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Bible Dictionaries
Nereus
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (Νηρεύς, a Greek name, fairly common among slaves and freedmen, and found in inscriptions of the Imperial household)
Nereus is the third of a group of Christians, his sister (probably Nereis or Nerias by name) being the fourth, who with ‘all the saints that are with them’ are saluted by St. Paul in Romans 16:15. The first two names, Philologus and Julia (which see ) may be those of husband and wife. If so, Nereus and his sister and Olympas may have been their family, which formed the nucleus of a church which met under their leadership at their house in Rome or Ephesus. Cf. possible the ‘household of Stephanas’ in Corinth, who were ‘the firstfruits of Achaia’ and who ‘set themselves to minister unto the saints’ (1 Corinthians 16:15). The relationship is, however, purely conjectural, as nothing further is known of any of these persons. That they formed with the other unnamed persons a household or district (ἐκκλησία), of which they had been the nucleus and therefore became the leaders, is extremely probable, or the men may have been the heads of separate small communities. The name Nereus was that of a minor sea-god, father of the Nereids, and it is significant that a Christian should have had no scruple in retaining it. (Other names of heathen deities borne by Christians mentioned in Romans 16 are Hermes [Romans 16:14], Phoebe, [Romans 16:1].) The name is connected with legends of the early Roman Church (see Sanday-Headlam, International Critical Commentary , ‘Romans 5,’ Edinburgh, 1902, p. 428).
T. B. Allworthy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Nereus'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/n/nereus.html. 1906-1918.
