WE NOTE ANOTHER “in Christ” passage: “Greet Prisca and Aq´uila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks” (Rom. 16:3–4). Paul spelled the name of the wife of Aquila “Prisca,” but Luke, in Acts 18:2, spelled her name “Priscilla.” Verbally they are not alike, vitally they are. So we do not look for verbal inspiration, but we can and do look for vital inspiration of the Scriptures.
He called them “my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” Luke revealed in Acts 18:2–3: “And he found a Jew named Aq´uila . . . with his wife Priscilla . . . and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them, and they worked, for by trade they were tentmakers.” Aquila and Priscilla were refugees: “lately come from Italy . . . because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.” They were refugees, but instead of going on charity, or relief, they worked. Being in Christ gave them an inner self-respect—a self-reliance, because of a Christ-reliance. Perhaps there was no charity or relief in those pre-Christian days. In any case, it made for toughened character. So toughened and strengthened were Aquila and Priscilla that they passed on their strength to the learned and eloquent Apollo, who “spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John . . . but when Priscilla and Aq´uila heard him, they took him and expounded to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:25–26). They probably took him from John’s baptism—water baptism—to Jesus’ baptism—the baptism of the Spirit.
Paul called them “my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” They were fellow workers where their work counted—they were making more effective workers by introducing them to the Holy Spirit. So Paul and Aquila and Priscilla were fellow workers, working with their hands at the same trade and working in the Spirit in introducing others to the Spirit.
O Jesus, Thou dost include everyone in Thee who works by the Spirit. Blessed Lord, teach me to teach the teachers to know the Spirit of Truth who will teach us all things. We know little or nothing if we don’t know Him. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My work will be to introduce men to the working of the Holy Spirit.
