What is the context?
Paul greets Prisca and Aquila as fellow workers in Christ who risked their lives for him. His gratitude is shared by the Gentile churches. Their service has mattered beyond a private friendship.
He also greets the church meeting at their house and Epenetus, the first convert to Christ in Asia. The word church is ekklēsia (ek-klay-SEE-ah), ἐκκλησία, an assembly or community; see Thayer’s entry. Here Paul distinguishes the gathered people from the house where they meet.
Prisca is also called Priscilla in Acts. Acts 18:24–26 describes the couple helping Apollos understand God’s way more accurately. Their household and their work provide support for both people and the message they share.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly read these greetings as honoring a couple’s costly partnership and a community gathering in their home. Paul gives thanks for service that includes risk, hospitality and work alongside others. The church at their house is a body of people to be greeted, not simply an address.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
1 Corinthians 16:19 also sends greetings from Aquila, Prisca and the church at their house. Their hospitality belongs to a wider pattern of homes supporting the life and work of believers.
Ephesians 2:19–22 develops the larger picture of believers as God’s household and a dwelling place for Him by the Spirit, with Christ as the cornerstone. A house provides a meeting place; God is forming the people who gather into a shared life in Him.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.