Personal Greetings
Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Rom 16:6
Mary, who bestowed... Who she was or what works she bestowed upon Paul we do not know.
It is difficult to know for sure which Mary this is, since there were so many with this name who were followers of Jesus. This just shows again here that many women helped with Paul’s ministry.
The context of this scripture suggests this Mary probably worked to the point of exhaustion, ministering in the church at Rome since its founding and been mentioned to Paul by others, possibly Priscilla and Aquila.
Mary is identified simply as one who worked very hard (“toiled much”; cf. Rom. 16:12). Some Greek manuscripts read Mariam, the Hebrew form, which probably identifies this woman as a Jew.
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