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After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade (Acts 18:1-3, ESV).
During the first years of my ministry, no one received a salary. Those involved in leadership worked in outside jobs and served at nights and on weekends at the ministry. Not receiving pay for serving Jesus was a badge of honor for Jesus Freaks in the early 1970s!
As the leader of the ministry, I was amazed that someone showed up with a “talent” exactly when needed. Our first meeting in a building that we purchased was on the second weekend of March in 1972. That morning, an accomplished musician showed up and asked if I needed someone to lead worship.
We did, and that night he led worship and ended up staying for six years as our worship leader.
Paul’s first extended ministry was at Corinth, and there he met Aquila and Priscilla, both tentmakers, and very excited about Jesus. They were teachers, worked making tents, and helped train new believers for 18 months before they left together for Ephesus.
After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. And they came to Ephesus … When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus (Acts 18:18-21).
Paul left Ephesus (with Priscilla and Aquila remaining there) and traveled back to his mission base in Antioch. While Paul was absent, an evangelist named Apollos arrived in Ephesus — an amazing preacher, but he only knew about John the Baptist, not Jesus of Nazareth. And we read that…
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus (Acts 18:26-28).
In Acts 19 we find Paul arriving back in Ephesus (after being gone for six to nine months), and finding a different church. One led by Priscilla, Aquila, and for a few months helped by Apollos (before he left for Corinth). This church was ready for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit…
And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them (Acts 19:11-12).
Eventually Aquila and Priscilla left Ephesus for Rome (Romans 16:3-5) before returning to Ephesus, where the Apostle Paul wrote to them not long before his death, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.”
God provides significant connections with other people to help our ministry. Aquila and Priscilla didn’t write a book of the Bible, weren’t considered of Peter, Paul, or John status, and yet I’m writing about them over 2000 years later.
Faithfulness, brothers and sisters, in what God calls us to do — that’s what we learn from the life and ministry of Priscilla and Aquila.