Phoebe the Deacon!!!

Reflection: At the end of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, we see Paul mentioning several people who were colleagues in the mission.  Many of them are women.  Phoebe was so important that he wanted her to go to Rome and act as his ambassador.  When the NIV translator uses the term “benefactor”, others translate the word “leader”, which many see as the true intent of the word.  Also Paul uses the term “deacon” masculine to describe her.  Some argue that it is the term for “deaconess”, but this is not found in other places so most prefer the term deacon as a better translation as most of the newer translations use.

Of course at issue here is the role of women in the church and should they be leaders over and/or teach men.  More conservative churches usually prefer the definition below and use the term “deaconess” and prefer the explanation I cite below of her role, which was mainly to other women in ministry. 

The bottom line for me is that we see in the early church the prominent role of women in the mission of spreading the Gospel in the early church.  Whether it was Lydia, the wealthy purple cloth dealer in Philippi, Phoebe this deacon at Cenchrae, or Priscilla wife of Aquilla from Rome, and known for her teaching; we see many examples of women playing a huge role in the Church.  While in general it seems best for men to disciple men, and women to disciple women, for obvious reasons, there are exceptions to both.  The key thing as Paul states in Galatians is that “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Our unity is in Christ Jesus not in economic status, gender or race.  And we see today many powerful women teaching and leading in the church. 

(Taken from Clarke’s Commentary) Phoebe is here termed a servant, διακονον, a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea. There were deaconesses in the primitive Church, whose business it was to attend the female converts at baptism; to instruct the catechumens, or persons who were candidates for baptism; to visit the sick, and those who were in prison, and, in short, perform those religious offices for the female part of the Church which could not with propriety be performed by men. They were chosen in general out of the most experienced of the Church, and were ordinarily widows, who had borne children. Some ancient constitutions required them to be forty, others fifty, and others sixty years of age. It is evident that they were ordained to their office by the imposition of the hands of the bishop; and the form of prayer used on the occasion is extant in the apostolical constitutions. In the tenth or eleventh century the order became extinct in the Latin Church, but continued in the Greek Church till the end of the twelfth century. See Broughton's Dictionary, article deaconess.

Psalm 47

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 Clap your hands, all you nations;

    shout to God with cries of joy.

2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,

    the great King over all the earth.

3 He subdued nations under us,

    peoples under our feet.

4 He chose our inheritance for us,

    the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,

    the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;

    sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;

    sing to him a psalm of praise.

8 God reigns over the nations;

    God is seated on his holy throne.

9 The nobles of the nations assemble

    as the people of the God of Abraham,

for the kings of the earth belong to God;

    he is greatly exalted.

Job 13:20-14:22

20 “Only grant me these two things, God,

    and then I will not hide from you:

21 Withdraw your hand far from me,

    and stop frightening me with your terrors.

22 Then summon me and I will answer,

    or let me speak, and you reply to me.

23 How many wrongs and sins have I committed?

    Show me my offense and my sin.

24 Why do you hide your face

    and consider me your enemy?

25 Will you torment a windblown leaf?

    Will you chase after dry chaff?

26 For you write down bitter things against me

    and make me reap the sins of my youth.

27 You fasten my feet in shackles;

    you keep close watch on all my paths

    by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

28 “So man wastes away like something rotten,

    like a garment eaten by moths.

14 “Mortals, born of woman,

    are of few days and full of trouble.

2 They spring up like flowers and wither away;

    like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

3 Do you fix your eye on them?

    Will you bring them before you for judgment?

4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?

    No one!

5 A person’s days are determined;

    you have decreed the number of his months

    and have set limits he cannot exceed.

6 So look away from him and let him alone,

    till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.

7 “At least there is hope for a tree:

    If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

    and its new shoots will not fail.

8 Its roots may grow old in the ground

    and its stump die in the soil,

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud

    and put forth shoots like a plant.

10 But a man dies and is laid low;

    he breathes his last and is no more.

11 As the water of a lake dries up

    or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

12 so he lies down and does not rise;

    till the heavens are no more, people will not awake

    or be roused from their sleep.

13 “If only you would hide me in the grave

    and conceal me till your anger has passed!

If only you would set me a time

    and then remember me!

14 If someone dies, will they live again?

    All the days of my hard service

    I will wait for my renewal to come.

15 You will call and I will answer you;

    you will long for the creature your hands have made.

16 Surely then you will count my steps

    but not keep track of my sin.

17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;

    you will cover over my sin.

18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles

    and as a rock is moved from its place,

19 as water wears away stones

    and torrents wash away the soil,

    so you destroy a person’s hope.

20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;

    you change their countenance and send them away.

21 If their children are honored, they do not know it;

    if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.

22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies

    and mourn only for themselves.”

Romans 15:30-16:7

30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, 32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Personal Greetings

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security! Isaiah 38:14

Whoever has the Son has life. 1 John 5:12

Crucified One, you experienced the woe of those who know capture and death at the hands of others. May any whose days are numbered know life in you, and may all who are in hiding, exile, and modern day slavery experience your security. Amen.