Priscilla

Priscilla — addressed by Paul under the more formal name Prisca — appears in the Pauline letters as the wife of Aquila and as a named partner in Paul's mission. The Pauline epistolary record places her in three greetings: Rom 16:3, 1Co 16:19, and 2Ti 4:19. In each greeting her name sits alongside her husband's, and in two of the three (Rom 16:3, 2Ti 4:19) her name is placed first. The same letters tie the couple to a house-church and to a personal risk borne for Paul.

A Married Pair Named Among Paul's Coworkers

Paul opens the long greeting-list of Romans by naming Prisca and Aquila together as a married pair under a working title. Rom 16:3 reads, "Greet Prisca and Aquila my coworkers in Christ Jesus." The wife's name stands first; the joint title is "coworkers"; the sphere of the work is "in Christ Jesus." The pair is presented as a single team holding a shared ministry-title under one greeting.

The same pairing closes 2 Timothy. 2Ti 4:19 reads, "Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus." Again the wife's name stands first, again the husband second, and the couple is set alongside a household as co-recipients of an apostolic greeting at the letter's close.

Risk Borne for Paul

Romans extends the greeting into a brief account of what the couple has done. Rom 16:4 says of Prisca and Aquila, "who laid down their own necks for my soul; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." Paul's thanks for the risk is joined to the thanks of "all the churches of the Gentiles" — the gratitude is named as shared beyond Paul himself.

A Church in Their House

Two of the three Pauline greetings tie the pair to a house-church. Rom 16:5 continues, "and [greet] the church that is in their house." 1Co 16:19, written from the other end of Paul's correspondence, repeats the same arrangement: "The churches of Asia greet you⁺. Aquila and Prisca greet you⁺ much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house." A congregation meeting in the couple's house is named in both letters, once at Rome and once in the Asian context from which 1 Corinthians is sent.

Name and Order

Across the three Pauline greetings the wife is called "Prisca" rather than the diminutive "Priscilla." Her name precedes her husband's in Rom 16:3 and 2Ti 4:19; her husband's name precedes hers in 1Co 16:19. The pairing is constant in all three texts; the order varies.