Was Phoebe a Deaconess?

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well. (Romans 16:1–2)

Paul devotes these two verses to the commendation of a single individual, Phoebe, . . . a servant and a member of the church which is at Cenchrea. Cenchrea was the neighboring port city of Corinth, from which Paul wrote this letter, and the church… at Cenchrea doubtless was a daughter church of the one at Corinth. It was from Cenchrea, at the end of his first ministry in Corinth, that Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila “put out to sea for Syria” (Acts 18:18). . . .

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