John Calvin Commentary Romans 16:1

"I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae:" — Romans 16:1 (ASV)

I commend to you, etc. The greater part of this chapter is taken up with salutations; and as they contain no difficulties, it would be useless to dwell long on them. I will only touch on those things that require some explanation.

He first commends Phoebe to them, to whom he gave this Epistle to be brought to them. In the first place, he commends her on account of her office, for she performed a most honorable and a most holy function in the Church. Then he adduces another reason why they ought to receive her and show her every kindness: because she had always been a helper to all the godly.

Since she was an assistant of the Cenchrean Church, he instructs that on that account she should be received in the Lord. By adding, as it is meet for saints, he intimates that it would be unbecoming for the servants of Christ not to show her honor and kindness.

And since it behooves us to embrace in love all the members of Christ, we certainly ought to regard, and especially to love and honor, those who perform a public office in the Church.

Furthermore, as she had always been full of kindness to all, so he instructs that help and assistance should now be given to her in all her concerns. For courtesy requires that one who is naturally disposed to kindness should not be forsaken when in need of aid. To incline their minds further, he numbers himself among those whom she had assisted.

He teaches us in another place, 1 Timothy 5:9, about this service he speaks of and what it entailed. For as the poor were supported from the public treasury of the Church, they were also taken care of by those in public office. For this responsibility, widows were chosen who, being free from domestic concerns and unencumbered by children, wished to consecrate themselves wholly to God through religious duties. They were therefore received into this office as those who had wholly given themselves up and became bound to their charge, much like one who, having hired out his own labor, is no longer free or his own master.

Therefore, the Apostle accuses those who renounced the office they had once undertaken of having violated their faith. And as it behooved them to live in widowhood, he forbade them to be chosen under sixty years of age (1 Timothy 5:9, 11), because he foresaw that under that age the vow of perpetual celibacy was dangerous, indeed, liable to prove ruinous.

This most sacred function, so very useful to the Church, when the state of things had become worse, degenerated into the idle order of Nuns. This order, though corrupt at its beginning and contrary to the word of God, has nevertheless so fallen away from what it was at its commencement that there is no difference between some of the sanctuaries of chastity and a common brothel.