Life + Love by Ben StuartSample

Marriage

Marriage is intended to be both a picture of Jesus and a pursuit of Jesus. To live and thrive as a married couple, we’re called to leverage our marriage for God’s mission. Aquila and Priscilla are beautiful examples. 

The latter half of the Book of Acts focuses primarily on the missionary work of Paul. In this passage we find him in the middle of his second missionary journey, when he met this remarkable couple. In a time when the Jewish population was experiencing much unrest, arguing over whether Jesus was the true Christ, the Roman emperor Claudius had driven the Jews, Aquila and Priscilla among them, out of the city of Rome.

Paul was one of the central figures creating unrest as he worked to spread the gospel. Aquila and Priscilla, driven from their homeland to a city called Corinth, might have been frustrated with Paul. After all, it was because of him they had lost their home. But let’s read about their first interaction with Paul.

Aquila and Priscilla let Paul move in! Paul went out every Sabbath to persuade people that Jesus was the Christ. Then he came back to stay with this couple. Paul didn’t just stay with them a couple of nights. He stayed for a year and a half! Remember, Aquila and Priscilla didn’t just take in a nice guy who was their friend. Looking back now, thousands of years later, we would gladly welcome the apostle Paul into our home. He literally met Jesus and wrote much of the New Testament. But at this point in history, Aquila and Priscilla were making a risky move. This move, though, made it obvious they were committed to the mission of Jesus, willing to leverage their home and their safety for the advancement of the gospel. Aquila and Priscilla’s hospitality is the first characteristic that shows us they were a couple who lived on mission for Jesus.

When Paul set sail from Corinth to Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla left with him (see v. 18). When they arrived in Ephesus, Paul left them and returned to Antioch (see vv. 19-22). Why did Paul leave them in Ephesus? Apparently, God had other plans for this married couple. While in Ephesus, they met a man named Apollos.

Apollos was a talented preacher, and Aquila and Priscilla listened to him teach in the synagogue. Though Apollos was talented, his theology was a bit off in his understanding of Christian baptism. Aquila and Priscilla didn’t complain to others in the synagogue about Apollos’s poor theology. They didn’t post a video online to shame him. They didn’t whisper behind his back. They also didn’t wait for Paul or another pastor to arrive and correct him. “They took him aside” without humiliation or public shame, correcting him in a redemptive, edifying way. Their words served to build him up rather than tear him down. Why did they approach Apollos this way? Because their primary concern as a couple was for the gospel to go forth with integrity and power.

Not only were Aquila and Priscilla willing to leverage their home and business for the sake of the gospel, but they also saw every situation as an opportunity for ministry. They took great ownership and care in God’s mission, so they couldn’t let doctrinal error stand. Instead, they lovingly corrected Apollos. This couple embodied living on mission.