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Rufus (2)

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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(Ροῦφος, a common Latin name)

1. In Mark 15:21 Rufus is named as the son of Simon the Cyrenian, who was compelled to carry the Cross of Jesus to the place of crucifixion (cf. Matthew 27:32, Luke 23:26). Another son, Alexander, is mentioned, and, as the name of Rufus comes second, he was probably the younger of the two. St. Mark gives no further information with regard to them, and it would seem that they must have been known to the readers for whom he intended his Gospel. If, as is generally held, he wrote in Rome for Roman Christians, Alexander and Rufus may have been at the time resident in the city and prominent members of the Church. Simon was evidently a Hellenistic Jew (cf. Acts 2:10; Acts 6:9; Acts 13:1), who gave his sons Gentile names.

2. In Romans 16:13 a certain Rufus is saluted by St. Paul. If we admit the Roman destination of these salutations it is natural to wish to identify 1 and 2, but the name is so common that there are no real grounds for doing so. Rufus is described as ‘the chosen in the Lord’ (τὸν ἐκλεκτὸν ἐν κυρίῳ), a phrase applicable to every Christian (Colossians 3:12, etc.), but perhaps peculiarly appropriate in his case on account of ‘special circumstances, in which a striking intervention of the Divine grace had been recognised, by which his conversion was effected’ (C. von Weizsäcker, Apostolic Age, Eng. translation ², i. [1897] 395). Possibly, however, the meaning is rather ‘eminent as a Christian’ (Sanday-Headlam, International Critical Commentary , ‘Romans’⁵, 1900, p. 427), i.e. distinguished among his fellow-Christians in character and usefulness. The only other Christians so described in the NT are ‘the elect lady’ and her sister in 2 John 1:13. Coupled with Rufus in the salutation is ‘his mother and mine’ (τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμοῦ). The allusion has generally been supposed to mean that ‘this nameless woman had done a mother’s part, somehow and somewhere, to the motherless Missionary’ (H. C. G. Moule, Expositor’s Bible, ‘Romans,’ 1894, p. 429) and that he felt towards her ever afterwards as a son. The Apostle had not visited Rome before writing his Epistle to the Roman Christians. If, therefore, we regard Romans 16 as an integral part of ‘Romans,’ we shall place this mother and her son elsewhere at the time when she showed kindness to St. Paul, and imagine that later they became residents in Rome. It is perhaps easier to believe that Ephesus was the scene of the woman’s hospitality and care, and that the greeting is directed to Rufus and his mother in that city.

T. B. Allworthy.