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Amen. Written to the Romans, and sent by Phoebe, a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea.
That women also were ministers of the Gospel in other places; and that they were highly serviceable to the church, St. Paul confesses with great satisfaction, in his Epistle to the Romans, in which he sends his salutation to different persons, for whom he professed an affection or an esteem: thus "I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church, which is at Cenchrea."
Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the tribunal. And Gallio paid no regard to any of these things. Then Paul abode there yet many days, and taking leave of the disciples, he set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having cut off his hair at Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
Now the God of peace be with you all! Amen. I NOW commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church which is at Cenchrea: that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that you assist her in every matter wherein she may have need of you: for she hath also been a succourer of many, and of me myself.
In Romans 16:1 Paul says, "I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." Is not the servant of the church the minister?
But if we take into account the hideous immoralities of Corinth, we shall deem it probable that the port, with its shifting maritime population, was, like most seaports, a soil in which goodness was hard put to it to grow, and a church had much against which to struggle. To be a Christian at Cenchrea can have been no light task.
It was my privilege to pass my first Sabbath in Rome in the society of the Rev. John Bonar and that of his family, and at night we met in Mr Bonar's room in the hotel, and had family worship. I well remember that Mr Bonar read on this occasion the last chapter of that epistle which Paul "sent by Phebe, servant of the Church at Cenchrea," to the saints at Rome.
Bidding an affectionate adieu to his Christian friends, he set out for the little seaport of Cenchrea, accompanied by Aquila and his wife Priscilla, and then set sail for Ephesus, on his way to Jerusalem. In his haste to reach the end of his journey he did not tarry at Ephesus, but took another vessel, and arrived at Caesarea without any recorded accident.
Hist. Now, Cenchrea was a seaport or harbor of the Corinthians. It was a place near to Corinth, on the east of the Egean Sea. John Cotton, in these words, viz: "IV. Proposition, in case a particular church be disturbed with errors of scandal, and the same maintained by a faction among them.
Indeed, not one of all the missionary circle ever stood in need of such a hint as Paul gave the church at Rome concerning the deaconess of Cenchrea.
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