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Bible Dictionaries
Phoebe
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (Φοίβη, a Greek name)
Phoebe is a woman introduced by St. Paul to his readers in Romans 16:1-2, presumably as the bearer of the letter. She is not mentioned again in the NT, and nothing further is known of her than may be gathered from this reference. The name is that of the moon-goddess, the sister of PhCEbus (Apollo). It is interesting to notice that a Christian woman in the Apostolic Age did not think it necessary to discard the name of a heathen deity. Two men among these saluted in Romans 16 also bore the name of a god (Hermes, Romans 16:14; Nereus, Romans 16:15). The martyrologies and inscriptions testify to a similar indifference at least in the first three centuries.
Phoebe is described (RV_) as ‘our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae’ (τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν, οὖσαν [καὶ] διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κενχρεαῖς) and as one who ‘hath been a succourer of many and of mine own self’ (αὐτὴ προστάτις πολλῶν ἐγενήθη καὶ ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ).
Cenchreae (q.v._), a small town on the Saronic Gulf, was the eastern port of Corinth, about seven miles from the city. It is natural to suppose that the local church was founded during St. Paul’s first visit to Corinth. At the close of his stay of eighteen months he sailed from Cenchreae on his way to Syria (Acts 18:18) and (unless the latter part of the verse refers to Aquila) before setting out he shaved his head, ‘for he had a vow.’ It was during his second (recorded) visit to Corinth that he wrote the letter containing Phoebe’s introduction. A Jewish plot prevented him from sailing again from Cenchreae, and he returned to Syria via Macedonia (Acts 20:3).
We shall suppose that Phoebe herself was sailing eastward from Cenchreae or westward from Lechaeum, the port on the Corinthian Gulf, according to the view we take of the probable destination of Romans 16 (or Romans 16:1-2, detached by some scholars from the rest of the chapter). If these verses are an integral part of the Epistle to the Romans, the letter which Phoebe carried was this most important of the apostolic letters and her journey was to Rome. The Imperial post was not available for private correspondence, and such a letter could be sent only by special messenger or by a trusted friend who happened to be travelling. St. Paul bespeaks for Phoebe not only a welcome ‘in the Lord’ but assistance ‘in whatsoever matter she may have need’ (ἐν ᾧ ἂν ὑμῶν χρῄζῃ πράγματι). If πρᾶγμα bears here its common forensic sense (1 Corinthians 6:1 [G. A. Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. tr._, 1901, p. 233]), business at the law-courts necessitated for her a visit to Rome (E. H. Gifford, ‘Romans,’ in Speaker’s Commentary, iii. [1881] 231), and the Apostle, hearing of her projected journey, seized the opportunity of writing and dispatching his letter. The impossibility, however, of determining the object of Phoebe’s journey from the use of πρᾶγμα may be illustrated by Matthew 18:19. The ‘matters’ in which she would require assistance might well have been connected with the church, and indeed she may have been specially sent to Rome by St. Paul, charged with the duty of ‘reinforcing and supplementing the Apostolic message’ with which she was entrusted (G. Milligan, Thessalonians, 1908, p. 130). If, on the other hand, Romans 16:1-21 (or 1-23) was addressed to the Church at Ephesus, Phoebe’s destination was that city. According to some scholars who hold this opinion, these verses are only a part of a letter the remainder of which has been lost. Others regard them as forming a complete letter of recommendation (2 Corinthians 3:1), written expressly for the purpose of introducing Phoebe, whatever her errand may have been, to the persons greeted in it (C. von Weizsäcker, Apostolic Age, Eng. tr._, i.2 [1897] 381), among whom, it may be noted, were a number of Christian women. Such letters were a characteristic feature of the Apostolic Church, as were the frequent journeys which necessitated them and the generous hospitality which they called forth. They were a protection against impostors and false teachers. They formed one of the strongest bonds which held together the separate and scattered Christian communities. The verb used by St. Paul (συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην) is the regular technical term in classical Greek and in the Greek of the papyri for introductions by letter. If we suppose that Phoebe was commissioned by the Apostle to visit the Ephesian Christians, we may perhaps find in the warning which he included in the letter (Romans 16:17-20) the reason for her mission.
That Phoebe was evidently preparing to travel alone suggests that she was a widow (Conybeare-Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, new ed., 1877, ii. 189 n._). The term προστάτις indicates that she was a woman of means. Προστάτις is the fem. of προστάτης, in its strictly legal sense the wealthy and influential citizen who acted as representative and guardian of the μέτοικοι (‘resident aliens’) and others who had no civic rights. It corresponds to the Latin patronus. The term is not found again in the NT nor does it occur in the LXX_. It was, however, in use to denote the ‘patrons’ of the pagan religious societies, ‘who were frequently ladies of rank and wealth’ (T. M. Lindsay, The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries, 1902, p. 124 n._). It is closely related to the terms προϊστάμενος and προεστώς, applied to leadership in the Church in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, Romans 12:8, 1 Timothy 5:17. Descriptive of Phoebe’s relation to ‘many,’ presumably at Cenchreae (perhaps at Corinth also), προστάτις must mean at the least that, in a special degree made possible by her circumstances, she discharged the duties of ‘communicating to the necessities of the saints’ and of ‘pursuing hospitality,’ which belonged to all Christians alike (Romans 12:13). Gifford (op. cit. p. 231) conjectures that the personal reference (‘and of mine own self’) may be to an illness in which Phoebe ministered to St. Paul at Cenchreae, and that his recovery was the occasion of his vow. Certainly we may assume that she received him into her home when he visited or passed through Cenchreae (cf. Lydia at Philippi, Acts 16:15; Acts 16:40), and that she ‘mothered’ him as did the mother of Rufus (Romans 16:13). The house in which the Apostle stayed naturally became a centre for the community, and if it was also used as the meeting-place of the church (cf. Gaius at Corinth, ‘my host and of the whole church,’ Romans 16:23), the owner must have been looked up to as a kind of ‘president,’ to whom the term ‘patron’ might suitably be applied. In some such way as this Phoebe devoted herself and her means to the service of the Church, and earned thereby the title of διάκονος, which no more means ‘deaconess’ in the later sense than it means ‘deacon’ when used to describe Apollos, Tychicus, Epaphras, Timothy, or the Apostle himself. The case of Phoebe may not be cited as evidence of the inclusion of women in the technical diaconate. With that of Prisca and others, it witnesses to the very important part played by women in the organization of the Church before informal ministries had given place to definite offices, and when rule and leadership were based only upon willingness to ‘serve’ (cf. the household of Stephanas at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 16:15-16). Parallel with the term διάκονος is the term ἀδελφή (F. J. A. Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, 1897, p. 208, where the καί is said to be ‘almost certainly genuine’). ‘Brother’ and ‘sister’ in the NT simply mean ‘fellow-Christian.’ St. Paul uses the term here and calls Phoebe ‘our’ sister, i.e., ours and yours, to remind those to whom he would introduce her that all Christians, whether personally acquainted or not, are already members of the same great spiritual family, of which God is Father and Jesus Christ the Elder Brother, and that they only need to be made known to one another to realize their close relationship in mutual love and helpfulness.
T. B. Allworthy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Phoebe'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/phoebe.html. 1906-1918.
