Priscilla: gifts put to work
A teaching for wives · Acts 18:24–26
24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures. 25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him in and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Context
Priscilla and Aquila were a Jewish couple expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius. In Corinth, they took Paul into their home and worked with him making tents (Acts 18:3). Then they moved on to Ephesus. There they heard Apollos, an eloquent preacher who knew the Scriptures well, but who knew only the baptism of John. Instead of correcting him in public, the couple took him aside.
What the Bible teaches
Of the six times the New Testament mentions this couple, her name comes first in four, something unusual at the time. Many scholars see this as a sign of Priscilla’s prominence in serving the church. And look at what she does: together with her husband, she explains “the way of God more accurately” to one of the great preachers of the day. She knew the Scriptures and taught with skill.
Priscilla also worked: she made tents with Aquila and Paul. The couple’s home was a meeting place for the church in Ephesus and in Rome, and Paul says the two risked their lives for him (Romans 16:4). Work, faith, hospitality and teaching were woven together in her life, without one cancelling out the other.
The way they corrected him teaches, too. They didn’t humiliate Apollos in the synagogue; they took him aside. And the couple shows that a wife’s gifts don’t compete with marriage: they serve the kingdom as a pair. A husband who rejoices in his wife’s gifts and a wife who uses them with humility form a partnership that blesses many people.
In practice
List three gifts or skills you have and choose one to put at someone’s service this week. Tell your husband or a friend and ask them to pray with you.
To talk about
What gift do you see in me that I’m not using yet, and how can we serve God together?
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the gifts you have placed in me. Free me from fear of using them and from pride when I use them. May my work, my home and my voice serve your kingdom, and may my marriage be a partnership that blesses others. Amen.
See also: Priscilla and Aquila.