Linus Λίνος
Christian in Rome; greeted by Paul
Biography
Linus was a Christian who lived in Rome during the time of Paul's second imprisonment (2Ti.4.21). In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he asked Timothy to greet Linus, along with other believers such as Eubulus, Pudens, and Claudia. This suggests that Linus was a member of the Christian community in Rome and likely known to both Paul and Timothy. Some early church traditions identify Linus as the second bishop of Rome, succeeding Peter, but this cannot be confirmed from the biblical text alone.
In Scripture
1 biblical book ; 1 with study content2 Timothy 1 verse
- 2 Timothy 4:21
"Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers."
Study 2 Timothy →
Names & Aliases
| Form | Language | Script | Strong's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named | Greek | Λίνος | G3044 |
Encyclopedia Article
ISBE 1915 (Public Domain) Linus
most of the Christians had forsaken him. And writing to Timothy when he realized that his execution could not be very far distant--for he was now ready to be offered, and the time of his departure was at hand (2Ti 4:6)--he sends greeting to Timothy from four friends whom he names, and Linus is one of them. There is a tradition that Linus was bishop of the church at Rome. "It is perhaps fair to assume, though of course there is no certainty of this, that the consecration of Linus to the government of the Roman church as its first bishop was one of the dying acts of the apostle Paul" (H.D.M. Spence, in Ellicott's New Testament Commentary on 2 Tim).
Irenaeus--bishop of Lyons about 178 AD--in his defense of orthodox doctrine against the Gnostics "appeals especially to the bishops of Rome, as depositories of the apostolic tradition." The list of Irenaeus commences with Linus, whom he identifies with the person of this name mentioned by Paul, and whom he states to have been "entrusted with the office of the bishopric by the apostles ..... With the many possibilities of error, no more can safely be assumed of Linus .... than that he held some prominent position in the Roman church" (Lightfoot's "Dissertation on the Christian Ministry," in Commentary on Phil, 220 f).
"Considering the great rarity of this Greek mythological name as a proper name for persons, we can hardly doubt that here, as Irenaeus has directly asserted, the same Roman Christian is meant who, according to ancient tradition, became after Peter and Paul the first bishop of Rome. Among the mythical characters in Apostolical Constitutions, vii, 46 occurs Linos ho Klaudias, who is declared to have been ordained by Paul as the first bishop of Rome. He is thus represented as the son or husband of the Claudia whose name comes after his in 2Ti 4:21.
"These meager statements have been enlarged upon by English investigators. The Claudia mentioned here is, they hold, identical with the one who, according to Martial, married a certain Pudens (85-90 AD), and she, in turn, with the Claudia Rufina from Britain, who is then made out to be a daughter of the British king, Cogidumnus, or Titus Claudius Cogidubnus. For a refutation of these assumptions, which, even chronologically considered, are impossible, see Lightfoot, Clement, I, 76-79" (Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, 20).
John Rutherfurd
(1) Occurring most often in the Old Testament is 'aryeh, plural 'ardyoth. Another form, 'ari, plural 'arayim, is found less often.
1Names
Compare 'ari'el, "Ariel" (<ref osisRef="Bible:Ezra.8.