Urbanus, Stachys, and Apelles
By Mary Jane Chaignot
Categories: Early Church Workers
- Ampliatus is a Latin name and another individual that Paul refers to as “beloved.”
- This was actually a common name in antiquity and often associated with the Emperor’s household.
- There is a tomb in the catacomb of Domitilla, dating from the first or early second centuries that bears the inscription AMPLIAT[I]. The singular name suggests he might have been a slave; the ornamentation on the tomb suggests he would have been an important individual in the early church. It would mean that Christianity had penetrated deep into a prestigious Roman household.
Bibliography
1 Morris, Leon. "The Epistle to the Romans." The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B Eerdmans, 1988. p.534.
Best, Ernest. "The Letter of Paul to the Romans." The Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1969.
Black, Matthew. "Romans." The New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B Eerdmans, 1981.
Duling, Dennis and Norman Perrin. The New Testament. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1994.
Edwards, James. "Romans." New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1992.
Gaebelein, Frank. "Romans." Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1985.
Mills, Watson and Richard Wilson. Mercer Commentary on the Bible. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1995.
Smith, Robert. "Matthew." Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1989. |
