Greet Priscilla and Aquila
The former of these, who was a woman, and the wife of the latter,
is in some copies called Prisca; and so the Vulgate Latin here
reads it, as she is also called in ( 2 Timothy
4:19 ) . Her being named before her husband, is without
design, for sometimes he is put before her, as in ( Acts 18:2 Acts 18:26 ) ( 1
Corinthians 16:19 ) . And it is a rule with the Jews
F12, that there is neither first nor
last in the Scriptures; that is, strict order is not always
observed; it is sometimes inverted, find nothing depends upon it:
hence the reasons assigned by some, that she was first converted,
or had more zeal than her husband, are uncertain and impertinent.
She is called Priscilla in the Ethiopic version, as he is in the
Arabic, Achilles: he was a Jew of Pontus, and was with his wife
drove out of Rome by Claudius Caesar, when with her he went to
Corinth, where he met with the Apostle Paul; and they being of
the same craft, abode and wrought together at their trade of tent
making; and when the apostle removed from thence, they went with
him, and were with him at Ephesus; where, meeting with Apollos,
who, though an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, yet
being in some things deficient these two took him unto them, in a
private way, and taught him the way of God's salvation more
perfectly, ( Acts
18:24-26 ) : where they left the apostle is not certain; but
either Claudius being dead, or the edict which ordered the Jews
to depart from Rome being revoked, or not regarded, they returned
thither again; and were here when the apostle wrote this epistle,
and whom he salutes, calling them
my helpers in Christ Jesus;
in spreading the Gospel, and promoting the kingdom, honour, and
interest of Christ; for though they did not publicly preach, at
least not Priscilla, yet they were very useful in their private
conferences and instructions, both to ministers of the Gospel, as
in the case of Apollos, and to young Christians: as the apostle,
wherever he went, was instrument of the conversion of many souls;
these were helpful privately in encouraging the young converts,
comforting them with their own experiences and thereby helped
them forward, instructed, strengthened, and established them; and
so were greatly assistant to the apostle in the work of the Lord
Jesus.