Romans 16:1-16
16:1 | Phoebe was a member of the church in Cenchrea, a port city about nine miles from Corinth. Servant is from diakonos (Grk.), “deacon.” Phoebe is considered the prototype for the church’s office of deaconess.
16:2 | Paul includes Phoebe in the category of the saints – another NT term for “Christian.” Phoebe is a helper of many and of myself also. The Greek for “helper” (prostatis) means a person is a patron or champion on behalf of another. Patrons in the Grek world took others under their wing and represented them before the civil authorities. This suggests that Phoebe was a woman of means and had “adopted” many people, serving as a patroness on their behalf.
16:3-5 | Priscilla and Aquila were a Jewish husband and wife team Paul met on his first visit to Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). They are mentioned six times in the NT and always as a couple.
16:5 | In their house is evidence that the church in Rome was not a brick-and-mortar structure. It was “the church,” Christians meeting in small house churches.
16:6 | There is no reason to think this Mary is one of the Mary’s n the Gospels – now living in Rome. Nothing is known about this Mary except that she labored much for us. The Greek word for labor means to work to the point of weariness or exhaustion.
16:7 | Because countrymen can mean “kinsman,” some think Andronicus and Junia were relatives of Paul. The same thing is possible concerning Herodion in 16:11.
16:8-9 | Amplias is known to have been a slave name in Rome, so this is probably a Roman slave who had come to Christ. Nothing more is known of Urbanus (a Roman name), likely a Roman citizen, and Stachys (a Greek name).
16:10 | Paul greets a man named Apelles, who is said to be approved in Christ. “Approved” means tried and tested. Aristobulus may have been the brother of Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great.
16:11 | Herodion was mentioned earlier as a possible kinsman of Paul. Narcissus, according to some scholars, was the secretary to Emperor Claudius. If so, he would have been included in the greeting from Caesar’s household at the end of Philippians.
16:12 | Tryphena and Tryphosa were twin sisters who, along with another woman, Persis, labored faithfully in the Lord.
16:13 | Rufus may be the same one mentioned in Mark’s Gospel, which was written to the church in Rome. Paul’s reference to Rufus’ mother means that she had become a Christian too. When Paul says his mother and mine, he is expressing that Rufus’ mother had been like a mother to him. Paul knew the church in Rome would know this family.