Scripture: 1st Corinthians 16:19-20
The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord. All the brothers and sisters send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
Thought for the Day: We date Paul’s visit to Corinth and the writing of 1st Corinthians based upon a number of scriptural references and historical events, and the reference to Aquila and Prisca is one of the tools that provides insight. In the 18th chapter of Acts, the writer refers to Aquila and Prisca with this reference:
There Paul found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them…
The one passage speaks of Prisca and the other Pricilla, yet it is thought to be the same person. The religious persecution and expulsion of Jews from Rome occurred in approximately 49 AD, and if Aquila and Prisca had “recently” come from Italy then dating Paul’s ministry to Corinth can be done with some accuracy. Of course, scholars debate – a year here or two years there – but such passages remind us how the events of scripture where not removed from the social and political happenings of the day. People of faith were faced with the everyday happenings of life, changes in political systems, and shifts in economic circumstances. Christianity has never been lived in some sort of vacuum of purity. Even those who chose to slip into the desert as hermits were, at times, seen as a threat to the political systems of the day. They believed they were escaping trouble, but trouble usually found them. As Karl Barth once suggested – we should study with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.
Prayer: My life of faith can never be separated from the life I live in this moment. Assist me, Gracious God, to see connections, ask questions, and search for truth in love. Because I am caught up in the moment and all that is happening, it may not always be easy to see your movement. Continue to call to me – to call me to faithfulness. Amen.
TOMORROW
WE CONTINUE OUR STUDY
