34. Prisca, Aquila, Andronicus and Junia
Four Fellow Labourers And Relatives Of Paul, Namely, Prisca, Aquila, Andronicus, And Junia, Martyred At Rome, Under Nero, About A.D. 70
The apostle Paul, at the conclusion of his epistle to the church of God at Rome, very lovingly saluting different saints residing there, mentions, among others, two persons who had laid down their own necks for his life; also two others whom he calls his fellow prisoners, doubtless, because they were subject, with him, to like persecution and suffering on account of the name of Christ. All these he mentions by name, and salutes them in apostolic manner.
Of the first two he writes thus: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks” (Rom. 16:3,4).
The last two he mentions in this manner: “Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me” (verse 7).
What was the end of these persons, is stated neither in Paul’s epistles nor in any other part of the New Testament; but other writers hold, that, in the aforementioned persecution of Nero, they suffered and fought unto death for the truth of Jesus Christ; which cannot well be contradicted, since the bloodthirstiness of this emperor, especially against the Christians, was so great, that but few of those who fell into his hands escaped without bloodshed or a miserable death. See above.
Thieleman J. Van Braght (1625-1664) was an Anabaptist who is best known for writing a history of the Christian witness throughout the centuries entitled “The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians who baptized only upon confession of faith, and who suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus, their Saviour, from the time of Christ to the year A.D. 1660” (1660).
Thieleman J. Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror
