Romans 16:3

Rom_16:3-5

Greet Priscilla and Aquila.

Priscilla and Aquila, Pauls helpers

I. Their service.

1. Toil.

2. Sacrifice.

II. Their motives of action.

1. Faith.

2. Love.

3. Hope in Christ.

III. Their reward.

1. On earth--the thanks of the apostle.

2. In heaven, life everlasting. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

A Christian family helping their minister

Aquila was a Jew, of Pontus who had made his residence in Rome. But a company of thieves in Judaea, having fallen on one Stephanus, a servant of the emperor, robbed his baggage, and slain the soldiers who guarded it, an edict was passed requiring all Jews to leave that city. In consequence of this edict, Aquila, with his wife, came to Corinth, and there wrought in his occupation, which was that of a tent maker. Paul coming from Athens to Corinth, meets with them and takes lodging in their house, working at the same occupation. It was probably at this time that they first gained the knowledge which they were able to impart to Apollos. Pauls residence with them laid a foundation for a friendship which lasted till death (2Ti_4:19). How worthy they were of his affection and esteem we learn from the text.

I. They were happily united in all their concerns, and especially in the great concerns of religion. On all occasions they are both mentioned together, and appear patterns of conjugal union. They dwelt together in days of tranquility, and jointly shared in the calamities of banishment. With united hands they laboured in the occupation by which their household was supported. As this is the most important relation in life, they who sustain it ought, above all things, to study mutual peace. The Christian pair, animated by one soul, will readily participate in each others labours and sorrows, and will cheerfully communicate to each other their own pleasures and joys. Little differences of opinion will be composed by mutual condescension. Unavoidable infirmities will be viewed with the comforting eye of pity, not with the insulting eye of disdain. In the important concerns of religion, they will walk, as being heirs together of the grace of life. A family, educated under the care of heads thus united, will, by the smiles of heaven, grow up in knowledge and piety, and become a little Church of Christ.

II. They were the apostles helpers in Christ Jesus.

1. By their hospitality. For a considerable part of the time that he preached in Corinth, he abode in their house. The minister is to preach the gospel, not for filthy lucre; but then, they who are taught must communicate to him who teacheth, so that he may wait on his teaching without distraction.

2. By a faithful attendance on his ministry. Heads of families in this way greatly assist their minister. This shows a good example to their children, and invites others to accompany them. Thus they animate their minister and raise his hopes of success. But then let your attendance be grave and devout, and on what you hear let your remarks be made at the proper time and place.

3. By their conversation and example (Act_18:1-28.).

4. By their prayers.

5. By their self-sacrifices (Rom_16:4).

III. They had a Church in their house. We, then, who have the care of families, ought to make them Churches. For this end we must dedicate our children to God, and bring them up in His fear. Greater societies are formed from smaller; Churches grow out of families; and the spirit and complexion of the latter will be transfused through the former. (J. Lathrop, D.D.)

Who have for my life laid down their necks.

The unbounded affection of Priscilla and Aquila for Paul

I. Paul deserved it. He had rendered them the greatest service which one human being could render to another. Through his instrumentality they had been won to Christ, trained for usefulness, built up in their most holy faith. And the same may be said of thousands of ministers. If the debt of love be owing at all it is surely to those who have rendered others soul service.

II. They showed it. Not by amiable feelings, graceful compliments, or even faithful service. All these were and are done. But so is something more. The expression placed their neck under the sword or axe, is figurative, but implies the act of exposing ones life, and occurred either at Corinth (Act_18:12-17) or at Ephesus (1Co_15:32; 2Co_1:8; 2Co_12:23). This extreme form of service is not now required except in the case of missionaries, to whom it has often been rendered. But ordinary ministers need protection and should have it.

1. Their character is assailed by venomous slander. Let not chivalrous defence be wanting at whatever cost.

2. Their peace of mind is endangered by cantankerous opposition. Let no member of the Church absent himself from a stormy meeting lest his own tranquility be disturbed.

3. Their health is often threatened by overwork, under pay, vexatious conditions of labour and unsanitary dwellings. This is often only for want of thought. But love not only thinketh no evil, it should stimulate thought and sacrifice for the pastors good.

Conclusion:

1. If your minister is set for the defence of the gospel, the least you can do is to defend him.

2. You need not boast that you would be willing to lay down your necks for him if required. This will never be required. But he needs protection for his character, tranquility and health. In rendering this you will do nothing heroic, but you will do what is useful and acceptable, which is better. (J. W. Burn.)

Likewise greet the Church which is in their house.--

The Church in the house

I. Its forms.

1. The cottage meeting.

2. The social Christian circle.

3. The pious family.

II. Its advantages.

1. Gods blessing.

2. Domestic happiness.

3. Anticipated union in heaven. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

The Church in the house

A Church is a company of believers, meeting statedly in Christs name, more or less fully organised with office bearers, with the ordinances of Christ duly administered among them, and is not dependent on numbers (Mat_18:20). There were various such Churches already at Rome (Rom_16:14-15). The meeting-place of a Church wilt be dependent on circumstances. The house of Aquila being sufficiently commodious, although destitute of most of the accessories with which we are familiar, was a meeting-place of the Church. Private houses (Act_2:46) were the birthplaces of Christian worship, and public buildings were not erected till the third century. When it became dangerous to meet even in private houses the Christians assembled in the catacombs. Aquilas house became a Church wherever he went, which shows us that zeal for Christs cause should be carried about with us. Mere professors often leave their religion behind them. Grace in a family converts a household into a Church. Religion is to be manifested in the family as a household thing. Wherever Abraham had a tent Jehovah had an altar. (T. Robinson, D.D.)

Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.--

Epaenetus, the first convert of Achaia

(Asia is the reading preferred by the best authorities):--This honourable distinction implies--

I. Privilege.

II. A ready reception of Christ.

III. Responsibility.

IV. Honour.

V. Promise of success. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Firstfruits unto Christ

The firstfruits under the law were an offering made to God of the first ripe fruits before the harvest was begun. In allusion to this Christ is called the firstfruits of them that slept, because His resurrection is an earnest and pledge of the resurrection of believers. The sanctifying and comforting influences of the Spirit are called the firstfruits of the Spirit, as earnests of heavenly happiness. James tells us that God hath begotten us that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures (Rev_14:4). By a like allusion the apostle calls the first converts in a particular place the firstfruits of that place unto Christ. Now consider this man, dwelling in the midst of heathen, on the preaching of the apostle, coming out from among a corrupt and idolatrous multitude, and, by his example and conversation, inviting his fellow-citizens to turn to the living God; and will you not admire his integrity, zeal and fortitude? Note--

I. How a forwardness in religion may discover itself. In--

1. Early religion. Epaenetus enjoyed not your early advantages, but it seems probable that he accepted the first invitation to Christ. He gave to Christ the firstfruits, if not of life itself, yet of that part of life in which he was favoured with the heavenly call. All have now this call in their youth.

2. An open profession of it, and a diligent attendance on the means of it.

3. A maintenance of the profession and practice of it, though it should involve the charge of singularity. Epaenetus professed the religion of the gospel when all around him were in a different sentiment and practice.

4. A zeal for great and essential things. There are many who are forward in little matters; zealous for or against opinions, forms, etc., but this is only forwardness in a party design. The Christian is zealous to maintain good works, and abounds in the proper fruits of the Spirit.

5. Labours to promote it among others. When Paul calls his beloved Epaenetus the firstfruits, he intimates that a rich harvest followed. This forward Christian doubtless assisted Paul greatly.

6. Aspirations after greater eminence in religion.

II. This forwardness is commendable.

1. As an evidence of sincerity.

2. On account of its usefulness. The slothful, negligent Christian emboldens sinners in their transgressions, and confirms them in their stupidity.

3. As it is honourable to Christ, To Him belong the firstfruits of your lives. He is honoured by the increase of His subjects. By your forwardness you will contribute to this increase.

4. As an imitation of Christ. He was in early life about His Fathers business.

5. Because it is in the highest degree rational. It is regarding things according to their nature and importance.

6. We have no promise of success on any other condition.

(1) This is the command of Christ. Seek first the kingdom of God. Strive to enter in at the straight gate.

(2) This is the direction of the apostle. The promise is only to those who give diligence to make their calling and election sure.

(3) It is by forwardness in religion that you become entitled to the constant aids of Gods grace. (J. Lathrop, D.D.)

A first convert remembered

Epaenetus was the first convert in Achaia, the richest of all the Greek provinces. Chalmers in his fascinating book on New Guinea gives us the name of the first female convert in New Guinea. If you and I were sent to labour in a country like that we would take special note of our first convert. I knew a person who when he began his work had but one person to sit at his feet. Did not he take note of that person? He has never forgotten her and never will. A true missionary never forgets his first convert, never forgets any convert, and, Paul did not forget Epaenetus, the first convert to Christ in Achaia. (D. Stuart.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 16:3-5. Greet — Or, salute, as ασπασασθε is generally rendered; Priscilla and Aquila — That is, declare to them my Christian love, and desires of their welfare. The apostle first became acquainted with this excellent couple at Corinth, to which city they had come from Rome in consequence of a decree of the Emperor Claudius commanding all Jews to depart thence. When Paul left Corinth the first time, they accompanied him to Ephesus, Act 18:2; Act 18:18-19 : and when he departed from that city to go to Jerusalem, they did not go with him, but remained at Ephesus till he returned, as appears from their sending their salutations to the Corinthians in the apostle’s first epistle to them, chap. Rom 16:19, written from Ephesus while he abode there, after his return from Jerusalem, mentioned Act 19:1. But on the death of Claudius they appear, from this verse, to have gone back to Rome to follow their occupation, being there when this salutation was sent to them. My fellow-helpers — Namely, in propagating the gospel, being always ready to exert themselves to the utmost to aid its progress, as far as they had opportunity. They had been very active in spreading the gospel both at Corinth and Ephesus; and doubtless they were so now at Rome also. Who have for my life laid down their own necks — Hazarded their own lives to save mine; perhaps in the violent opposition which the Jews made to him, as mentioned Act 18:6-7; or in the uproar at Corinth, recorded Act 18:12; or in that at Ephesus, Act 19:23. The expression, which is proverbial, and denotes their undergoing the greatest perils, is used in allusion to the custom of placing on blocks the necks of criminals, whose heads are to be cut off. Unto whom not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles — Even that at Rome; give thanks — Because the preservation of his life redounded to the benefit of them all. Likewise greet — Salute; the church that is in their house — The Christian congregation, that was wont to assemble there for divine worship. Aquila, it seems, performed the same part at Rome which Gains did at Corinth, Rom 16:23; he opened his house to receive the gospel, and those that were desirous to attend the ministry of it, and to join in the worship of the true God. As yet, however, it seems the Christians at Rome had neither bishops nor deacons. So far were they from any shadow of papal power. Nay, there does not appear to have been then in the whole city any more than one of these domestic churches, otherwise there can be no doubt but Paul would have saluted them also. Salute my well-beloved Epenetus — Although the apostle had never been at Rome, yet he had many acquaintances there. It is justly observed by Theophylact, that it was a very great praise to any one to have been the beloved of Paul, because his love was not the effect of a blind partiality, but of a well-founded judgment concerning the person’s true character. Who is the first-fruits of Achaia — The Alexandrine and Clermont MSS., with the Arabic, Ethiopic, and Vulgate versions, and many Greek and Latin commentators, have της Ασιας, of Asia, in this place; which some suppose to be the true reading, because, 1Co 16:15, the apostle calls the house of Stephanas, the first-fruits of Achaia. But if Epenetus was one of that house, or was converted at the same time with Stephanas, he also was a part of the first-fruits of Achaia, for there is no manner of necessity to understand by that expression the very first Christian convert.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_16:3.—Thirty persons saluted. Explained partly by the character of the city to which Paul wrote, and partly by the character of the apostle who had preached the gospel extensively. He begins with Jewish Christians, and puts Priscilla’s name before her husband’s, partly on account of her greater worth and partly to show that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.

Rom_16:5. Epænetus.—This and other names which follow down to Rom_16:15 designate persons otherwise unknown to us, but known to the apostle.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_16:3-5

Rom_16:3. The glory of Christian work.—Prisca is the real name for this woman; Priscilla is the diminutive according to the common mode of forming such appellations. She belonged, like Phœbe, to the women who were prominent because of the energy of their faith, and deserved the honourable position before her husband, Aquila. “The frequent sneers at Paul about his views respecting the female sex and their prerogatives might be spared us were this chapter carefully read. The order here is a sufficient answer; the wife’s name first, because she was foremost, no doubt. The standard is, after all, capacity, not sex. Both are called ‘my helpers’; and it would seem that, as such, they were both engaged in spiritual labours, which term includes vastly more than public preaching.”

I. Christian work is beneficial.—All work is beneficial, so long as it is true and honest. The sleep earned by labour and the food bought and relished as the result of wholesome toil will be conjointly productive of strength. Consider, for instance, the compact and knotted lump of muscle on the blacksmith’s forearm. The rower’s chest is expanded by exertion. The practised wrestler firmly grips the limbs of his opponent. Even a Samson is stripped of his physical powers by lolling in the lap of a Delilah. Intellectual strength is increased by keeping the brain forces in action. There are undoubtedly differences of mental endowment; still the greatest men are indebted to work. If genius be the power of prolonged attention, of persevering plodding in one particular direction, then by the same road many more might travel until they come to the height where they might be called men of genius. If work be beneficial in the secular, much more is it in the moral and spiritual sphere. Priscilla and Aquila showed their wisdom by being co-workers in Christ Jesus. The spiritual nature is strengthened by exercise. Great is the power of habit; it is a kind of second nature, and is the resultant of repeated acts. Moral habit does not merely give to a man a second nature, but restores him to the blest nature enjoyed in paradise, when primeval and unfallen man was so strong that to do the good was delightful. Habit is bred by repeated acts, and spiritual strength is generated by activity. Priscilla may be only what is called a weak woman, but she becomes strong by being a co-worker in Christ Jesus. Divine work and human work co-operating result in the splendid product of the Priscillas and Aquilas of time, of the men and women who have overcome the wicked one, whose moral strength is a marvel—of those who are strong supporting pillars of God’s Church on earth, and who become glorious, enduring, monumental pillars in the Church triumphant.

II. Christian work is uniting.—There is a brotherhood in work which is not found in either pleasure or idleness. Pleasure-seekers are not strong in fraternal affection. They may whirl in the dance, they may sport over the wine-cup, they may chaff and make merry at the gaming-table; but they know not brotherhood in the truest sense. Work is one way of creating and cementing the bond of brotherhood. Work makes co-workers, and produces a divine brotherhood. Men engaged in a great work cannot come down to intermeddle with the petty squabbles of mere idlers. Co-workers in Christ Jesus are brothers from the very fact. An invisible and indissoluble bond of brotherhood binds together all the workers in Christ Jesus throughout all the ages. A grand spiritual co-operative company stretches from Christ to the last earthly helper in Christ Jesus. Co-workers in Christ Jesus—men and women, and even children. Co-workers in Christ Jesus are Pauls, Priscillas, and Aquilas. The man of strength, the woman of gentleness, the man of no marked speciality, are all closely related by being co-workers in Christ Jesus; brothers and sisters in Christian work,—a noble band; a glorious company; a happy and united family, who move in the sphere of contentment because their minds, their heads, hearts, and hands are fully absorbed in Christian work.

III. Christian work is immortalising.—If we are ambitious for immortality, we must work. A ready wit, a sharp intellect, may enable a man to make a commotion in his day; but only the workers can produce that which shall possess an enduring life. After all, there is no real immortality about any earthly work. Our cathedrals will crumble; our paintings will shrivel up like the burnt parchment scroll; our books will pass into oblivion. The true immortality comes from Christian work and from the possession of the Christian spirit. The immortality of Priscilla and Aquila is typical of the immortality of all Christ’s workers. Horace and Livy were great in their day. They still rule in school, college, and university. We read the Odes, and are amused by the satires of the one; we study the clear and pleasing narrative of the other. Horace and Livy are classics. Paul is no classic. Some say his compositions are defective; and yet, wonderful to relate, Horace and Livy give no such extended fame as Paul has done to his friends and acquaintances at Rome. It is not likely that another Paul will arise; it is not probable that another Epistle to the Romans will be written. But there is a greater book being written. Its records stretch from creation’s prime to creation’s doom. The pen is held by angel fingers; the characters glow with divine light; the pages are illuminated with wondrous colours. There are written the names of all Christian workers. This is the true immortality. Are we workers in Christ Jesus?

Learn:

1. That we may all have a sphere for work. We cannot all be Pauls; but we may be Priscillas, we may be the humbler Aquilas. We may not be Luthers; but we may be Melancthons. Let us not refuse our sphere because it does not look important.

2. That the man who rightly fills his sphere will obtain divine commendation. Paul, with the breath of inspiration going through his mighty mind, commended his fellow-workers. If Paul commended, much more will Jesus. The meanest worker may take courage as he remembers Him who commended two mites and a cup of cold water.

3. That the man who rightly fills his sphere will obtain divine elevation. It is said that the stone which is fit for the wall will not be left lying in the way. But we think (of course we may be wrong) that we have seen many fit stones lying neglected in the highways—stones with ample fitness, but without push and blatancy to proclaim their fitness. It is a pleasant doctrine, for men who have succeeded, that we all get what we are worth. Well, let us hope that the creed is correct. But there can be no lawful doubt about this creed, that the man who rightly fills his sphere as a worker for Christ Jesus, will obtain elevation. Priscilla and Aquila were raised by their works into the same plane with St. Paul. Divine commendation is itself divine elevation. The plaudit “Well done” lifts us at once amid the hosts of God’s brilliant workers, where our spirits may find infinite satisfaction and our natures joyful repose.

Rom_16:4. The helpfulness of Christian purpose.—Perhaps we do not sufficiently take into account the unseen forces of life. There are forces coming out of others which act upon us powerfully, though it may be unconsciously. Surely there must be a forceful influence about loving and noble purposes, even though we have no direct knowledge of the formation and existence of such purposes. We sometimes say, Give him credit for good intentions. We talk about giving credit; but where good intentions really exist, where noble purposes are truly formed, those who are concerned, those who are the objects contemplated, are debtors and not creditors. Let us try to understand more fully what we owe to others. Here we have:—

I. A loving purpose.—Paul had evidently an attractive power. He gained the love, affection, and esteem of others. He speaks of some who were ready to pluck out their eyes on his behalf, and give them unto him, if by that means they could help his weak vision. And in this fourth verse we read of two who for his life laid down their necks. The expression may be merely figurative and proverbial, but it tells of loving purpose. It may have been the product of personal attachment, but we may also suppose that it arose from the broader influence of Christian love. Personal attachment can do much, but personal attachment increased by Christian love can do more. How large the love in this case! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” The love of woman is wonderful, and leads to acts of sublime heroism; but here is the love of a man also purposing the sacrifice of life. O wondrous love! O exalting power of divine grace! Priscilla and Aquila were ready to hazard their lives for a friend; but for His foes was the loving Saviour crucified.

II. A noble purpose.—The purposes of love are not always noble. Sometimes the love of a fond mother induces her to sacrifice existence to the claims of a wayward child. However, the purposes which are formed by Christian love should always be of a noble character. The cause and the person on behalf of which and whom Priscilla and Aquila hazarded the lives were worthy in the highest degree. The cause was the extension of Christ’s kingdom among the Gentiles; the person was the apostle of the Gentiles. The cause and the person were noble in the highest degree, and to human seeming were indissolubly united. Of course, though the workman die, God can carry on His work; but it appeared to these two good, benevolent souls that Paul was a chosen instrument for the special work, and that therefore his life was sacred. They were undoubtedly right. Did not God say that Paul was a chosen vessel to bear Christ’s name unto the Gentiles? It was a noble purpose to hazard their lives for the salvation of one who seemed so indispensable to the world’s welfare. Let us see that the cause is noble to which we attach ourselves, that the person is worthy for whom we are about to make sacrifices; and then let us not be afraid to form great purposes on their behalf.

III. An unfulfilled purpose.—We do not know where and when Priscilla and Aquila “laid down their own necks.” We do not hear that the sword or axe of the executioner severed the heads from the bodies of these devoted Christians; but they were ready. The intention was there, and was good; the purpose was sublime and self-sacrificing—just as praiseworthy in the eyes of infinite wisdom, in the estimation of Paul, as if the purpose had culminated in dire fulfilment. Unfulfilled purposes sometimes are sad because they speak painfully of moral weakness, of human impotence. This unfulfilled purpose was joyful. It reveals the greatness of the souls of those in whom and by whom it was formed. It declares that a saving arm had been interposed, and the lives of these two self-devoted heroes were spared to the Church for a space longer. Let us form great purposes; and if Providence see it needful to prevent them being carried out, we may be sure that the thing of good which was in our hearts will meet with divine approval and reward.

IV. The apostolic acknowledgment of the unfulfilled purpose.—We are all human, and God does not wish us to get away from the feelings proper to humanity. Paul likewise pays attention to the proper feelings of men and women, and gratefully records the design. He gives public thanks to Priscilla and Aquila. “Unto whom I give thanks,”—I, Paul, the greatest man of the age, next to his divine Master; I, Paul, whose name shall outlast the names of all his opponents, and shall be coeval with Christianity itself, and that shall be coeval with the human race. Perhaps the two did not know all this, for nearness blinds us to greatness; but they were doubtless happy on the reception of the commendation. Happy those commended by Paul! Happier those commended by Jesus Christ!

V. A loving and noble purpose has a far-reaching influence.—Priscilla and Aquila were thanked by Paul and also by all the Churches of the Gentiles. They felt their indebtedness to Paul, and were thankful to those who had watched over his career and helped his usefulness. Modern Christians, too many of them so called, are heedless of the lives and welfare of their preachers. Let them think of the Churches of the Gentiles that thanked Priscilla and Aquila because they laid down their own necks for Paul’s life. Are we sufficiently thankful for our blessings? Are we trying to do what we can? We may not be, most likely are not, able either to write or to speak like St. Paul; but are we so mean because we cannot do the higher thing we will not do the lower thing? Our influence, our prayers, our sympathy, our self-sacrificing purpose, will be all helpful, and we must not withhold them. Where duty calls let us be ready to go, and God will bless and acknowledge even good intention. Purpose and accomplishment may not be always needful, may not be always possible; but God looks to the heart, and accepts the offering of the loving heart.

Rom_16:5. Enlargement of Christian opportunity.—The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion are a wonderful compendium of theology. They are placed at the end of the Church of England Prayer Book, and are not sufficiently studied. The clergy assent to them in theory, but many dissent from them in practice. Taken as a whole, the articles ought to be received by every Christian. Certainly we ought to find no difficulty with Article XIX: “The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.” If this be a correct definition of a Church, then we come fairly to the conclusion that a Church is not a structure, neither is it an invisible something stretching through the centuries, but may be found in a house, in an unconsecrated building. It is wholesome and impressive to make buildings sacred, consecrated to divine and special uses; but we must widen our view, and seek to believe that there may be a Church in the house. Let the sacredness of the larger assembly be communicated to the smaller. Let us believe that Christ is present where the family meets for divine worship. Happy the home where Christ dwells! We think with pleasure of the sweet Bethany home where the divine Christ visited and communicated to the loving sisters the fragrance of His devout feelings and sublime thoughts. How pleasantly life would flow along in that Bethany home, like some clear stream through a charming landscape! Every home may be blessed in even larger degree by the unseen but graciously felt presence of Him who promises to be with His believing people to the end of time. A Church in the house is enriching. Consider:—

I. The family as a germinating force.—From the family spring the clan, the tribe, the nation. The primeval institution is that of the family. It precedes all human institutions, and shall outlast them if we are right in speaking of the redeemed in heaven as a family, united by love, where God is the gracious Father. The family is typical, and the elements of the type may often with good effect be transferred to the antitype. The closer the resemblance of the nation to the family, the firmer and more glorious will that nation become. The Church in the house may teach many wholesome lessons to the Church in the church, in the temple, in the chapel, and perhaps in the cathedral. Have we enough family feeling in our places of worship? Is there a sense of unity? Is there family affection? Do the terms “brotherhood” and “sisterhood” speak clearly of spiritual brotherhood and sisterhood? Does the Father symbolise the fatherhood of God? Let us begin where God begins, with the family, and have a Church in every house. Let the divine seed there germinate, and thence work out large growths.

II. The family as consecrated.—A beautiful picture comes to us from the far-off time. When Abraham removed his tent he renewed his altar. Every tent should have its altar. Every home, whether cottage, villa, mansion, or palace, should have its altar whereon the sacrifice of praise and prayer may be offered. The family will be blessed indeed which constitutes a Church. A pious family will be prepared to receive a congregation of Christians. Priscilla’s house may have been commodious, and thus a likely place for the meeting of either Ephesian or Roman Christians for worship. It is well to have a commodious house. It is better to have a commodious heart, a spirit open to communication from the eternal Spirit. Consecrated families will make consecrated Churches, and these will always solidify and beautify the nation.

III. The family as exalted.—We are far from undervaluing the elegance of a good English home. Most English clergymen live in well-appointed and spacious houses. If in a rural district we see a good house, we shall not often make a mistake if we conclude that it is the vicarage or rectory. Now it is all very fine for those who live in mansions to dilate on the happiness and comfort of the cottage. They do not show any readiness to make an exchange. Nevertheless we maintain that the true exaltation of the home is that it be consecrated by the presence of true religion. The Church in the house exalts and dignifies. Let us seek thus to make our homes exalted, happy, and rightly blessed. Better than the gold of earth is the fine gold tried in the fire which maketh gloriously rich; better than outer seeming is that genuine courtesy and consideration for others which the gospel teaches. Family discords are the soonest healed by the touch of the hand of divine love. This makes the family firmly cohere.

IV. The family as influential.—Opportunities for usefulness are not wanting where there is a family. What a large sphere for mothers! How much depends upon their work, prayers, and influence! It is said that where fathers and mothers can read and write the children will be able to read and write; and so we believe that where fathers and mothers are genuinely and wisely religious the children will not go far astray. Exceptions there may seem to be; but perhaps the exceptions could be explained if we could see and know all the circumstances. From the sacred home there goes a saving influence. Who shall say what the well-beloved Epænetus, the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ, owed to the churchly home of Priscilla and Aquila? Why, the home at Cenchrea was a first-rate theological college without any dons or professors or classical or mathematical tutors. What an advertisement for a modern college to be able to state that Apollos, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, was one of its alumni! What a short life the mere eloquent man possesses! Apollos has left no visible traces; but if he worked well and faithfully he has his reward, and in that reward will share those who showed to him the way of God more perfectly. Let us then seek to look above and beyond our narrow surroundings. Christian influence is not confined by the walls of the home. Opportunities increase as we try to improve every opportunity which is presented, and sphere enlarges as we seek to fill it right nobly and with true loyalty to Christ. The stately homes, and even the cottage homes, of England and of all lands stand pleasantly as they are palaces of divine grace adorned with the beauties of holiness.

Rom_16:5. Piety at home.—The influence that a man’s home has on his character will never perhaps be fully measured in this world; the last day alone will show how many a man’s life was affected for eternity by what he saw and heard under the roof where he was born. No wonder that our Lord should say to a converted soul, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them” (Mar_5:19). He that can introduce religion into his home has dug a well of living water of which the blessing shall spread far and wide. Yet home is precisely the place where a Christian often finds it most difficult to speak of his Master. There is frequently a kind of reserve among relatives and friends on the highest and holiest of all subjects. There are hundreds who seem shut up and silent by their own firesides who have plenty to say for Christ out of doors. The words of our Lord are often painfully verified: “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house” (Mar_6:4). But a Christian must not be stopped in the path of duty by difficulties. The habit of shrinking from things because they bring with them a cross is one which must be steadily resisted. The servant of Christ has no business to choose his own work. The work that his Father puts before him is the work to which he must put his hand, however poorly he may do it. If we refuse to face duties because they are difficult, we shall find one day that sins of omission lie very heavy on the conscience. “Lord, pardon all my sins,” said dying Archbishop Ussher, “but specially my sins of omission.” If it be a plain duty to show our religion at home, the true Christian at any rate must try.

I. Home is the place where God’s servants in every age have specially shown their religion.—This may be traced in both the Old and New Testament writings.

II. Home is the place where some of the brightest lights of the modern Church of Christ have shone most brightly.—The homes of Martin Luther and Philip Henry were models of a Church in a house. To home influence Dr. Doddridge and John Wesley were greatly indebted for the Christian eminence they afterwards attained. The family religion of such men as Venn and Scott and Leigh Richmond and Bickersteth was even more remarkable than that high standard of Christianity which they maintained before the world. These good men never forgot to tell the Lord’s doings to those of their own house.

III. Home is the place to which we are all under the greatest natural obligation.—Where should we be if parents had not tenderly cared for us, trained, and taught us in the days of our infancy and youth? Let any one think what an immense amount of trouble and expense he occasioned before he came to man’s estate. What a trial of temper and patience he frequently was in his childhood! What a huge unpaid debt is standing against him under the roof where he was born! Surely the best return he can render is a spiritual one. If the Lord Jesus have done anything for his soul, let him never rest till his family are partakers of the benefit.

IV. Home is the place where a Christian has the greatest opportunities of doing good.—There are seasons when doors of usefulness are opened to a relative which are completely closed to all outside the family circle. In the time of affliction and death the members of a home are drawn together; hearts and consciences at such a crisis are often tender and willing to hear; at an hour like that a Christian member of a family may prove an unspeakable blessing. The days of darkness in this sad world will come to the most prosperous households; happy is the household in such days in which there is some one who can seize the occasion and tell what the Lord Jesus has done and can do for our souls.

V. Home, finally, is the place where the Christian can do the greatest amount of harm.—Let us suppose that he stands alone in the midst of an unconverted family; all around him are alike asleep in trespasses and sins. Now if a Christian under such circumstances hold his peace and never says a word for his Master, he incurs a heavy responsibility. His very silence is a positive injury to souls. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (Jas_4:17). Reader, let these things sink down into your heart, and consider them well. Whatever religion you possess, whether much or little, take care that it can be seen at home. The Christianity that came down from heaven was never meant to shine only in the society of fellow-worshippers and members of the same communion; it was meant to leaven the family circle and to sanctify all the relations of the private household. He that never feels moved to tell his friends and relatives what the Lord has done for his soul may well doubt whether he has anything to tell. Who, after all, can tell the wealth of happiness that he may confer on his own family circle if he can only bring Jesus Christ into it? How many households at this present day are nothing but bitter wells of Marah, from the want of true religion! How much of selfishness, ill-temper, and worldliness would be driven from many firesides if the gospel of Christ were to come into the house with power! Let the Christian never forget that the surest way to make home happy is to obtain a place, in it for Christ.—The Right Rev. J. C. Ryle, D.D.

Rom_16:3-5. How the pew may help the pulpit.—How Christian men and women may best aid the Christian ministry is a very important question. An answer to it is to be found in the example of Aquila and Priscilla. From the various notices of this devoted pair to be found in the Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s epistles, we are led to conclude that they form a pattern to all Christians. The history of Aquila and Priscilla goes to show that Christian men and women, in the married relation, may continue to be increasingly useful in Christian work and to the Christian ministry. Aquila and Priscilla were worthy of the honourable title “helpers in Christ Jesus,” because:—

I. Aquila and Priscilla were “helpers in Christ Jesus” to the apostle by the sympathy of their Christian character.—They were both Christians. Whether they became so before or after making Paul’s acquaintance it is hard to say. The likelihood is that they were “disciples” before Paul came to Corinth and lodged and wrought with them. Paul’s coming thither was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between them. He found a congenial home in the great, corrupt Corinthian city under their roof. Their own domestic life was drawn into closer bonds by the gospel, and was thus made a means of spreading the gospel. In like manner every Christian husband and wife may be helpful to their minister. The Church needs, the world needs, not families and individuals merely Christian in name, but Christian in reality. Happy the homes where there is an Aquila or a Priscilla—happier still where there are both! On the prayers and sympathies of such the Christian minister can confidently depend.

II. Aquila and Priscilla were “helpers in Christ Jesus” to the apostle by the spiritual devotion of their domestic life.—They had “a Church in the house” (Rom_16:5; 1Co_16:19). This may mean:

1. The members and dependants of the family; or

2. In all likelihood that a little company of Christian friends and neighbours met statedly for worship under their roof. Their trade as tentmakers admitted of their having accommodation for the purpose. Note also, wherever they went in connection with their trade, they had a “Church in the house”—their home was the meeting-place of believers. This shows their Christianity to have been of no formal character. It required zeal, courage, and perseverance in those days and places to be pronounced Christians, and especially to give countenance, as Aquila and Priscilla did, to the faith and followers of “Jesus the Nazarene.” In this respect they were valued aids to the apostle. By means of such Churches in the house the light and love of the Christian faith were kept from perishing amid the corruption and darkness of heathen society. All honour to this devoted pair! There ought to be a Church in the house of every Aquila and Priscilla—i.e., family religion ought to be sedulously cultivated. The whole household should be bound together by the ties of a common faith and worship. The time once was when family religion was more universal than it is now. Once the head of the household was, as a natural thing, its priest. Is it so now? Is family worship universally practised by professing Christians? Are there not many so-called Christian homes where the family altar is unknown, never burning with the flame of piety? Give me a Church in every house, and you give me a more potent factor than multitudes of ministers and missionaries. There is work in abundance at home and abroad for our Pauls; but what a noble field there is for our Aquilas and Priscillas! Soon may every home in our land become a “sanctuary,” every father a “priest unto God,” every mother a “helper in Christ Jesus”!

III. Aquila and Priscilla were “helpers in Christ Jesus” to the apostle because they were intelligent and well-instructed Christians.—They were well grounded in the truths of the Christian faith, and could “give a reason for the hope that was in them.” This is very clearly implied in the fact that it was owing to their instructions that the distinguished preacher Apollos was “taught the way of God more perfectly.” One hardly knows whether more to admire his humility or their ability and Christian sympathy. In consequence of their teaching his eloquent tongue found a nobler theme—a risen, an historic Christ. Here, then, we find lay agency, and female agency too, of the best kind, and directed in the best way. No wonder Paul openly thanks them in his own name and in that of the Gentile believers—thanks them for being instrumental in giving to the Church, as a fully equipped Christian preacher, the mighty Apollos! Wherever this eloquent evangelist went, the Churches of Christ would have reason to thank this worthy couple. Is there no scope for lay help now? Is there no need for intelligent and well-instructed Christians—men and women able and willing to speak a word for Christ to the young, the ignorant, the neglected in the home, the Sabbath school, the mission hall? Though unordained, Aquila and Priscilla were noble helpers in Christian work. Think not that only ordained teachers and preachers are fitted or to be expected to serve Christ. Every true-hearted minister will rejoice in the increase of wisely guided lay effort.

IV. Aquila and Priscilla were “helpers in Christ Jesus” to the apostle because they put themselves into danger for his sake.—“Who have for my life laid down their own necks.” We know not exactly when or where; possibly during the riot in Corinth (Acts 18), or in Ephesus (Acts 19), which latter disturbance was of so violent a character that Paul compared it to a “fighting with beasts” in the amphitheatre (1Co_15:32). On one or other of these occasions Aquila and Priscilla, with exemplary self-sacrifice, came to the apostle’s help, and to all appearance encountered danger on his account. Here he renders, with characteristic mindfulness, grateful thanks for their kindness. “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” and such friendship they had manifested. Thank God there is no need for this special form of self-sacrifice nowadays. Self-sacrifice, however, can be shown in other ways. Give to preachers of the word Christian sympathy. Stand by them when slandered or opposed. Pray for them and their work. Be self-denying enough to give of your time and means to aid in the extension of Christ’s kingdom. What a noble ambition to be a “helper in Christ Jesus”! It merited the praise of Paul; it still merits the praise of Paul’s Master. Are you a helper or a hinderer in the work and to the ministers of Christ?—Thomas S. Dickson, M.A.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_16:3-5

First converts interesting.—Paul here remembers many, and speaks of them all with affection; but he salutes Epænetus as his well-beloved. We are not bound to love all in the same manner or in the same degree. The apostle calls this convert “fruits unto Christ.” If converted, sinners are the seal and reward and glory and joy of the preacher; they are infinitely more so of the Saviour Himself. As the author of their salvation, He will enjoy their blessedness and receive their praises for ever. Epænetus is here said to be the “first fruits unto Christ in Achaia.” Yet Paul says to the Corinthians, “Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia.” The apparent difficulty is easily solved by the fact that the house of Stephanas was the first family that was converted, but that Epænetus was the first convert in the family. Christians at first were few in number, and driven together by persecution. They were therefore well known to each other and to their ministers. The conversion of a man to Christianity in a heathen place must have been peculiarly observable. It was the production of “a new creature,” which would of course be greatly wondered at. It was displaying the “heavenly” where all was “earthly and sensual and devilish” before. And we see it was worthy of attention. Earthly minds are most interested by the events of this life; but what Paul noticed in Achaia was the first man that was called there out of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. He knew that the conversion of one soul far transcended in importance the deliverance of a whole kingdom from civil bondage. Kingdoms will soon be no more; but such a soul will shine a monument of grace and glory for ever and ever. How long Epænetus in the place and in the family stood alone as a professed Christian we know not; but it is no uncommon thing for an individual to be similarly situated. We have often seen single converts seeking and serving Christ as the firstfruits of the neighbourhood or the household wherein they lived. The way in which and the means by which these persons are brought forward before others would, if stated, be found to be very various and often remarkable. And the circumstances in which these first converts are placed are interesting. They are in a post of trial; they have to take up their cross daily, and hourly too; and a cross too heavy to be borne without divine aid. Little do many who have been religiously brought up, and whose relations and friends, if not decidedly pious, are not hostile—little do they know what some have to endure, especially at the commencement of their religious course; when, instead of assistance and countenance, so much needed, they meet with neglect, and opposition, and sneers, and reproach from all around them, and from all that are dear to them. They are also in a post of duty. They are required to be, not only harmless and blameless, but exemplary in their conduct. The reason is that they will attract peculiar notice. Everything they do will be canvassed by a shrewdness sharpened by enmity, and ready to magnify every failing. They will be judged by their profession, and their religion will be judged by them. And they are to put gainsayers to silence, and constrain them by their good works which they behold to glorify God in the day of visitation. They are to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, and by walking in wisdom to win those that are without. They are not to repulse by rudeness or chill by disdain; they are never to betray a feeling that says, “Stand by thyself; come not near to me: I am holier than thou.” They are not, by stiffness and affectations in little and lawful things, to lead people to suppose that their religion is made up of oddities and perversenesses. Yet, in things of unquestionable obligation and real importance, they must be firm and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; for not only will conscience require this in the testimony they are always to bear for God, but such consistency alone will enthrone them in the convictions and esteem of others. For they are also in a post of honour; they have a peculiar opportunity of showing their principles Later converts may be equally conscientious, but these coming after, when they have the sanction and co-operation of others, cannot so obviously appear to be on the Lord’s side, nor so fully evince the purity and power of their motives, as those who come forward alone, and say to all others, however numerous, however influential, however endeared, Choose you this day whom you will serve; but as for me, I will serve the Lord. They have therefore the privilege of taking the lead, and of being examples instead of followers. And they may be the means of prevailing upon others. We have seldom seen an instance of failure. The effect has not always immediately appeared; but where they have been enabled to walk worthy of God unto all pleasing, after a little while they have no longer gone alone to the house of God, but in company—in company even with those who once stood aloof, or before even opposed.—W. Jay.

A good man induces others to show zeal.—The “good man” is he who, while he conforms to the requirements of justice, lays himself out, at the same time, for the good of others in the active exercise of liberal, philanthropic benevolence, or of zealous disinterested patriotism—the man who seems to live for others rather than for himself, making a business of beneficence, “doing good to all as he has opportunity.” For a man of this description a universal interest is excited. He has a place in the hearts of all whose affection or esteem is worth the having. Every wish of theirs respecting him is for a blessing. His life is desired, his death devoutly deprecated; and while, to preserve the life of the merely just man, it is hardly, if at all, to be expected that any one should think of laying down his own, for the life of the “good man,” a life so eminently valuable, and so much endeared by the union of unsullied integrity with private benevolence and public spirit, there might be found some whom the warmth of affectionate gratitude or the ardour of patriotic zeal would induce to part with their all, and to add even their lives to the sacrifice. Aquila and Priscilla risked their lives, and in risking showed their readiness to part with them, had it been necessary, to preserve to the Churches of Christ and to the world the precious life of the apostle of the Gentiles. So imminent was their peril, so cheerful their zeal in his behalf, that he speaks of them as if they had really become martyrs for his sake: “who have for my life laid down their own necks.” The history of mankind is not without similar instances of self-devotion in the room of others.—Dr. Wardlaw.

The source of woman’s power.—Those do not discriminate sufficiently who imagine that the source of woman’s power arises principally from the beauty of her countenance. For although it may begin there, yet the charm and fascination are also manifested in a whole kingdom of gentle influences, distinguishing her from the other sex—such as the soft and graceful movement of her person, the tones of her voice, the loving moderation evinced in every action and expression, her yielding courtesy, her supreme repose, the complete suppression and concealment of her independent wishes and will where they would clash with those of others. All these and suchlike qualities inspire men with that love and admiration which we wrongly suppose to be excited alone by the more tangible charms of feature and face.—Christian Age.

Coincidences between historian and actor.—Cenchrea adjoined to Corinth; St. Paul, therefore, at the time of writing the letter, was in the neighbourhood of the woman whom he thus recommends. But, further, that St. Paul had before this been at Cenchrea itself appears from the eighteenth chapter of the Acts; and appears by a circumstance as incidental and as unlike design as any that can be imagined. “Paul after this tarried there (viz., at Corinth) yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow” (Act_18:18). The shaving of the head denoted the expiration of the Nazaritic vow. The historian, therefore, by the mention of this circumstance, virtually tells us that St. Paul’s vow was expired before he set forward upon his voyage, having deferred probably his departure until he should be released from the restrictions under which his vow laid him. Shall we say that the author of the Acts of the Apostles feigned this anecdote of St. Paul at Cenchrea, because he had read in the Epistle to the Romans that “Phœbe, a servant of the Church of Cenchrea, had been a succourer of many, and of him also”? or shall we say that the author of the Epistle to the Romans, out of his own imagination, created Phœbe “a servant of the Church at Cenchrea,” because he read in the Acts of the Apostles that Paul had “shorn his head” in that place?—Paley.

Coincidence of date.—Under the same head—viz., of coincidences depending upon date—I cite from the epistle the following salutation: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Jesus Christ, who have for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles.” Now what this quotation leads us to observe is the danger of scattering names and circumstances in writings like the present, how implicated they often are with dates and places, and that nothing but truth can preserve consistency. We may take notice of the terms of commendation in which St. Paul describes them, and of the agreement of that encomium with the history. “My helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles.” In the eighteenth chapter of the Acts we are informed that Aquila and Priscilla were Jews; that St. Paul first met with them at Corinth; that for some time he abode in the same house with them; that St. Paul’s contention at Corinth was with the unbelieving Jews, who at first “opposed and blasphemed, and afterwards with one accord raised an insurrection against him”; that Aquila and Priscilla adhered, we may conclude, to St. Paul throughout this whole contest, for when he left the city they went with him (Act_18:18). Under these circumstances, it is highly probable that they should be involved in the dangers and persecutions which St. Paul underwent from the Jews, being themselves Jews; and, by adhering to St. Paul in this dispute, deserters, as they would be accounted, of the Jewish cause. Further, as they, though Jews, were assisting St. Paul in preaching to the Gentiles at Corinth, they had taken a decided part in the great controversy of that day, the admission of the Gentiles to a parity of religious situation with the Jews. For this conduct alone, if there was no other reason, they may too have been entitled to “thanks from the Churches of the Gentiles.” They were Jews taking part with Gentiles. Yet is all this so indirectly intimated, or rather, so much of it left to inference, in the account given in the Acts, that I do not think it probable that a forger either could or would have drawn his representation from thence; and still less probable do I think it that, without having seen the Acts, he could, by mere accident, and without truth for his guide, have delivered a representation so conformable to the circumstances there recorded.—Paley.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 16

Rom_16:3. Work with God.—Dr. Philip, in a missionary speech, alluded to a remark made by Mr. Newton: “ ‘When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see; the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there.’ I have also found three wonders. I have seen men of great wealth and of great talent, who have had many opportunities of forwarding the cause of God, do nothing; I have seen many humble and despised individuals, but whose hearts were right with God, do wonders; but the greatest wonder of all is to find that so humble an individual as I am should have been at all useful in the work. I take nothing unto myself but shame and humility before God.”

Rom_16:3. “My helpers in Christ Jesus.”—

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak

In living echoes of Thy tone;

As Thou sought, so let me seek

Thy erring children lost and lone.

O lead me, Lord, that I may lead

The wandering and the wavering feet;

O feed me, Lord, that I may feed

Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.

O strengthen me, that while I stand

Firm on the rock and strong in Thee,

I may stretch out a loving hand

To wrestlers with the troubled sea.

O teach me, Lord, that I may teach

The precious things Thou dost impart;

And wing my words, that they may reach

The hidden depths of many a heart.

O give Thine own sweet rest to me,

That I may speak with soothing power

A word in season, as from Thee,

To weary ones in needful hour.

O fill me with Thy fulness, Lord,

Until my very heart o’erflow,

In kindling thought and flowing word,

Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.

O use me, Lord, use even me,

Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where;

Until Thy blessed face I see,

Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.

F. R. Havergal.

Rom_16:4. Parable of the sealing-wax.—“How fearfully hot it is!” cried a stick of sealing-wax. “It’s positively exhausting. I can’t stand much more of this”; and thereupon the poor thing began to bend and twist under the heat. But it grew hotter and hotter still, as a cruel hand kept it remorselessly in the flame of a candle. Then the wax began to melt, and portions dropped off on to a sheet of paper placed to catch them. And these were moulded into shape under pressure of a signet. “Really,” said the sealing-wax, “I didn’t know that I could look so splendid. Just see this crest!” Adversity tends to the development of character, and especially when it is a desire to help others in adversity. Priscilla and Aquila were placed in the fire of trouble through their friendship with Paul, and they received the divine crest—“Who have for my life laid down their necks.”

Rom_16:4. Piety at Home.—St. Paul, speaking of widows, says they should first learn to show piety at home. He means, probably, that before undertaking any wider sphere of work they should be sure that home duties were not neglected. So, too, when a devil bad been cast out of a man by our Lord, and the man had asked to be allowed to accompany his deliverer, he was told to go home to his friends and tell what had been done for him—tell it chiefly by his altered conduct. Even the world understands that a man ought not to show his worst self to his friends at home. In a brilliant modern comedy one of the characters is pronounced a “jolly good fellow.” “Did you ever see one of these jolly good fellows at home?” another asks. How much significance underlies that simple question. Does he first show unselfishness, obedience, reverence—in a word, piety—at home?—Quiver, “Short Arrows.”

Rom_16:5. Justin Martyr’s reply to the prefect.—Justin Martyr gives us a little insight into the gatherings of the early Christians. “Where do you assemble?” said the prefect. Justin replied: “Wherever it suits each one by preference and ability. You take for granted that we all meet in the same place; but it is not so, for the God of the Christians is not circumscribed to place, but, being invisible, fills heaven and earth, and is everywhere worshipped and glorified by the faithful.” Rusticus then said: “Tell me where you meet together, or in what place you collect your disciples.” Justin said: “I am staying at the house of one Martinus, and I know no other place of meeting besides this, and if any one wished to come to me, I communicated to him the words of truth.”

Rom_16:5. A beautiful blessing.—A little while before she died, Oliver Cromwell’s mother gave the Protector her blessing in these words: “The Lord cause His face to shine upon you, and comfort you in all your adversities, and enable you to do great things for the glory of your Most High God, and to be a relief unto His people. My dear son, I leave my heart with thee. A good night!” Mothers with low ambition wish their sons to do great things for themselves, but this mother’s ambition was that her son should act only with the object of glorifying God and serving man. She bade him “good night” when dying in this dark world, but in a brighter world she would wake up to bid him “good morning.”—Quiver, “Short Arrows.”

Rom_16:5. A mother’s influence.—A stranger was once introduced to the emperor Napoleon Buonaparte as the son of a distinguished father. “Nay,” said the emperor, “do not tell me who was his father, but who was his mother.” The same emperor said, “She who rocks the cradle rules the world”; and declared the great want of France to be “good mothers.”—Quiver, “Short Arrows.”

Rom_16:5. The dignity of motherhood.—Soon after Napoleon’s assumption of the imperial purple, he chanced to meet his mother in the gardens of St. Cloud. He was surrounded by courtiers, and half playfully held out his hand for her to kiss. “Not so, my son,” she gravely replied, at the same time presenting her band in return; “it is your duty to kiss the hand of her who gave you life.” Parents who keep up their dignity can influence their children much more for good when they grow up. It is quite possible to play with and be companions to them without losing their respect, but it can never be right to allow children to break the Fifth Commandment.—Quiver, “Short Arrows.”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Romans

PRISCILLA AND AQUILA

Rom 16:3 - Rom 16:5.

It has struck me that this wedded couple present, even in the scanty notices that we have of them, some interesting points which may be worth while gathering together.

Now, to begin with, we are told that Aquila was a Jew. We are not told whether Priscilla was a Jewess or no. So far as her name is concerned, she may have been, and very probably was, a Roman, and, if so, we have in their case a ‘mixed marriage’ such as was not uncommon then, and of which Timothy’s parents give another example. She is sometimes called Prisca, which was her proper name, and sometimes Priscilla, an affectionate diminutive. The two had been living in Rome, and had been banished under the decree of the Emperor, just as Jews have been banished from England and from every country in Europe again and again. They came from Rome to Corinth, and were, perhaps, intending to go back to Aquila’s native place, Pontus, when Paul met them in the latter city, and changed their whole lives. His association with them began in a purely commercial partnership. But as they abode together and worked at their trade, there would be many earnest talks about the Christ, and these ended in both husband and wife becoming disciples. The bond thus knit was too close to be easily severed, and so, when Paul sailed across the Ægean for Ephesus, his two new friends kept with him, which they would be the more ready to do, as they had no settled home. They remained with him during his somewhat lengthened stay in the great Asiatic city; for we find in the first Epistle to the Corinthians which was written from Ephesus about that time, that the Apostle sends greetings from ‘Priscilla and Aquila and the Church which is in their house.’ But when Paul left Ephesus they seem to have stayed behind, and afterwards to have gone their own way.

About a year after the first Epistle to the Corinthians was sent from Ephesus, the Epistle to the Romans was written, and we find there the salutation to Priscilla and Aquila which is my text. So this wandering couple were back again in Rome by that time, and settled down there for a while. They are then lost sight of for some time, but probably they returned to Ephesus. Once more we catch a glimpse of them in Paul’s last letter, written some seven or eight years after that to the Romans. The Apostle knows that death is near, and, at that supreme moment, his heart goes out to these two faithful companions, and he sends them a parting token of his undying love. There are only two messages to friends in the second Epistle to Timothy, and one of these is to Prisca and Aquila. At the mouth of the valley of the shadow of death he remembered the old days in Corinth, and the, to us, unknown instance of devotion which these two had shown, when, for his life, they laid down their own necks.

Such is all that we know of Priscilla and Aquila. Can we gather any lessons from these scattered notices thus thrown together?

I. Here is an object lesson as to the hallowing effect of Christianity on domestic life and love.

Did you ever notice that in the majority of the places where these two are named, if we adopt the better readings, Priscilla’s name comes first? She seems to have been ‘the better man of the two’; and Aquila drops comparatively into the background. Now, such a couple, and a couple in which the wife took the foremost place, was an absolute impossibility in heathenism. They are a specimen of what Christianity did in the primitive age, all over the Empire, and is doing to-day, everywhere-lifting woman to her proper place. These two, yoked together in ‘all exercise of noble end,’ and helping one another in Christian work, and bracketed together by the Apostle, who puts the wife first, as his fellow-helpers in Christ Jesus, stands before us as a living picture of what our sweet and sacred family life and earthly loves may be glorified into, if the light from heaven shines down upon them, and is thankfully received into them.

Such a house as the house of Prisca and Aquila is the product of Christianity, and such ought to be the house of every professing Christian. For we should all make our homes as ‘tabernacles of the righteous,’ in which the voice of joy and rejoicing is ever heard. Not only wedded love, but family love, and all earthly love, are then most precious, when into them there flows the ennobling, the calming, the transfiguring thought of Christ and His love to us.

Again, notice that, even in these scanty references to our two friends, there twice occurs that remarkable expression ‘the church that is in their house.’ Now, I suppose that that gives us a little glimpse into the rudimentary condition of public worship in the primitive church. It was centuries after the time of Priscilla and Aquila before circumstances permitted Christians to have buildings devoted exclusively to public worship. Up to a very much later period than that which is covered by the New Testament, they gathered together wherever was most convenient. And, I suppose, that both in Rome and Ephesus, this husband and wife had some room-perhaps the workshop where they made their tents, spacious enough for some of the Christians of the city to meet together in. One would like people who talk so much about ‘the Church,’ and refuse the name to individual societies of Christians, and even to an aggregate of these, unless it has ‘bishops,’ to explain how the little gathering of twenty or thirty people in the workshop attached to Aquila’s house, is called by the Apostle without hesitation ‘the church which is in their house.’ It was a part of the Holy Catholic Church, but it was also ‘a Church,’ complete in itself, though small in numbers. We have here not only a glimpse into the manner of public worship in early times, but we may learn something of far more consequence for us, and find here a suggestion of what our homes ought to be. ‘The Church that is in thy house’-fathers and mothers that are responsible for your homes and their religious atmosphere, ask yourselves if any one would say that about your houses, and if they could not, why not?

II. We may get here another object lesson as to the hallowing of common life, trade, and travel.

It does not appear that, after their stay in Ephesus, Aquila and his wife were closely attached to Paul’s person, and certainly they did not take any part as members of what we may call his evangelistic staff. They seem to have gone their own way, and as far as the scanty notices carry us, they did not meet Paul again, after the time when they parted in Ephesus. Their gipsy life was probably occasioned by Aquila’s going about-as was the custom in old days when there were no trades-unions or organised centres of a special industry-to look for work where he could find it. When he had made tents in Ephesus for a while, he would go on somewhere else, and take temporary lodgings there. Thus he wandered about as a working man. Yet Paul calls him his ‘fellow worker in Christ Jesus’; and he had, as we saw, a Church in his house. A roving life of that sort is not generally supposed to be conducive to depth of spiritual life. But their wandering course did not hurt these two. They took their religion with them. It did not depend on locality, as does that of a great many people who are very religious in the town where they live, and, when they go away for a holiday, seem to leave their religion, along with their silver plate, at home. But no matter whether they were in Corinth or Ephesus or Rome, Aquila and Priscilla took their Lord and Master with them, and while working at their camel’s-hair tents, they were serving God.

Dear brethren, what we want is not half so much preachers such as my brethren and I, as Christian tradesmen and merchants and travellers, like Aquila and Priscilla.

III. Again, we may see here a suggestion of the unexpected issues of our lives.

Think of that complicated chain of circumstances, one end of which was round Aquila and the other round the young Pharisee in Jerusalem. It steadily drew them together until they met in that lodging at Corinth. Claudius, in the fullness of his absolute power, said, ‘Turn all these wretched Jews out of my city. I will not have it polluted with them any more. Get rid of them!’ So these two were uprooted, and drifted to Corinth. We do not know why they chose to go thither; perhaps they themselves did not know why; but God knew. And while they were coming thither from the west, Paul was coming thither from the east and north. He was ‘prevented by the Spirit from speaking in Asia,’ and driven across the sea against his intention to Neapolis, and hounded out of Philippi and Thessalonica and Beræa; and turned superciliously away from Athens; and so at last found himself in Corinth, face to face with the tentmaker from Rome and his wife. Then one of the two men said, ‘Let us join partnership together, and set up here as tent-makers for a time.’ What came out of this unintended and apparently chance meeting?

The first thing was the conversion of Aquila and his wife; and the effects of that are being realised by them in heaven at this moment, and will go on to all eternity.

So, in the infinite complexity of events, do not let us worry ourselves by forecasting, but let us trust, and be sure that the Hand which is pushing us is pushing us in the right direction, and that He will bring us, by a right, though a roundabout way, to the City of Habitation. It seems to me that we poor, blind creatures in this world are somewhat like a man in a prison, groping with his hand in the dark along the wall, and all unawares touching a spring which moves a stone, disclosing an aperture that lets in a breath of purer air, and opens the way to freedom. So we go on as if stumbling in the dark, and presently, without our knowing what we do, by some trivial act we originate a train of events which influences our whole future.

Again, when Aquila and Priscilla reached Ephesus they formed another chance acquaintance in the person of a brilliant young Alexandrian, whose name was Apollos. They found that he had good intentions and a good heart, but a head very scantily furnished with the knowledge of the Gospel. So they took him in hand, just as Paul had taken them. If I may use such a phrase, they did not know how large a fish they had caught. They had no idea what a mighty power for Christ was lying dormant in that young man from Alexandria who knew so much less than they did. They instructed Apollos, and Apollos became second only to Paul in the power of preaching the Gospel. So the circle widens and widens. God’s grace fructifies from one man to another, spreading onward and outward. And all Apollos’ converts, and their converts, and theirs again, right away down the ages, we may trace back to Priscilla and Aquila.

So do not let us be anxious about the further end of our deeds-viz. their results; but be careful about the nearer end of them-viz. their motives; and God will look after the other end. Seeing that ‘thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that,’ or how much any of them will prosper, let us grasp all opportunities to do His will and glorify His name.

IV. Further, here we have an instance of the heroic self-devotion which love to Christ kindles.

‘For my sake they laid down their own necks.’ We do not know to what Paul is referring: perhaps to that tumult in Ephesus, where he certainly was in danger. But the language seems rather more emphatic than such danger would warrant. Probably it was at some perilous juncture of which we know nothing {for we know very little, after all, of the details of the Apostle’s life}, in which Aquila and Priscilla had said, ‘Take us and let him go. He can do a great deal more for God than we can do. We will put our heads on the block, if he may still live.’ That magnanimous self-surrender was a wonderful token of the passionate admiration and love which the Apostle inspired, but its deepest motive was love to Christ and not to Paul only.

Faith in Christ and love to Him ought to turn cowards into heroes, to destroy thoughts of self, and to make the utmost self-sacrifice natural, blessed, and easy. We are not called upon to exercise heroism like Priscilla’s and Aquila’s, but there is as much heroism needed for persistently Christian life, in our prosaic daily circumstances, as has carried many a martyr to the block, and many a tremulous woman to the pyre. We can all be heroes; and if the love of Christ is in us, as it should be, we shall all be ready to ‘yield ourselves living sacrifices, which is our reasonable service.’

Long years after, the Apostle, on the further edge of life, looked back over it all; and, whilst much had become dim, and some trusted friends had dropped away, like Demas, he saw these two, and waved them his last greeting before he turned to the executioner-’Salute Prisca and Aquila.’ Paul’s Master is not less mindful of His friends’ love, or less eloquent in the praise of their faithfulness, or less sure to reward them with the crown of glory. ‘Whoso confesseth Me before men, him will I also confess before the angels in heaven.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:3-16 Although Paul had never visited the Christian community in Rome, he established rapport with these believers by personally greeting many of the church’s members. The names reveal that the Roman Christian community was very diverse—Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, men and women all formed a new society in the church (see Gal 3:26-29).

16:3 Priscilla and Aquila were Paul’s good friends. After leaving Rome around AD 49, they became his co-workers for an extended time in Corinth and Ephesus (see Acts 18–19). They had apparently returned to Rome by the time Paul wrote Romans (about AD 57).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 16:3. Ἀσπάσασθε, salute) We should observe the politeness of the apostle in writing the salutations; the friendly feeling of believers in joining theirs with his, Rom 16:21-22; again, the humility of the former in attending to them, and the love of the latter in the frequent use of them.—Πρίσκαν, Prisca) strong testimony sufficiently confirms this reading; Baumgarten prefers Πρίσκιλλαν, Priscilla.[165] A holy woman in Italy seems to have borne the Latin name Priscilla, which is a diminutive, Act 18:2, but in the Church the name, Prisca, is more dignified. The name of the wife is put here before that of the husband, because she was the more distinguished of the two in the Church; Act 18:18: or even because in this passage there had gone before the mention of a woman, Phœbe.—Ἀκύλαν, Aquila) The proper names of believers, Roman, Hebrew and Greek, set down promiscuously, show the riches of Grace in the New Testament exceeding all expectation [Eph 3:20].—συνεργοὺς, fellow-workers) in teaching, or else, protecting: See the following verse.

[165] ABCD(Λ)G Vulg. fg support Πρίσκαν, against Πρίσκιλλαν, of the Rec. Text.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_16:3-4. Πρίσκα (2Ti_4:19) is not different from Πρίσκιλλα; comp. on Act_18:2.

Her husband[38] Aquila was a native of Pontus (Act_18:1), and Reiche incorrectly conjectures that he was called Pontius Aquila, which name Luke erroneously referred to his native country;[39] for, looking to the close connection in which Aquila stood with Paul, and Paul again with Luke, a correct acquaintance with the matter must be presumed in the latter. This married couple, expelled from Rome as Jews under Claudius, had been converted at Corinth by Paul (see on Act_18:1), had then migrated to Ephesus (Act_18:18; Act_18:26; 1Co_16:19), are now again in Rome, but, according to 2Ti_4:19, were at a later period once more in Ephesus.

ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ ἸΗΣΟῦ] Distinctive character of ΣΥΝΕΡΓΟΎς; for labour for the gospel lives and moves in Christ as its very element. Comp. Rom_16:9; Rom_16:12.

Rom_16:4. The marks of parenthesis are to be omitted, because the construction is not interrupted.

ΟἽΤΙΝΕς Κ.Τ.Λ.] Note the peculiar grounds assigned (quippe qui) for this and several following greetings.

ὑπέρ] not instead of, but for, in order to the saving of my life.

τὸν ἑαυτ. τράχηλ. ὑπέθηκαν] have submitted their own neck, namely, under the executioners axe. In the absence of historical information we can just as little decide with certainty on the question whether the expression is to be taken literally, that is, of a moment when they were to be actually executed but in some way or other were still saved, or (so the expositors) figuratively, of the incurring of an extreme danger to lifeas on the question where the incident referred to took place? whether at Ephesus, Acts 19? or 2Co_1:8? or at Corinth, Act_18:6 ff.? or elsewhere? or, generally, in the midst of labour and tribulation shared with Paul? Wetstein, Heumann, and Semler think of bail (ὑπέθηκαν would then be: they gave pledge; see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 468). Possibly; but the nearest conception which offers itself as the words stand is that of τραχηλοκοπεῖν (Plut. Mor. p. 398 D), whether it be thought of as a reality or as a figure. The latter, however, is, as being said of both, the most probable. The readers knew what was meant.

τῶν ἐθνῶν] On account of this sacrifice for me, the apostle of the Gentiles. The notice contemplates the inclusion of the Roman church, which in fact was also a Gentile church.

[38] That Paul names the wife first, is not to be regarded as accidental. Probably the preponderant Christian activity and estimation were on her side. Hence here, where both are saluted (comp. 2Ti_4:19), the precedence of the wife,a distinction for which in 1Co_16:19, where both salute, no occasion was given. On the precedence given to the wife in Act_18:18, see in loc.

[39] Aquila also, the translator of the Bible, was, as is well known, from Pontus (Sinope).

Rom_16:3-16. The apostles salutations.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 16:3 f. Greeting to Prisca and Aquila. ἀσπάσασθε : only here does Paul commission the whole Church to greet individual members of it (Weiss). For the persons here named see Act 18:2 . Paul met them first in Corinth, and according to Meyer converted them there. Here as in Act 18:18 ; Act 18:26 and 2Ti 4:19 the wife is put first, probably as the more distinguished in Christian character and service; in 1Co 16:19 , where they send greetings, the husband naturally gets his precedence. τοὺς συνεργούς μου ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ : on first acquaintance they had been fellow-workers, not in Christ Jesus, but in tent-making: they were ὁμότεχνοι , Act 18:3 . οἵτινες : quippe qui. τὸν ἑαυτῶν τράχηλον : the singular (as Gifford points out) shows that the expression is figurative. To save Paul’s life Prisca and Aquila incurred some great danger themselves; what, we cannot tell. They were in his company both in Corinth and Ephesus, at times when he was in extreme peril (Act 18:12 ; Act 19:30 f.), and the recipients of the letter would understand the allusion. The technical sense of ὑποθεῖναι , to give as a pledge, cannot be pressed here, as though Prisca and Aquila had given their personal security (though it involved the hazard of their lives) for Paul’s good behaviour. οἷς οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος εὐχαριστῶ κ . τ . λ . The language implies that the incident referred to had occurred long enough ago for all the Gentile Churches to be aware of it, but yet so recently that both they and the Apostle himself retained a lively feeling of gratitude to his brave friends. καὶ τὴν κατʼ οἷκον αὐτων ἐκκλησίαν : these words do not mean “their Christian household,” nor do they imply that the whole Christian community (in Rome or in Ephesus) met in the house of Prisca and Aquila. They signify the body of believers meeting for worship there, a body which would only be part of the local Christian community. Cf. 1Co 16:19 , Col 4:15 , Phm 1:2 , Act 12:12 . “There is no clear example of a separate building set apart for Christian worship within the limits of the Roman Empire before the third century, though apartments in private houses might be specially devoted to this purpose” (Lightfoot on Col 4:15 ). ἀσπάσασθε Ἐπαίνετον τὸν ἀγαπητόν μου : after Priscilla and Aquila, not a single person is known of all those to whom Paul sends greetings in Rom 16:3-16 . ἀπαρχὴ τῆς Ἀσίας : Epænetus was the first convert in Asia (the Roman province of that name). Cf. 1Co 16:15 . There is no difficulty in supposing that the first Christian of Asia was at this time temporarily or permanently in Rome: but the discovery of an Ephesian Epænetus on a Roman inscription (quoted by Sanday and Headlam) is very interesting.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_16:3

Salute Priscilla‹82› and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, i.e. my fellow laborers in the promotion of the gospel. Priscilla is the diminutive form of Prisca; compare Livia and Livilla, Drusa and Drusilla, Quinta and Quintilla, Secunda and Secundilla. Grotius. Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned in Act_18:2, as having left Rome in consequence of the edict of Claudius. After remaining at Ephesus a long time, it seems that they had returned to Rome, and were there when Paul wrote this letter; Act_18:18, Act_18:26; 1Co_16:19; 2Ti_4:19.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Salute Priscilla--The true reading here is "Prisca" (as in Ti2 4:19), a contracted form of Priscilla, as "Silas" of "Silvanus."

and Aquila my helpers--The wife is here named before the husband (as in Act 18:18, and Rom 16:26, according to the true reading; also in Ti2 4:19), probably as being the more prominent and helpful to the Church.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila] This pious couple had been obliged to leave Rome, on the edict of Claudius, see Ac 18:2, and take refuge in Greece. It is likely that they returned to Rome at the death of Claudius, or whenever the decree was annulled. It seems they had greatly contributed to assist the apostle in his important labours. Instead of Priscilla, the principal MSS. and versions have Prisca, which most critics suppose to be the genuine reading.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Salute Prisca and Aquila The testimonies which he brings here in favor of some individuals, were partly intended for this end, that by honoring those who were faithful and worthy, faithfulness itself might be honored, and that they who could and would do more good than others, might have authority; and partly that they themselves might study to act in a manner corresponding to their past life, and not fail in their religious course, nor ever grow languid in their pious ardor.

It is a singular honor which he ascribes here to Prisca and Aquila, especially with regard to a woman. The modesty of the holy man does on this account more clearly shine forth; for he disdained not to have a woman as his associate in the work of the Lord; nor was he ashamed to confess this. She was the wife of Aquila, and Luke calls her Priscilla. (Acts 18:2.)

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) Priscilla.—The correct reading here is Prisca, of which form Priscilla is the diminutive. It is rather remarkable that the wife should be mentioned first. Perhaps it may be inferred that she was the more active and conspicuous of the two.

Aquila was a Jew of Pontus, whom St. Paul had found with his wife at Corinth (Act_18:1). They had there been converted by him, and afterwards appear in his company at Ephesus (Act_18:18; Act_18:26; 1Co_16:19). At the time when this Epistle was written they were at Rome, but later they seem to have returned to Ephesus (2Ti_4:19).

The Jew Aquila, who rather more than a century later made a translation of the Old Testament, critically compared with the LXX. in the Hexapla of Origen, also came from Pontus.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Priscilla and Aquila] Better, Prisca and Aquila; so 2Ti_4:19.—See Act_18:2; Act_18:18; Act_18:26, for the whole known history of these two eminent Christians, (except the references to them here, and in 1Co_16:19, and 2 Timothy 4). Aquila (whose name in its Greek form is Akulas) was born in Pontus—as was another well-known Aquila, a translator of the O. T. into Greek. He and his wife, Prisca or Priscilla, first met St Paul at Corinth; then, 18 months later, went with him to Ephesus, where they both took part in the instruction of Apollos: here we find them again at Rome; and in St Paul’s last days they are probably again at Ephesus. (2 Timothy 4.) Their after-history is quite unknown. Whether or no they were converts of St Paul is uncertain. (See Introduction, i. § 17, 23; ii. § 2.)—“Priscilla is an example of what a married woman may do, for the general service of the Church, in conjunction with home-duties, just as Phœbe is the type of the unmarried servant of the Church, or deaconess.” (Dr Howson, in Smith’s Dict. Bibl.)—The variation in the form of Prisca’s name has many parallels in Roman nomenclature.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila,.... The former of these, who was a woman, and the wife of the latter, is in some copies called Prisca; and so the Vulgate Latin here reads it, as she is also called in Ti2 4:19. Her being named before her husband, is without design, for sometimes he is put before her, as in Act 18:2. And it is a rule with the Jews (l), that there is neither first nor last in the Scriptures; that is, strict order is not always observed; it is sometimes inverted, find nothing depends upon it: hence the reasons assigned by some, that she was first converted, or had more zeal than her husband, are uncertain and impertinent. She is called Priscilla in the Ethiopic version, as he is in the Arabic, Achilles: he was a Jew of Pontus, and was with his wife drove out of Rome by Claudius Caesar, when with her he went to Corinth, where he met with the Apostle Paul; and they being of the same craft, abode and wrought together at their trade of tent making; and when the apostle removed from thence, they went with him, and were with him at Ephesus; where, meeting with Apollos, who, though an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, yet being in some things deficient these two took him unto them, in a private way, and taught him the way of God's salvation more perfectly, Act 18:24, where they left the apostle is not certain; but either Claudius being dead, or the edict which ordered the Jews to depart from Rome being revoked, or not regarded, they returned thither again; and were here when the apostle wrote this epistle, and whom he salutes, calling them

my helpers in Christ Jesus; in spreading the Gospel, and promoting the kingdom, honour, and interest of Christ; for though they did not publicly preach, at least not Priscilla, yet they were very useful in their private conferences and instructions, both to ministers of the Gospel, as in the case of Apollos, and to young Christians: as the apostle, wherever he went, was instrument of the conversion of many souls; these were helpful privately in encouraging the young converts, comforting them with their own experiences and thereby helped them forward, instructed, strengthened, and established them; and so were greatly assistant to the apostle in the work of the Lord Jesus.

(l) T. Bab. Pesach. fol. 6. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:

Ver. 3. Salute Priscilla] She is first mentioned, haply as more forward than her husband in the best things. So was Manoah’s wife and Nazianzen’s mother.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila - Salute; implying the apostle’s kind remembrance of them, and his wishes for their welfare.

Priscilla - Priscilla was the wife of Aquila. They are mentioned in Act 18:2, Act 18:26; 1Co 16:19. Paul at first found them at Corinth. Aquila was a Jew, born in Pontus, who had resided at Rome, and who had left Rome, and come to Corinth, when Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome; see the notes at Act 18:2. It is probable that they were converted under the preaching of Paul. Paul lived with them, and they had the advantage of his private instruction; Act 18:3; compare Act 18:26. At the death of Claudius, or whenever the decree for the expulsion of the Jews was repealed, it is probable that they returned to Rome.

My helpers - My fellow-workers. They had aided him in his work. A particular instance is mentioned in Act 18:26. They are mentioned as having been with Paul when he wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians; 1Co 16:19.

In Christ Jesus - In the Christian cause.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In the next place, he saluteth several persons by name; the first are

Priscilla and Aquila. Sometimes she is called Prisca, 2Ti 4:19; and by a diminutive, Priscilla. This was usual amongst the Romans. So Livia was called Livilla; Tullia, Tulliola; Petrona, Petronella, &c. The wife is named before her husband; so she is, Act 18:18; 2Ti 4:19. Some think she was first called; others, that she was most renowned for her zeal and charity. We need not to be curious in our inquiry after the reason; we find in other places Aquila is set before Priscilla, Act 18:2,26; 1Co 16:19. Hence it may appear how weakly the papists argue for Peter’s primacy, because he was placed first on the catalogue of the apostles; for by the same argument, the wife should be preferred before her husband. This Aquila was a Jew of Pontus, and by occupation a tent-maker: with him the apostle Paul abode and wrought at Corinth, Act 18:2,3. Though Claudius the emperor had commanded the Jews to depart from Rome, yet now, it seems, they were returned thither again; possibly, because Claudius was dead, or because that severe edict was relaxed.

My helpers in Christ Jesus; in propagating the gospel in their place and calling, and as they had opportunity. Though they preached not publicly, yet they furthered the gospel many ways privately: see Act 18:26.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Priscilla and Aquila—(See note on Act_18:2.) Rome appears to have been the home of this Christian couple; whence, driven by the decree of Claudius, they went first to Corinth and thence to Ephesus. We may suppose that the uproar which drove the apostle from Ephesus induced them to return to Rome. Yet they seem to have acquired, meantime, a homestead at Ephesus, since about three years afterward they are again at Ephesus, (2Ti_4:19.) Renan argues that the couple could not have passed from Ephesus to Rome so quickly as to be saluted there at the writing of this Epistle. But they, doubtless, took the short cut across the sea, the high road of travel, while Paul went slowly round by Macedonia. The couple may have had business establishments at both Ephesus and Rome; or may have, like Paul, made quick transits for missionary purposes.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 3-5. Greet Priscilla (al. Prisca, which is but another form of the same name) and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down their own neck: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles. And greet the Church that is in their house. For other notices of them, cf. Act_18:2, Act_18:18, 26 1Co_16:19 2Ti_4:19; whence we learn that Aquila was a Jew of Pontus, who, with his wife Priscilla, had been settled at Rome, whence, when the Jews were expelled by Claudius, they had gone to Corinth, where St. Paul found them on his first visit to that city; that St. Paul abode with them there, working with Aquila at tent-making, which was the croft of both; that they left Corinth with St. Paul for Syria, and were for a time left by him at Ephesus, where they instructed Apollos on his arrival there; that, when St. Paul wrote from Ephesus his First Epistle to the Corinthians, they sent greetings by it, having then a congregation of Christians which assembled at their house; that, having returned to Rome when the Epistle to the Romans was written, their house there also was made available for the same purpose; and that, when St. Paul was for the last time a prisoner at Rome before his martyrdom, they were once more living at Ephesus. They were probably in good circumstances, having had both at Rome and Ephesus houses large enough to be used as churches; and they were evidently leading and active members of the Christian community. It would seem that Priscilla, the wife, was especially so, and she may have been, like Phoebe, officially employed; for though, when they are first mentioned (Act_18:2) as having lately come to Corinth, and when they themselves send greetings to Corinth, (1Co_16:19) Aquila"s name naturally comes first, yet St. Paul in all other mention of them reverses the order. The occasion of their having apparently risked their own lives in defence of St. Paul is unknown. It may have been at Corinth at the time of the Jewish insurrection against him, (Act_18:12) or at Ephesus at the time of the tumult raised by Demetrius the silversmith, (Act_19:23, etc.) when St. Paul had been in imminent danger. The phrase, "laid down their neck" (not, as in the Authorized Version, "necks"), seems only to denote, figuratively, "exposed their lives to danger." It appears, from the large number of greetings which follow, that there were now many Christians at Rome known to, or any rate known of by, the apostle. It does not follow that he was acquainted with all of them personally. He may have heard of them in the frequent inquiries he had doubtless made about the Roman Church. (cf. Rom_1:8) Many of them, however, he evidently knew, and with some had been associated. It was likely that many known to him in various quarters might have had occasion to resort to Rome. There are in all twenty-six individuals to whom greetings are sent, together with two households of slaves, and probably three congregations, as will appear below. Salute (or, as before, greet. The verb is the same as before, and so throughout the chapter) my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Asia (certainly so, rather than Achaia, probably introduced into the text from 1Co_16:15) unto Christ. Asia means the proconsular province so called, being the western part of Asia Minor, of which the capital was Ephesus. Epaenetus may have been St. Paul"s own first convert there during his second missionary journey. (cf. Act_16:6) The fact of the apostle having been then "forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia" does not preclude there having been converts thence.

Vers. 3-5. Fellowship in toil and suffering.

Paul had a marvellous power of drawing around him like-minded natures, to whom, by God"s grace, he imparted much of his own spirit, and whose assistance vastly increased the effect of his benevolent ministry. Among these were Aquila and his wife Prisca, or Priscilla, whom he first met at Corinth, and to whom he was drawn by their common occupation as tent-makers. If not at that time Christians, they evidently became so through his instruction and influence. They laboured with Paul in the gospel, first at Corinth and then at Ephesus. They returned, at a later period, to Rome, whence, in common with the Jews generally, they had been expelled by Claudius. And they were at Rome, carrying on the same work of evangelization and promoting Christian fellowship, when Patti wrote this Epistle to the Romans. Hence the salutation which occurs in this place.

I EXAMINE THE SERVICES, MERITS, AND CLAIMS, OF THIS CHRISTIAN COUPLE. They are commended for:

1. Their fellowship with Paul in wore. The Christian life, and emphatically the life of the Christian evangelist, is a life of labour. Not mere activity or business-like effort and assiduity; but labour "in Christ Jesus;" which means, for the sake of Christ, upon the model of Christ, in the Name of Christ, with a view to the approval of Christ. The Lord is himself the bond binding true workers in one.

2. They had endangered life for his safety. Whether in Corinth, or amidst the tumult at Ephesus, these two faithful friends had shielded the apostle from the wrath and violence of the enemies of the faith, and this at the risk of their own life. This was a practical exemplification of the duty and excellence of brotherly love. Thus Paul learned to say, "For a good man some would even dare to die." Thus St. John could teach, knowing that the advice was not impracticable, "We also ought to lay down our life for the brethren.

3. They had cultivated social religion. Wherever they went, these devoted Christians consecrated part of their dwelling to Christian assembly and worship. Being tent-makers, needing large premises, and probably employing many work-people, they had accommodation for such gatherings. Often in the New Testament we read of the "Church in the house." The expression not only reminds us of the duty and privilege of family religion, and household worship; it also teaches us that all our possessions and circumstances should be turned to account in the service of Christ, and especially that we should bring neighbours together to hear the gospel, and fellow-Christians to realize Christian fellowship and to cultivate brotherly love.

II OBSERVE THE RECOGNITION BY THE APOSTLE OF THESE SERVICES AND CLAIMS. "Honour to whom honour a maxim nowhere better justified than in cases like this before us.

1. Paul shows gratitude. Although their ministrations and self-sacrifice were now events of the past, the recollection of them was fresh in the apostle"s mind. There are those who think it unwise to express gratitude and admiration; the apostle was not one of these. He gave thanks. And he tendered the thanks, not only of his own heart, but of "all the Churches of the Gentiles an expression this, all the more graceful, in that Aquila and his wife were themselves Jews. But they had laboured largely among the Gentiles, who were very sensible of their services. And they had probably saved the life of "the apostle of the Gentiles," on which account those for whom Paul especially laboured owed them a special measure of gratitude.

2. Paul sends greeting. Among the worthies of the Christian community at Rome, the names of these natives of Pontus were included, and amongst them have come down to posterity. Paul obeyed the gospel admonition, "Be courteous," and often set an example of that kind and sympathetic consideration which goes far to ease the working and promote the happiness of human life.

PRACTICAL LESSONS.

1. Be devoted in Christian labour.

2. Delight in Christian fellowship.

3. Employ social influence for Christ"s glory.

4. In Christian intercourse display Christian courtesy.

The twofold bond.

Some men are known and remembered for what they have done; others for the position they have occupied in some great movement, or the friendships they have formed with some great characters. Paul"s was a name which overshadowed most of his contemporary fellow-labourers in the cause of Christian evangelization; yet there were those, e.g. Timothy and Aquila, among those mentioned in this chapter who had no mean title to an independent position and memorial. On the other hand, some, like Epaenetus, would never have been remembered except through association with the apostle of the Gentiles. It is a beautiful trait in Paul"s character that his heart cherished warm, affectionate recollections of some persons, who, by reason of the obscurity of their position and the slenderness of their abilities, could add no lustre to the apostle"s fame, and perhaps little efficacy to his mission. From this verse we learn that a twofold bond united Paul to Epaenetus.

I THE BOND OF PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE. The Lord Jesus had himself, by his example and by his precepts, constituted Christianity a religion of love. Speaking to his disciples, he said, "Love one another, even as I have loved you." "Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end." He even countenanced a tender, personal, and special friendship; for St. John is often described as "the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now, the Apostle Paul inculcated, with frequency and urgency, the Divine lesson, saying, "Let brotherly love continue;" and eulogizing, especially in his Epistle to the Corinthians, the grace of charity. And he also exemplified the virtue of Christian love in his own spirit, and in the many friendships which he formed. His attachment to Epaenetus was undoubtedly sincere and unfeigned; and what more natural than that, when his friend was at so great a distance from him, Paul, in writing to the Romans, should send a greeting of affection to the beloved associate of bygone days? Christianity sanctifies and elevates human affection.

II THE BOND OF MINISTERIAL INTEREST. Epaenetus was the firstfruits of Asia"s offering unto Christ. This being the case, it is somewhat singular that we know nothing more regarding him. Paul has spoken of himself as ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable. The conversion of the Gentiles was a harvest, a sacrifice; and the firstfruits accordingly must have been to the apostle"s mind peculiarly precious. The expression is very suggestive.

1. Of what toil and sowing was this conversion the result! There is no crop without foregoing labour; and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles shows us at what expenditure of labour and suffering the harvest was secured. When the parent instils into the mind of his children from infancy the doctrines and precepts of religion; when the teacher endeavours to bring the youthful mind, otherwise perhaps uncultivated and uncared-for, under Christian training and influence; when the pastor faithfully and continuously scatters the seed of the kingdom in men"s hearts, sowing beside all waters; when the evangelist and missionary toil, in uncongenial circumstances and amidst many discouragements, for the salvation of human souls; all such effort is seed-sowing, of which sometimes only the springing blade may be discerned by the labourer, who is happy indeed if he be suffered to see here and there the firstfruits of his endeavours.

2. How rich, ripe, and promising were these firstfruits! It is proof enough of the Christian character of Epaenetus, that the apostle regarded him as a beloved friend. In this case Paul"s labours had proved manifestly not in vain. Here was doubtless a renewed and holy person, adorning the Christian profession, and by ripeness and beauty and serviceableness of character fitted to be regarded as the firstfruits of a province. Now, the firstfruits may be as good in quality as the harvest which follows. In fact, Christian ministers are justified in looking for such results to follow their patient and prayerful toil. Nothing else can reward them; spiritual results, and these only, are the desired recompense.

3. Of a harvest how wealthy and glorious was this individual Christian the earnest and promise! Genius and faith can see in the firstfruits, insignificant, it may be, in themselves, the promise of vast results, extending throughout spacious regions and enduring throughout long ages. So, doubtless, it was in this ease; the Apostle Paul felt the image of Epaenetus revived in his memory, nay, his very name awakened in his mind a glorious vision of the future evangelization of a vast and populous province, of the formation of large and flourishing Churches, of the final salvation of a multitude of precious souls. Such associations, such expectations, would naturally lend an additional interest and sweetness to this warm-hearted greeting communicated from afar.

APPLICATION.

1. Remark the beauty of Christian courtesy. It is right to remember and to greet ancient comrades in Christian toil, and all who are bound to us by ties of former fellowship.

2. Learn the lesson of Christian love love unfeigned. Love should be not only of a general, a sentimental kind; it should be personal and faithful, love to individual souls with whom Providence may have brought you into contact.

3. Cultivate the disposition of hope. Regard in every convert to the faith of Christ the proof of Divine power and grace; and see in such the happy omen of a recovered and regenerated world.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Greetings sent by Paul to friends and acquaintances:

v. 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus,

v. 4. who have for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

v. 5. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ.

v. 6. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us.

v. 7. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

v. 8. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

v. 9. Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.

v. 10. Salute Apelles, approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus’ household.

v. 11. Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord.

v. 12. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord.

v. 13. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

v. 14. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.

v. 15. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.

v. 16. Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

This is a beautiful passage and most interesting on account of the light which it throws upon the intimacy of love which united the early Christians. Incidentally, the interest which Paul showed in the individual Christians, and the manner in which he brings out their special merits, is very characteristic. His first salutation, or greeting, goes to Priscilla, or Prisca, and her husband Aquila, the wife being named first as being the more gifted and energetic. These two were old friends of the apostle and earnest workers for the kingdom of Christ. Paul had lodged with them at Corinth, Act 18:2, and they had worked with him not only at the same trade, that of tent-makers, but also in the same cause, that of Christ. They had accompanied him to Ephesus, Act 18:18, and there also had been his co-laborers for the Kingdom. And now, as at Ephesus, they had gathered a house-congregation at Rome: true missionaries always. Paul gives them the testimony that in the interest of his life they had risked their own necks, probably at the time of the Ephesian tumult, Act 19:1-41, for which reason not only he owed them sincere thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles, since through their efforts the life of Paul had been preserved for further labors in the vineyard of the Lord. Such self-devotion and self-sacrifice in the interest of the Gospel and its extension may well serve as an example to this day. Paul includes in his greetings also the congregation which was accustomed to assemble at their house. See 1Co 16:19.

Of the persons mentioned in the other greetings of Paul we have no other information. Of Epaenetus it is said that he was the first-fruits of Asia (not Achaia) for Christ; he was the first man out of the Roman province of Asia to be won for Christ. Of Mary, a Jewess according to her name, the apostle states that she at some time had rendered him assiduous service. According to some readings, her toil was in the interests of the believers at Rome. Andronicus and Junias are mentioned as related to Paul and as at one time his fellow-prisoners. See 2Co 11:23. These two men were of note, distinguished, highly respected among the apostles in the wider sense of the term, or by the apostles in the narrower sense of the word. They had also been in Christ before Paul, had been converted in the early days of the Church, before the Lord Himself had called Paul as the instrument of His grace. Amplias is characterized by Paul as his beloved in the Lord and Stachys as his beloved; but of Urban he says that he is his helper in the Lord, that he was active in the service of Christ, and of Apelles, that he was an approved, a tried Christian, that he had given evidence of the faith living in him. Paul included in his salutation also those Christians that belonged to the household of one Aristobulus and of one Narcissus, slaves that belonged to their estates. Such lowly brethren were just as near and dear to the great apostle as the most influential members of the congregation. Herodion is mentioned as Paul’s relative. Tryphena, Tryphosa, and particularly Persis are included in the list as women that worked for the Lord, whose love found a way to spread the Gospel by individual service. Rufus is distinguished as the chosen in the Lord, one of those that are precious in the sight of God and distinguished in His service before men. The special designation is all the more apt since Rufus was probably the son of the Simon that bore the cross of Christ, Mar 15:21. The mother of Rufus had shown the apostle much motherly love and care, probably at the time when he was in Jerusalem, and he therefore honors her with the title "mother. " The men and women named in vv. 14 and 15 were such as were known to Paul, with whom he had become acquainted, of whom he had heard, but with whom he had not entered into such intimate relations as with the rest, mentioned above, Note how the titles "beloved" and "well beloved" bring out the depth of Christian sympathy and love which was characteristic of the first period of Christianity. In sending greetings to all the house-congregations, the apostle has remembered all the members of the Roman church. And he now admonishes them to give evidence of the communion of love in which they stood by saluting one another with the holy kiss. This was not an indiscriminate token of natural affection, but a custom which continued for a long time in the first congregations, after prayer and before the celebration of the Holy Communion, the men saluting the men and the women the women, thus expressing their mutual affection and equality before God. The apostle finally sends greetings from all the congregations. His plan of visiting Rome at the first opportunity was well known, and therefore the Christians in all the cities that he visited commissioned him to remember them to the brethren at Rome.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The first persons at Rome whom St. Paul saluteth by name, are Priscilla and Aquila. The woman is named before her husband, and shows that they were all one in Christ Jesus, in whom is neither male nor female.

Here, by the way, it appears how weakly the Papists argue for St. Peter’s primacy, because placed first in the catalogue of the apostles. By the same argument the woman is the head of the man, because here named before the man.

Observe, 2. The honourable title which St. Paul puts upon these two persons, Aquila and Priscilla; he calls them his helpers in Christ Jesus. They were his assistants in propagating the gospel by private instruction, though not by public preaching Act 18:26.

Observe, 3. The Christian courage which was found with this holy woman Priscilla, and her husband Aquila: They laid down their own necks for the apostle; that is, exposed themselves to the hazard of their own lives for his preservation.

Observe, 4. The thankful remembrance which the apostle and all the churches of the Gentiles had of this their great and noble service, in hazarding their own lives for his; To whom I give thanks, and all the churches of the Gentiles. Because St. Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, and his preservation redounded to the benefit of them all; therefore were the churches of the Gentiles so sensible of, and thankful for, the apostle’s preservation.

Observe lastly, The salutation sent to the church that was in their house. By which some understand their household, their Christian family, which he calls a church, because of the pious order and religious worship which was there observed.

O happy houses! and thrice happy householders! whose families are little churches for piety and devotion. Others understand by the church in their house, the number of Christians which used there to assemble for religious worship. Be it the one or the other, our apostle forgets not to send kind and Christian salutations to them.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. “Salute Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow laborers in Christ Jesus, who laid down their neck for my life.” We have no inspired record of this transaction. A historic legend claims that it took place literally at an early period in Paul’s ministry at Corinth, before the arrival of Timothy and Silas, who had delayed in Macedonia to finish up the work. While associated with Aquila and Priscilla in tent-making and preaching, an awful persecution breaking out, his enemies seized Paul, condemning him to die and lay him down on the executioner’s block to cut his head off, at that moment Aquila and Priscilla running up lay down on either side of him begging his persecutors to cut off both of their heads as a substitute for Paul’s, that he might live. The executioners being unutterably astonished, as they had never before witnessed such a phenomenon, concluding that they must be Grecian gods in human form, took fright and released them all. In this wonderful catalogue of salutations sent to the Roman saints, all of whom were eminent Christian workers and matter-of-fact preachers of the gospel, we find ten women, Phebe, Priscilla, Mary, Junia, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, and the sister of Nereus. Let the people who do not think the women preached in the apostolic age contemplate these ten all preaching at Rome, and sufficiently prominent for their names to be known in a far-off land and written down in this Pauline catalogue of salutations, sent in this grand epistle to the saints of the world’s capital. As Paul had never been to Rome, you might wonder why he knew by name this great catalogue of saints identified with the work in that distant city. You must remember that as Rome was the capital, the metropolis of the world, migrations thither were frequent from all lands, like New York city, the great metropolis of the new world, where I write these pages, whither the people from every state ever and anon resort. During the twenty years of Paul’s wonderful evangelistic career, preceding this writing, while he moved like a cyclone of fire through Asia and Europe, among the hundreds and thousands converted by his ministry, a goodly number had migrated to Rome. Hence he had there a large acquaintance awaiting him, who actually walked out forty miles to the Appian Forum and Three Taverns to meet him on his arrival, February, A. D. 61.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Salute Prisca [The diminutive of this name is Priscilla. Compare Jane and Jennie, Drusa and Drusilla] and Aquila [Paul met these two at Corinth in A. D. 53, and they sailed with him from thence to Syria ( Act_18:1-18 ; 1 Co. 16:19 ). Again, two years later they were with him at Ephesus--Acts 19] my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus [It is probable that as he sent two before him into Macedonia ( Act_19:22 ), so these two were now in Rome preparing the field for his coming (comp. Luk_10:1 ) and ready to aid him with information as to its condition and needs and in other ways when he accomplished his declared purpose to visit that metropolis ( Act_19:21 ). But Paul's visit was delayed beyond expectation--more than two years ( Act_24:27 ). Confident of their unchanging loyalty, Paul salutes them first of all and as fellow-workers in the present tense, not as those who "labored" in the past--comp. Rom_16:12 ],

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3–5. Greet Priscilla and Aquila. These active fellow-workers had first aided Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:2); then they went to Ephesus, and prepared the way for his work there (Acts 18:26); they had now returned to Rome, their former home. Some have argued that this greeting could not have been sent to Rome, from the fact that Paul had left them at Ephesus. It was the natural thing for them to go back home, when they could safely do so, and Godet says that from two or three years had passed since Paul left them at Ephesus, which gives ample time for a change of residence. The fact that the name of the wife comes first here, and in Acts 18:2, seems to imply that she was the more efficient. They are also named in 1 Cor. 16:19, and in 2 Tim. 4:19.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Priscilla and Aquila

Priscilla was the wife of Aquila. (See: How to Translate Names)

my fellow workers in Christ Jesus

Paul's "fellow workers" are people who also tell others about Jesus. AT: "who work with me to tell people about Christ Jesus" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

Greet the church that is in their house

"Greet the believers who meet in their house to worship"

Epaenetus

This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names and Translate Unknowns)

firstfruit of Asia to Christ

Paul speaks of Epaenetus as if he were a fruit that he harvested. AT: "first person in Asia to believe in Jesus" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

in Christ

church

Gentile

beloved

firstfruits

Asia

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

3–16. Greetings to Christians at Rome.

3–16. Greetings; see Lightfoot, Phil. pp. 171 ff. S. H. ad loc[317]

[317] ad loc. ad locum

3. Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν; cf. Act 18:2; Act 18:18; Act 18:26; 1Co 16:19; 2Ti 4:19. We first hear of this pair at Corinth, where they were found by S. Paul on his first visit and that connexion was formed which lasted for the rest of his life. They had then lately come from Rome, and presently went with S. Paul to Ephesus, where they remained while he went on his way to Jerusalem. At Ephesus they were when Apollos arrived, and probably were influential in the small Church there, as they put Apollos in the way of full Christian teaching. They were there still, or again, when S. Paul wrote 1 Cor., certainly nine months, perhaps more than a year, before this Epistle. Now they are at Rome, and again some years later (2 Tim.) in the province of Asia. A difficulty has been raised about this frequent change of home: and it has been directed against the originality of this passage in this place. But, apart from the migratory habits of Jews engaged in business, it is clear from Acts, 1Co 16:19 and this passage that A. and P. had given themselves to the work of propagating the Gospel: and it is not unreasonable to conjecture that just as they were left behind at Ephesus (Act 18:18) to begin the work there and to prepare for S. Paul’s return, so they may now have been sent by him to Rome to prepare the way for his intended visit; and returned to Asia at a later date, perhaps when he himself was released from Rome. This conjecture is supported by the fact that S. Paul’s intention to go to Rome was already formed at least before he left Ephesus (Act 19:21). It would explain his knowledge of the Christians who were at Rome at this time, both of those who seem to have centred round these two and of the other groups mentioned. For if they went to Rome to prepare for S. Paul’s visit, they would naturally communicate with him as soon as they had got into full touch with the Church there. The list of salutations gains much in naturalness and point, if we can suppose it to have been based on information sent by A. and P. And we may see in such a letter from Rome the direct occasion of S. Paul’s letter and even in some degree the influence which determined its character. (Zahn, Einl. p. 275, also makes this suggestion.) See Introd. p. xii f.

τοὺς συνεργούς μου. Cf. 2Co 8:23; Php 2:25; Php 4:3; Col 4:11; Phm 1:24; 1Th 3:2 (v. l.): in all cases of sharing in the apostolic labours. Jews as they were, they were devoted workers in the Gospel with S. Paul, and shared his mission to the Gentiles: see below on π. αἱ ἐκκ. τ. ἐ.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3, 4.] The form Prisca is also found 2Ti 4:19. On Prisca and Aquila see note, Act 18:2. They must have returned to Rome from Ephesus since the sending of 1 Cor.:—see 1Co 16:19: and we find them again at Ephesus (?), 2Ti 4:19.

Their endangering of their lives for Paul may have taken place at Corinth (Act 18:6 ff.) or at Ephesus (Act_19). See Neander, Pfl. u. Leit., p. 441. “ὑποτιθέναι est pignori opponere. Demosth. in Aphobum: ἀπέτισα τὴν λειτουργίαν, ὑποθεὶς τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ τἀμαυτοῦ πάντα. Æschines: ὑπέθησαν αὐτῷ τοῦ ταλάντου τὰς δημοσίας προσόδους.” Wetst.

The ‘churches of the Gentiles’ had reason to be thankful to them, for having rescued the Apostle of the Gentiles from danger.

It seems to have been the practice of Aquila and Priscilla (ref. 1 Cor.) and some other Christians (reff. Col., Philem.) to hold assemblies for worship in their houses, which were saluted, and sent salutations as one body in the Lord. Some light is thrown on the expression by the following passage from the Acta Martyrii S. Justini, in Ruinart, cited by Neander, Church Hist. i. 330, Rose’s trans. “The answer of Justin Martyr to the question of the prefect (Rusticus) ‘Where do you assemble?’ exactly corresponds to the genuine Christian spirit on this point. The answer was; ‘Where each one can and will. You believe, no doubt, that we all meet together in one place; but it is not so, for the God of the Christians is not shut up in a room, but, being invisible, He fills both heaven and earth, and is honoured every where by the faithful.’ Justin adds, that when he came to Rome, he was accustomed to dwell in one particular spot, and that those Christians who were instructed by him, and wished to hear his discourse, assembled at his house. (This assembly would accordingly be ἡ κατʼ οἶκον τοῦ Ἰουστίνου ἐκκλησία.) He had not visited any other congregations of the Church.”

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν. So the MSS. here by preponderating authority for Πρίσκιλλα κ. Ἀ. Priscilla is a diminutive for Prisca, and both are Roman names.

In Act 18:2 the reading is Ἀκύλαν … καὶ Πρίσκιλλαν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, in ver. 18 Πρίσκιλλα καὶ Ἀκύλας; in 1Co 16:19 Ἀκύλας καὶ Πρίσκα (so א B M, P, Boh., but A C D E F G, &c., Vulg. Syrr. Πρίσκιλλα); in 2Ti 4:19 Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν (by preponderating authority). The fact that Prisca is so often mentioned first suggests that she was the more important of the two.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Prisca and Aquila. Priscilla is the diminutive of Prisca. See Act 18:2, 18, 26; 1Co 16:19; 2Ti 4:19. It is argued by some that Aquila and Priscilla must have been at Ephesus at this time, since they were there when Paul wrote 1Co 16:19, and again when he wrote 2Ti 4:19. "It is strange to find them settled at Rome with a church in their house between these two dates" (Farrar). But, as Bishop Lightfoot remarks (" Commentary on Philippians, "p. 176)," As Rome was their headquarters, and they had been driven thence by an imperial edict (Act 18:2), it is natural enough that they should have returned thither as soon as it was convenient and safe to do so. The year which elapses between the two notices, allows ample time for them to transfer themselves from Ephesus to Rome, and for the apostle to hear of their return to their old abode. " Notice that the name of Priscilla precedes that of her husband. So Act 18:2. Probably she was the more prominent of the two in christian activity.

Fellow - workers. In christian labor, as they had been in tent - making.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To the recommendation of Phoebe, the apostle joins a list of salutations, which might indeed still be called recommendations; for the imperative ἀσπάσασθε, greet, fifteen times repeated, is addressed to the whole church. It is, in fact, the church itself which he charges to transmit this mark of affection to its different objects. How was this commission carried out? Probably, at the time when the letter was read in full assembly of the church, the president expressed to the person designated, in some way or other, the mark of distinction which the apostle had bestowed on him. Most critics of the present day hold that this list of salutations cannot have been written by Paul with a view to the church of Rome, which he had not yet visited. How then could he have known so many persons in it? The persons in question, therefore, were friends of the apostle in a church which he had himself founded, and, to all appearance, in the church of Ephesus. Accident has willed that this list should be joined afterward to the Epistle to the Romans (see especially Reuss, Epîtres Pauliniennes, pp. 19, 20). Bauer, Lucht, etc., go still further: they think that this list was composed later by a forger, who thought good to make Paul pen the names of several notable persons of the church of Rome, in order to produce an advantageous impression on this church, which was always somewhat unfavorably disposed toward the apostle. “A very improbable procedure,” observes Schultz. “And how,” asks this writer with reason, “would the forger in this case have forgotten Clement,” who should surely have figured at the head? For the rest, let us study the list itself.

Vv. 3-5a. “Salute Prisca and Aquilas, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks—unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles—and the church that meets in their house.”

Aquilas and his wife Prisca (or Priscilla) were Jews, natives of Pontus, in Asia Minor. They were established at Rome as tent-makers, when the edict of Claudius, which expelled Israelites from the capital, obliged them to emigrate. They had been settled for a short time at Corinth, when Paul arrived there for the first time in the year 53. Their common occupation drew them together, and Paul soon brought them to the knowledge of Christ (Act 18:2). For it is absolutely arbitrary to represent them as already Christians when they left Rome. This opinion arises only from the tendency to derive the propagation of the gospel at Rome from the Jewish synagogue. But it is excluded by the expression of the Acts: τινὰ ᾿Ιουδαῖον, a certain Jew. Luke would have added the epithet μαθητήν, disciple; comp. Act 16:1. When, two years later, the apostle left Corinth with the intention of going to found a mission at Ephesus, Aquilas and his wife repaired to the latter city, while Paul proceeded first to visit Jerusalem and Antioch. Their intention certainly was to prepare the way for him in the capital of the province of Asia, then to support his ministry there, as they had done at Corinth; comp. Act 18:18-21.

It is this salutation more than anything else which has given rise to the supposition that our entire list was addressed to Ephesus. But could not this husband and wife, who had emigrated from Pontus to Rome, then from Rome to Corinth, and lastly, from Corinth to Ephesus, have returned to Rome, their former domicile, after the imperial edict had fallen into desuetude? This is the more admissible as the object of this return is easily understood. We know from Act 19:21, that even at Ephesus Paul had already formed the plan of proceeding to Rome as soon as he had finished his work in Asia and Greece. Aquilas and Priscilla, who had been so useful to him at Corinth, who had even gone to Ephesus with him with a view to his approaching mission, might a second time, by proceeding from Ephesus to Rome, do for him what they had done by leaving Corinth for Ephesus. The passage, Jas 4:13, shows with what ease rich Jewish traders travelled from one large city to another. “To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and buy and sell and get gain.” Objection is taken from the short time which had elapsed since the end of Paul’s sojourn at Ephesus: ten months only, it is said, from the spring of the year 57, when at Ephesus he wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians (chap. Rom 16:8), and when he conveys greetings from Aquilas and Priscilla (Rom 16:19), to the beginning of 58, when it is alleged he wrote the Epistle to the Romans from Corinth. But we think there is a mistake in putting only ten months’ interval between the First Epistle to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Romans. A profound study of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, as well as of the Acts, leads to a wholly different result. From the spring of the year 57, when Paul left Ephesus, to the time when he made the stay at Corinth, during which he composed our Epistle, there elapsed, we think, nearly two years, from Easter 57 to February 59. Such an interval fully suffices to explain the new change of Aquilas and Priscilla, and their return to Rome. In the fact that many years later, about the year 66, and perhaps on occasion of the persecution of Nero (in 64), they are again settled at Ephesus, where Paul sends them a salutation, 2Ti 4:19, there is nothing to surprise us.

The form Prisca is certainly authentic in the Epistle to the Romans; the diminutive Priscilla, which is read in the T. R., is found only in some Mnn. In the Acts (Act 18:2; Act 18:18; Act 18:26, and 1Co 16:19), the latter form is found in all the documents. In 2Ti 4:19, the two readings exist, but the majority are in favor of Prisca, as in Romans. There is also variation in the reciprocal position of the two names. The wife is placed here first, as in Act 18:18 and 2Ti 4:19. Probably she was superior to her husband, either in ability or Christian activity.

Vv. 4. The qualitative pronoun οἵτινες signifies: as people who...The expression: to put the neck under (the axe), is no doubt figurative; but in any case it implies the act of exposing one’s life. We do not know where or when this event took place. Was it at Corinth, on occasion of the scene described Act 18:12 et seq.? or was it not rather at Ephesus, in one or other of the cases to which allusion is made in the words, 1Co 15:32 and 2Co 1:8? The apostle reminds the Romans that they had thereby rendered service to all the churches of the Gentile world, and consequently to them also. This passage proves two things—1st. That these words, intended to recommend Aquilas and Priscilla, were not addressed to the church of Ephesus, where the event referred to probably too place; for Paul undoubtedly means to give his readers information. 2d. That the church to which he addressed them was itself one of those churches of the Gentile world whose gratitude these two persons had deserved; a new proof of the Gentile origin of the Christians of Rome.

Ver. 5a The expression: the church that is in their house, may have three meanings. Either it denotes the entire assembly of the servants and workpeople residing and working with them; or it applies to that portion of the church which had its usual place of meeting in their house; or finally, the words apply to the whole church of the capital, which held its plenary meetings at their house; comp. 1Co 14:23. This last sense is incompatible with the preposition κατά, the meaning of which is distributive, and supposes other places of worship (Rom 16:14-15). The first is improbable, for the term ἐκκλησία, church, would not suit a purely private gathering. The second is therefore the only possible one; comp. 1Co 16:19. Schultz thinks we may conclude from these words that Aquilas was invested with the office of elder in the church of Ephesus where he lived, and that, consequently, he could not so easily change his domicile. One must surely be at a loss for good reasons to imagine such a one as this.

What is certain is, that these two persons are saluted here, not only as particular friends of St. Paul, but because of the important part they played in the work of his apostleship. The passage, Act 18:24-28, presents an example of their activity, and of the powerful influence they exercised; and it is most probable that what they had been at Ephesus, they had also been at Rome, from the day when they returned to it. In a word, they were evangelists of the first order. This is what recommends them to the respectful attention of the church, and assigns them the first rank in this list of apostolic salutations. This circumstance throws light on the character of the whole list.

Vv. 5b, 6. “Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who was the first-fruits of Asia unto Christ.Salute Mary, who bestowed much labor on us.”

Epenetus is to us an unknown personage. According to the Received reading, he would be the first convert of Achaia, consequently a native of Corinth, which could hardly be reconciled with 1Co 16:15. This reading probably arises from the copyist thinking that Paul meant to speak of the country from which he was writing. The true reading is certainly of Asia. Meyer concludes, from the fact that Epenetus was the first convert in this province, that he must have been a Jew, because Paul preached first of all in the synagogue; as if Aquilas and Priscilla, who had preceded Paul at Ephesus, might not have met with and converted a Gentile in that city before Paul arrived, and proclaimed the gospel in full synagogue! The Greek name of Epenetus would rather lead us to think him a Gentile; he was the first-fruits of the Gentiles converted at Ephesus. Here again the critics find an undeniable proof of the destination of this list to the church of Ephesus. But if, as is probable, Epenetus was the fruit of the labors of Aquilas, anterior even to those of Paul, he might very naturally have accompanied the evangelist-pair from Ephesus to Rome, to take part in their work in that great city. Hence the intimate relation which the apostle here establishes between these three persons; hence also the honorable title which he gives to this last before all the church.

The regimen εἰς Χριστόν, unto Christ, makes Christ the person to whom the first-fruits are offered.

Vv. 6. We know nothing of this Mary saluted in Rom 16:6; her name indicates her Jewish origin, even if, with some Mjj., we read Μαρίαν.

If, with almost all the Mjj., we read εἰς ὑμᾶς, on you, Mary would be one who had rendered herself particularly useful in the church of Rome, perhaps by her devotion during some epidemic which had raged in the church. But would Paul thus remind the church of a thing which, in that case, it knew much better than himself? Besides, all the persons saluted here are so because of some connection or other with the apostle; this is what makes us prefer the reading εἰς ἡμᾶς, on us. Like Phoebe, like Aquilas and Priscilla, she had actively taken part in the work of Paul, and occupied herself by ministering to those who surrounded him; and now from the east she had gone to Rome, like so many others.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.