AQUILA AND PRISCILLA
[p. 63] AQUILA AND PRISCILLA
1 Corinthians 11: 11, 12; Acts 18:1 - 3; Acts 18:18 - 28; Romans 16: 3, 4
The need of a helpmate for Adam was God’s thought. It was on the sixth day of creation that the Creator was occupied with man. The animals of the creation were brought to the man, to see what he would call them; but among them there was not found one that could be a helpmate suitable for Adam. Adam’s deep sleep took place that day, for it is said that God created them both on the same day; and when the woman was brought to the man, it is the man who gave her her name. Adam’s intelligence shines in the names he gave to the lower creatures. But in naming Eve, his intelligence shines out very particularly; he discerns that God has had recourse to a special procedure. The man was in a deep sleep when the extraction of one of his ribs took place, nevertheless he can say: “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man”, Genesis 2: 23.
So the position is very clear, in view of the generations following, and specially in view of what God desired to carry out in the assembly. It says in 1 Corinthians: “neither is woman without man, nor man without woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so also is the man by the woman”. The position is defined very clearly, and confirms what we have in Genesis 2, having the assembly distinctly in view. The declaration made in Genesis 2 is to have its full answer in the assembly at the present time. The result is seen in brothers and sisters in the gathering, and it is elevated to the level of the relations of Christ and the assembly.
So in the public assembly, as at Corinth, sisters are as essential as brothers, which Luke confirms in his account of the Acts of the apostles. And in chapter 8 [p. 64] of his gospel he speaks of the man, and the woman, and the child, as if to show the parts that compose the assembly.
The man in Luke 8 was a demoniac; the scene unfolds at Decapolis, a name that is not without significance, representing a place of ten towns, for the assembly was to be developed, historically and publicly, principally in towns. The towns of this world, which have turned away from God, represent a concentration of evil; in a place marked by distance from God, we can be sure that evil will prevail. Luke tells us that the man came out of the city; now, he was in a shameful condition. Demons had taken possession of him, a ‘legion’ of demons. At the commandment of the Lord, the demons went out of the man. Then it says that the citizens of that place came out to see what had happened, and they found the man “sitting, clothed and sensible, at the feet of Jesus” Luke 8:35. There is one of the component parts of the assembly. The man desired to be with the Lord; but, sending him away, He said to him: “Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee”. Thus the man was left by the Lord in perhaps the most wicked country of that time, for the people were so far from God that they begged the Lord Jesus to leave the country. But it was as if the Lord had said to them: If you ask Me to leave the country personally, I will stay there representatively. Such is the assembly’s position. The Lord has been rejected; and in speaking to Saul of Tarsus of the assembly, He names it “me” (”why dost thou persecute me?” Acts 9:4). The man was left at Decapolis; “And he went away through the whole city, publishing how great things Jesus had done for him”. What power was needed for him to be able to hold his ground during the absence of Christ! But the man was qualified for that, being seated, clothed and sensible, a suitable vessel for the reception of the Spirit, which he no doubt received after the ascension of Jesus to heaven.
Man cannot be sufficient alone: “It is not good that Man should be alone” Genesis 2:18. This thought applies to brothers in a locality, as much as to the Lord as Head of His body, the assembly. Thus, after the account of the demoniac in Luke 8, we have the account of the woman healed by the Lord. She would like to have hidden the fact of her healing, but she would never have been a sister suitable for the assembly if she had hidden such a thing. And the Lord insists before all, that someone had touched Him. Then she falls at His feet and confesses all the truth. Sisters who say all the truth are very useful; but those who are in the habit of hiding something are not useful. So the woman in Luke 8 falls down before all and declares the whole truth. Seeing her act thus the Lord can call her “daughter”. He can recognise in her kindred features. She will form part of the material for the assembly. She will not aim at displacing the man; but having formed a link with Christ, she will recognise the headship of the man.
Then, in the same chapter, it speaks also of a young girl of twelve years. There is no doubt that she forms the third part constituting the assembly. The age of twelve is regarded by the Lord Himself as indicating the age of responsibility. At that age He was found Himself hearing and asking questions. Young ones who are in the assembly hearing and asking questions will make soul progress. I do not mean that young sisters should ask questions in public in the assembly, but that they have to learn. This young person was dying, and her father was very distressed about her. He comes to ask the Lord to come in for her. She died, and when He arrived at Jairus’s house He turned everyone out, merely taking with Him Peter, John, James, and the father and mother of the young girl. It is in that atmosphere that the young girl came back to life. What a good beginning she had when she rose up! There is no doubt that she will never forget that moment when, her spirit returning to her, she began [p. 66] to breathe the spiritual atmosphere that surrounded her. Thus the assembly is to be characterised, not only by intelligence in the man, but also by transparency with the woman, and by a spiritual atmosphere as regards the child. Six persons were near that young girl: the Lord, Peter, John, James, the father and the mother. The young girl having received life, that house comprised seven living persons. All this helps us to understand the constitution of the assembly in its public aspect: the man, the woman and the child are to appear in it.
My attention is specially upon this verse that we read in the first epistle to the Corinthians. We shall see how the principle enunciated there is developed in a striking way in Aquila and Priscilla. This man and this woman are named six times, always together — always together; three times Aquila is named first, and three times Priscilla is named first. In the first place we see that Aquila is able to maintain the position; but Priscilla was herself at the height of the position. According to this passage, “so also is the man by the woman, but all things of God”. That is to say, that in every way the position is according to God, whether Aquila is mentioned first or Priscilla.
The first time they are spoken of is in chapter 18 of the Acts. It says that a certain Jew named Aquila, of Pontus by race, had recently come from Italy. It speaks of his origin and religion, and says that he had just come from Italy, all that before mentioning Priscilla, which shows that God had from the outset given Aquila his own distinction. One might say that Aquila was a traveller. Persons who travel simply for the purpose of visiting sites do not help the assembly; but those who have the assembly in view are very useful. It says in the prophet Daniel: “Many shall run to and fro” Daniel 12:4. And there is not a period in the history of the world when there has been more running to and fro than now; but, blessed be God! there are some among His own [p. 67] who travel under His hand, and He encourages them. I speak of that, because Aquila originated from Pontus, very much east of Corinth, and on the other hand it says that he had quite recently come from Italy, very much to the west of Corinth. He was a man qualified under the hand of God to have a universal outlook. Priscilla, his wife, was with him. It does not say to what race she belonged, because the woman is identified with the man, as it says in 1 Corinthians 11, “the woman is of the man”. There is something else that is said of them; that is that they were tent-makers by trade. They were both engaged in pursuing a single object. Apparently the wife did not leave her husband to earn their living alone; she worked with him. We have therefore here, in the man and his wife, a remarkable combination suitable to the assembly; and the Spirit of God tells us that Paul found them there, at Corinth; he abode with them and wrought with them. They are thus together in very simple circumstances, for when we are put together as christians, it is not with a view to our advancing our social position. They worked in a humble way in the town of Corinth.
After Paul had laboured there for eighteen months, an assembly was formed, and Paul “took leave of the brethren and sailed thence to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila”; and then it says that “he arrived at Ephesus, and left them there”. It is very remarkable to see that these two were the beginning of the assembly at Ephesus, occupying the ground for the Lord; and shortly after, Apollos arrived at Ephesus. They heard him speak. We can understand that one likes to hear a visiting brother who desires to speak. Now Apollos was “an eloquent man, who was mighty in the scriptures”. But an important element was there in the assembly — a man and a woman having discernment as to what is of God and serving in ministry. “And Aquila and Priscilla, having heard him, took him to them and unfolded to him the way of God more exactly”.
[p. 68] It does not say that Aquila or Priscilla had a gift. They represent the element that God can use in all circumstances. So they are ready to show this servant the way of God more exactly. In other words, instead of being diverted by Apollos’ eloquence, they desire things to be as they should be among the servants of God. They are thinking of the Lord and what is suitable in the assembly. Apollos is much helped by them and by the way in which they instruct him. “When he purposed to go into Achaia, the brethren wrote to the disciples engaging them to receive him, who, being come, contributed much to those who believed through grace”.
The passage in Romans 16 shows us the place these two occupied in Paul’s affections — blessed reflex of the place they had in the thoughts of Christ. We have often noticed the wonderful knowledge Paul had of the persons in the assembly at Rome before he went there. He sends some twenty-seven salutations to the assembly at Rome. After mentioning “Phoebe, our sister, who is minister of the assembly”, his first salutation is to Prisca and Aquila: “Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus, (who for my life staked their own neck ... )”. We see that these two, in fulfilling their function in the assembly, acquired a very great place in the thoughts of Paul, and not only of Paul, but of the Lord Himself. Then the apostle adds: “and the assembly at their house”. Twice it says of them that the assembly met in their house, first at Rome, then at Ephesus; 1 Corinthians 16: 19.
There would be yet many things to say about them, but time fails. In the public assembly the man and the woman have their public relations in regard of each other; and I believe the sisters do not always function in the assembly according to the divine thoughts. I do not say this to complain of them; but I fear that if there is weakness and smallness in many localities, that is due to lack of energy on the part of the sisters. The [p. 69] fact of having in her house a room at the disposal of the assembly represents much energy on the part of a sister. We can see in the case of Aquila and Priscilla how they were agreed in devoting themselves to the Lord’s interests.