Men of the New Testament: "Aquila" by David Pahman - Part 4

Good evening, everyone.

Tonight we're going to be studying Aquila.

If you'd like, go ahead and open your Bibles to Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

We'll start there.

Aquila does appear, I guess, in four different passages or groups of passages, I guess you

could say, but we're most familiar with Acts 18.

Two weeks ago, Dale covered Apollos, and so several of the things that he covered, I'll

try not to repeat, but when we talk about Aquila, well, when we talked about Apollos,

then basically we're also talking some about Aquila.

So we'll cover some of those things, I'll try to bring out some things that Dale did

not.

Of course, he had much more entertaining slides than mine are, but I think that's probably

different in age group and everything.

But if we have enough time at the end, Neil doesn't know this, but he's going to teach

the last four minutes, but you don't have to get up from your seat.

You'll figure it out when we get to there.

Actually, I pre-recorded Neil teaching from Ephesus, and so if we get to enough time,

hopefully I'll share just a few minutes of that recording.

Some of these events that took place in Acts chapter 18, basically some of us were able

Acts 18 · chapter mention

to go on the trip with Neil to Ephesus, and we saw some of those things, and I thought

it would just be cool to share a visual from those places and share a little bit about

the message here in Acts 18.

So I'm going to try to do two things.

Talk about Aquila without stepping on what Dale talked about, and without covering what

Neil will talk about in that, but still give you some things on Aquila.

When I first signed up for Aquila, I thought, well that'll be easy, it's basically just

one passage, but then I was wrong the more we got digging, and tonight what I'll try

to do is share with you some general facts that we read here in Acts chapter 18 about

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Aquila, but then there's basically 11, I guess you could say, points or lessons that I feel

that we can learn or observe from Aquila and apply to our lives, and we'll share those

with you as we go along.

So first of all, in Acts chapter 18, just notice in the first couple verses here, in

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Acts 18 verses 1 through 3, we see after this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,

Acts 18:1–3

so we see that Paul travels to Corinth here, and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native

of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded

all the Jews to leave Rome, and he went to see them, and because he is of the same trade,

he stayed with them and worked, for they were tent makers by trade.

So a couple points that we can notice here about Aquila, first of all, this situation

took place in Corinth, and you know, it might lead you to believe that Aquila was from Corinth,

but we see different from that in verse 2.

First of all, he was a Jew, and it's a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus.

A couple things about Pontus, just out of curiosity, Pontus was one of those things

found in Acts chapter 2, if you just want to flip back over there, in Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 2:9

verse 9, on the day of Pentecost, when everyone was gathered together there, we see that Peter

and the rest of the apostles were gathered together there.

They were amazed, verse 7, and astonished, saying, are not all these who are speaking

Galileans, and how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

We see the list of where all these people were from, remember they were Jews pretty

much gathered in Jerusalem for the feasts and festivals for the Pentecost there.

We see, verse 9, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,

Pontus, and Asia.

So we know that some Jews from Pontus, some proselytes even, possibly, were gathered together

there on the Pentecost.

Could Aquila have been one of them?

We don't know, we're not told from the Scriptures, but we do know that some from Pontus were

there on the day of Pentecost to hear that gospel sermon there in Acts 2.

So back at Acts 18, we see Aquila was a native of Pontus.

We see that he had fled Italy, he had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because

Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

And so here's Claudius, this ruler, Claudius is mentioned several times in the Scriptures,

but Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

And so we had this mass exodus from Rome, from Italy, during that time, and here was

Aquila and Priscilla that were part of the group that had to leave Rome.

And of course these were scattered abroad, it's a pretty good ways from Rome to Corinth,

so they left a long ways there, but they had scattered.

We do see that Paul went to see them, and we see that Aquila was a tent maker by trade.

This was handy in the fact that he had to leave Italy, had to leave Rome, because there

could have been other people that needed a place to live, needed a temporary place to

live, and so he was a tent maker.

Also Corinth was a major trade city there on the water, and so it would have been a

good place to sell tents, it would have been a good place for them to have a lot of these

things for sale, and so it was a good place there.

We also see that Paul, a couple things that we see, and we'll dive into this a little

bit deeper, but Paul heard about them, went to see them, and ended up pretty much, you

could say, working for them, because it says that Paul was a, and because he was of the

same trade, in other words because he was a tent maker, he stayed with them and worked

for their tent makers by trade.

We see down in verse 11 that Paul stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God

among them.

So here Paul finds Aquila and Priscilla there, he finds them because they're tent makers

by trade, Paul's a tent maker by trade, he seeks and finds them out, and he basically

stays with them and works.

So it gives the impression that basically Paul worked for them.

He heard they were tent makers, and it says that he stayed with them and worked.

So those are the basic facts that we see about Aquila.

Any questions or thoughts there on those verses before we move on to some of these lessons?

Yes?

I just had to look at what I thought it was.

Okay.

So when he left Rome, Italy, and went to Corinth, the question is was he going closer to home

or further away?

He's going closer to home.

So he was going back across the sea closer to where home was, and I should have probably

pulled up a map to show where these places were.

This study on Aquila, so there's several places that come in play multiple times, and it's

almost like they're chasing around.

So we have he leaves Rome, comes here to Corinth, later we're going to see them in Ephesus,

but then refer back to Corinth while in Ephesus, but then go back to Rome when Paul writes

Romans, and then Paul later is in Rome and refers back to him when Aquila and Persil

are back in Rome.

So it gets a little confusing there, but we'll step through this as we go through the different

passages.

But I've tried to put the passages in order of the time written or time found about it.

Basically Paul refers to him the other times, the other passages, but this is where that

first meeting took place.

This is where Paul met them originally, developed this friendship and kinship by living with

them and working side by side with them.

No doubt talking about the gospel, and we'll see that here in just a little bit.

They learned the gospel so much that later they basically correct, if you will, Apollos

that Dale talked about.

So they learned the scriptures enough there through either other interactions or interactions

with Paul that they learned the scriptures well enough there.

And then we find that there are rock-solid pillars in the church wherever they go from

that point on.

So let's notice a few facts about Aquila.

First of all, I list that he was a true partner with his wife Priscilla.

And why do I say that?

Every time pretty much you hear Aquila mentioned, what else do you hear?

Priscilla mentioned.

And it's just a neat fact.

I don't know of too many couples in the New Testament.

There are other couples in the New Testament, but not too many.

Every time one's mentioned, the others mention.

But in this case, every time pretty much Aquila's mentioned, Priscilla's right there with them.

And so he was a true partner with his wife Priscilla.

Pretty much everything that they did, the scriptures, the way they're presented is that

where one was, the other one was in the spiritual things that they did.

And so one way they were partners that we read about here is, notice how it's phrased

in verse two, that Paul, he went to see them.

So it wasn't that he just went to see Aquila, he went to see them.

He went to see Aquila and his wife Priscilla.

And because he, Paul, was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked for they were

tent makers by trade.

Again, they were partners in work, that they worked together, and later in faith.

That's why, reason why I'm saying that in faith is the other scriptures that we go through,

they're mentioned again side by side, the church meeting later in their home, and all

those things.

So they were partners with his wife.

All of us men, are we partners with our wives?

Could you work together with your wife?

Could your wife work with you?

Might be the better question.

Are we partners in faith?

It certainly was a blessing, no doubt, to Aquila that he was a partner in work and in

faith.

And this was, I don't know of too many other couples, I'm not recalling any other couples,

that they're listed this way, and no doubt they're mentioned here by Luke, but then later

by Paul in Paul's writings.

Second point, he was industrious, it worked.

We see no doubt he was successful at his work, why do I say that?

Because we see several times that the church met in their home.

Later when we go to Rome, Romans, and we find Priscilla and Aquila mentioned in Rome, it

also mentions all these other people there in Rome, all these other church members, they're

part of that congregation.

Why is that important?

Well, if the church met in their home and there were all those members, and no doubt

Paul didn't mention every single member in the church, but he mentioned quite a few,

then their home was big enough to house all those people, because the church met in their

home.

No doubt they were successful enough to have the church meet in their home.

One of the things when we were touring Ephesus was we did look at some homes that they had

excavated, and one of the interesting things about Ephesus is the Mediterranean Sea has

dropped in sea level, or the water has receded I guess you could say as the Mediterranean

Sea has gradually dried up some, and so at some point they basically abandoned the city.

So Ephesus is different than a lot of other places that we saw, Ephesus wasn't like where

the city has continued and it's basically been built on like a Jerusalem, where Jerusalem

they basically to see some of the Bible artifacts and those kind of things, they have to excavate

and archaeologists have gone in and dug up.

But in Ephesus they basically abandoned the city because it was by the water, the water

receded, at some point they basically just abandoned the city and moved with the water

closer to town.

So for us to visit Ephesus we basically got on our bus and drove to Ephesus, and what's

happened there is Ephesus had basically grown up, some of the bushes and weeds and vines

and all that had kind of grown up over these homes, and now they've gone in, archaeologists

to basically peel away the growth that's happened.

But one of the things that we had the opportunity to do was see some of the homes, and you saw

some of these upper rooms that people might sit in and you could visualize that perhaps

the church met in those places, but no doubt a home that would be big enough to house that

number of people, even if people were crammed in there tight, had to be a pretty good home.

That's a lot of way around to say that he was industrious and all that, but we do see

that Aquila and Priscilla, that the church met in their home in multiple cities as we

go through this.

And so no doubt Aquila was the one, and even if you notice verse 2, Paul, when he comes

to Corinth, he hears about the two of them as tent makers.

So he goes to see them because he heard them.

Now I don't know if he read in the latest billboard that they were tent makers, or he

saw on the internet that they were tent makers and he decided to look them up, realistically

they had to be popular enough tent makers that when he started checking around of who

is tent makers, it says here that he went to see them.

I don't know what that is, but they had at least been there long enough that when Paul

starts inquiring, somebody pointed them to him, I mean him to them, to, hey you need

to go see Aquila and Priscilla, they're tent makers.

So he went to see them.

I say that their business or whatever had gotten out to the point where somebody directed

Paul to them, and they were industrious enough for that.

Number three, he was open to discussing faith at work, and how do we know that?

So Paul goes to them, they're Jews, they had fled, we don't know if they were Christians,

you would think if they were, that would have been indicated in the text, we're not given

that indication, we don't know that they weren't, we don't know that they were.

But we do know that he goes to stay with them, and when he was off work, he reasoned in the

synagogue every Sabbath, basically.

So here's Paul working during the week, and then on, when it was Sabbath, Paul's reasoning

every Sabbath.

And he's trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

So that's at the beginning, we see that Paul stays there a year and a half, later we see

in Acts 18 that Dale talked about that they reason with Apollos, they pull him aside later.

So when did they learn all about the faith?

When did they learn enough to know more than Apollos?

When did they learn enough, well, you had to know that they had to talk about faith

at work at some point, because they either followed Paul to hear him speak, he either

invited them to go hear him speak, or they talked about it at work one way or another.

But it's certainly a lesson, three lessons for us that we ought to follow.

Any questions or comments on those?

Yeah, sure, sure, absolutely.

All right, then to the point that Dale shared with us, but let's jump down to verse 18.

So after a year and a half, basically, verse 11 was a year and a half that Paul stayed

teaching the Word of God to them.

We see in verse 18, after this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the

brothers, set sail for Syria, and with him, Priscilla and Aquila, at century, he had cut

his hair for he was under a vow, and they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but

he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

So basically, Aquila and Priscilla picked up, went with Paul, they went to Ephesus,

and we see that Paul basically leaves them there at some point.

We do know that he was there in Ephesus for some time, because we see in verse 23, after

spending some, pardon me, that was Antioch, he spent some time there, but we see Aquila

and Priscilla stayed in Ephesus.

One thing, a point here I just wanted to make is they were willing to go, but also willing

to stay in Ephesus for the good of the kingdom.

To me, it took courage to pick up and go, courage for them to pick up and go with Paul,

but also took courage for them to stay, stay in Ephesus without Paul.

So to me, it says a lot about their character, their dedication to the kingdom of God, number

one, that they would pick up and go.

Sometimes family, sometimes location keeps us in one place, and that may be a good thing.

Sometimes it may be a bad thing.

If it's at a place where we can serve the kingdom of God, that's a great thing, but

sometimes it can be a hindrance.

Have you ever talked to people that it's their family or their location that hinders them

from being a Christian or attending services?

Maybe it's the past where I don't know what my grandmother would think or what my grandfather

would think, or I've always attended this church, this faith, and that's a hindrance

from keeping them to entertaining, studying the faith.

Here was Aquila and Priscilla after this time with Paul that they were willing to go, but

they were also willing to stay for the cause of Christ.

We see that they're willing to go several times, and that speaks to their faith, speaks

to their confidence.

They were in a trade that would allow them to travel, would allow them to pick up and

go, but it's apparent that wherever they went, they did it for the cause of Christ

here.

But it's something for us to think about.

Are we willing to go?

Are we willing to stay?

Sometimes staying is difficult work.

Sometimes we see the grass greener on the other side, whether it's through work or whether

it's through the church.

We may see the grass greener, but it may be more difficult to stay and serve where you

are.

But maybe it's that we're needed where we are, and that may be what we need to do.

But it also may be that we could be better used somewhere else, we could better serve

Christ somewhere else, and this is certainly an example of that.

It may be that we can grow more by going.

It may be that we could grow more by staying, but they were willing to do both here.

Then the part that Dale covered with us, they were bold and skilled enough to instruct Apollos

more accurately.

Notice verses 24 through 26, now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.

He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures.

He'd been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and

taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they

took him aside and explained to him the way of the Lord more accurately.

A couple things that we notice from this, and I can't remember if it was Nero or Hiram

that taught something from this, and I'd written some of these notes down in my Bible, but

a couple things that we notice from verse 26, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,

so first of all, we hear that they listened.

Some of the times when we need to get in a discussion with somebody, and it could be

what you consider a confrontation, to me, Aquila and Priscilla exhibited something that

we all need to remember.

First, it's difficult to talk with somebody for them to hear us unless we've heard them

first, and sometimes in heated conversations, the best thing we can do is listen to someone

first and let them get out everything that they want to say, and then they might be in

a better position to hear us.

One thing we do hear about Priscilla and Aquila is that they heard him.

One of the things that they didn't just do is they heard him, they were listening, they

were listening to the point of, hey, he's a talented speaker, he's a good speaker, he's

been instructed in the way of the Lord, but something wasn't just right, it wasn't just

complete.

And if we're careful, someone may be a good speaker, and we listen to them, but we're

not really, really listening to them to critique it against God's word, and that's what Priscilla

and Aquila did here.

They listened to a very talented speaker, but they listened intently to know something

wasn't quite just complete there.

But they were tactful.

We see that they didn't just confront him right up in front of everybody, I think Dale

did a great job covering that part, they were tactful.

They clearly communicated in a way that he could receive it.

Now each person is different what they can receive, and sometimes we miss the mark when

we meet with somebody, when we have to meet with somebody, because each person is different

how they could receive it, and we miss the mark sometimes when we meet with folks.

But Aquila and Priscilla clearly communicated in such a way that he could receive it.

But they worked together as a pair.

This was a model initiated by Jesus to go, he sent out people two by two.

It wasn't always used, certainly not always used by Jesus himself, but certainly a model

that was taught by Jesus, it was demonstrated by Jesus, and here was demonstrated again,

and I think was, in this case, an effective model.

They also did not hold back what needed to be said.

They explained to him the way of God more accurately.

So they didn't hold back, sometimes when we have a confrontation we may get right up to

the edge but not have the courage to say all that needs to be said.

They had the courage to say what needed to be said, and it was effective, but they were

also knowledgeable about the way.

They explained to him the way of God more accurately.

There's a little side trick I'd like to do here.

Notice verse 25, it says that he had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

We see in verse 26 that Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and explained to him the way

of God more accurately.

Let's notice a few things about the way here.

What was in the way, based on the scriptures that we see here?

What were some of the things that were in the way?

All right, baptism was in there.

What else?

Things concerning Jesus.

So he had believed, he had been taught, he had heard those things, and he had believed

those things concerning Jesus.

He was understanding a baptism, but what was lacking in his understanding, Apollos' understanding

there?

A baptism.

Okay.

Garnet?

Okay.

So he knew John's baptism here.

In this particular passage, it didn't further explain what was that about John's baptism,

but if you go down just a few more verses to chapter 19, there's a different situation

here.

Verse chapter 19, verse 1, it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed

through the inland country and came to Ephesus and there he found some disciples and he said

to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

And he said, into what then were you baptized?

They said into John's baptism.

And Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling people to believe in

the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus.

Upon hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

And so there are several things that we see from these verses, some more things about

the way.

What else do we see here from these verses about the way?

Okay.

So the Holy Spirit was involved in the way, all right.

So they didn't understand that the Holy Spirit was even included.

And I think, I can't remember if it was Neil or Hiram that answered that question on Sunday,

but they did a great job covering that part of that.

So we see also that what else was included in teaching about the way?

Okay, believing.

What else?

Okay.

So could someone be baptized wrong?

Yes, this is one of those passages where we could see that someone could be baptized wrong.

Others were baptized in the baptism of John, and that's what Apollos was preaching.

Andy?

So the intent of the baptism was also important.

So there's importance here to consider that.

Let me just quickly hit on a few more things.

If you turn or look down a few more verses, we see in verse eight, and he entered the

synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about what?

The kingdom of God.

So this way, baptism, the kingdom of God, they're all used interchangeably.

Verse nine, but when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of

the way.

So in the passage, in the verse right before, he's talking about the kingdom of God.

Here he's talking about the way.

So we see those used interchangeably here.

He withdrew from them and took the disciples with him.

And then this continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of

the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

So several things we see from this.

We hear belief, teaching about Jesus, repentance.

We see baptism, but baptism that involves the Holy Spirit.

We see the kingdom of God used interchangeably.

In other words, those that believe in the way and obey the way get into the way or getting

into the kingdom of God.

And it's speaking the word of the Lord.

Now there's some other passages, I list them up here, time doesn't permit us to share all

those things that talk about the way, but several of those things talk about way.

Why is that important for us today?

Is it important for us to talk about the way today?

Absolutely.

Let me go through these quickly.

Boy, our time.

I may just have to post that video.

We'll send it to the Cumberland Trace Facebook page, how about that?

But let's notice a few things in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 8 here.

1 Corinthians 16:8

In verse 19 and 20, let me point out those in particular.

The churches at Asia send you greetings, Aquila and Prisca, or Priscilla, together with the

church and their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

All the brothers send you greetings, greet another with a holy kiss.

A couple things I wanted to point out, verse 19, first there, they were hospitable.

They had the church in their home.

Number seven, they had a positive influence on the church.

It says, together with the church and their home, they send you hearty greetings in the

Lord.

All the brothers send you greetings.

And so the church was unified there in this thought.

They were together in that, was led there by Aquila and Priscilla, or met in their home,

and they sent hearty greetings in the Lord.

But number eight, they were connected to churches in other places, even the ones with troubles.

Who was this written to?

The church in Corinth.

Where did Paul and Aquila and Priscilla first meet?

Corinth.

So these were people that they had previously worshiped with, that Paul, they spent a year

and a half there with Paul there.

But now they were a church with problems, some big problems, didn't they?

There in 1 Corinthians, some major problems.

But what was Aquila and Priscilla and Paul's response at the end of this very challenging

letter they wrote to them?

He's together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

I think that's something we need to take note of, that even though this church had some

major problems, problems with worship, problems with teaching, problems with immorality, lots

of problems, but they still sent hearty greetings in the Lord with them.

Paul didn't back down from addressing the problems, not trying to make a point about

that that he was okay with their problems, but he still considered them brothers and

sisters and sent them hearty greetings.

Romans 16, 35, quickly, here they are in Rome.

Paul's writing to the church at Rome, and what does he do?

He sends, in his closing, he sends writings, and he says, hey, greet Prisca and Aquila,

my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only

I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

So here they had moved.

They were active with the new congregation.

This congregation, again, is probably meeting in their home.

But even while apart, they were fellow workers with Paul.

They were willing to risk their own lives for the cause of Christ.

We feel like that probably took place there in Ephesus, in those Ephesus riots, but the

scriptures don't elaborate on that point.

But even when they moved, they became active with the new congregation.

And then lastly, 2 Timothy 4, 19, this is at the end of Paul's life.

He writes, and remember, he's writing to Timothy, and he's wanting Timothy to come

to him quickly.

He wants him to come before winter.

And where does he want Timothy to come to?

Rome.

So this is some time later now, after these other passages were written.

But now Paul's in Rome.

He's in prison in Rome.

He's wanting Timothy to come, but notice in his instructions to Timothy in verse 19, what

does he say?

Greet Prisca and Aquila in the household of Anesiphorus.

Again, here's the congregation, Aquila and Priscilla still serving there.

Even when they moved, again, they're active with the new congregation.

And the last point I want to make there is that Paul wanted them to meet Timothy as well.

We're not told why, but why do you think?

Support and encouragement.

They had been a tremendous encouragement to Paul.

And why wouldn't Paul, even if Timothy doesn't make it before winter, he still wants them

to meet Aquila and Priscilla.

And I think that speaks a lot of them.

I've enjoyed this day.

I hope you have.

And I'll share the video on Facebook of Neil and Ephesus.