Roma 16:1-2

Personal Greetings

16:1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant ¹  of the church in Cenchrea, 16:2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and provide her with whatever help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many, including me.

1 Korintus 5:12

5:12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?

1 Korintus 10:12

10:12 So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall.

1 Korintus 10:18

10:18 Look at the people of Israel. ²  Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?

1 Korintus 12:11

12:11 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.

[16:1]  ¹ tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.

[10:18]  ² tn Grk “Israel according to (the) flesh.”