Phoebe

From BibleWiki

The name Phoebe means "bright" or "radiant". Apollo and Diana, the god and goddess of the sun and moon , were also called "Phoebos" and "Phoebe". Many converted Christians retained their names derived from the old gods because the names no longer held religious significance to them. Phoebe was a Diakonos of the Church at Chenchreae, the eastern seaport of the city of Corinth. Corinth was on a narrow isthmus that connected southern Greece (the Peleponessus) with northern Greece and the mainland of Europe. Diakanos is a Greek word that originally meant "someone who is responsible for, attends to, ministers to, or waits on a person or group of persons or a task or area of responsibility." We learn about Phoebe in Rom 16:1f:

"I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea. That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also."

Phoebe is obviously a woman he trusted enough to carry his message to the church at Rome. She was doing important work for the church to receive such a high commendation and is noted as a woman who gave care and comfort to many, including the apostles. We can discern this from the way the instruction was given to the church at Rome. They were commanded to "receive her in the Lord" - in a religious manner and with religious motives. She was to be accorded whatever assistance she required. The expression "as becometh saints" would apply to both the reception the church was to give and the high quality of the reception Phoebe was entitled to receive based on her good work.

It is felt by some scholars that Phoebe was a widow as it would have been most unusual, according to Greek custom, for her to be travelling alone or acting in such an independent manner if she had a living spouse or even if she was not married.