AQUILLA AND PRISCILLA

Many Christians can be encouraged by the lives of Aquilla and Priscilla. They were a man and wife who had a useful ministry in the early church. In Corinth, the apostle Paul lived with them as they made tents together. They had a church in their home. Aquilla was a tentmaker and his life shows us that it is not shameful for a man to work at an honest trade to support himself as he teaches and preaches the gospel to his neighbors. Priscilla was a gifted teacher who did not establish doctrine and ministered under the authority of her husband.

Apollos who was taught by Priscilla and Aquilla is an example of humility. Adam Clarke writes:

“This eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, who was even a public teacher, was not ashamed to be indebted to the instructions of a Christian woman, in matters that not only concerned his own salvation, but also the work of the ministry, in which he was engaged. It is disgraceful to a man to be ignorant, when he may acquire wisdom; but it is no disgrace to acquire wisdom from the meanest person or thing. The adage is good: ‘Despise not advice, even of the meanest: the gaggling of geese preserved the Roman state.’”*

Donna Kupp

* "The Romans kept geese as domesticated birds.  Birds hear much better than humans do, and this helped the ancient Romans. The wonderful hearing of the geese saved the city from attack.

In the middle of the night, an army of Goths approached the city. Although the city’s guards did not hear the sounds of the advancing enemy, the geese did, and they began to make noise.The geese made so much noise honking, they alerted the guards in time for soldiers and citizens to make an effective defense of their city and keep it from being overrun."  Adapted from an article by Karen Hill.

dk