Acts 18:2,3

Tentmaking With Aquila and Priscilla

In Corinth, Paul found two Jews, Aquila, who was from Pontus which was a province between Bithynia and Armenia, and his wife Priscilla, who was also known as Prisca (2 Timothy 4:19). Luke reports they, and all other Jews, were driven out of Rome by the Emperor Claudius. Ash believes this refers to the imperial banishment of A. D. 49. Concerning Paul's association with Aquila, Boles says, "It is also significant to know that Paul 'found' him. The Jews had certain guilds by which they kept together whether in street or synagogue."

In 1 Corinthians 2:3, Paul says, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling." We can only imagine the apostle arriving in Corinth, alone and with little or nothing to eat. Like all good Jews, Paul had been taught a trade and immediately found two Jews of like occupation with whom to live and work. "Tentmaking," according to Ash, included any type of leather work in Paul's day. Whether his fellow leather workers were Christians as of yet is not known. Paul's later writings do make it clear that these two became special friends and allies of the apostle as he preached the gospel of peace (Acts 18:2-3; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:9).