Mary of Rome is the woman Paul says worked hard for the church.
Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.
Paul asks the church in Rome to greet Mary, who has worked hard for them. That is the whole sentence. She is not the mother of Jesus, not Mary Magdelene, and not Mary of Bethany. The church knows her as a worker. Paul does not give a family or a town of origin. The greeting is enough to keep her name.
- Romans 16 is a list of workers, not a genealogy.
- Worked hard is the same kind of word Paul uses for laborers in the gospel.
- Do not fill the silence with another Mary’s story.
Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.
One sentence. A worker in Rome.
Not the other Marys.
- Paul names her in the greetings to Rome.
- She worked hard for the church there.
- No family is given.
- She is not the mother of Jesus or Mary Magdelene.
- The list in Romans 16 is full of such workers.
- The verse is the whole account.
- The Greeting – Greet Mary.
- The Work – She has worked hard for you.
- The Church – Rome.
- The Writer – Paul.
- The Silence – No further story.
- The Distinction – Not the other Marys.
- Romans 16:6 – “Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.”
- Romans 16:12 – Tryphaena, Tryphosa, and Persis are also said to have worked hard in the Lord.
Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.
That is the verse. A worker in Rome. Do not give her another Mary’s story.
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