Act 18:3 | KingComments | STEP | Against the background of this extremely secular stronghold and his lonely arrival and stay in that city, the meeting with the couple Aquila and Priscilla must have been an encouragement to Paul. For this meeting to take place, God used the command of Emperor Claudius in Rome. In this way He always knows how to use the great ones of the earth to promote His work (cf. ). Emperor Claudius had issued an anti-Semitic command and sent the Jews away from Rome. The reason for this command is supposed to be the struggle and unrest that had arisen among the Jews because of the question whether the Lord Jesus was the Messiah or not. Because Aquila was a Jew, as Luke explicitly mentions, he too had to leave Rome. We are not told whether his wife was a Jew or not. Aquila came from Pontus, in the south of present-day Turkey. Later he moved to Rome. Where he met Priscilla and whether they had children is not told to us either, nor the way in which they came to faith. Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned here for the first time out of a total of six. They have become faithful and esteemed fellow workers of Paul, who risked their lives for him and who had the church in their house ( ; ). Paul had them at heart until the very end of his life ( ). The three times Paul writes about them in his letters, he writes “Prisca” and not “Priscilla”, as Luke does three times in this chapter. ‘Prisca’ is the diminutive form of ‘Priscilla’. Paul goes to them. He appreciates their company. He notices their interest in the things of the Lord. And he discovers another similarity: Aquila is a tentmaker by profession and so is he. Paul had learned a trade according to good Jewish custom, as was expected of all Jewish boys. ‘He who does not teach his son to work, teaches him to steal,’ the rabbis said. So the profession Paul learned is that of a tentmaker. Because Aquila, so it seems, had a tent maker’s business, Paul can go to work for him and stay there. In this way he can provide for himself. He does this to be completely independent of the Corinthians and without any suspicion that, by proclaiming the gospel to them, he would be after their money. He has accepted money from other churches. For example, when he was in Thessalonica, he received support twice from Philippi ( ). But in Corinth, where money and trade abounded, he did not accept financial support. He works with his own hands. He had the right to live from the gospel, but does not use this right in Corinth ( ; cf. ). He did not in any way want to give the impression that he preached the gospel in order to earn money from it, or make merchandise of the gospel, just as everything in that city was merchandise.

‏ Acts 18:3

Paul and Aquila and Priscilla

Against the background of this extremely secular stronghold and his lonely arrival and stay in that city, the meeting with the couple Aquila and Priscilla must have been an encouragement to Paul. For this meeting to take place, God used the command of Emperor Claudius in Rome. In this way He always knows how to use the great ones of the earth to promote His work (cf. Lk 2:1-7). Emperor Claudius had issued an anti-Semitic command and sent the Jews away from Rome. The reason for this command is supposed to be the struggle and unrest that had arisen among the Jews because of the question whether the Lord Jesus was the Messiah or not.

Because Aquila was a Jew, as Luke explicitly mentions, he too had to leave Rome. We are not told whether his wife was a Jew or not. Aquila came from Pontus, in the south of present-day Turkey. Later he moved to Rome. Where he met Priscilla and whether they had children is not told to us either, nor the way in which they came to faith.

Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned here for the first time out of a total of six. They have become faithful and esteemed fellow workers of Paul, who risked their lives for him and who had the church in their house (Rom 16:3-5; 1Cor 16:19). Paul had them at heart until the very end of his life (2Tim 4:19). The three times Paul writes about them in his letters, he writes “Prisca” and not “Priscilla”, as Luke does three times in this chapter. ‘Prisca’ is the diminutive form of ‘Priscilla’.

Paul goes to them. He appreciates their company. He notices their interest in the things of the Lord. And he discovers another similarity: Aquila is a tentmaker by profession and so is he. Paul had learned a trade according to good Jewish custom, as was expected of all Jewish boys. ‘He who does not teach his son to work, teaches him to steal,’ the rabbis said. So the profession Paul learned is that of a tentmaker.

Because Aquila, so it seems, had a tent maker’s business, Paul can go to work for him and stay there. In this way he can provide for himself. He does this to be completely independent of the Corinthians and without any suspicion that, by proclaiming the gospel to them, he would be after their money. He has accepted money from other churches. For example, when he was in Thessalonica, he received support twice from Philippi (Phil 4:15). But in Corinth, where money and trade abounded, he did not accept financial support.

He works with his own hands. He had the right to live from the gospel, but does not use this right in Corinth (1Cor 9:14; cf. Acts 20:34-35). He did not in any way want to give the impression that he preached the gospel in order to earn money from it, or make merchandise of the gospel, just as everything in that city was merchandise.