Week 44 Romans
Chapter sixteen is a postscript to the first fifteen.
Mostly it’s a list of people that Paul was greeting.
But Paul wasn’t greeting the first person on the list.
Phoebe was from the church in Cenchrea (I checked a bible map and saw that Cenchrea is near Corinth) and she would soon be travelling to Rome. So Paul was telling the Rome church: receive her in the Lord, as one who is worthy of high honor. Help her in every way you can, for she has helped many in their needs, including me.
As far as I know Phoebe is only mentioned this one time in the bible. She’s almost totally unknown. But what I do know is that there were people in need around her and Phoebe helped them.
Phoebe was a helper.
Four chapters ago Paul compared the church to a human body that had a bunch of different body parts that worked together. Every single person-part had something to do. Phoebe was one small part and her small function was to help people. That’s what she was suited to do, and she did exactly what she was good at.
By contrast Paul was obviously a point-of-the-spear guy. A key guy doing a big part that a key guy was suited for.
And Phoebe, doing her small part, helped him do his big.
Note: quotes from Romans 16:2 (NLT)