WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

An international Sunday school lesson commentary

For Sunday February 21, 2021

 

Over 262,000 readers worldwide

larrydalexander.blogspot.com

 

CALLED TO EXPLAIN

(Acts 18:1-17, 24-28 and Romans 16:3-4)

(Priscilla and Aquila)

 

   Throughout the Book of Acts, Luke introduces us to many people that were instrumental in the development and establishment of the early Church. Here in Acts 18, we are introduced to two more of those wonderful workers who helped shape the Christian Church movement in its infancy, during the first century. They became two of the Apostle Paul’s closest friends, and their names were Priscilla and Aquila. They were the husband-and-wife team who, quite literally, birthed in the “House Church concept” of early Christianity.

    Now we all know that Paul was a Rabbi, but what many do not know is, that, in addition to being a Rabbi, Paul was also a tentmaker, and this is something that he had in common with Priscilla and Aquila. They met while Paul visited Corinth during his second missionary journey, and he lived and worked with the couple during his stay there. And so, for the three of them, being missionaries for CHRIST, was just another of their common threads.   

    Perhaps, we will not find a more fascinating couple in all of Scripture, than Priscilla and Aquila. They were a very bold and defiant pair who stood against the antichrist elements that often reared its ugly head throughout the Roman Empire in the first century, mostly in the person of the Emperor Claudius, or later, the Emperor Nero.

    Most Christian Church services in those days, both teaching and worship, were held in private homes because, at the time, no Christian Church temples could be openly constructed. In fact, it was extremely dangerous to be a follower of CHRIST, or, an “Adherent of the Way”, as they were called then, and Christian worshipers would have to meet in secret locations to preserve their own lives, and to continue to teach the true Word to willing listeners.

    Priscilla and Aquila were also a curiously nomadic pair, as they were found wandering and moving from place to place throughout the Roman Empire. In the Book of Acts, we first find them in Rome (Acts 18:2), where they were ejected by the Emperor Claudius, as he sought to expel all Jews from Italy, in and around A.D. 52. Then, we find them in Corinth, where they first met Paul, and had him as a house quest, during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-3).

    Next, we see them in Ephesus (Acts 18:24-28), where they had traveled with Paul from Corinth. There, we find them instructing a Jewish scholar named Apollos, in the ways of GOD more accurately, educating him about the impact of CHRIST JESUS on humanity. Apollos, who was already well versed about CHRIST and baptism with water, needed to be informed about baptism with the HOLY SPIRIT.

    In Romans 16:3-5, Paul sends greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, who had now made their way back to Rome, and had opened, yet another House Church in their home there. Also, in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, which was written a couple of years earlier, he informed us that they were back in Corinth, where they were operating, still another House Church there (1 Corinthians 16:19).

    And then finally, in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, his last known written communication, he tells us that Priscilla and Aquila had set up a house church, once again, in the large port city of Ephesus (2 Timothy 4:19).

    And so, it doesn’t really seem to matter, where, we find this amazing couple, whenever, and wherever we do run across them, we always seem to find their home to be a place of Christian fellowship and service. Every home, in essence, should be a Christian Church, a place where, perhaps, JESUS could come any time to stay for a while. And for Priscilla and Aquila, wherever we find them, their home always seemed to radiate Christian friendship, fellowship, and love.

    Oftentimes we humanly look at home as being a place where we go to shut the world out. However, we need to always remember that, equally, our homes should be a place with an open door (Romans 12:13 & 1 Peter 4:9). We should always keep in mind that, an open door, along with an open heart, and an open hand, are three of the key characteristics in the Christian Faith. And so, we can see that, despite Priscilla and Aquila having appeared to always have lived a nomadic life, for them, working for the LORD in this manner, was a way of life.

    “Upon this rock (concept), I will build MY Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. That is what JESUS said to Peter in Matthew 16:18 (KJV). And, even though, we, as Christians, may never organize our churches in the same way, nor do we worship GOD in the same way, and in fact, we may never even believe in precisely the same things about Christianity. However, “Christian unity”, can and will, transcend all these differences, and bring GOD’s people together in fellowship and love. It is the kind of unity that JESUS prayed about in John 17, and, the kind of unity that Paul wrote about to the Churches, in all his doctrinal letters. It is a unity, not born, of bricks and mortar, but rather, it is a unity of personal relationships, not unlike the one we have already seen demonstrated, between the FATHER and the SON, as an example for us to follow, for all times.

 

A Sunday school lesson by,

Larry D. Alexander

 

 

Larry Dell Alexander (1953–) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

 

LARRY D. ALEXANDER'S BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY

larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com

 

Larry D. Alexander's Books and Publications Spotlight

 

Larry D. Alexander - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                                 

LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website

 

Clinton Family Portrait - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia