<p>16:2- see on Lk. 11:7.</p><p><i>That you may welcome her in the Lord</i>- This is the same idea as the exhortation to 'receive' the 'weak' in fellowship (14:1; 15:7) exactly because they too were &quot;in the Lord&quot;. We suspect there was some opposition to receiving her- hence Paul's raising of the matter. Perhaps because she was a woman, or perhaps because she too was engaged in the ministry to the Gentiles. For Paul has just written of both the Lord Jesus and himself as being ministers of the Gentiles; and now he states that Phoebe is also a minister. Active fellowship of the kind envisaged here is predicated upon being &quot;in the Lord&quot;. It is therefore utterly wrong to accept on one hand that a person is &quot;in the Lord&quot;, but to deny them fellowship for reasons of church politics.</p><p><i>In a way worthy of the saints</i>- &quot;The saints&quot; is a term used about the final acceptability of the believers in God's future Kingdom. Being 'worthy' or 'not worthy' is likewise the language of the last judgment (Mt. 22:8; Acts 13:46; Rom. 1:32 etc.). Accepting our fellow believers is the &quot;way&quot; to eternal life; this is a characteristic of those who will be 'worthy' or appropriate to be saints eternally. Likewise those who refuse to fellowship their brethren are behaving as the unworthy of being saints.</p><p><i>And I ask that you assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you- </i>&quot;Assist&quot; is a legal term, used of presenting witnesses in a court (see Acts 24:13). Paul uses the word of how the Lord Jesus stood with him in his trial (2 Tim. 4:17).</p><p><i>For she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self</i>- Or, &quot;succourer&quot;.&nbsp; According to Barnes: &quot;The word used here means properly &ldquo;a patron, a help,&rdquo; and was applied by the Greeks to one who &ldquo;presided&rdquo; over an assembly; to one who became &ldquo;a patron&rdquo; of others; who aided or defended them in their cause; and especially to one who undertook to manage the cause of &ldquo;strangers&rdquo; and foreigners before the courts&quot;. The Cambridge commentary adds: &quot;Lit. a champion; one who stands before another. The word conveys a graceful allusion to the request that they would &ldquo;stand by&rdquo; Ph&oelig;be: she had &ldquo;stood before&rdquo; many a needing and suffering Christian&quot;. The legal language used here leads me to think that she was in Rome on legal business on behalf of the Christian brotherhood. Perhaps she needed witnesses to testify, and Paul urges the Romans to participate. But we note from 2 Tim. 4 his lament that when he had to stand trial in Rome, none of them stood with him. Phoebe may simply have been noted as a patron or supporter of Paul and others; for clearly his work had to have been funded by someone. But it would seem there is more to it than that. A theme of chapter 16 is not only the mixture of Jewish and Gentile names, but also of slave and free, rich and poor. And further, the role of women is emphasized. It's as if Paul seeks to demonstrate that in the way the Spirit has worked with the Romans and those associated with his ministry, there was exhibited an amazing unity and breaking down of social barriers.</p>