| Letters of Aquila and Priscilla |
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We cannot talk of man (1 Cor 11:11) |
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In Couples for Christ, both the husband and the wife serve the Lord, not the husband alone, not the wife alone, but both must serve together. Among our most important teachings are that marriage is our path to sanctity and that we, Christian couples, are a pastoral team. Working as a team is God’s idea. We cannot talk of man without woman, nor of woman without man, and if God has created woman for man, man is born from woman and both come from God (1 Cor 11:11-12). We ought to put these words into practice. As husbands and wives in Couples for Christ we must internalize this teaching. It must become part of our pattern of thinking. We must believe that we are inseparable members of a pastoral team who, together, are accountable to God. There are not many explicit examples in the New Testament of husbands and wives working together as pastoral teams. We are sure, however, that there must have been many married men and women who followed Jesus. There must have been couples who proclaimed His words during the early days of the Church. But for many, their names were either not recorded or only the name of one of them was mentioned. However, there is one couple whose names are always mentioned together – Aquila and Priscilla. In the New Testament, there are six instances where Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned – three times in the Acts of the Apostles and once in the Letter of Paul to the Romans, Corinthians, and Timothy. Acts 18:1-3: After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, following a decree of the Emperor Claudius, which ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them and then stayed and worked with them because they shared the same trade of tentmaking. Acts 18:18-19,21: Paul stayed on with the disciples in Corinth for many days; he then left them and sailed off with Priscilla and Aquila for Syria. When they reached Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila behind and entered the synagogue to hold discussions with the Jews. Then he set sail from Ephesus. Acts 18:24-26: A certain Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived at Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and an authority on the Scriptures, and he had some knowledge of the Way of the Lord. With great enthusiasm he preached and taught correctly about Jesus, although he knew only of John’s baptism. As he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila heard him; so they took him home with them and explained to him the Way of God more accurately. Rom 16:3-5: Greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. To save my life, they risked theirs; I am very grateful to them, as are all the churches of the pagan nations. Greetings also to the church that meets in their house. 1 Cor 16:19: The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in the Lord, as does the church that gathers in their house. 2 Tim 4:19: Greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and to the family of Onesiphorus. When Paul met Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, the couple had just arrived from Italy. They were already Christians and upon meeting Paul, they immediately placed themselves at his service. Aquila and Priscilla became Paul’s “helpers in Christ Jesus” (Rom 16:3), and subsequently, the community of believers regularly gathered in their house (1 Cor 16:19, Rom 16:5). We may surmise, therefore, that Aquila and Priscilla were of some means, since their house is probably large enough to accommodate quite a number of people. When Paul went on mission to Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla went with him. There, Aquila and Priscilla met a brilliant young man, “an eloquent speaker and an authority on the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). Aquila and Priscilla were the first mentors of Apollos on the true teachings of Jesus for they “explained to him the Way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). We know from the letters of Paul that later on, Apollos became one of the most valued missionaries and prominent leaders of the early Christian church. We notice from the New Testament passages quoted above that Aquila and Priscilla are always mentioned together, and never separately. Their pastoral work is always mentioned as a team work, not just by Aquila, not just by Priscilla, but by both of them as a couple. When Paul left on mission to Ephesus, both Aquila and Priscilla joined him. Aquila did not tell Priscilla to stay home while he went on mission with Paul. Instead, both went on mission. When they explained the teachings of Jesus to Apollos, they gave the teachings together. The Book of Acts does not say that Aquila invited Apollos home and explained to him Jesus’ teachings. No! It says rather that “they … explained to him the Way of God more accurately.” Aquila and Priscilla are our model for service in Couples for Christ. They placed themselves in the service of God through Paul. They saved Paul’s life while risking theirs, and they helped raise great missionaries and church leaders like Apollos. As members of Couples for Christ, we should all be like Aquila and Priscilla, together in service, together in worship, together in missions, together in teachings, together in offering our homes to the community and to the Lord. Not just Aquila, not just Priscilla, but always Aquila and Priscilla, together as a pastoral team, together as a couple for Christ. |