16:1 minister (e-11) Diakonos ; deacon, or deaconess; the word 'minister' here connects with 'to minister' and 'ministry' elsewhere, as ch. 15.31. She did the needed service in the assembly there; she was not properly a servant. read more
Greetings and Warnings1-16. Commendation and greetings.Observe the number of women to whom the Apostle sends greeting. The fact is indicative of the change wrought in the position of women by the gospel, and of the honourable place taken by them in the Christian Church. Observe also the difference of nationality indicated by the names. St. Paul, a Hebrew, sends salutation to Greeks, Romans, and perhaps Asiatics, many of them probably slaves—marking the universality of the gospel: cp. Galatians... read more
(1) Phebe.—As the Roman Church is especially exhorted to receive Phebe, it has been inferred that she was one of the party to which St. Paul entrusted his Epistle, if not the actual bearer of it herself.Our sister—i.e., in a spiritual sense—a fellow-Christian.Servant.—Rather, a deaconess, keeping the technical term. Deacons were originally appointed to attend to the wants of the poorer members of the Church. This is the first mention of women-deacons, in regard to whom instructions are given to... read more
Fellow-workers in Christ Romans 16:3-5 'Greet Priscilla.' 'Greet Mary.' 'Greet Amplias.' Salute Apelles.' 'Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas.' And so on, and so on. And let us mark that these delicate courtesies come at the end of this tremendous Epistle, an Epistle which for sheer power of reasoning was regarded by Coleridge as unsurpassed in literature. I. First of all, I notice that Priscilla and Aquila have a common rootage with Paul. 'My fellow-workers in Christ Jesus.' The great... read more
Chapter 32A COMMENDATION; GREETINGS; A WARNING; A DOXOLOGYRomans 16:1-27ONCE more, with a reverent license of thought, we may imagine ourselves to be watching in detail the scene in the house of Gaius. Hour upon hour has passed over Paul and his scribe as the wonderful Message has developed itself, at once and everywhere the word of man and the Word of God. They began at morning, and the themes of sin, and righteousness, and glory, of the present and the future of Israel, of the duties of the... read more
CHAPTER 16 1. Greetings to Individuals. (Romans 16:1-16 .) 2. Warning and Comfort. (Romans 16:17-20 .) 3. The Final Salutations. (Romans 16:21-24 .) 4. The Conclusion. (Romans 16:25-27 .) Romans 16:1-16 Phoebe (which means “radiant”) is first mentioned. She was probably a person of great influence and wealth, for she had been a succorer of many, including the Apostle. She is heartily commended to the assembly in Rome, to be received in the Lord, worthily of the Saints. Then that... read more
16:1 I {1} commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:(1) Having made an end of the whole discussion, he comes now to familiar commendations and salutations, and that to good consideration and purpose, that is, that the Romans might know who are most to be honoured and to be considered among them: and also whom they ought to set before them to follow: and therefore he attributes to every of them individual and singular testimonies. read more
Communications, Greetings and Closing This chapter has a character peculiar to itself; and being a fifth subdivision of the last division (chapters 12 to 16) of the book, we may expect in some sense a resume of the practical results of the truth in the lives of saints. Indeed it is manifestly a sort of Deuteronomy - God with man, as it were, rehearsing the ways of the wilderness. Thus, can we not discern in it a little picture of the judgement seat of Christ - ending with its ascription of... read more
PRACTICAL APPLICATION In chapter 6 Paul revealed the secret of experimental sanctification as the yielding of one’s self unto God, in which case sin would not have dominion over one In chapter 8 he showed the divine process of sanctification as the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Having finished the doctrinal part of his epistle, he returns to what he then said (chap. 6), and exhorts us to yield because of the “mercies of God” of which he had been speaking throughout (Romans 12:1-2... read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Romans 16:1-2
1. A commendation 16:1-2Phoebe (lit. bright or radiant) was evidently the woman who carried this epistle from Corinth to Rome."The name itself was one of the names of the goddess, Diana, and this would suggest that she was a convert from heathenism, not a Jewess." [Note: Griffith Thomas, St. Paul’s Epistle . . ., p. 417.] She was a "servant" (Gr. diakonon) of the church in her hometown, Cenchrea, the port of Corinth (Acts 18:18; 2 Corinthians 1:1). It is unclear whether Phoebe held office as a... read more