(Φιλόλογος, a Greek name, common among slaves and freedmen and frequently found in inscriptions of the Imperial household)
Philologus is the first of a group of five persons ‘and all the saints that are with them’ saluted by St. Paul in Romans 16:15. Philologus is coupled with Julia (q.v._), and they may have been brother and sister or more probably husband and wife. If this be so, Philologus and Julia were perhaps the parents of ‘Nereus and his sister and Olympas,’ and this family were the nucleus of the Christian community which met under their leadership in their house (cf. the salutation to Prisca and Aquila, a married couple, ‘and the church that is in their house’ [vv. 3-5]; see, however, J. A. Robinson, Ephesians, 1909, p. 281). The relationship of Philologus to the persons mentioned also by name is, however, purely conjectural, as nothing further is known of any member of this group. Another group of five persons (none of whom are women) ‘and the brethren that are with them’ are saluted in the preceding verse, and it is reasonable to suppose that in each case the persons named were, by virtue of seniority as Christians, either leaders of a single ἐκκλησία, or heads (jointly if a married couple) of separate churches. The locality to which we shall suppose these churches belonged will depend upon whether we think the destination of these salutations was Rome or Ephesus.
T. B. Allworthy.