THE letter to the Romans really finishes at the end of chapter 15, and this last chapter sees Paul caring for so many of the Christians he has known, commending them, and seeking to greet them through the church in Rome. The first of these is a commendation.

COMMENDATION.

Paul specially commends this lady called Phoebe to the church in Rome. She is described to us as a servant of the church in Cenchrea, which is Corinth. Paul asks the church in Rome to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, that is worthy of a true church fellowship. He then asks that the church in Rome will give her any help she needs. He supports this request by commending Phoebe as one who has be a great blessing to many and also to Paul himself.

Phoebe is mentioned first in this list of believers mentioned to the Church in Rome, and this must be of significance, showing that Paul had a special concern for her as she met the fellowship of believers in Rome. Paul makes a request for her that she may be received well and given help in whatever she came to Rome to perform. Paul also gives testimony to the great help she has been to others.

The question is why should Paul give this special commendation for the attention of the church in Rome. The natural answer would seem to be that Paul was afraid that Phoebe would not be received well in the office and work she had been ordained for and called by Jesus Christ for by the church in Rome. The question is as to what this was all about. In order to get to an understanding of this we need to look closely, with the expulsion of any prejudices that we may have, at what Paul says of Phoebe in these two verses.

SISTER.

The first thing we hear Paul saying is that Phoebe is a sister. By this we can not help to understand that Paul was bearing testimony to Phoebe being a true child of God through faith in Jesus as her Saviour, Lord and God. Further that she was born again and received the new life all who believe in Jesus are given, which has brought about reconciliation with God, and the adoption back into the family of God, and given the privilege of being a daughter in the family of God, and so a daughter in the whole family of God which the church in Rome represented. So Paul is commending Phoebe to the family of God in Rome as a true member, and so to be loved and accepted as such, and received as Christ would receive her and had received her.

This is the way for every fellowship of believers to receive other believers who come into the fellowship, receiving them as family, and to be loved as such.

A SERVANT OF THE CHURCH IN CENCHREA.

Here is the crucial declaration in the case of Phoebe. She was a servant of the church. The question is as to how we should understand this condition of a servant. If Phoebe was simply a servant who was diligent in domestic duties, and in caring for the material and temporal needs of others in the fellowship, then there was simply no need for Paul to specially commend her. The church in Rome would have had no difficulty in welcoming her and accepting and owning her ministry in this way. It was something that was traditional in the culture of the time, and the church culturally conditioned by the culture of the time would have been happy to receive Phoebe and would have welcomed her contribution to the life of the fellowship.

But Paul commended Phoebe in this special way. It shows that Paul felt the need for this commendation, and to lend his apostolic authority to this commendation. Paul obviously felt that Phoebe in her servanthood would not be received, but rather her servanthood would be denied.

The word in the Greek translated as servant in the NIV translation of the Bible is 'diakonon'. It is word used extensively in the New Testament to express service in temporal and material things. It is used of Martha when she was getting a meal together, whereas her sister Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. But the same word is used extensively in the New Testament to express ministry in the church of teaching and preaching. So in 1 Corinthians 3: 5 we read "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed". Clearly here the meaning of 'diakonon' is of one who ministers the word of God and teaches.

From these considerations, firstly, that Paul felt a need to commend Phoebe in her ministry for acceptance in Rome, and secondly, the fact that the word for servant can and often does refer to ministering the word of God, it can be deduced that Phoebe had a ministry of preaching and teaching in the church at Corinth, and should be received in this ministry in Rome also.

The difficulty in the culture of the time of St. Paul was that the culture of the time was fixed in a subordinate position of women in society, and it was not acceptable for women to have a roll which was thought to be exclusively for men, and that women were in some measure inferior to men. The church had been conditioned by this cultural heritage, and although in Christ things had changed, and now in Christ there was neither male nor female is the sense of all being equal in the sight of God, the church still found it difficult to accept women as equal.

But in the light of this how do we understand Paul saying in his Corinthian letters that he commands that women should be silent in church, and have no authority over men. This is taken by most within the church as denying women to have a ministry of teaching and preaching or to be ordained to this ministry within the church. However we must take this in the context of the disorder and troubles which afflicted the Spirit filled church in Corinth, and in the light of the need not to bring the church into disrepute before the world, and so hinder the proclamation of the Gospel. Women found within the church an emancipation from the culture of the time when they became believers, and naturally exercised that emancipation which in the context of the way things had developed in the fellowship of the church in Corinth became over enthusiastic.

Further than this there is no idea of women having authority over men simply because they held the office of teaching and preaching in the church. The teaching of Paul concerning the authority of men in the context of marriage has no relevance in the case of women being ordained to ministry in the church of Christ.

The problem is that in worldly culture men have always felt themselves to be superior in some way to women, and it is very difficult for this cultural conditioning to be let go when men become Christians. It is a blemish in the church still in some fellowships that women are made subordinate to men and their calling and gifts of the Spirit not recognised and welcomed in the ministry of teaching and preaching. This needs to be repented of.

RECEIVING IN A WAY WORTHY OF THE SAINTS.

From all that we have considered so far the meaning of the request of Paul to receive Phoebe in a way worthy of the saints has the meaning that the sinful culture of the world towards women should not be exercised against Phoebe, but the Spirit of love and acceptance of the equality of women before the Lord and in the fellowship should be shown in accepting her as called to be a minister to teach and preach in the church. From this we can see that Paul accepted the ministry of Phoebe which is contrary to the perceived attitude of Paul common in many church fellowships today.

Paul pressed home this request by calling on the church in Rome and specially the leaders in the church to help Phoebe in being accepted in ministry, and giving her real opportunity to exercise this ministry which she had been called to by Christ. It is a step forward where the ordained ministry of women has been accepted and affirmed within the church today.

TESTIMONY OF PAUL.

To give credit to this request of Paul concerning Phoebe and her role as a minister in the church, Paul bears testimony to her ministry and the blessing God had given to it.

Paul speaks of her as having been a great help to many people, including himself. Of course it is easy to dismiss this as simply Paul saying that Phoebe was a kind, caring and loving person who went out of her way to help people in need, and willing to be a servant in the domestic duties, etc. which people accept as being a woman's role, but this will not do in the context. If this was the only meaning of the words, there would have been little reason for Paul to make his request, because the church in Rome would have readily accepted such service, and would have not objecting in accepting Phoebe. The fact that Paul specially commends Phoebe and her ministry to the church in Rome means that her ministry was something much more than this, and was a ministry that the church in Rome, because of the culture of the day, would find it difficult to accept. The fact that Paul owned that Phoebe had been a help to him in his Christian life has special power. Phoebe did not have the anointing of the Holy Spirit as Paul had to write the inspired scripture of God, but Paul in his Christian life was like all the rest of us believers in knowing needs, and just as the best of us are indebted to others for spiritual help, Paul testified that he was indebted to Phoebe.

CONCLUSION.