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THE TENT MAKERS




 

On Paul’s second missionary journey, while in Corinth, the Apostle met Aquila and Priscilla who soon became faithful partners in life, in business, and in ministry.

 

Since Aquila and Pricilla “were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked” (Acts 18:3). Paul was welcomed into their hospitable home. I suspect that Pricilla cooked delicious meals, and that they often sat around the dining room table late in the evening sharing stories. “He stayed with them.”

 

He also “worked” with them. Paul didn’t depend upon others to provide for his needs, rather he “labored and toiled, working night and day, so that (he) would not be a burden” (2 Thessalonians 3:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:9). Together, as craftsmen and artisans, Aquila, Pricilla, and Paul worked tirelessly with wool woven from goat hair, or with leather tanned by other tradesmen and thereby earned enough money to supply their needs.

 

They stayed together. They worked together. And they ministered together.

 

After remaining in Corinth for “a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them” (Acts 18:11), Paul departed for Ephesus, accompanied by Aquila and Pricilla (Acts 18:18). When Paul traveled back to Antioch, he left Aquila and Pricilla as faithful and strong leaders in the local assembly of believers at Ephesus (Acts 18:18-23).

 

At Ephesus, Aquila and Pricilla met “a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). Apollos was eloquent, but his theology was deficient. “He knew only John’s baptism” (Acts 18:25).

“After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately” (Acts 18:26). They didn’t argue with him. They didn’t belittle him. They loved him and discipled him.

 

Later, when Paul wrote his epistle to the church in Rome, he promised to come visit. In closing, he wrote: “Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life. Not only do I thank them, but so do all the Gentile churches. Greet also the church that meets in their home” (Romans 16:3-5).

 

Apparently, Aquila and Pricilla moved to Rome where they won converts to Christ Jesus and established a church that met in their home.

 

They weren’t just tentmakers… they were Jesus’ tentmakers.

 

“… think on these things”(Philippians 4:8, KJV).




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