Romans 16:3-16

The section of Romans 16 which starts here contains various greetings to the believers in Rome. Paul seems to have known many people by name in the Roman ecclesia, yet so far as we know he had never visited there. This may be because travel in the Roman Empire was fairly easy during Paul's lifetime, and he had met some of these brethren elsewhere as he moved about. He could also have known of other believers by reputation.

As mentioned earlier, most of the names are Latin or Greek, but some of these people were probably Jews who, like Paul, also had Greek or Latin names (e.g., vv 7,11). In his letters Paul greeted more individuals by name in the churches he had not visited — such as Colosse and Rome — than in those that he had visited. This may have been his way of establishing more personal contact with congregations that had not met him personally.

The catacombs of Rome were vast networks of underground tunnels deep below the city as well as its outlying districts. The catacombs were used first of all by Roman Christians for religious meetings, perhaps especially in times of persecutions. Eventually they came to be used also for burial purposes. From the second through the fifth century, Christians in Rome buried their dead in these catacombs. These labyrinths were largely ignored after the eighth century, laying forgotten for about 700 years. It was only when workers in a vineyard north of Rome accidentally happened upon a catacomb in 1578 that they finally began to come to light again. Many such tunnels have been discovered in later times. Historians and Bible scholars have subsequently found many names on burial sites that echo the names found in this chapter, and other Christian names found in the New Testament.

Romans 16:3

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila: This couple — a humble Jewish tradesman and (most likely) an aristocratic Roman lady from a rich and powerful family — embodied in their marriage and their lives the practical application of the New Testament teaching of "the One Body" (Rom 12; 1Cor 12; etc.). They worked quite effectively in several different areas across the Empire, and were always held in great esteem by the apostle Paul.

In his Acts of the Apostles, page 288, Harry Whittaker discusses much of what is known (and some of what is speculated) about the remarkable couple Aquila and Priscilla. Parts of what he wrote are summarized below:

  • Aquila was a Jew from the remote northeastern province of Pontus, and, like Paul, a tentmaker (Acts 18:3).
  • Priscilla is the diminutive form of the name Prisca. This name strongly suggests that she was a member of the important Roman family Acilius, in which (according to some historians) the name Prisca occurred quite often. This might account for the unexpected order of their names: Five times (Acts 18:18,19,26; Rom 16:3; 2Tim 4:19) out of seven (the exceptions being Acts 18:2; 1Cor 16:19), the upper-class Roman wife is named before her middle-class Jewish husband.
  • How did two individuals so different in background, nationality, and social status come to marry? Probably — though it is only a guess — business took Aquila to Rome, where he not only learned the Truth in Christ but also met a fellow-convert with whom he fell in love.
  • The decree of Claudius (Acts 18:2) caused Aquila and Priscilla to flee Rome with other Jews. They may have been especially singled out for expulsion because of their prominence in the religious controversies involving the Christians.
  • In Corinth they teamed up with Paul and were a great reinforcement to his campaign there (Acts 18:1-3).
  • Two years or so later, along with Paul, they crossed over to Ephesus, and stayed on there when Paul set out for Judea (Acts 18:18,19). In Paul's absence Priscilla and Aquila preached in Ephesus, the first of their converts being Epenetus (Rom 16:5).
  • In Ephesus, they met the learned Apollos, and helped him to a greater understanding of the Faith, and to a larger sphere of work (Acts 18:24-28).
  • Later, of course, they were back in Rome (Rom 16:3), receiving Paul's greetings and loving remembrances. Why did they return to Rome? Possibly because the Ephesian riots made it best for Paul as well as his inner circle of workers to leave that area.
  • The last direct mention of the couple in the New Testament is Paul's farewell greeting to them shortly before he died (2Tim 4:19).

William Barclay summarizes the life of the Christian couple, in their ongoing service to the brotherhood:

Prisca and Aquila lived a curiously nomadic and unsettled life. Aquila himself had been born in Pontus in Asia Minor (Acts 18:2). We find them resident first in Rome, then in Corinth, then in Ephesus, then back in Rome, and then finally again in Ephesus; but wherever we find them, we find their home a center of Christian fellowship and service. Every home should be a church, for a church is a place where Jesus dwells. From the home of Prisca and Aquila, wherever it was, radiated friendship and fellowship and love. If one is a stranger in a strange town or a strange land, one of the most valuable things in the world is to have a home away from home into which to go. It takes away loneliness and protects from temptation. Sometimes we think of a home as a place where we can go and shut the door and keep the world out, but equally a home should be a place with an open door. The open door, the open hand, and the open heart are characteristics of the Christian life.

Daily Study Bible: Romans 16

It is possible that Aquila and Priscilla encouraged their good friend Paul to write to the Roman ecclesia (or ecclesias), partly for the purpose of addressing the inherent differences between Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome and elsewhere. We will take this up later in our next study: "A Suggested Reason for Paul Writing to the Romans".

Priscilla: The name "Prisca" occurs seven times in the New Testament (Acts 18:2,18,19,26; Rom 16:3; 1Cor 16:19; 2Tim 4:19). Some of the New Testament manuscripts read "Priscilla" in some of these verses. Priscilla is the diminutive of Prisca, but the two are essentially the same name and refer to the same person. Generally translators avoid confusion by sticking with "Priscilla".

My fellow workers in Christ Jesus: "Synergos" signifies those who work together, who share in a labor; the KJV has simply "helpers". Note the similarity to the English word "synergy", defined as: the working together of two or more things, people, or organizations, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual efforts or capabilities. The word appears 13 times in the New Testament, twelve being in Paul's writings (Rom 16:3,9,21; 1Cor 3:9; 2Cor 1:24; 8:23; Phil 2:25; 4:3; Col 4:11; 1Thes 3:2; Philemon 1:1,24), and the other in 3 John 1:8. The word often referred to those who helped in spreading the gospel.

Romans 16:4

They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

They risked their lives for me: "Risked their lives" is literally "laid down their own necks" (KJV), i.e., put their necks or throats (Greek "trachelos") down under the Roman ax of execution. Was this one single occasion when Priscilla and Aquila exposed themselves to imminent danger, and were prepared to die for Paul and the cause of the Truth? Or does it describe their general attitude of self-sacrificing help for the apostle in his work?

If this refers to one incident, then possibly it occurred during the fierce riot that broke out in Ephesus, endangering the apostle's life (Acts 19:28-31; see 1Cor 16:9; 2Cor 1:8-10). Their presence with him at Ephesus just prior to this incident is confirmed by 1 Corinthians 16:19. But the fact is, we know nothing for sure about what they actually did for Paul.

Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them: Their courageous conduct, whether a single particular incident or the general tenor of their lives in the Truth, came to be generally known and acknowledged by other believers. It is interesting that this act or acts must have been widely known in the first century, yet we have absolutely no record of this today.

"The man who saves one life saves the world." This is a line from the Jewish Talmud, the great book of rabbinical interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures. We may say that, when Priscilla and Aquila saved Paul's life (in whatever way that happened), then at the same time they saved much of the Christian fellowship of the first century. If Paul had died prematurely, then many new believers might never have been "born". We can never know, this side of the Kingdom, what a great impact, even a ripple effect, any single committed life can have upon the world.