Phoebe - A Female Minister and Guardian

I’m continuing a series of posts taking a close look at women’s roles in the Church according to Scripture (not according to our culture). Last time, I discussed Junia, a forgotten apostle mentioned briefly in Romans 16:7. In this post, I want to bring to our attention another lady whom Paul mentions in his conclusion of his letter to the Romans.

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 NASB



Phoebe was a special servant of God. She was also, evidently, special to Paul – so special that she was the person chosen to travel about 800 miles and hand deliver this letter to the Roman Church that would later become recognized as the authoritative Word of God. We read this letter today in our Bibles as the Book of Romans.

Who was Phoebe? We don’t know a great deal about her other than what Paul, himself, tells us in this one verse. So, let’s find out what we can by his statement.

He says that she is a sister – an obvious statement that indicates she is a Christian. Paul also writes that she is a servant of the church at Cenchrea and a helper to many. Ahh… Here are some important clues. Let’s break this down a bit.

The word offered for “servant” is a form of diakonos and the word used by Paul for “helper” is prostatis. Diakonos is the word from which we get “deacon.” It is translated “servant” or “minister.” Prostatis is translated “protector” or “patroness.”

Paul uses the word diakonos often to describe not only himself and other leaders in regard to their positions within the Church (e.g., 1 Corinthians 3:5, Ephesians 3;7 and Colossians 1:7), but also Christ in relation to all Christians (e.g., Romans 15:8 and Galatians 2:17). It is illogical and unreasonable to assign a position of leadership and authority when using this word with Paul, Jesus and other names, but suddenly remove the authority that coexists with the word with another name just because it happens to refer to a female.

Paul uses the masculine form diakonon in reference to Phoebe which is further evidence of Paul’s intention of her leadership and authority within the Church. If he believed her to be less, he would have used a noun like doulos or used the feminine form of servant.

The word helper sometimes infers a weaker position. However, the word prostatis is literally translated as “a woman set over others” or “a female guardian.” In the Hebrew language, the word for helper (ezer) is assigned to God seventeen times in the Old Testament. It is absolutely a word indicating power and authority. In fact, Paul asks the Roman Christians in this verse to come alongside Phoebe and assist her, not the other way around.

Furthermore, in the Jewish communities of Paul’s day, prostatis was commonly used a label for someone who offered legal protection over another person or group of people. One might easily say that Phoebe served as the legal protector of the Christians at Cenchrea. Paul uses this word elsewhere to refer to those who were in rule or leadership within a church (see Romans 12:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:12 and 1 Timothy 5:17).

In my upcoming posts, I will offer yet more evidence of women who held leadership roles within the early Church as well as discuss the qualifications for leadership as written by Paul in 1 Timothy and Titus. We’ll examine the apparent contradictions in what Paul’s written qualifications indicate compared to what was actually happening under his leadership.