“Tryphena and Tryphosa ” by Mandy Jane Williams
” Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord”
Tryphena and Tryphosa are mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Romans. Paul epistle to the Romans was written from Corinth. The Bible Dictionary explains,
” Paul was then contemplating a visit to Jerusalem, which was certain to be dangerous (Rom. 15:31). If he escaped with his life he hoped afterwards to visit Rome. The letter was meant in part to prepare the Church there to receive him when he came. It may also be regarded as containing a statement of those doctrines which had been in dispute with the Judaizing Christians, and which Paul now regarded as finally established.”
Paul sent his letter to the church at Rome by way of a woman named Phebe who was, “ a servant of the church” (Rom. 16:1) and asked them to receive her. At the close of his epistle Paul extended personal greetings to many of the Christians and “co-workers” in Christ who lived, or had fled, to Rome. Out of the the 29 people Paul mentions, or “salutes”, ten of them are women!
We don’t know anything about who Tryphena and Tryphosa were, but because they are mentioned together, and their names sound so similar some historians have speculated that they may have been sisters, or even twins. Their names are both derived from the same Greek word meaning “dainty, delicate, or luxurious.”
Interestingly, there was also Roman Princess named Antonia Tryphaena who lived about this same time and who is mentioned as being sympathetic to Christians in the apocryphal book of The Acts of Paul and Thecla. Some historians have speculated that she may have been the Tryphena that Paul mentioned in Romans 16, though there is no real evidence for this.
Paul tells us that Tryphena and Tryphosa “labour in the Lord”. The Greek verb which is translated as “labor” means “to work hard”, and Paul’s use of the present tense verb– labour instead of laboured– tells us that Tryphaena and Tryphosa were currently engaged in “working hard” in the service of the Lord. It is unclear exactly what type of work they were doing for the church, but Paul described two other women in Romans 16 as “hard workers” , Mary (verse 6) and Persis (verse 12) showing us that it was fairly common for early Christian women to be formal, active participants in the work of the church.
A Study of Romans 16 For LDS & Evangelical Conversations by Bridget Jack Jeffries
Tryphena and Tryphosa, who were mentioned by Paul in his list of faithful Roman Saints in Romans 16, helps illuminate what we know about early Christian women’s participation in the church. In Romans 16 Paul lists the names of ten women, specifying that each of them was involved in working for the service of the…