{
  "id": "dict_004440",
  "term": "Phlegon",
  "slug": "phlegon",
  "letter": "P",
  "entry_type": "biblical_person",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "Phlegon is a Christian greeted by Paul in Romans 16:14; Scripture gives no further biographical details.",
  "simple_one_line": "A Christian named by Paul in Romans 16:14.",
  "tooltip_text": "A Christian greeted by Paul in Romans 16:14; little else is known about him.",
  "aliases": [],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "Paul",
    "Romans 16",
    "Phoebe",
    "Prisca and Aquila"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Romans 16:14",
    "Personal greetings in Paul’s letters",
    "Church at Rome"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "Phlegon is one of the believers Paul greets at the close of Romans. He is mentioned only by name, so Scripture gives us a brief but genuine glimpse of an ordinary Christian in the Roman church.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "A named Christian in Rome greeted by Paul in Romans 16:14.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Named by Paul in Romans 16:14",
    "part of the closing greetings in Romans",
    "Scripture gives no further biographical or ministerial details."
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Phlegon is a personal name in Romans 16:14, where Paul greets him among other believers in Rome. The text gives no additional information about his life, background, or role in the church.",
  "description_academic_full": "Phlegon is one of the Christians named by Paul in Romans 16:14. The biblical text identifies him only by name and places him within Paul’s greeting to believers associated with the Roman church, but it does not provide any further biographical, historical, or ministerial detail. For that reason, Phlegon should be treated as a biblical person entry rather than as a theological concept, and no conclusions should be drawn beyond what the text explicitly says.",
  "background_biblical_context": "Romans 16 closes Paul’s letter with a series of personal greetings to believers known to him. Phlegon appears in that list, showing Paul’s pastoral concern for specific individuals within the Roman Christian community.",
  "background_historical_context": "Romans was written in the first century to Christians in Rome, a city with multiple house churches and a mixed Jewish-Gentile population. Phlegon is part of the small network of believers Paul names at the end of the letter, but history has preserved no further reliable record about him.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "The name Phlegon is Greek rather than distinctly Jewish in form. Scripture does not say whether he was Jewish or Gentile, and no stronger claim should be made from the name alone.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "Romans 16:14"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "None."
  ],
  "original_language_note": "Greek Φλέγων (Phlegōn), a personal name.",
  "theological_significance": "Phlegon’s significance is modest but real: he reminds readers that the New Testament preserves ordinary believers by name and that local church fellowship mattered to the apostolic mission.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "The entry illustrates how Scripture can honor a person without supplying a full biography. A named believer may be significant to God and to the church even when historical detail is minimal.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not speculate about Phlegon’s office, ethnicity, family, or later life. The text gives only his name in Paul’s greeting list.",
  "major_views_note": "There is no major interpretive debate about the entry itself; the only responsible reading is that Phlegon is a named Christian greeted in Romans 16:14.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "No doctrine should be built on silence. The passage supports only the fact that Paul knew of and greeted a believer named Phlegon.",
  "practical_significance": "Phlegon’s brief mention encourages believers that God notices ordinary saints and that seemingly small acts of faithful association within the church are remembered in Scripture.",
  "meta_description": "Phlegon is a Christian greeted by Paul in Romans 16:14; Scripture gives no further details about him.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/phlegon/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/phlegon.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}