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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 646. Service
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Some time after, Paul determined to go to Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila resolved to break up their business and go with him. In that city they did a great work for God. Having probably a larger house than most of the early Christians, they began that “church in the house” which they seem to have continued wherever they went, for we hear of their doing the same thing at Rome also.
2. While Priscilla and Aquila were still at Ephesus, Apollos, an eloquent preacher and “mighty in the scriptures,” arrived from Alexandria. He had, however, a serious defect. The only Jesus he knew was an ethical Jesus, that is, Jesus as a preacher of righteousness, the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus as prophet, but not as priest and king. He declaimed passionately against sin; called on men to repent and turn to Jesus. But when you asked what turning to Jesus meant, he was very vague and left you in the mist.
Priscilla and Aquila listened with pleasure, mingled with great pain. He was so gifted, so earnest; but so long as he preached mere morality they felt he would do little good. But how guide him? It was a delicate thing to tell a gifted preacher, fresh, perhaps, from the University of Alexandria, that his preaching was radically defective. Yet they must do it; so one night we may imagine Priscilla inviting him to their house after the sermon, and, when supper was over, beginning the delicate task. They expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Fed as they were on Paul's “strong meat,” we need have little doubt as to what that instruction would be. It would begin with atonement through the blood of Christ. It would go on to salvation through faith in that blood. And it would close with the fruits of holy living, due to the Presence of Christ in the believer, through the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
As they dwelt with glowing hearts on these precious truths, Apollos forgot to be offended. His candid mind received the truth as a little child, and he who before knew only the baptism of John, knew now the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
3. It does not appear that, after their stay in Ephesus, these two were closely associated with Paul, and certainly they were not among what we may call his evangelistic staff. Nor do they appear to have met him again after that time. Their gipsy life was probably forced on them by the exigencies of Aquila's trade. When he had made tents in Ephesus for a while, he moved on somewhere else, looking for work. Yet Paul continues to call them his “fellow-workers in Christ Jesus.” No matter whether it was in Corinth or in Ephesus or in Rome, these two carried Jesus Christ with them where they went, and while they were plying their trade were also preaching Christ.
4. After this we meet with the two evangelists on two other occasions, both probably at Ephesus. The first is of thrilling interest, tantalizing us with a passing allusion that makes us long to know more. It occurs in the sixteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, which, there is good reason to suppose, is a misplaced fragment of an epistle to Ephesus. There we read, “Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life laid down their own necks.” Then they had risked their lives to save the Apostle's life-when and in what circumstances we do not know. Possibly it was during the riot at Ephesus. Thus we see that they had the true ring of Christ's heroes, the genuine martyr spirit; they were ready to take up the cross. At the same time they showed the spirit of staunch friendship. They were willing to die for Paul. But then Paul was worth dying for. All the Gentile Churches, who looked up to Paul as their leader, must have honoured them for this.
For we must share, if we would keep
That good thing from above;
Ceasing to give, we cease to have-
Such is the law of Love.1 [Note: R. C. Trench, “The Law of Love.”]
5. The last reference to Priscilla and Aquila is when 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. “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”
Faithfulness unto death is God's standard for human life. On this He bases His judgments. As we apply this standard, our views on many things undergo a radical change. We come to see that the thing of value is not speed but endurance. The real hero is not he who makes the fastest schedule but he who lasts the longest. There are those who go up like a rocket and come down like a stick. It is the power to hold on that wins. Great Britain's most famous general once said that the difference between the soldiers of his country and those of another was not that the English soldier was braver than other soldiers, but that he was brave five minutes longer. It is endurance that wins the crown.
The thing of value is not achievement but fidelity. It is not what we accomplish but the way we accomplish it. It is our ideals, our principles. It is not success that God looks at, but the struggle. Success is a cheap thing, it is merely relative; but struggle is an affair of eternity, it is a spiritual asset.2 [Note: J. I. Vance, Tendency, 229.]
6. Paul's letters always seem to run into doxology when he is writing of men and women who have suffered on behalf of Christ. But he never wrote to them in sympathy; it was always in congratulation. He did not look upon them as the bearers of burdens, but rather as the privileged children of the Highest. “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” And so Priscilla and Aquila were chivalrous disciples in the service. And what were the fruits of it? What the fruits always are. Holy boldness has the key to many a secret door. The disciple who bears much discovers much. The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force. If we risk a personal loss, if we risk contumely, if we risk disaster and defeat, we shall find the Lord of glory on the road. Along these roads, at any rate, something ventured is something won.
Every chain is a ray of light, and every prison is a palace, and every loss is the purchase of a kingdom, and every affront in the cause of God is an eternal honour, and every day of sorrow is a thousand years of comfort, multiplied with a never-ceasing numeration; days without night, joys without sorrow, sanctity without sin, charity without stain, possession without fear, society without envying, communication of joys without lessening; and they shall dwell in a blessed country, where an enemy never entered, and from whence a friend never went away.1 [Note: Jeremy Taylor.]
All thy old woes shall now smile on thee
And thy pains sit bright upon thee;
All thy suffrings be divine.
Tears shall take comfort, and turn gems
And wrongs repent to diadems.
Even thy Death shall live; and new
Dress the soul that erst they slew.
Thy wounds shall blush to such bright scars
As keep account of the Lamb's wars.2 [Note: Richard Crashaw.]