Getting Romans to the Right Romans: Phoebe and the Delivery of Paul’s Letter

Abstract

How did Romans reach the people for whom it was intended? There is widespread agreement that Phoebe was the bearer of the letter (Rom. 16:1-2), but little investigation of or agreement about the exact nature of her responsibilities. By exploring the data available to us, especially tha found in Romans 16, this essay provides a reconstruction of the events surrounding the transport and delivery of the letter to the Roman Christians. In particular, it proposes the following:  Phoebe conveyed the letter to Rome, probably by sea;  the church in Rome at this time consisted of house-churches;  Phoebe was to deliver the letter first to Prisca and Aquila and their house-church;  Prisca and Aquila were to convene an assembly of the whole Christian community, the first for some time, at which Romans was to be received and read;  Prisca and Aquila were to be asked to arrange for copies of Romans to be made;  Phoebe was to deliver these copies to other house-churches; and  Phoebe was to read Romans in the way that Paul had coached her at each of the gatherings to which she took it.