Romans 16:1-2 : I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchrea: that ye receive her in the Lord, worthily of the mints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever matter she may have need of you: for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self. Cenchrea was the home of Phoebe. It was the eastern seaport of Corinth, a few miles across the Isthmus from Corinth. There has been much said for and against the possibility that Phoebe was an official deaconess of her home church. But the use of the word diakonos, here translated servant, does not prove that she occupied an official position. In these letters to the churches the word is used a number of times, but not in any official sense, unless in this one place. We let our minds run to officialism too much. On account of the social condition of women of that age, aged women of experience, piety and ability were needed to teach, encourage, and otherwise help young women. On this point see 1 Timothy 5:3-16; Titus 2:3-6. To select a person for a certain work does not necessarily make him an officer in the common acceptation of that term. To select a man to hold a series of meetings does not make him an officer, and no one thinks so. Selecting a song-leader does not make him an officer. Selecting certain women to attend to certain duties does not make them deaconesses in any official sense. Diakonos therefore had no official significance. It is thought by some that she was the bearer of Paul's letter to Rome, but that is not certain. She evidently went to Rome on certain business, for Paul urges the brethren to "assist her in whatever matter she may have need." To receive her in the Lord was to treat her as a worthy Christian should be treated "for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self." Those who help others always commend themselves to the Lord.