Well, we're reading from Acts chapter 18, and the first four verses. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. And he came to them. So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. Amen. Father, I thank You for Your Word, and as we dig into yet another biographical study, would You guide my lips and enable each one of us to grow in You, and may we glorify You with the responses to Your Word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, so far we have looked at 20 different women in this series of Women on Faith. And in the process, we have seen the incredible creativity of God in so many different kinds of women. Women with different personalities, and looks, and gifts, and energy levels, and ministries, and even different kinds of homes. God did not put women through a donut machine where they all come out looking the same. He was so, so creative. And when we examine the life of Priscilla, and we've had to caution you on this, you can't imitate what every woman in the Bible does. We're going to see that Priscilla is a woman who would wear most of you women out, okay? You're not going to be able to imitate all of the things that she did. Not every woman is up to the kind of lifestyle that she had, the travel that she had, the massive numbers of people that traipse through her living room every single Sunday, the stresses of ministry. She was married to a pastor, but it was not just any ordinary pastor. Aquila was a church planter on steroids. I think you're gonna get a real appreciation for Aquila by the time this sermon is done as well, but don't think you're gonna be able to imitate everything that Priscilla did. We'll look at a few characteristics that all of us can and should imitate, but let's start by looking at her background. Priscilla and her husband shared a common Jewish ancestry and were both already very, very mature Christians by the time that Paul met them in Corinth. I'm going to read the first two verses again. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and he came to them. Now just those two verses give us a bunch of clues on the background of this remarkable couple. First of all, their Jewish background would have given them a huge head start theologically. Okay, because as Jews, they'd already be familiar with all of the Old Testament Bible stories, and a lot of the theology of the Old Testament, and the laws of God. And yes, the apostles would have to correct some of the faulty traditions that the Jews had, but because of their knowledge of the Scriptures, they would be able to raise up leadership much more quickly. And this is one of the reasons why Paul made it a habit in every city that he went to, to preach to the Jews first, And then after he made a beachhead there, then to go off to the Gentiles. And right out of the chute, when he comes to this Jewish community, he discovers that Aquila and Priscilla are Christians, very strong Christians. And so I think one of the questions that we need to ask is, why on earth would strong Christians go to a city where there is no church and indeed a city that is actually a sewer in the entire empire? Even among the pagans, it had a horrible, horrible reputation. Generally speaking, it's not a wise idea. Ordinarily, your reason for moving to a city should not be, hey, there's a great job there. If there's no church, we normally advise people, unless they've got good reasons otherwise, to not go. Don't go because of the job. Make sure you've got a good church and a good support team. But that's not obviously always the case. It's generally wise advice, but this situation was different. Aquila was a special kind of pastor known as an evangelist who had already planted one church in Rome and would very quickly be planting churches in Corinth and in Ephesus within a decade. And so a maxim that might be true of one person, don't go to a town that has no church, might not be true of another. We shouldn't be quick to judge. God can definitely lead people for different reasons. Now, the first reason why they moved was that he had actually been kicked out of the city of Rome, and it wasn't for a vaccine mandate. Verse 2 explains it was a similarly arbitrary decree that had been handed down by Claudius, Ours is not the only age where decrees from on high can come down and totally ruin a business. I have run across quite a number of people who have lost their businesses, restaurants that have been closed down. I have actually a relative I just found out a couple of days ago who lost her job because her exemption that she filed for at the hospital was not accepted. And so there is a lot of people who have suffered under the COVID-19 tyranny. Well, Aquila and Priscilla could definitely sympathize. They lost their business that they had in Rome. The Roman historians, Tonius tells us why. He said, since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Crestus, he expelled them from Rome. Crestus is a reference to Jesus Christ. And so what Suetonius was saying is that the preaching of Jesus in the city of Rome created constant riots among the Jews. And Claudius was so fed up with all of these disturbances that rather than trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong, He found it easier to just kick all of the Jews out of the city, whether they believed in Jesus or not. And so Aquila and Priscilla were forced to leave, and they had just recently arrived in Corinth. But since Paul did not convert them, Commendators point out that they were already Christians in Rome, and indeed may very well have been one of the reasons for those riots among the Jews in the city of Rome. Aquila and Priscilla were committed, and we're going to be seeing this very strongly, they were committed to promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ in Rome. As soon as they come to Corinth, they're committed to promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ in Corinth. And so this forced migration was used by God to extend the church. And we can trust that God is sovereign over even tyrannical acts today. He can extend His kingdom. He is the sovereign who rules over all, whether those tyrannical acts are in Australia, where quite a number of businessmen are facing really, really tough times. or whether it's in China or in Germany or in America, God's providences can actually be a part of His guidance. So even though we are living in times that are pretty stressful for some people, we need not fear. God is totally in charge. Now, one other thing that everyone notices about this couple is that their names, both names, are always mentioned every single time one of them is present. It's almost like they are an inseparable team. Where some husbands and wives are constantly out of sync with each other, these two function beautifully together, almost like, you know, a dancing couple on a ballroom floor. They're an ideal team, and we're going to look at some of the evidence. First of all, it's interesting, as I mentioned, that all six references show the two of them together. But it's also interesting that half of the references have Priscilla named first, and half of them have Aquila named first, almost as if they equally contributed to some of these tasks. Now, I'm going to be looking in a little bit as to why those names are reversed in certain passages. I think there was a logic to it. But let me quickly highlight the order in all of the passages where their names occur. Verse 2 mentions Aquila…with his wife Priscilla. Verse 18, Priscilla and Aquila. Verse 26, Aquila and Priscilla, at least in the majority text. Only 2% of the Greek manuscripts have that reversed. Romans 16.3, Priscilla and Aquila. 1 Corinthians 16.19, Aquila and Priscilla. 2 Timothy 4.19, Prisca and Aquila, with Prisca being the formal version of the name Priscilla. Now that easy exchange of the order of names may indicate that neither Paul nor Luke wanted to give intentional preference to either one, but I think there's actually more going on with this usage of names. Since it was customary back in those days to list the man first, It can be deduced that Priscilla was really the more remarkable of the two in some ways. In any case, they beautifully illustrate how they were partners together in ministry. Now, in verse 3 of our passage, Luke doesn't just identify Aquila as the tentmaker, okay? It says they were tentmakers. So Paul joins them in their trade. Now, if both Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers, it means that they worked together in this skilled manual labor. And some people already get a little bit troubled over this. They think, well, that's not the place for the woman. Woman's place is in the kitchen. But no, they're both working together on this trade. Already we're beginning to see that Priscilla breaks some of the stereotypes that we Bible-believing Christians down through the centuries have tried to fit all women into. Is it true that men must be the sole breadwinners? No. No. He may be the primary breadwinner, but he doesn't have to be the only breadwinner. Proverbs 31 shows a wife who contributed enormously to the economic growth of the family. Martha and Mary, and Mary the mother of Jesus, commentators point out, hired themselves out to manage banquets on occasion. Once Lydia lost her husband she ran the business all by herself. The man in Isaiah 44 verse 15 baked bread in the kitchen, he was in the kitchen. Ezekiel 4 verse 15 we see Ezekiel baking bread. And I bring those points up to say that we do need to be very careful about stereotypes that the Bible itself does not set, and not make straitjackets for people where we're trying to force people to fit our particular preferences. When we looked at Eve, we saw that both Adam and Eve were given the dominion mandate. Now, of course, we also saw that one of the principles of economics is division of labor and specialization. Okay? You get much more done if there is division of labor and specialization. So I'm not against that at all. Not saying anything negative, not knocking that. It's likely that there was some division of labor and specialization even in the way in which they're both involved in the tent making. Could be that they both equally knew all of the parts of the trade, but you'd get even more done if each one specialized in what they either did or oversaw among their servants in the different parts of the tent making process. And by the way, we tend to think of tent making as just making these things that you live in. That Greek word is actually used of people who worked in all kinds of leather products. including belts and horses' reins and clothing and anything related to leather. But the main point is that they acted as a team, and ballroom dancing is, I think, the metaphor that best describes them. And I think it's worthwhile for husbands and wives, once in a while, to discuss, you know, how effective they are. Can we improve our game as to teamwork? Is the division of labor working well, or should there be some adjustment to the roles? And I'll give you some guidance on that later. But here's the point. It's not a Victorian ideal that should govern our role relationships. It's the Bible. Now, moving on, verse two says that they were previously in the city of Rome. What were they doing there? Well, all commentators say they were tent making there as well. But almost all the commentators say that because of the strong connection that both of them had with the church of Rome, it is very likely that they were a part of the original team that had just recently planted a church in Rome. They not only had a house church in Rome, but they soon had one in Corinth, they later have a house church in Ephesus, and then they return back to Rome again. and have a house church there, and then they go back to Ephesus again. There's a lot of moving we're going to be seeing. And because they are so familiar with the church of Rome, it is my belief that Paul's interest in and knowledge about Rome came from Priscilla and Aquila. I mean, he hung around with them a great deal, and he seems to know a lot about Rome and longs to go see them, and has heard so many good things about them. Well, I think he got those from Priscilla and Aquila. So Aquila seems to be an ordained evangelist who was planting churches before he even met Paul. Once that friendship was established, he accompanied Paul on part of Paul's missions trip, but he actually ended up staying in Ephesus. for beginning of a church plant, and then Paul returned to meet him there. And it really takes a special kind of wife to be able to put up with a person with a cull like Aquila Hatt. It's really a small minority of women who could do what she did. And the point is, when you are looking for a spouse, you need to examine what your calling before God is. Is she a match for my calling? Am I a match for her calling? You need to examine like that. I've seen too many marriages where people got married just because they fell in love, and the wife held the man back from his calling. we can miss our calling in the Lord. Even the apostle Paul said that he could become disqualified from his office of apostle. And marriage is one of those things that can deviate us from God's calling in our life. Just as a strange, weird example of God called you to be a missionary to headhunters, you better be very, very careful that the wife that you pick is robust enough to be able to handle that kind of a difficult calling. Anyway, pastor and wife, evangelist and wife, even the apostles and their wives acted as a team. Now the women were not ordained, but they were definitely very involved in the ministry of their husbands. In verses 1-4, They no doubt attempted to do evangelistic work in Corinth just before the Apostle Paul arrived. And based on what they later do, it seems that what they were involved in continually was leveraging both their business and their house to advance the cause of the gospel. And we need to get used to seeing our businesses and our homes as tools for Christ, not just for self-enrichment. Okay? Everything that we have and are belongs to Christ. We're stewards of it. Everything needs to revolve around Christ. And we saw from the Proverbs 31 woman and Salome and Lydia that business and home do not need to be in conflict with each other. They don't. And we saw from Peter's wife that the home can be a tremendous platform for ministry outreach. She had multitudes coming into her home. And we saw that Peter's home was the base of operations for Christ's ministry any time that he was in Capernaum. Well, something similar appears to be happening with Priscilla and Aquila. They extended hospitality. They leveraged their home and their business in such a way that people were coming to Christ through both vehicles. And you know what? The Lausanne Missions Movement has been recognizing the importance of this in recent years, and they have really been emphasizing the importance of using business to penetrate into especially closed countries. Even closed countries need businessmen and businesswomen And so Priscilla and Aquila are yet another example of how business can be used to penetrate a new area with the gospel. Now let's read verse 18. It says, So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. And we'll stop there. When Paul moved on, both Priscilla and Aquila were with him, and this means that Priscilla needed to be flexible enough that she was able to pull up roots and move any time that the Spirit of God said, move. Now, they had previously left Rome for Corinth near the end of AD 49, or January of A.D. 50 at the very, very latest, but I think it was right at the end of A.D. 49. And they helped plant a church in Corinth, and then they left in verse 18 within two years for Ephesus. Now Paul often gets the credit for planting the church of Ephesus, but as Thistleton proves Aquila and Priscilla ministered there just slightly ahead of him. Thistleton says, when Paul arrived or traveled to Ephesus in the summer of AD 52, once again, it was Prisca and Aquila who were there ahead of him to prepare a welcome. And not content with that church plant, they go on to plant another. Within five years, they've established another house church in Rome. And yet within another eight years, they've returned to Ephesus to minister there once more. So that's a lot of moves and upheavals of both business and home. within a decade. Not every wife is up to that, but Priscilla was. And for those of you who insist that a wife must stay at home, and by that you mean within the locality of a house, I would ask you, where was home for the apostles? and their wives. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 5, don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? So in the case of the constantly moving apostles, home was wherever the husband was. So we might need to adjust our thinking of what it means for a wife to manage a home. For some wives, the home was a moving target. It was a difficult thing to be a part of. Priscilla and Aquila traveled as a team, and it takes a special kind of a woman to do that. But there was also the benefit that as they traveled together, they could minister to each other. They could uphold each other. They could jointly minister to other people. And that's what they did in verse 26. And actually, I'm going to begin reading at verse 24. Now, if you have an ESV, you will notice that they reverse the order of the names. But again, I'm following the New King James here, which I mentioned earlier, 98% of Greek manuscripts have it the same way that the New King James does. Now, a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." Now, I want you to notice the word, they. They were both involved in this explaining of doctrine. And there are some who believe that Priscilla was in sin in doing this, since they believe wrongly that this is contradicting Paul's admonition in 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, which says this, I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. You know what, there was no hint whatsoever that Paul or Luke disapproved of what Priscilla did under the leadership of Aquila, whose name is listed first in the majority text. Now, when we get to our applications at the end of the sermon, I'm going to get into more detail, but right now I'll just give you a hint of where we're going. I think a lot of this can be explained just by the fact that the meaning of the term for teach, didasco, is much, much different than the meaning of the term for explain, which is ectetheime. The first word carries with it ideas of discipleship and formal teaching, whereas the second word carries with it the ideas of private conversation, communication of information. So on that first term, generally it's men who disciple men, it's women who disciple women, though obviously pastors do disciple the entire congregation, but anyone anyone can engage in informal conversation about any doctrine. So if a bunch of you were at a table here, or you're at our house in the living room, and you're hearing a very interesting conversation, you know, about biblical ethics being applied to some part of culture, maybe the COVID-19 tyranny, or you're hearing some doctrinal controversy being discussed, the women don't have to check out of the conversation. Not at all. Just as we saw with Mary Magdalene, Priscilla was very comfortable involving herself in doctrinal conversations, even when there were disagreements, as there were certainly disagreements between Mary Magdalene, we saw, and the apostles, who didn't believe that the resurrection, and they wouldn't believe Mary Magdalene. All of the women said, no, it's just the way she said it, you know? So anyway, they did get involved, even when there were disagreements. And that this was a conversation and not formal teaching could be seen not only by the Greek word ektithimi, but by the fact the text makes very clear they took him aside, they talked to him privately, and she wasn't alone with him, she was with her husband. So if you think of it like a ballroom dance, I think you have a good idea of what went on. And I'll talk about this controversy a bit more when we get to the end of the sermon, but I wanna move on to some other descriptions of this husband and wife team. Next verse, Romans 16, 3. It says, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Now, no one would accuse the Presbyterian scholar John Murray of being a feminist, and yet even in his commentary, he's about as conservative as you could get on these things. Even in his commentary, he acknowledges that this label, fellow workers in Christ Jesus, cannot be restricted to tent making alone. After mentioning that theory, he says, but in view of verses 9 and 21, we must regard the cooperation as referring to joint labor in the gospel, in the bond of union and fellowship with Christ. Here we have another example of the contribution made by a woman, Prisca, in the work of the gospel and of the church. Compare verses 6 and 12. Within the limits prescribed by Paul elsewhere, compare 1 Corinthians 11, 14, 1 Timothy 2, 8 through 15. And we'll get to those limits later on. But we cannot miss the fact that Priscilla was a fellow worker with Paul in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. How did she do it? Well, we aren't given a lot of details, but we do have some hints. For example, and this is the next point and the next scripture, 1 Corinthians 16, 19 says, the churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. Now, this means that in AD 55, which is the year that 1 Corinthians was written, they had already had a house church. That means that within three years of leaving Corinth and arriving in Ephesus, where Paul was visiting when he wrote 1 Corinthians, their gospel outreach had been a tremendous success in Ephesus. They had a viable church meeting in their home in that city too. And by the way, you'll notice that the home was not just in Aquila's name. They both owned the house, according to the Greek. It's biblical for a husband and wife to own a home, contrary to the opinion of some hyper-patriarchalists. But let's just do a little bit more synthesis. Authors have deduced several things about Aquila and Priscilla from the facts that we have looked at so far. First of all, they must have been fairly wealthy. This means that their tent making was not a hole-in-the-wall shoe shop, okay? This was likely a thriving international trade that required employees. marketing and travel and connections with related trades. I mean, they were entrepreneurs on an international basis. I think it's pretty clear this was not as lucrative a job as what Lydia had, but it was still quite profitable. It also explains why all their houses were large enough to be able to accommodate a church. not just a small group, but a church. And that would require a rather large house, much like the house that Peter owned, and that archeology has recently discovered right next to the synagogue, just like the Gospels say Peter's house was right next to the synagogue. It also shows that both of them likely had tremendous people skills that enabled them, you know, to be able to bridge gaps and gain the confidence of people fairly quickly. And at least one of them had to have the gift of evangelism, You know, so they're winning people to Christ through ever-growing business contacts. And it also shows that their business was not an end in itself, okay? It was a tool for Christ's kingdom. And as already mentioned, business still remains one of the most significant means of outreach in closed countries. But within another five years, they must have felt that the church in Ephesus was in good hands, and so Priscilla and Aquila traveled back to Rome, The ban on the Jews had been lifted by that time, with Nero, who had been in office for one year, absolutely packing his whole administration with Jews. And he married a Jewess. And you might wonder why the sudden change from no Jews allowed in Rome, and now all of a sudden they're everywhere. It was because of the pressure from the international bankers, of which the Sadducees had a dominant role. And there was a huge pressure on the emperor. So they had a lot of influence. Anyway, when Paul wrote to the Roman churches in 1857, we find that in less than two years, this missionary duo had already established yet another house church in their home. Romans 16, 3-5 says this. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house." Now, the fact that the churches of the Gentiles were super grateful for these people shows we don't have all of the facts on Priscilla and Aquila. They must have done things that are not even recorded in the book of Acts. We only have some hints. And one of the hints is that eight years later, we find that they had returned to Ephesus to minister there. In 2 Timothy 4.19, Paul tells Timothy, greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Anesiphorus. So they were able to get around a great deal. But all of this travel and church planting makes it clear that their main goal was evangelistic and establishing churches, and their tent making helped them to accomplish that goal. Now we can make some additional conclusions from the facts that we have gathered thus far. First, Priscilla and Aquila did not live in separate, insulated worlds. You know, the world of the female and the world of the male. Certainly we've seen from past sermons that there are distinctly male roles and distinctly female roles that God has ordained, but it certainly did not fit the pattern of the Pharisees. You know, they had much greater restrictions. For example, they didn't want, you can see a lot of quotes from the Jews of that day, the Jewish rabbis. They did not want women learning. And yet women learned. They sat at the feet of Jesus, like Mary. And it shows Mary Magdalene and many other women following Jesus, ministering to Him. And Priscilla illustrates how women can work with their men, dialogue with their men in a tag-teaming way. And let me quote from Elizabeth Bodkin here. I think she summarized it rather well. She said Priscilla is a neat corrective to the idea that all activities, like French nouns, should be gendered. Only women should cook. Only men should kill bad guys. Only women should wash dishes. Only men should take out the trash. With Priscilla and Aquila, they're both making tents, they're both talking to Apollos about doctrine, they're both risking their lives to help Paul, and they're both helping to host plant churches. And yet we know that there are differences in how they are doing these things, and that Priscilla is not crossing any lines. Now before we end the sermon by demonstrating how she was super comfortable within her roles of female without feeling like they were a straight jacket at all, let me look at a few more characteristics that I think fill out a better picture of who she was. Paul says that both she and her husband were brave. In Romans 16, 4, he says, who risked their own necks for my life. This means that they rescued Paul from death in a situation that was so dangerous that they could have easily both died in the process of trying to rescue Paul. We aren't told when or where they did that. There are all kinds of theories that have been put forth, like the riots in Acts 19 and various arrests and sentences of death. But whichever event it is, and some commentators say it was probably an event that's not even recorded in Acts, but whichever event it was, Priscilla and Aquila were quite prepared to lay down their lives in order to rescue Paul. That speaks of bravery and courage, a virtue that we should aspire to have for the sake of Christ. A second characteristic they both had was that they were adventurous. Now, not everybody is going to be like my brother, traveling all over the world. They don't have the travel bug in them. But to travel as much as they did meant lots of planning, and packing, and purchasing, and selling, and arranging of boat fares, and facing all of the risks and the adventures of ancient travel. And we need to be thankful that God has enabled some people to be able to do that. I don't like doing that kind of thing. But I'm very thankful that there are people who can do that. But I think all of us should at least be inspired to get out of our comfort zone once in a while for the sake of Christ. Every once in a while, even if it's only once a year, just ask yourself or ask the Lord, Lord, is there something you want me to do for you that gets out of my comfort zone? We need to challenge ourselves in that area. The third characteristic I see from the various passages we have read is that they were sacrificial. They opened their home to Paul's large missionary team, but also to at least three churches, and many commentators say four, and some say even more churches that met there. Their home seemed to always be the base of some kind of ministry. This means sacrificing privacy. Oh yeah, you do that kind of thing, you've kind of lost a lot of your privacy. So sacrificing privacy, comfort, energy, and finances. Having church in your home means a lot of wear and tear to the home. It means expenditure of plenty of energy. Engaging in hospitality like they did is not cheap. Traveling like they did is not cheap. And whatever was involved in rescuing Paul, it involved personal sacrifice as well. Now, again, not all of you are going to be able to sacrifice to the same degree that they sacrificed, but all of us should be willing from time to time, as God calls us, to sacrifice our comfort, privacy, energy, and finances to the kingdom, at least to some degree. A fourth characteristic that we can imitate is that they were hardworking. Like Paul, Aquila was bivocational. in part because he had to be. They were always on the cusp of reaching an unreached area and then going on to reach another unreached area, which means that the churches that they planted until they got established would not be able to support them that well. But forget about the finances. Just think of the enormous amount of work that would be involved in doing what they did. We really need to teach all of our children from the youngest ages to work hard, to develop a Protestant work ethic. We need to model a hardworking ethic into their lives as well, because I'll guarantee you the kingdom of God does not grow without hard work. It takes hard work. A fifth characteristic is that they were both theologically competent. It is obvious that both of them explained doctrine to Apollos. Priscilla didn't leave the study of theology to her husband. She had a deep, deep interest in studying the Bible. And we've seen in previous sermons that there are other women who studied theology. And down through church history, there have been many women who have been incredibly academically gifted studying theology. And though God calls husbands to wash their wives with the water of the word and to disciple their families and to lead devotions and family worship, that is a man's role, right? It doesn't mean that the woman is just a vacuous receptacle into which all of this wisdom comes from the husband. No way. You know, when Paul taught, he was one of the greatest teachers, but he praised the Bereans for not just accepting everything that he said. He praised them for checking everything against the Scriptures. And it's very obvious that both Aquila and Priscilla were thinkers. They were evaluating everything against the touchstone of the Bible. Because when they heard Apollos teach, much as they recognized he was a powerful preacher, They also immediately recognized a few mistakes that needed to be corrected. And by the way, we pastors need to be open to correction. It's really a sad sign when elders are not open to being challenged or being corrected. And just as Jesus authorized Mary Magdalene to correct the false ideas that the apostles had about the resurrection, Priscilla was engaged in doing something similar, yet within the bounds that God's law lays out. And we'll look at those bounds in a moment. But it's important for our women to be theologically sound. Study doctrine. Study biblical law, biblical history, biblical worldview. It will come in so handy for your women, your day-to-day decisions. The more you study these things, the more hooks you're going to be able to hang things on and make wise decisions. Sixth, she didn't compete with her husband. Rather, there appears to be a synergy of their efforts together, and this is probably because of the way They complemented each other with their knowledge and their gifts and their abilities. No one person can do it all. Now, it is my belief that the ideal marriage ordinarily Not always, maybe, but ordinarily should be able to accomplish more together than those same two people being separate and unmarried. We call this synergy. You young people will likely marry a person who's stronger than you in some areas and weaker than you in some areas, but when you get married, your mutual strengths will help to compensate and you're actually going to be able to get more done. And the best illustration of synergy that I have seen is watching draft horses pull loads at competitions. My favorite videos have come from the Calgary Stampede up in Canada. And one of the videos I watched back in 2012 was of a team of horses that pulled 13,400 pounds of dead weight on a skid. Now, for dead weight, that's pretty impressive. I think the world record of what draft a pair of draft horses could pull in a wagon was close to a hundred thousand pounds Wagon was pulled by a pair of Shire draft horses in 1924, but here's the point that I'm using to illustrate on this Two draft horses can pull not twice as much as you might expect, but three times more than the individual horses harnessed by themselves. And if they're well-trained, they can pull upwards of four times more than what one horse can pull. That's what we call synergy, right? By working as a team, you can do much more. And that is true of a good marriage. Kathy and I have been able to accomplish far more together as a team than we could possibly have been able to do when unmarried. Now, on the other hand, I have seen some pastors who have had such needy wives that they accomplish less being married than before they were married. So, marry well if you're going to get married. Look for a synergy. By the way, do not, when I say marry well, you're going to take this out of context, do not be looking for a perfect spouse. You're not going to find a perfect spouse because you're not a perfect spouse, okay? We're all going to have our weaknesses, but look for people, a person who will complement you, who will fit your calling. That's what we're talking about. Now, The last characteristic of Priscilla that I want to mention is that she breaks the stereotypes of hyper-gendered spheres of life. She was good in the home, and she was good in business. She was good in private, and she was good in having a public church in their home. Okay? She was good in travel. She was good in laying down roots for a time. She was not your ordinary wife, which means not all of you are going to be able to relate to her. That's okay. But at least she helps to fill out the picture that we've been trying to paint over the past 20 sermons of what women of faith can look like. Now before we get to some additional applications, let me reiterate how important quadperspectivalism, let's all say that together, quadperspectivalism, quadperspectivalism, it's a hard word, but it's an important one, how important this is in biographical sermons. As I've analyzed the women of faith in this series, I've tried very, very hard not to confuse the four aspects of ethics in quadperspectivalism. Just because a woman of faith did something in a given situation—so that'd be the personal perspective and the situational perspective—does not mean that it's right. There are bad things that good people have done, especially if you know that it's violated the biblical norm. So all four aspects of ethics need to be accounted for before we can imitate a person in the Bible. And let me list those four perspectives for you. The normative perspective looks at the direct commands of God and of his prophets. It deals not just with God's law, but also whether God elsewhere approves of something or commands something. That's the normative perspective. It gives God norms or his commands. The teleological perspective analyzes what the Bible says about the consequences of an action or inaction. as well as righteous goals, and whether a given action is worthwhile in God's eyes. So, for example, in 1 Corinthians, Paul says that not all lawful things, lawful would be in the realm of the normative perspective, right? Not all lawful things are expedient, helpful, or edified. Those three terms deal with the teleological perspective. So he said, not all lawful things are worthwhile doing. So in 1 Corinthians, Paul instructs us to not only look at whether we're violating the law of God, if we're not, we still need to ask, is my liberty worthwhile, expedient, helpful, edifying? These instructions are all dealing with teleology, which is such an important part of ethics. The situational perspective amounts to the historical background into which God is speaking. So, It's lawful to bless your neighbor, but if you do it in the wrong situation, Proverbs says, like 2 a.m. in the morning, early in the morning, and you do it with bad motives, with a loud voice, trying to irritate your neighbor, all of a sudden something that's good becomes a sin, right? So you've got to make sure your actions meet the biblical criteria describing various situations. And then the Bible says the norms have to be seen in the context of who is being spoken to. That's the personal perspective. So, for example, when Paul said, if anyone will not work, neither should he eat, he's not talking about babies or invalids. He was talking about able-bodied people who were busy bodies, you know, and lazy. So it was a norm given to specific people, okay? That's the personal dimension. And so, just as another example, when I was preaching on Mary Magdalene, I did not want you women to feel guilty if you're not involved in full-time ministry. She was unique. You know, she was independently wealthy. She was different. And both feminists and hyper-patriarchalists have failed to account for all four perspectives when looking at Priscilla. For example, Harold Hohner uses Priscilla as proof that women can be pastors and teachers. And I look and look and look at the passages that they're looking at. There's nothing about pastors or teachers in those contexts. Others look for her as a proof that women can be apostles, okay? But in doing this, these authors completely overturn a direct command or norm in 1 Timothy 2.12, where God says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. But before we go to the opposite extreme and say, okay, then Priscilla was in sin, When she did what she did, we should realize that Luke, by inspiration, seems to approve of what Priscilla was doing. And it's very similar to the communication of truth that Christ actually commanded Mary Magdalene to give to the apostles. So if Christ is commanding those kind of things, they ought to be able to be reconciled with Paul's norm, and they can be. So hopefully you can see where we're heading here. So with that as a background, let me end by answering five questions that two people have brought up to me concerning Priscilla. By the way, the reason I'm preaching on Priscilla is because I've been requested to. It's like, how in the world do we deal with this? Okay, well, I think it's a good idea. The first question is this, does Priscilla overturn the role relationships laid out by the Apostle Paul? And obviously my answer is no. Indeed, the very order of the names in each unique situation strongly hints at this. So let's go through all six. Acts 18.2, Aquila is placed first. What's the situation? Well, the two things being highlighted there may explain why his name is put first. Those verses are describing their move from Rome and their business. So Aquila was no doubt the authority who decided where they were going to move to, and Aquila was no doubt the authority, the boss of the business. And did they work together as a team? Did he take, you know, acknowledge all of her contributions? Absolutely, yes, but the buck stops somewhere. Someone has to make the final decision, and it appears that the buck stopped with Aquila. This upholds the principle that the husband is the leader and the authority in the family. Does he get input from his wife? Absolutely. He would be stupid not to. In verse 18, Priscilla is mentioned first. What's the context? Well, there's nothing in the context that would imply authority. It just mentions that they were travel companions to Paul, Luke, and the rest of Paul's team. Let me read that. It says, Paul…sailed for Assyria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. So you need to scratch your head and ask, why in this context would Priscilla be the first name that comes to Luke's mind? Obviously he's inspired, so the Holy Spirit's guiding him on this. She's the first one that comes to his mind. Well, maybe she was the more dominant personality, or maybe she was the more fun personality to be around, or maybe she was, of the two of them, the more helpful to make that a very pleasant trip for Paul's team. We aren't told why, but in some way, she is highlighted as more significant on this trip. And by the way, this is somewhat related to this. Her fun personality may be hinted at in the fact that five out of the six times that her name is listed, it is Priscilla, not Prisca. Okay, Prisca is the very formal name, and Priscilla is the diminutive name. So it'd be sort of like, calling Daniel Danny. Danny's the diminutive. Okay, that's what you use when you're really close friends, you know, you're comfortable hanging around together. And so commentators have pointed out that both Luke and Paul, by the use of this name, are obviously on very friendly and comfortable terms with her, despite the fact that she may have been an aristocrat. Now, we don't know that for a fact. There are some commentators who have gotten some clues, and I've not been able to dig to the bottom of that. But for some reason, she is the one who seems to be the more noticed of the two in the context of traveling. And I personally think she was the fun conversationalist. She was the fun one to be around. In verse 26, Aquila is mentioned first in the majority text. What's the context? It's correcting a very prominent and gifted teacher, Apollos. Both were involved in correcting his doctrine in private, but Aquila takes the lead, and Priscilla fits into and supports Aquila's leadership role. Now, I will admit, since it's a private situation, you know, this whole textual critical thing, which order it was, I guess really is not a hill you have to die on. But I'm just, I'm a majority text man. And I think of it sort of like ballroom dancing. Though Aquila no doubt took the lead, Priscilla entered into the discussion with confidence as well, contributing things that Aquila may have missed. In Romans 16.3, Priscilla is mentioned first. What's the context? It's greetings. He is expressing his love and appreciation for a number of people in Rome who stand head and shoulders above everyone else. Both labored in the gospel with Paul. Both risked their lives for Paul. Both are super appreciated by the Gentile churches, he says. But there's something even more special about Priscilla. In any case, she could be mentioned first because there's no mention of authority, church, or home. In 1 Corinthians 16.19, Aquila is mentioned first. What's the context? the church that is in their home that they planted. So it makes sense that the church planter who was the authority in that church would be mentioned first. Though both are very obviously involved in that church plant, I mean, it's in their home, right? She's an indispensable part of that home. Aquila is mentioned first because he was the official church leader, church planter, and head of the home. In 2 Timothy 4.19, Priscilla is mentioned first. What's the context? Well, there actually is no context. He's simply giving greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, who are obviously a huge help to Timothy in Ephesus. But again, the fact she is mentioned first in a context where there could be no potential confusion over authority or office, shows to me that in Paul's mind, Priscilla is the first one that comes to his mind. Again, whether it's because she's the more dominant personality, the more fun personality, or constantly there to help in some way, no one knows for sure. Now, putting all of the commands of Scripture, so we're dealing with trying to pull all the strands of quad-perspectivalism together, putting together the commands of Scripture, the trajectory, the unique personalities, the situations, we can say at least the following conclusions about the ministry of both in home and church. Paul did not see Priscilla as the leader. Aquila was. But would the home and church have been as warm without her? I doubt it. I don't normally talk about Kathy and me from the pulpit, but I'm going to take a risk and talk about how both of us, just by way of comparison, were contributors to home and church. I find it fascinating to see which one of us our children call for various reasons. When the kids just want to talk, they call Kathy. She is the better conversationalist of the two of us. My answers are very, very short, and it's like, it's hard to have a 10-minute conversation. She's fun to talk with. When they are calling us for some important decision that needs to be made, they talk to both of us, because we both give our perspectives. When they've got an ethical question or a theological question, they call me. I mean, it just makes sense given our unique giftings, okay? When we homeschooled, I was obviously the vision caster and leader, the overall approver of our homeschool curriculum. But Kathy, frankly, implemented it way, way better than me. I checked up on the kids, see how they were doing. I did troubleshooting. But we complemented each other as a team. When we planted the church up in Smithland, Iowa, when we later planted this church, Kathy was an indispensable part of the success of both. I guarantee you I could not have done either church plant without her. It would have just been too overwhelming. But I was the church planter, not her. But was she a fellow laborer? Absolutely, yes. Anybody who knew us week by week would know we both played indispensable roles. Well, that's the way I see it with Priscilla and Aquila. The point is that leadership, which is what everybody seems to get hung up on, leadership isn't everything to the success of a team, not by a long shot, okay? Aquila respected his wife's opinions, labors, and huge contributions to relationships and outreach and conversation and ministry success, and so did Luke and Paul. The second question in your outlines I've already answered, haven't I? How can a woman help in church planting efforts without crossing lines? So we'll skip over that. Third question. How can a woman teach, disciple, share knowledge without crossing lines? And I might add, what are those lines? I'm not going to get into all of the lines, but if you read 1 Timothy 2 and Titus 2, you'll see that women should dress differently, pray differently, teach differently. It's not that one can teach and the other can't teach. No, Titus 2 commands women to teach, exactly the same Greek word. They're teaching women though, right? And 1 Timothy commands them not to teach men. So it's not that one can teach and the other cannot teach. In 1 Timothy 2 they're prohibited from teaching men. Titus, they're commanded to teach men. And by the way, some people in 1 Timothy 2, they try to say the only kind of teaching that's prohibited is authoritative teaching. No, no, no, no. Paul has two commands that he gives there. He says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. And the or is ou-de, and not, not this and not that. She can neither teach nor can she exercise any authority over the man. So, and I will say too, some people say, well, that's just in the church. But women can be presidents of the United States. And, you know, Robert will give you some really good arguments why that cannot be the case. No, if you look at the context of 1 Timothy 2, verses 13 through 14, Paul is appealing to things that are outside the church, to prove his point, right? He's appealing to Adam being the first one who is given the dominion mandate, and God expects him to teach Eve. And then he goes to childbearing, which is something uniquely female as an example of role modeling. It's totally outside the confines of the Church, so it seems to be a universal prohibition. Women shouldn't teach men. And I'm not going to get into all of the ins and outs of this question, but the clue to understanding Paul's command is simply, as I mentioned earlier, the meaning of the Greek word for teach, which is didosko. A teacher in the Bible is a discipler who directs and molds the disciple. In the words of the Great Commission, we only fulfill the mandate to teach, that didasko, to teach all nations when all nations are observing all things that Christ has commanded, right? So there's a molding of character that is there. So Christ said that a disciple, quote, who was fully trained will be like his teacher, Luke 640. Teaching is not simply communicating information or it would not be prohibited to women, period. Okay, teaching is often closely tied with three words characteristic of New Thetic counseling, New Thetaeo, Paracaleo, and Elenco. And this is why Scripture says that false teaching leads to immoral living, Titus 1.11, whereas good teaching leads to upright living, Titus 2.3. So this is why teaching or discipleship is best done by men with men, women with women, obviously the man disciples his wife, pastors disciple the church. There are distinctions there. In contrast, the word used for Aquila and Priscilla talking with Apollos is more akin to discussion, dialogue, and conversation. Now, I think the word sharing is just way overused, but that's what they were doing. They were informally sharing some thoughts with Apollos. And Priscilla was not alone with him. She was with her husband, and it's obvious, though, that she contributed at least some helpful information to him. And as already mentioned, if she was not being confrontational with Apollos, this would be nothing more than what we've already examined Mary Magdalene doing with Christ's approval. Now, the next question was, how can a woman support a godly man's ministry if he's not a husband or family member without crossing lines? Well, I would say she shouldn't be spending alone time with a pastor. Okay, there is no indication that Priscilla was spending time alone ministering to Luke or to Paul. She ministered to them with her husband. Now in the Gospels, you see the same thing. Women ministering to Jesus, but they're with other women or other men who are present. I've seen too many romantic involvements begin unintentionally between a man and a woman who started off with the purest of intentions, but they happened because they violated this principle. For the same reason, there shouldn't be any counseling of the opposite sex in private. As I've already mentioned, counseling is more akin to biblical teaching. So when I counsel a girl or a woman, I always have someone else with me, my wife or somebody at the office, somebody else with me. And if it is a man being counseled and you want a woman to be present, or if it's a husband-wife team, you want a woman to be present so that the wife feels supported, it's ideal for the man to be the lead counselor and the woman counselor to be the assistant counselor. But women can counsel women. We've trained many women over the past 30 years to do so. By the way, Sherry Duff and Kit Fox, and there's others, do a lot of counseling. We need to be praying for our women counselors. But women can support a godly man's ministry in many, many other ways. We looked at some of those ways when we looked at the women who followed Jesus. They were ministering to Jesus. In fact, in one sermon, I pointed out a multitude of behind-the-scenes ways that these women were a support team to Jesus in much the same way that Jeremy Camp's support team enabled him to be a success. Over the years, we have matched older women with women who are young in the faith for figuring out homeschooling. and child rearing, and scheduling, many other things. When women are doing a wide range of one-on-one ministries with each other, it frees up the elders from having to do so. When women put out gossip, slander, divisive behavior, it helps the pastors enormously. In other words, the more women mature in Christ, the more they are an asset to the elders rather than a drain on the elders. So, it's hard to answer this. It's an open-ended question with an open-ended answer. Next question was, how can a woman be economically productive without crossing any lines? Now obviously she needs to do so, not do so, against her husband's wishes, right? She's under his authority. But I think the chart of concentric circles that I've put into your outlines is the easiest way of explaining the liberties a woman has in this area. Notice the very heart and center of the circles of your life is God, not man. First thing Eve saw when she woke up, became a living soul, was God. He was to be the center of her life, and He was to continue to be the center of her life, even after she was given in marriage to Adam. Now, the husband should represent God to his wife, yes. But he is not in the place of God. And there's many scriptures that prove this. Deuteronomy 13, verse 6 says that a wife is commanded by God to turn her husband over to the authorities if her husband's trying to lead her away to pagan gods. Okay? What he's saying there is just crystal clear. Her loyalty to God comes before her loyalty to her husband. That's why God's at the center. Then the next responsibility is, on the diagram, is her husband. The next responsibility the wife has to make sure that she is not so busy with children and with other responsibilities that she is failing to be her husband's helpmate, failing to meet his sexual needs, failing to be a friend to him. He is her next primary responsibility. And of course, if I was preaching on a man's biography, I would say, You know, the man has the wife in place of that circle, you know. He's called to learn how to please him. Now, the next part of the circle are the children that are added, and little by little leave the home. Too many times those children become the center, and when they grow up and leave the home, the wife realizes she is distant from her husband. Well, she became distant from her husband long before because those children replaced the husband as an inner circle core. And, of course, what we're trying to say with these circles is she does have responsibility to her children. The circles show those responsibilities to her children come before business or church or anything else outside the home. So if she is failing in her Titus 2 responsibilities and duties to her children, she should drop her volunteer work for the church. just to make it super practical. For sure, she should not take a job outside the home if she's not fulfilling her Titus 2 duties. But of course, wives are commanded to manage the household, which includes a lot of duties, if they are done well. Now obviously, wealthy wives will have the money to buy all kinds of slaves to help them in their work. I say that tongue-in-cheek, but I'm referring to buying washing machines and dishwashers and phones and cars and all that kind of stuff. Yes, you women are abundantly wealthy. Every one of you women are mistresses who have a whole bunch of slaves, okay? So to speak. It's pretty equivalent. But she still is responsible to manage the home. And if she's doing a great job in all of those circles, then yeah, she can branch out and serve the church and then the world. Some women have enormous energies and are able to manage all of that plus more. So given all of those caveats related to priorities, let me list a partial list of things that the Bible says women can do to supplement the income of their households, work outside the home, volunteer, etc. And we'll start with finances because that often drives a couple's decisions. First thing I would say is learn to be frugal and save money through efficiency. Oh, you maybe were not expecting that. But yeah, before you even think of working outside the home, which may be a necessity, figure out frugality. Frugality is buying what you need, not necessarily everything that you want. And it involves learning how to be more efficient with your finances, turning off the lights when you leave a room, lowering the furnace temperature, buying bulk, et cetera. Proverbs 21, verse 20 says, So frugality sometimes is all that is needed to keep a wife from needing to work outside the home. She can do it if she wants to. but not because she needs to if she's frugal. Second, wives can be wise economists within the home and utilize division of labor and specialization among the children and time-saving devices and other helps. You maybe never thought of putting your children to work, but the scripture calls for it. It does. Too many homes fail to see the training value of including children in the family's financial growth. The children benefit, the husband and wife benefit when the children are contributors to the family's efficiency through efficient use of gardening and other chores. Case of the good emotes, milking the goats. You kids milk the goats? No? Maybe you need to learn, huh? Okay, one of them does. So when the family is functioning like a smoothly running machine, then she can optionally branch out into numerous things outside the home, with the husband's permission, of course. And I'm going to list a bunch of things women did outside the home. Proverbs 31, a woman engaged in grocery shopping, real estate transactions, gardening, selling merchandise, manufacturing fabric and clothing, retail, training of servants, teaching her children, mercy ministries. And verse 11 says many of those things contributed to the family's income. The women of Matthew 27-55 helped Jesus as a support team for His ministry. Now granted it was not for pay, it was volunteer work, but the principle of working outside the home is the same. Luke 24.1 shows women involved in funeral preparations. Matthew 28.5-9 shows them running errands and delivering messages. Acts 1.14 shows them participating in church prayer meetings. That's outside the home. Matthew 15.32-39 shows women going away on a three-day conference. Mark 15 shows even longer ministry trips that some women take, like some of our women have gone with Johnny and friends, right? Several scriptures show women involved as midwives outside the home. You know, like Addie. Exodus 35, 25 through 26 shows women working on the temple curtains, basically equivalent to helping to beautify the church and make it more functional. Ruth 2 honors gleaning. Several passages show skilled and trained women serving in a worship music team. Exodus 33.8, Luke 2.37 shows women serving at the temple and whatever needs were needed at that temple. Now, they didn't have other responsibilities. Most of these women were single or were older. Acts 16.14 shows a woman running a business. Titus 2.3-5 shows mature women discipling younger women. Those are all outside the home. So I think you get the point. As the inner circles are dealt with to the husband's satisfaction, there is no reason why women cannot go beyond those boundaries. Now, obviously, there are some things that are prohibited to women. I believe women are prohibited from political office or in any other way having authority over a man. But if you avoid the two prohibitions given in 1 Timothy 2.12, the sky is really the limit on what capable women can achieve. But bringing it back down to where most of us are at, because most of us don't have the time or the energies, you know, to be able to do that. One of the most central things that Priscilla did was to be part of leveraging their home and business to expand Christ's kingdom to the degree that God enables. Let's all aspire to do at least that. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for each of these women that we have looked at over the past many weeks. And I pray that we would all grow, that we would find our thinking challenged, our boundaries more conformed, the boundaries that You have set up in Your Word. Help us to grow in You and help our women to feel more appreciated. help our women to feel less like they are neglected or in a straitjacket. I pray that our church would grow and become more like Paul in his churches and in his teams. And so we pray for your blessing to rest upon the elders and the deacons as we think, as we strategize, and that your blessing would rest upon each home here. We pray all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.