Priscilla: The Woman Who Discipled an Apostle

Living Like Royalty (March 2025)

The characters we revere as “heroines of the faith” directly influence our perception of biblical womanhood.

Last month, I posted the following Note on Substack:

As I suspected, Esther & Ruth were the top two contenders.

These women are exemplary models of courageous faith who deserve their popularity, but so are characters like Jael, Lydia, and Phoebe—and yet, you rarely hear Christians claiming any of them as their favourite.

As a woman and a biblical scholar, I believe it’s important to study all the female characters in the Bible to develop a more nuanced understanding of biblical womanhood. Sometimes, the most underrated characters have the most invaluable lessons to teach us.

With that in mind, allow me to introduce one of my favourite New Testament heroines: Priscilla.

L - R: Joanne Whalley as Priscilla, Jim Caviezel as Luke, and John Lynch as Aquila in Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018)

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, crack open your Bible, and turn to Acts 18. Read it in its entirety, soaking in every detail, and then we’ll explore the controversial question: Should women be allowed to teach men?

Who Were Priscilla & Aquila?

Acts 18:2 tells us that Aquila was “a native of Pontus” (NIV).

This detail may seem insignificant to modern readers unfamiliar with the Greco-Roman world, but it is, according to scholar Matthijs den Dulk, one that would have carried a certain weight for a 1st-century Mediterranean audience.¹ The prevailing reputation of Pontus was resoundingly negative, and the people who lived there were perceived as “uneducated and dim-witted barbarians.”² Even those who did pursue higher education were generally mocked or scoffed at.³