Priscilla/Prisca: Teacher & Theologian of the Way 08.02.2026

Back to school season becomes more than backpacks, new clothes, shoes, and nervous excitement. Beneath all of that, something holy is happening: a community is getting ready to learn, grow, and be formed. Matthew’s Gospel closes with Jesus giving the Great Commission, and Jesus does not stop at “baptizing them.” The comma matters, because after the comma comes “teaching them to obey everything” Jesus commanded.

Teaching stands at the core of discipleship. The church is a school, not just in rooms with whiteboards and chairs, but around dinner tables, in car rides, in small groups, in worship, and in ordinary conversations. Learning itself is holy work, and in the Christian life, nobody graduates. Whether a person is seven, seventy-seven, or one hundred and seven, there is still room to grow in God, in faith, in neighbor-love, and in self-understanding.

Acts 18 gives Apollos as the gifted student. Apollos is eloquent, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and well versed in Scripture, but his understanding is not complete. His incompleteness is not treated as a flaw to shame him, but as a classroom for discipleship. Salvation in the Wesleyan tradition is not a single moment but a lifelong journey of grace, one step at a time, falling, learning, growing, and sometimes unlearning. Unlearning may be the hardest part, especially when lies have been drilled in so deeply that they feel like truth, whether about women, race, sexuality, or any group made to feel less than.

Priscilla and Aquila hear Apollos, recognize both his gifts and his gaps, and take him aside. Their correction does not humiliate him. Their truth comes through relationship, friendship, and compassion. Acts keeps placing Priscilla’s name first, and that matters. Priscilla rises as a missionary, theologian, mentor, house church leader, and teacher of one of the early church’s most gifted voices. Neither Luke nor Paul apologizes for her authority.

The church’s silencing of women, or of anyone God has gifted, does not only harm the silenced person. It robs the whole family of God of the gifts God intended for everyone. Priscilla shows that teaching is not about proving someone right, but helping someone walk more faithfully in the footsteps of Jesus. Apollos shows humility by receiving the word through the person God sends. Christ is with every student, teacher, mentor, and learner, because salvation is not a guilt trip. It is a journey toward God and toward the neighbor who shares the road.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Teaching comes after the comma. Matthew’s Great Commission does not end with baptism, because Jesus joins baptism to the long work of formation. Discipleship becomes more than a moment of decision when teaching shapes choices, relationships, priorities, and habits. The comma reminds the church that gathering people is not enough if lives are not being patiently formed in the way of Jesus. [35:27]
• 2. Nobody graduates from discipleship. Christian maturity does not mean a person has arrived, mastered God, or outgrown the need to listen. The lifelong journey of grace keeps opening places where repentance, curiosity, and deeper love are still needed. A faith that must reach all the way back to fifth grade Sunday school may be remembering God, but it may not be growing with God. [38:07]
• 3. Unlearning can become holy work. False things can be repeated so often that they settle into the soul as if they were truth. Discipleship therefore includes letting God loosen what has been drilled in, especially lies that make some people seem less worthy, less called, or less beloved. Holy learning sometimes begins when an old certainty is exposed as something that never came from Christ. [41:36]
• 4. Silenced gifts impoverish the church. Priscilla’s voice did not compete with the gospel; her voice helped Apollos understand the gospel more fully. When women or marginalized people are told to be quiet, the loss does not stay with them alone, because the whole body misses what God meant to give through them. The fullness of the gospel often reaches the church through the very voices some have been taught to dismiss. [50:14]
• 5. Truth and kindness belong together. Priscilla and Aquila do not correct Apollos by embarrassing him, exposing him, or whispering about him. Their correction becomes an act of friendship, because truth is offered for fruitfulness rather than domination. Good teachers bring courage to speak and humility to stay gentle, while good learners receive the word by whatever means God sends it.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [34:09] - Back to School as Holy Formation
• [35:08] - The Great Commission’s Comma
• [36:54] - The Church as a School
• [38:07] - Nobody Graduates in Faith
• [39:17] - Apollos and the Teachable Spirit
• [41:36] - Learning Means Unlearning
• [46:03] - Priscilla Corrects Without Humiliation
• [47:09] - Priscilla’s Prominence in Scripture
• [49:28] - What Silencing Gifts Costs
• [50:28] - Teaching With Truth and Kindness
• [52:07] - Blessing Students and Teachers
• [53:33] - Two Questions for the Week
• [54:30] - Christ With Every Learner

1. In Matthew 28:19-20, what comes after “baptizing them,” and what does Jesus say disciples are to be taught? [35:27]
2. In Acts 18:24-26, what strengths does Apollos already have, and what part of his understanding is still incomplete? [39:42]
3. According to Acts 18:24-26, how do Priscilla and Aquila respond when they hear Apollos speaking boldly in the synagogue? [46:28]
4. What are some of the places where the work of teaching and learning happens in the life of the church besides a formal classroom? [36:54]

1. Jesus joins baptizing with teaching in the Great Commission. What does that suggest about discipleship being more than a single moment or decision? [35:35]
2. Apollos is gifted, sincere, and knowledgeable, yet still needs help. What does his example show about the kind of humility needed for spiritual growth? [40:00]
3. Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside privately and explain the way of God more accurately. What does that show about the difference between correction that helps and correction that shames? [46:58]
4. Priscilla’s voice helps Apollos understand the gospel more fully. What is lost when the church silences women or other gifted people? [50:08]

1. “Nobody graduates” from the Christian life. Where has faith become too settled or stale lately, and what might it look like to become teachable again in this season? [38:07]
2. Learning sometimes requires unlearning. Are there ideas about God, about other people, or about personal worth that may have been repeated so often they started to feel true even if they do not reflect Christ? [41:36]
3. Loving a neighbor includes learning a neighbor’s story. Who nearby may need to be understood more carefully right now, and what could help that listening become more real this week? [39:00]
4. Truth and kindness belong together. Is there a relationship where honest correction is needed, and what would it look like to speak in a way that is gentle, clear, and not humiliating? [50:28]
5. Every church needs teachers who remain learners, and learners who are also willing to teach. Where might God be inviting someone in the group to share wisdom, encouragement, or guidance with another person? [52:50]
6. Many people can name someone who helped them understand God’s way more accurately. Who has played that role, and is there a way to thank them or honor their influence now? [53:33]
7. Christ is with every learner and every teacher. How might that promise change the way someone in the group steps into school, work, parenting, mentoring, or conversation this week? [54:41]