Epenetus (Epaenetus)

Epenetus — Epaenetus in the UPDV — appears once, in the long roll of greetings that closes the letter to Rome. The single line he receives is dense: a household, a personal endearment, and a status marker in the spread of the gospel.

Beloved, and the First-Fruits of Asia

The greeting names him alongside the household of Prisca and Aquila and the church meeting in their house: "and [greet] the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the first fruits of Asia to Christ" (Ro 16:5). Two things are said of him. First, he is "my beloved" — Paul's personal warmth. Second, he is "the first fruits of Asia to Christ," the earliest convert from the province of Asia, set apart in the harvest imagery as the inaugural offering of a wider ingathering.