St. Paul was told of the factions in Corinth ὑπὸ τῶν Χλόης, ‘by them of Chloe’ (1 Corinthians 1:11). It is not said that she was a Christian, nor is it clear whether she lived in Corinth or in Ephesus. Probably she was an Ephesian Christian lady, whose ‘people’ (i.e. her Christian slaves, or companions, or even children) had brought back disquieting news after visiting Corinth. Her name is an epithet of a goddess and was often given to slaves; hence it has been conjectured that she was a freedwoman of property.
Literature.-articles in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) on ‘Chloe’ and on ‘I. Corinthians,’ p. 487a; Comm. on 1 Cor. by Findlay (Expositor’s Greek Testament , 1904), pp. 735, 763, and by Godet (1889), i. 21, 64. C. v. Weizsäcker discusses the situation in Corinth, and takes a different view about Chloe: see his Apostolic Age, i.2, London, 1897, pp. 305, 318, 325, 335.
J. E. Roberts.