- Salutate Asynchritum, Phlegontem,
Hermam, Patrobam, Mercurium, et qui cum his
sunt fratres. - Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas,
Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are
with them. - Salutate Philologum et Iuluiam, Nereum
et sororem ejus, et Olympam, et qui cum his sunt
omnes sanctos. - Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and
his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which
are with them. - Salutate vos invicem in osculo sancto.
Salutant vos ecelesiae Christi. - Salute one another with an holy kiss. The
churches of Christ salute you.
1.I commend to you, etc. The greater part of this chapter is taken up with salutations; and as
they contain no difficulties, it would be useless to dwell long on them. I shall only touch on those
things which require some light by an explanation.
He first commends to them Phoebe, to whom he gave this Epistle to be brought to them; and,
in the first place, he commends her on account of her office, for she performed a most honorable
and a most holy function in the Church; and then he adduces another reason why they ought to
receive her and to show her every kindness, for she had always been a helper to all the godly. As
then she was an assistant^469 of the Cenchrean Church, he bids that on that account she should be
received in the Lord; and by adding as it is meet for saints, he intimates that it would be unbecoming
the servants of Christ not to show her honor and kindness. And since it behooves us to embrace in
love all the members of Christ, we ought surely to regard and especially to love and honor those
who perform a public office in the Church. And besides, as she had always been full of kindness
to all, so he bids that help and assistance should now be given to her in all her concerns; for it is
what courtesy requires, that he who is naturally disposed to kindness should not be forsaken when
in need of aid, and to incline their minds the more, he numbers himself among those whom she had
assisted.
But this service, of which he speaks as to what it was, he teaches us in another place, in 1
Timothy 5:9, for as the poor were supported from the public treasury of the Church, so they were
taken care of by those in public offices, and for this charge widows were chosen, who being free
from domestic concerns, and cumbered by no children, wished to consecrate themselves wholly to
God by religious duties, they were therefore received into this office as those who had wholly given
up themselves, and became bound to their charge in a manner like him, who having hired out his
own labors, ceases to be free and to be his own master. Hence the Apostle accuses them of having
violated their faith, who renounced the office which they had once undertaken, and as it behooved
(^469) “Ministra,” — minister, or servant, or deaconess, one who ministers. Origen and Chrysostom considered her to be a
deaconess, but the word does not necessarily prove this; for it is used often to designate generally one who does service and
contributes to the help and assistance of others. She was evidently a person of wealth and influence, and was no doubt a great
support and help to the Cenchrean Church. Those spoken of by Paul in 1 Timothy 5:10, and Titus 2:3, were widows and aged,
and they are not called , deaconesses. There arose, as it appears, an order of this kind in the early Church, and Grotius
says that they were ordained by imposition of hands before the Laodicean Council, which forbade the practice. Their office was,
according to Bingham and Suicer, referred to by Schleusner, to baptize women, to teach female catechumens, to visit the sick,
and to perform other inferior offices in the Church. But this was the state of things after the apostolic times, and there is no
reason to believe that Phoebe was of this order. She was evidently a great helper of the Christian cause, as some other women
also are mentioned in this chapter, and she had been the helper of many, (Romans 16:2,) and not of one Church, and also of Paul
himself; and from what is said in Romans 16:2, it appears probable that she was a woman carrying on some business or traffic,
and that she went to Rome partly at least on this account. — Ed.