Aquila

Aquila was the tentmaker who, with his wife Priscilla, provided hospitality to Paul in Corinth, instructed Apollos in the faith, and hosted churches in their home across multiple cities. This husband-wife team exemplifies partnership in gospel ministry that spanned the Mediterranean world.

He was a Jew from Pontus (northern Asia Minor) living in Rome when Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from the city around AD 49. He and Priscilla relocated to Corinth, where Paul encountered them shortly after their arrival. The common trade of tentmaking drew them together: "Because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them."

The relationship quickly moved beyond business. Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla for eighteen months during his Corinthian ministry. They witnessed the opposition, the beatings, the conversions, the establishment of the Corinthian church. When Paul sailed for Syria, they accompanied him as far as Ephesus, where they remained while Paul continued to Antioch.

In Ephesus, they encountered Apollos—an eloquent Alexandrian Jew who "spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John." Rather than publicly correcting him or condemning his incomplete gospel, they "invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately." Their private instruction prepared Apollos for the powerful ministry that followed.

Paul's letters reveal a couple constantly in motion while constantly faithful. Writing to Rome (where Jews had been permitted to return after Claudius died), Paul greets "Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me"—a story whose details are lost but whose devotion is clear. A church met in their house.

Writing to Corinth from Ephesus, Paul sends greetings from "Aquila and Priscilla... along with the church that meets at their house." Writing to Timothy in Ephesus, Paul again greets them. Wherever they lived, their home became a gathering place for believers.