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I. THROW LIGHT UPON THE APOSTLE'S CHARACTER. We are at once reminded of "the care of all the churches" which rested upon him, He had not founded this Roman Church, and yet with what a warmth of Christian affection does he regard it, while there are some in it whom he mentions with an emphasis of special regard whom he had known in other Churches. With the burden of all the Churches weighing upon his heart every hour he forgets no act of kindness.

II. REFUTING THE PETRINE ORIGIN OF THE ROMAN CHURCH, upon which the assumptions of the Papacy are based. There is no well-authenticated evidence that Peter ever lived in Rome at all. He is spoken of as "the apostle of the circumcision," just as Paul was "the apostle of the uncircumcision," and we expect to find him exercising his pastorate at Jerusalem rather than at Rome, and accordingly it is to Jerusalem that Paul goes, and there he repeatedly finds him. But on the supposition that he presided over this Church, it must have been by the time that Paul wrote this Epistle. And if so, could Paul have omitted his name from these salutations? And if Peter had ever been there at an earlier period, would there have been no grateful reference now to the good which he had done? The truth is that the first link in the chain of argument for the papal supremacy is wanting, and this makes the rest worthless.

III. GIVE US INFORMATION AS TO THE MANNER IN WHICH MEMBERS WERE TRANSFERRED FROM ONE CHURCH TO ANOTHER. Phebe was a deaconess in the Church at Cenchrea, and probably a widow possessed of considerable worldly substance, whose business now carried her to Rome. And so she brings with her, written by Paul in his own name and in that of the Church, a certificate, in which not only her Church membership is attested, but witness is borne to the many good services she had performed in her native Church; and her brethren at Rome are asked to recompense her in some degree for her ministries of love. Note two valuable and interesting facts — the oneness of all the Churches in those primitive times, and the fact that membership in one at once secured a loving welcome into every other. Phebe was to feel that she was really passing from one home to another. What a lesson, if not a rebuke, to our Churches in this matter! The transference of members is too much a mere cold formality, alike in giving and receiving, and hundreds of persons change their residences without a letter of commendation at all. Is it any wonder, then, that so many pass out of sight altogether?

IV. INDICATING THOSE WHO ARE WORTHY OF SPECIAL COMMENDATION.

1. There are those of whom Paul speaks with great warmth, because of their general Christian excellence and eminence. Such were Epenetus, Stachys, Ampllas, and Apelles.

2. Then there were others who stood forth as specially distinguished by one particular excellence.

(1) We distinguish among the givers Aquila, Priscilla, and Urbane his helpers, and Phebe, "the succourer," etc. The form which this liberality took was doubtless shaped by outward circumstances, but the relief of the poor, the orphan, and the widow, defraying the expenses of a constantly extending evangelism, and the hospitable entertainment of Christian strangers, were prevailing forms of goodness. We know that one great aim of the early teachers was to educate its members to habits of giving, so that it should not be a mere fitful effort. It was the gospel that first did earnest battle with the selfishness of man, and turned beneficence into a system. And when Julian tried to engraft such beneficence upon the sapless tree of paganism, he complained that while the heathen did nothing for the support of their own poor, the Christians ministered to the wants of all.

(2) Then how many an earnest worker there was in that Church, such as Mary, Tryphena and Tryphosa, and Persis! The form of their sacred labour would a]so be shaped by their natural capacities, by the wants of the Church and the community, and also by the advice of pastors. Many would teach, and others would be found lodging strangers, relieving the afflicted, and diligently following every good work.

(3) And there were earnest sufferers too, such as "Andronicus and Junta," who had been Paul's companions in prison; and "Priscilla and Aquila, who for his life had laid down their own necks." Thus did the spirit already begin to show itself which was afterwards to shine forth in many a glorious martyrdom.

V. SHOW THE IMPORTANT PLACE WHICH CHRISTIAN WOMEN HELD IN THE EARLY CHURCH, and which we may therefore conclude they were intended to hold as workers in all ages in the Church of Christ. In this brief enumeration of sixteen verses nine or ten women are named as having been fellow-helpers with the apostle, and having consecrated themselves to "the fellowship of She ministry to the saints." No doubt the peculiar condition of society, which to a great extent isolated women, rendered the labours of Christian women indispensable. And it would seem as if a splendid sphere of usefulness were at this hour opening up before Christian women in connection with missionary enterprise in the East. There are more than fifty millions of women in India who are only accessible by the gospel through women.

VI. ILLUSTRATE THE DOMESTIC CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY. On one occasion at least, when mentioning a husband and wife, the apostle speaks of "the Church which was in their house." It may be that a number of the Christians were accustomed to come together in a private house for social worship. But the kernel-thought around which all the others gather is that all the members of that family were Christian believers, and that they therefore formed a little Church, as every such family does, with its worship, its Christian teaching, its mutual oversight, and its unity and love. Conclusion:

1. Suppose the apostle were now on earth, and were to write a letter to this congregation, Should I be spoken of as one who had "succoured the saints"? etc.

2. In Paul's later Epistles his salutations become fewer and fewer — the greater number of those whom he had known having died. It is a solemn thought, "The night cometh wherein no man can work."

(A. Thomson, D. D.)

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KJV: I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:

WEB: I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,