LECTURE LXIX.

ROMANS XVI. 1-15.

"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. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus; who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute Apelles, approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household. Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them."

THE Apostle, agreeably to his ordinary practice, closes his letter with a variety of personal salutations, or as we might express it, affectionate Christian remembrances. The Epistle

is in the outset addressed to all the believers in Rome.* Yet in this chapter individuals and families are selected as the objects of special regard. The names of those individuals are chiefly Grecian; and they seem to have been persons

* Chap. i. 7.

whom Paul, (who before this had not been at Rome,) had met with in his travels elsewhere, and who had subsequently either returned to Rome in consequence of the cessation of the Emperor Claudius's edict of banishment, or had gone for the first time to settle there.

From this general fact we learn two lessons:-1. The general love with which we regard the disciples of Jesus, is not inconsistent with those special attachments which arise either from peculiarities of character or from particular circumstances. The idea of universal, and still more of equal, intimacy among all the members of numerous churches (and such, to a very great degree, the primitive churches frequently were) is as absurd in theory as it would be injurious in practice. It could not be maintained without a sacrifice both of the retirement of private life, and of the liberty which every man must have of selecting those bosom friends or intimate companions, to whom he is drawn by similarity of disposition and character, or from whose society he finds that he derives the largest amount of spiritual benefit and enjoyment; and it would infallibly lead to a system of unceasing interchange of visitation, such as would materially interfere with all domestic and relative duties; with the engagements of life, and the sobriety and stayedness of the Christian character —a scene of "busy idleness" and unprofitable gossip, such as cannot be too strongly deprecated. Private intimacies must of necessity be select and mutually voluntary. Even amongst "the twelve" we find Jesus himself had a disciple whom he loved, and who, with one or two others, was evidently admitted to a closer and more constant intimacy than the rest. And in almost all Paul's Epistles he distinguishes individuals with a speciality of remembrance which shows that while all were the objects of his Christian love, he was not insensible either to the peculiar attractions of individual character or to the influence of uniting circumstances.-2. The Apostle was not afraid of exciting feelings of envy and jealousy by thus specifying individual objects of his kind regards. Love should be the uniting bond amongst all the members of a Christian church; and this love should be practical in regard to all;

each attending, as far as in him lies, to the interests, both temporal and spiritual, of the rest, and no one presuming to say of any other—" Am I my brother's keeper?" In this way the general power of that love which holds together all the members of the body should be kept in action; while all, at the same time, without any feeling of coolness, or of grudging and discontent, are allowed the exercise of their freedom in the selection of their more immediate and intimate friendships, companionships, and domestic intercommunions. Let us now attend more particularly to the passage before us: verses 1, 2. “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." The Apostle wrote from Corinth, and sent his letter by the female messenger here named. Cenchrea was the seaport of Corinth-about nine miles from the city, on the Saronic gulph. There a Christian church had been formed; of which church Phebe was "a servant." I have no doubt that this means an official servant; that she acted in the capacity of deaconess.* Paul recommends her both as a sister —or member of "the household of faith," the spiritual family of God, and as an office-bearer in the Cenchrean church.

You will ask me, perhaps, if there was a deaconess, or if there were deaconesses, in that church, why have we not deaconesses still? I answer this question by another-Why were there no deaconesses in the church at Jerusalem ? "When the number of disciples was multiplied," we are told in the sixth chapter of the Acts, "there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, lock ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,

So Alford and others.-ED.

whom we may appoint over this business."*

In this in

stance, it is remarkable, the objects of attention more immediately in view were females-widows. Yet no females are appointed to office. From what could this difference between the Judean and the Grecian and Asiatic churches originate? We find it readily in the difference in the state of manners in the different countries? In Greece, and still more in Asia, the freedom of intercourse between the sexes was under restrictions; and it was necessary, to avoid reproach among the disciples, that these restrictions should not unnecessarily be broken through. In these circumstances, the same kind of necessity which gave origin to the office gave occasion to this peculiarity of it-its administration in part by females, who could at all times have free access to the sisterhood of the churches that required their attendance and aid. You will from this be sensible, that it is the office that is the divine institution; and that where men are in circumstances to fulfil its duties, their appointment is a satisfactory conformity to the rule and example of the Apostles; and that in circumstances of a different description, it would be more than justifiable, it would be a duty to conform to the Grecian and Asiatic custom, which has evidently the sanction of the same authority.

Paul enjoins the believers at Rome to "receive Phebe in the Lord." They were to receive her, that is, as belonging to Christ, —one of his true spiritual disciples. It is the same disposition of mind with that which the Lord himself commends, and promises to reward. They were to receive her to the fellowship of the church, to friendly intercourse, to needful accommodation. Thus, the Apostle taught them, and teaches "it becometh saints." It becomes them to receive one another," not with cold reserve and distant formality, with worldly ceremony and hollow-hearted politeness, but with the open sincerity and warmth of love, as members of the same family, all alike "sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty." The relation between them is ever the same; and when

us,

*Acts vi. 1-3.

† Mark ix. 41.

strangers come amongst us from a distance, we do well to bear in mind the admonition—“Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

They were to object of her It is the duty

The reception was not to be confined to kind words; there were to be kind deeds too:-"And assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you." Phebe seems to have gone to Rome on some business of her own, of the nature of which it would be foolish and silly to conjecture. show their kindness by forwarding for her the journey. Such, in similar cases, is our duty. of ordinary friendship, and much more should it be felt the duty of Christian love.-There is a special reason assigned in the case before us for their practical regard :—“ for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also." The word is by some rendered patroness. It means one who stands forward for the help of another.+ It is unnatural to consider this as relating to the discharge of her official functions. In this view the aid would have been, not so much hers as the church's; and it is very unlikely that such aid should either have come to the Apostle and his fellowlabourers through her hands, or, if it had, should have been so warmly commended by him as if it had been her own.-She was probably a woman of substance, who had in this way a good deal in her power. There were such godly women in our Lord's time-"women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance." The record is to their perpetual honour. To what higher or better purpose could they apply any portion of their wealth, than in contributing to His relief, who, "though rich, yet for our sakes became poor;" and whose voluntary poverty was such that he could say, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head?"-We know that there

* Heb. xiii. 1, 2.

† προστάτις.

Luke viii. 2, 3.