In this post, I look at Nympha, a Christian mentioned in Colossians 4:15. What was her association with Paul? What was her ministry? Where was her house church? Was she really a woman?
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Inspired by a recent reading in Acts, I’ve taken a close look at a common Greek expression that Paul uses when addressing Euodia and Syntyche. What was Paul saying to these women in the Philippian Church?
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This article looks at Junia, a Christian missionary mentioned in Romans 16:7 who was persecuted for her faith and may have known Jesus personally. Was she also known as Joanna?
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Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16:14ff), and women like her, were vital and strategic players at the forefront of the expanding Christian mission.
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In this article I take a look at the text of 2 John, especially at the words the letter writer uses to identify the people he mentions, including the “chosen lady.”
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Apphia was a woman greeted by Paul in his letter to Philemon. What was her role or position at Colossae? Was she Philemon’s wife? Or was she another Phoebe?
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Eve, Delilah, Bathsheba, Mary Magdalene, and the Samaritan woman have often been portrayed as immoral. What’s with that? This article looks at the Samaritan woman without negative prejudices.
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More than a century ago, church historian Adolf Harnack was honest and approving in his appraisal of women ministers who are mentioned in the New Testament.
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Chloe is a woman mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:11? Was she a pagan or a Christian? A concerned house church leader or the quarrelsome leader of a faction?
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In part 4 I look at the deacons in the Philippian church, and at the development of church offices in the apostolic and post-apostolic church.
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We have only two lines about Phoebe in the Bible, but Theodoret of Cyrrhus has more information about her. Did Phoebe travel to Spain with Paul? Did she deliver his letter to the Romans?
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In Part 2, I look at what Romans 16:1-2 in the ancient Latin texts say about Phoebe. These indicate she was recognised as an official deacon (or deaconess.)
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