Acts 18:2

Aquila. A Latin name meaning “eagle,” of which the Greek equivalent is Akulas. Onkelos, probably another altered form, was borne by the traditional writer of one of the Jewish Targums (see Vol. V, pp. 95, 96). It was a common tendency of Jews, when living in heathen countries, to take names derived from animals. Born in Pontus. Literally, “a man of Pontus by race.” The provinces of Asia Minor abounded with Jewish families of the Dispersion, as is seen throughout the book of Acts (see on Acts 2:9, 10; cf. 1 Peter 1:1). Some Jews from Pontus had been in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:9). Pontus had come under Roman sway when its king Mithridates was conquered by Pompey about a century before this time. Lately come from Italy. See below under “Claudius had commanded.” Priscilla. The name appears elsewhere (2 Tim. 4:19; cf. the best-attested Greek text of Rom. 16:3; 1 Cor. 16:19) in the form Prisca; of which it is the diminutive. The name Prisca probably reflects a connection with the gens, or clan, of the Prisci, which, from earliest Roman times, provided the city-state with a long series of praetors and consuls. The marriage of Aquila and Priscilla might be an example, therefore, of the influence of educated Jews among the higher class of women at Rome. The placing of Priscilla’s name first (Acts 18:18; Rom. 16:3; 2 Tim. 4:19) would be explained if she were a highborn Roman. The fact that she participated in the instruction of Apollos (see Acts 18:26) suggests that she was a woman of culture. The question as to whether these two people were converts of Paul cannot be finally settled, but certain facts suggest that they were not: (1) The record is silent concerning their ever listening to Paul, as did Lydia (ch. 16:14), a fact that Luke would scarcely have omitted had it occurred. (2) The fact that Paul unhesitatingly joined himself to them (ch. 18:3) even before he had begun preaching in the synagogue, could imply a sympathetic attitude on their part. Claudius had commanded. The account of the expulsion of the Jews from the city of Rome (see p. 80) is given by Suetonius in these words: “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome” (Lives of the Caesars v. 25.4; Loeb ed., Suetonius, vol. 2, p. 53). A considerable colony of Jews were settled in the city of Rome at this time, at the base of the Janiculum Hill (see Paul at Rome). They exercised considerable influence over the upper classes in Rome; they had their own synagogues and places of prayer (see on ch. 16:13); they were tolerated as a religio licita (a legally recognized religion); and they maintained their own cemeteries along the Appian Way. The command expelling them from Rome appears to have been sudden; Suetonius thought that a man called, in Latin, “Chrestus,” was connected with that command. Of this man, Suetonius reports nothing further. But at that time the sounds of the Greek “i” and “e” were hardly distinguishable, and Tertullian (Apology iii. 5) says that the Greek name Christos was often pronounced the same as Chrestos “good,” “useful,” or “kind.” A possible explanation of Claudius’ decree is that Christians had come to Rome after the Day of Pentecost, and tumults resulted such as those at Antioch in Pisidia (ch. 13:50), at Lystra (ch. 14:19), at Thessalonica (ch. 17:5-8), and at Beroea (ch. 17:13). The name of Christ was much on the lips of both those who received and those who rejected His claim to be the Messiah. Accordingly, Roman magistrates, who, like Gallio, seemed to care little about questions concerning names and words (ch. 18:15), would easily conclude that Christ was the leader of one of the parties, and might assume (as at Thessalonica, ch. 17:7) that He claimed to be a kingly pretender to an earthly throne. This explanation would account for the tumults, for the confusion of names, and for the decree of expulsion (see Vol. V, p. 71). Aquila and his wife had been at Rome until expelled, and since many of the Jews in Rome, or their descendants, were freedmen (see on ch. 6:9), it is probable that Aquila, or his parents, belonged to that class. Aquila and Priscilla are later mentioned (Rom. 16:3) as though they had returned to Rome. If they did so, it was after they had been with Paul in Ephesus, because they were with him when he wrote from there the first Corinthian epistle (1 Cor. 16:19) and the house in which they lived there was placed at the service of Christians in Ephesus. If Timothy was at Ephesus when Paul addressed a second epistle to him, they were still in that city then (2 Tim. 4:19). Nothing more of their movements is known. As to who were the first preachers of the new faith in Rome, an idea can be formed in terms of the following data: (1) Twenty-five years could not have passed since the Day of Pentecost without the Jews at Rome receiving some definite news about developments in Palestine, where the gospel was being preached with marked success. (2) Among those who were present at Pentecost were “strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes” (Acts 2:10). (3) Among the Hellenistic Jews who disputed with Stephen were freedmen of Rome, and Stephen himself may have belonged to that class (see on ch. 6:5, 9). (4) Andronicus and Junia, to whom Paul sent greetings, had been “in Christ” before him (Rom. 16:7). Among these, then, one should look for the founders of the church of Rome, and not to the apostle Peter, to whom tradition assigns the honor. Everything indicates that the theology of the Christians in Rome was like the great principles laid down by Stephen, whose understanding of the gospel influenced Paul. This would go far to explain why Aquila and Priscilla found it so easy to receive the apostle Paul in Corinth. It is possible that many of those named by Paul in Rom. 16:3-15 were expelled from Rome under Claudius, and then later returned.