Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2)

Do you have a favourite chapter in the Bible? Some people would say Psalm 23 or Isaiah 53 is their choice. Others might opt for John 10 with its focus on Jesus as the Good Shepherd or on 1 Corinthians 13, the passage that describes the nature of love. Still others might mention the Sermon on the Mount and its practical emphasis on Christian living, while yet others might mention a passage like Philippians 2 and what Paul says there about the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus. No doubt, most Christians would say that have many favourite passages.

 

Why I like the chapter

I like Romans 16 because of several reasons, although I would not say that it is the most important passage in the Bible. Yet it teaches valuable lessons when we run our eye over its contents. What are the reasons that I often think about it? One is that the letter shows that the gospel had reached the capital city of the Roman empire very quickly, taking not more than a couple of decades to get there, which is an extraordinary achievement, one that only happened because the Lord was helping them.

 

Another reason is that the chapter shows that there were several meetings of Christians taking place in Rome as we can see from references to more than one gathering place (I wouldn’t call them denominations or any name that would suggest they were separate from other Christians because at that time there was only one church in the world, and that would have lasted as long as the apostles lived). How these gatherings started we cannot tell.

 

A third reason is that we meet lots of people. Paul says a few comments about some of them, and we see that is the case about Phoebe. A fourth reason is that I wonder how many of them were martyred by Nero in the great persecution he made against the Christians in Rome about ten years after Paul wrote this letter.

 

Things said and unsaid

Paul mentions three clear things about Phoebe as well as some other details that are below the surface of the verses. The three clear things are that he calls her a sister, a servant, and a saint, and we shall consider each of them briefly in a moment. But we can note some of the unsaid items.

 

The first is that she was a Gentile, a fact revealed in her name. She probably had a pagan past (her name is connected to the pagan god Artemis and perhaps her parents had a particular connection to its worship). Somehow, she heard the gospel, became a believer in Jesus, and started on the journey to heaven.

 

The second detail is that, although she was a Gentile, a Jew commends her. Before he met Jesus, Paul would not have a good word to say about someone who was both a pagan and a woman. But there she is, a member of a community in which racial distinctions are not a barrier, commended highly by one of its leaders, and where everyone has a new outlook about the problematic barriers of race.

 

Third, she was wealthy and probably a businesswoman; Paul describes her as a patron or a benefactor who had helped many people including himself. Maybe she helped him Corinth in some way. One suggestion is that the church met in her house because that was how believers met together at that time. The church met at Cenchrea, which was one of the harbour areas of Corinth, about eight miles away from the city itself. It is impossible to know if this was the original church in Corinth or if the church in the city had begun another one in a smaller locality. It would not be surprising for a businesswoman to have a house in the harbour area.

 

Fourth, she had reasons for going to Rome, a long journey whether by land or sea, probably because she had family or business connections there (perhaps like Lydia who had business dealings in more than one place), and Paul took the opportunity of getting her to deliver a letter to the Christians there, which tells us she was diligent (she would have to find them in a large city) and reliable (she would ensure that they received the letter). Providence opened a door for her to help, and she was willing to do it.

 

This last detail is a reminder to us of how fragile and uncertain sometimes the things of God can appear. The epistle to the Romans, a letter which was going to have a profound effect on millions of people down the centuries, was for a while under the care of a woman as she made her way to Rome from Corinth (no doubt, she would not travel alone, but would have servants with her). Connected to that is the reality that often Christians have no idea of the significance of their actions. An activity, which to them might seem quite small, can have huge impacts on the lives of others. Phoebe had no idea what consequences there would be because of what she did with the letter.

 

Phoebe, the sister

How does one become a member of the family of God? That is the relationship Paul mentions here. Originally, because she was a sinner of Adam’s race, she was outside of the family of God. The gospel reveals how the momentous change happens.

 

First, Phoebe had to respond to the gospel. Perhaps she understood the gospel message quickly or maybe it took a while for her to grasp what it all meant for her. The gospel told her that the God of heaven had sent his Son into the world to rescue her from her sins by suffering the penalty for them on the cross instead of her. The Holy Spirit enlightened her as to the truth of the gospel and drew her to trust in Jesus. Alongside her trust she experienced repentance, a sorrow for sin that reveals she now regretted having committed them even although at the time she knew nothing about the glory of the God she had offended. She was assured that the consequence of having believed in Jesus was that she would be given eternal life.

Second, although she may not have known it at the time, the God of heaven had done more for her than forgiving her for her sins. She would at some stage appreciate the doctrine of justification which describes the immediate response of God as the judge to her believing in Jesus. Justification by faith has been described as the doctrine of a standing church. What does it involve? It includes pardon of all our sins but there is more. In addition to permanent pardon believers receive permanent acceptance with God because the righteous life of Jesus has been credited to their account, which means that they are righteous in God’s sight with a perfect righteousness.

 

Third, this is when adoption into God’s family takes place. Not only does God justify those who believe in Jesus, but he also adopts them into his family as his sons. They are given a right to all the privileges of the sons of God, not because they deserve to receive them, but because God is gracious. Since they are in the family, they have access to the presence of God, they have Jesus as their elder brother, and they are joint heirs with him of his eternal inheritance. Adoption is an astonishing privileges, with one of its blessings being glorification as an heir of God.

 

Phoebe the servant

Since the word translated ‘servant’ is diakonos, from which we get the word ‘deacon’, some have tried to say that Phoebe functioned in a special way in the church. Yet the word can be used of any person who serves in any way, and there is no need to imagine a special role for her.

 

We should note, however, who she serves. She serves every other member in the church at Cenchrea. Perhaps she did this by allowing the church gathering to meet in her house every week. Maybe she did it by using her assets to give help to any in need, and Paul mentions in this verse that she had helped many. What is obvious from the description is that she embraced everyone in her serving.

 

She was not the only one who did this; she was only one of several if not all members in the church who delighted to serve in this way. What a wonderful picture of what a church is, composed of believers who delighted to serve one another. Paul reminded the Galatians that they ‘were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another’ (Gal. 5:13). Peter stressed this responsibility as well: ‘As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace’ (1 Pet. 4:10).

 

Sons of God should be servants of God’s people. Is this not the model that the Son of God has shown for us to imitate? He said about himself to his disciples, ‘I am among you as the one who serves’ (Luke 22:27). Jesus did so perfectly, but in a sense Phoebe did so imperfectly as she sought to imitate her Saviour by serving everyone in her local church. Everyone could say of her that she was Christlike.

 

Phoebe the saint

The third detail that Paul mentions about Phoebe is that she is a saint. Today, the term ‘saint’ suggests someone of outstanding holiness whereas in the New Testament letters every Christian is a saint. The word itself means someone who is separated from the world to God and who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

 

Paul’s concern is that Phoebe would experience a Christian welcome from the believers in Rome. This would happen if they recognised that she was ‘in the Lord’ even as they were ‘in the Lord’, a phrase that points to spiritual union between the Lord and his people. Anything that was done to her would be the same as doing it to the Lord if he were present. This kind of action is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25 in the parable of the sheep and the goats, in which the sheep did things for the brothers of Christ.

 

The particular action as suitable for saints by saints is probably hospitality. Hotels and inns were not common at that time and those that did exist were often dangerous places to go to, especially for a woman of means like Phoebe. The author of Hebrews reminded his readers to remember and entertain strangers. It was an expression of brotherly love.