Priscilla (Prisca)

• Sermon Notes

  A very restrictive passage:

  1 Timothy 2:11-12 (NIV)

  A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.

  It seems very clear and easy to understand, if offensive, to our modern ears.

  A woman SHOULD:

  · Learn in quietness/silence/peace

  · Learn in full submission/subjection/complete respect

  A woman should NOT:

  · Teach

  · Assume/exercise/usurp/use/hold/take/wrench authority or dictate or control or have dominion over or lord it over or rule over

  Over a man/men/her husband

  This verse comes in a context about gathering in house churches in Ephesus, where Timothy is the leader appointed by Paul.

  1 Timothy 2:8 (NIV)

  Therefore, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

  A man should:

  · Pray

  · Pray in a physical posture (Hands lifted up. . . Uh oh)

  · Pray in a spiritual posture (Holy. . . Uh oh)

  A man should not:

  · Pray with anger/wrath (Uh oh. . .)

  · Pray with disputing/dissenting/arguing/quarreling (Uh oh. . .)

  1 Timothy 2:9-10 (NIV)

  I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

  A woman SHOULD:

  · Dress modestly with decency and propriety/respectably/with discretion/appropriately/properly/with self-control/discreetly

  · Adorn themselves with good deeds/good works/helpful things

  A woman should NOT:

  · Have elaborate hairstyles (Uh oh. . .)

  · Wear gold (Uh oh. . .)

  · Wear pearls (or other precious gems Uh oh. . .)

  · Wear expensive clothes (Uh oh. . .)

  There are a lot of principles here that are lived out differently in our culture than theirs. This is a clue that we should be careful when we are deciding to make one part permanent and trans-cultural, while saying other parts of the very same passage are only for the 1st century.

  1 Timothy 2:13-15 (NIV)

  Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

  · Adam was made first. (But maybe God did better the 2nd time?)

  · Eve was deceived. (So Adam sinned with his eyes wide open?)_

  · Women will be saved through/in childbearing (What?!?!?!?!?)

  7 major types of interpretations and many subtleties within each one about what v.15 even means!

  So if Paul meant that women should never teach or have positions of authority in the church, we would expect to only see him encouraging men to serve in leadership and teaching roles in the churches that he started

  and led. Is that what we actually see in Acts and Paul’s letters to the early churches?

  Two weeks ago, we already saw that Lydia served as a church planter, house church leader and teacher in Acts 16 with Paul’s blessing. This week and next, we are going to look at other esteemed female ministry partners and fellow-workers of Paul and see if the stories of what actually happened in the early church can help shed light on roles that women had then and can have now.

  Priscilla (Prisca)

  Acts 18:1 (NLT)

  Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

  Acts 18:2 (NLT)

  There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome.

  Priscilla and Aquila were traumatized, recipients of anti-Semitic hate crimes, displaced refugees.

  What are you going through that makes you feel this world is not your home? Are you longing for your eternal home? Do you long to bring others with you?

  Emperor Claudius-- Reign AD 41-54

  Banishing of the Jews from Rome was probably AD 49

  Roman Historian Suetonius:

  “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [the Emperor Claudius] expelled them from Rome.”

  Mashiach (Hebrew for “Anointed One”) à Christos (“Greek for “Anointed One”) à Chrestus (Latin of Christos)

  How did Paul first receive the help of Priscilla and Aquila?

  Acts 18:3 (NLT)

  Paul lived and worked with them [Priscilla and Aquila], for they were tentmakers just as he was.

  Priscilla and Aquila were the Lord’s provision to Paul in Corinth.

  · They provided his home.

  · They became co-workers for $ as bi-vocational “tentmaking” missionaries.

  · They were co-workers for the Lord.

  You have been placed where you are as a missionary for Jesus, even in your places of suffering!

  How did Paul place Priscilla in a position to lead with authority and teach (yes, even men!) as the primary gifted partner in the couple?

  Acts 18:9-11, 18-19 (NLT)

  One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.” So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God. . . Then he set sail for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. They stopped first at the port of Ephesus, where Paul left the others behind.

  · Writers didn’t mention wives in writing in the 1st century.

  · Writers NEVER put a wife’s name before her husband’s like this. It was not culturally “normal” to do so.

  · Paul wanted Priscilla (her name is 1st!) and Aquila to be co-workers (missionaries) in the next work. He eventually leaves them in Ephesus.

  Acts 18:24 (NLT)

  Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt.

  Acts 18:25-26 (NLT)

  Apollos had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.

  If a woman should not teach or exercise authority over a man, why is Priscilla (named first!) taking aside Apollos, a male preacher, and authoritatively explaining/expounding to him the fullness of the gospel message?

  What title did Paul give Priscilla and who else received such a role?

  Romans 16:3 (ESV)

  Greet Prisca [named first] and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus

  “Fellow worker/Co-worker” is a title Paul uses for a recognized missionary/church leader in the early church.

  Male Church Leaders with the title “Fellow worker”:

  · Paul-- 1 Corinthians 3:9 (ESV)

  For we [Apollos and Paul] are God's fellow workers

  · Apollos—1 Corinthians 3:9 (ESV)

  For we [Apollos and Paul] are God's fellow workers

  · Philemon (1 NT letter)—Philemon 1:1

  Philemon, our beloved fellow worker

  · Timothy (2 NT letters)-- Romans 16:21 (NLT)

  Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings

  · Titus (1 NT letter)—2 Corinthians 8:23 (ESV)

  As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit.

  · Mark (Gospel writer)—Philemon 1:24

  Mark. . . my fellow worker

  · Luke (Writer of Luke/Acts)—Philemon 1:24

  Luke. . . my fellow worker

  Priscilla (and 2 other women--Euodia and Syntyche--Philippians 4:2-3) has the same title as Paul, Apollos, Philemon, Timothy, Titus, Mark, Luke, and her husband, Aquila. She was a BIG-TIME LEADER in the early church.

  How did Paul tell churches to relate to “Fellow Workers”

  1 Corinthians 16:15-16 (ESV)

  So if Paul wants churches to “be subject” to every “fellow worker”. . .

  and Priscilla IS a fellow worker. . .

  then he expects the churches (including men) to be subject to and follow Priscilla’s leadership example.

  How much did Paul admire Priscilla?

  Romans 16:3-4 (ESV)

  Priscilla and Aquila literally risked their lives for Paul, so he was forever grateful to them and he taught ALL the Gentile churches to honor her and them.

  What was one of the ways Priscilla gave leadership in the early church?

  Romans 16:3, 5 (ESV)

  [Rome] Greet Prisca [named first] and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus . . . Greet also the church in their house.

  1 Corinthians 16:19 (NIV) [Ephesus] The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.

  Priscilla and Aquila were house church leaders wherever they lived.

  Who did Paul want to make sure that Timothy greeted on his behalf as he was about to die?

  2 Timothy 4:6-8, 19 (NLT)

  Priscilla and Aquila were on his mind as he faced death and relied on others to carry forward the work of Jesus after he was gone.

  Men: If a woman could do all of these things in the 1st century, what is God calling YOU to celebrate women doing in the 21st century?

  Women: If a woman could do all of these things in the 1st century, what is God calling YOU to in the 21st century?

  Invitation to the adventure