Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, April 6th, 2025
the Fifth Sunday of Lent
There are 14 days til Easter!
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Bible Dictionaries
Phoebe

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Phlegon
Next Entry
Phoenice
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

The first and one of the foremost of the list of Christians in the last chapter of Romans (Romans 16:1-2). "A servant (Greek "deaconess") of the church at Cenchrea" (the eastern port of Corinth; where Paul had his head shorn for a vow: Acts 18:18). Pliny's letter to Trajan (A.D. 110) shows that deaconesses existed in the Eastern churches. Their duty was to minister to their own sex (1 Timothy 3:11 translated "deaconesses" literally, "women"). Phoebe was just going to Rome; Paul therefore commends her to their reception as "in the Lord," i.e. a genuine disciple: as becometh saints to receive saints; and to assist her in whatever she needed their help; for "she had been a succourer (by her money and her efforts) of many and of Paul himself." The female presbytery of widows above sixty is distinct from the deaconesses (1 Timothy 5:9-13). Phoebe was the bearer of this epistle, written from the neighbouring Corinth in the spring of A.D. 58.

Bibliography Information
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Phoebe'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​fbd/​p/phoebe.html. 1949.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile