. Their Faith was not reserved for Lord’s day words, but poured out daily in their life, their labor, their love.
What the Church Owes Them
- An example of a couple united in Faith and service, bearing the yoke of the Kingdom together.
- A model of spiritual instruction, teaching with humility and without compromise.
- A testimony of enduring faithfulness, willing to serve wherever God placed them.
- A legacy of quiet fruitfulness, where their names may fade from the spotlight, but their work endures.
And Us?
Have we, like them, made our homes places where the Gospel breathes?
Do we, like them, recognize and nurture the gifts in others with Grace and wisdom?
Are we willing, like them, to risk our comfort for the sake of a brother, a servant, or a Gospel cause that will go further than us?
Do we love, as they did, to labor for the Kingdom without seeking praise, rejoicing instead in the quiet faithfulness of being workers under Christ?
Priscilla and Aquila did not seek to make a name for themselves. God did it for them.
And to this day, their memory lights the path for all who serve in unity, teach with sincerity, and love the Church with steadfast hearts.
“All the churches of the Gentiles are thankful to them.” (Romans 16:4)