Priscilla and Aquila

“When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” — Acts 18:26

From Athens, Paul went on to the busy city of Corinth. There he met a husband and wife called Aquila and Priscilla. They were Jewish, and they had recently moved from Rome, because the emperor had ordered all the Jews to leave the city.

Aquila and Priscilla made tents for a living, sewing together leather and cloth. And Paul was a tentmaker too! So Paul stayed with them, and they all worked together, making tents.

Every Sabbath, Paul went to the synagogue and told people about Jesus. And the rest of the week, he worked hard at his trade, so that he wouldn’t have to ask anyone for money.

Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching God’s Word. Then he set sail again, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him, as far as the city of Ephesus. Paul left them there, and went on his way.

While Priscilla and Aquila were in Ephesus, a man called Apollos came to the city. He came from Alexandria in Egypt. Apollos was a wonderful speaker. He knew the Scriptures very well, and he taught about Jesus with great enthusiasm. But there were some things about Jesus he didn’t fully understand yet.

When Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speaking boldly in the synagogue, they didn’t stand up and argue with him in front of everyone. And they didn’t grumble about him behind his back.

Instead, they invited him to their home. And there, kindly and quietly, they explained the way of God to him more fully.

Apollos listened. And he went on to become a great teacher, helping many people to believe in Jesus.

Priscilla and Aquila weren’t famous preachers. They were tentmakers. They worked with their hands, ran a business, and opened their home. But Paul later called them his “fellow workers in Christ Jesus”, who had risked their lives for him (Romans 16:3–4). Churches met in their house, wherever they lived.

God uses ordinary people in ordinary jobs, a husband and wife sewing tents, to do His work. And sometimes the best way to help someone isn’t to correct them in public, but to welcome them home and explain things kindly.

Read it in your Bible: Acts 18:1–4, 18–28

Dear God, thank you that you use ordinary people, in ordinary jobs, to do your work. Help me to be kind when I help others, like Priscilla and Aquila were. Amen.