Today, I ran accross a view on Romans I had never seen before: that Romasn 16 is a separate letter of commendation of Phoebe to the Ephesian Church. I was wondering if anyone had heard of this or had thoughts on this concerning the validity of the view.
In Him,
Bob
Romans 16 - A Separate Letter?
Discussion in '2004 Archive' started by BibleBob, Jan 13, 2004.
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The usual view is that Phoebe was the person who delivered the letter to the Roman church, and so Paul commends her at the end of his epistle. As far as I know, there is no evidence of this chapter circulating independently of the rest of the book. (But I could be wrong.)
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There are manuscripts of Romans where the closing of the letter (16:25-27) appears instead at the end of chapter 15. Some scholars believe that Romans might have circulated in two versions, one to Rome with the personal greetings included, and one elsewhere (or to the church in general) with them omitted. I have also read theories that said the opposite: that the one without personal greetings went to Rome, and the one with actually went to Ephesus.
Unfortunately I have no documentation on this available to me at the moment. I believe William Barclay may explain it in his commentary.