2 Timothy 4:19

Ἀκύλαν. The cursives 46 and 109 are reported to add here: Λέκτραν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ Σιμαίαν καὶ Ζήνωνα τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ. These are the names of the wife and sons of Onesiphorus according to the Acts of Paul and Thecla; the clause is evidently a gloss on τὸν Ὀνησιφόρου οἶκον which has got into the text.

19. Ἄσπασαι Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν. Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, and his wife Prisca or Priscilla, are first mentioned in the N.T. at Acts 18:2. They had left Rome, in consequence of an edict of Claudius, and had come to Corinth, where St Paul met them and lodged with them, as they were, like him, tent-makers. If they were Christians at this time, as would seem probable, they must have been among the earliest members of the Roman Church. St Paul brought them with him to Ephesus, where he left them (Acts 18:19), and where (Acts 4:26) they gave instruction to Apollos. Along with ‘the Church in their house’ they send salutations to the Corinthian Christians from Ephesus in 1 Corinthians 16:19; and we find them again at Rome when St Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:3). We gather from the verse before us that they returned to Ephesus. Like many Jews of the time, Aquila evidently travelled a great deal, probably for the purposes of his trade. From the fact that Prisca’s name precedes that of Aquila in four out of the six places where they are mentioned, it suggests itself that she was a more important person than her husband. It may be that she was a member of a good Roman family, but it seems more probable that both Aquila and Prisca were freed members of some great household. It has been pointed out, e.g., that Priscilla was a name of the women of the Acilian gens. But such identifications hardly admit of proof[527].

[527] A full and interesting note on Aquila and Priscilla will be found in Sanday and Headlam’s Romans, p. 420 ff.

καὶ τὸν Ὀνησιφόρου οἶκον. See the critical note, where the traditional names of the wife and sons of Onesiphorus are given. Cp. also the note on 2 Timothy 1:16-17 above.