The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 456

EXPOSITION. BB w~ll as of othel'II, may rofer to an illness CHAPTER XVL of his own nt Oenchrea, during whioh she V C'rs. 1-20.-K. Oommendatr'on of Phmbe, had ministered to him, and thnt his she.vina and i:alutntiom f-0 <Jhnmam at Rome. hi~ bend 11.t Oeuchren beoouse he hod o. vo: (Acts x.viii. 18) may have been during, or Yen;. 1, 2.-I oommend unto you Phmbe on his reoovery from, that illness. our aistc (i.e. fellow-Christian), who is a Ver:i. S~'i.-Greet Prisoilla (al. Prisca, servant of the Churoh that is in Cenchrea: which is but another form of the eame llBme) that ye receive her in the Lord. worthily and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ of the aaints, and assist her ( ra.pa.lT'TTj.-,, J'esns: who have for my life laid down their literally, BI.and "by her) in whatsoever busi- own neok : unto whom not only I give ness ahe hath need of yon: for ahe too hath thanks, but also all the Churohes of the been a liDOOOnrer (-rpo1rr&.-,s, corresponding Gentiles. And greet the Church that is in to -ra.p,u,-rq-r-,) of many, and of mine own their house. For other notices of them, of. self. This Phmbe was probably the bearer Aots xviii 2, 18, 26 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19: 2 Tim. of the Epistle. She e.ppee.rs to have had iv. 19: whence we learn that Aquila was a business. perhaps of e. legal kind, that took Jew of Pontne, who, with hi9 wife Priscilla, her to Rome; e.nd Sl Pe.ul took advantage had been settled at Rome, whence, when of her going io send the letter by her, the Jews were expelled by Claudius, they desiring also to enlist the a.id of her fellow- had gone to Corinth, where St. Paul found Christians at Rome in furtherance of her them on his first visit to that city; that St. busin--, whate"l"er it might be. Her having Paul abode "ith them there, working with business e.t Borne, e.nd her having been Aquila at tent-making, which was tho cn1ft .. a succourer of many," snggests the idea of both : that they left Corinth with St. of her being a lady of me&DB. Her designa- Paul for Syria, and were for a time left by tion as 5uu:oros of the Church at Cenchrea him at Ephesus, where they instructed probably implies that ahe held e.n office Apolloe on hie arrival there: that, when St. there corresponding to that of deaconess, Paul wrote from Ephesus hie First Epistle though there is no :reaBOn to suppose the to the Corinthians, they sent greetings by distinguiBhing term 3,a.o:ovUTua. to have been it, having then a con1?;regation of Christiane e.s yet in tl80. Her function, and that of which assembled at their house; that, having others (e.s perhaps of Tryphena e.nd Try- returned to Rome when the Epistle to the phosa, mentioned in ver. 12 as "labouring Romane we.a written, their house there e.leo mnch in the Lord"), might be to minister was made available for the ee.me purpose; t.o the sick and poor, e.nd to fulfil such and that, when St. Paul WW! for the lo.et charitable offices as women could beet dis- timo a prisoner at Rome before his martyr- charge. Cf. 1 Tim. iii 11, where -y,n,a.'J,ca.s, dom, they were once more livin:; e.t Ephesus. mentioned. in the midst of directions as to They were probably in good ciroumetnnoee, the qualifications of men for the office of having had both e.t Romo 11.nd Ephesus deacoDE, probably denotes women who ful- houses large enough to be used as ohurohee; filled similar duties. er. also Plioy's cele- e.nd they were evidently lee.ding 11.nd active brak:d btt<.,r to Tmjan (circ. A.D. 107), in membera of the Christian community. It which he says that he he.d extorted informa- wonld seem that Priscilla, the wife, was tion as to the doingB of Christians, '' ex eapecially so, and she may have been, like duabue ancillis, qua, minutr,e dicebantur." Plimbe, officially employed; for though, The Latin minitttra answers exactly to the when they are first mentioned (Acts xviii. Greek t,,ucovos. Cenchrea wae the port of 2) a.a having lately como to Corinth, and Corinth oo the Saronic Gulf; and it appears when they themeelvea send greotinge to from this paaage that there was a Church Corinth (I Cor. xvi. 19), Aquila'e name or congregation there, as well as one or naturally comes first, yet St. Paul in all mor(; in Corinth itself. It is an interesting other mention of them revoreee the ordor. ooujl:CtUJ"e that St. Paul, in speaking of The occasion of their hnving appo.rontly l'ha;Lt: having bt,8D a lfllccourer of himself risked their own Ii vca in defcuco of St. OH, xv1. 1-27.] TH,E EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIIE ROMANS, 1C5