How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture

by Dan Kimball

Paul describes Phoebe as a deacon in Romans 16:1–2: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.” The way in which Paul commends Phoebe is consistent with the manner in which the writer of a letter would commend the person charged with the assignment of delivering the letter. Cultural practices of that time would have the one who delivered the letter read it and then answer the recipients’ questions. Anyone who has ever read the letter Paul wrote to the Romans can only imagine the questions that would have arisen during that initial session. This significant responsibility was entrusted by Paul to a woman. Think about that: in all likelihood, the first ever exposition of Paul’s letter to the Romans was done by a woman.