Tryphosa

Tryphosa is one of two women whose names sit beside one another in the closing greetings of Paul's letter to the Romans. She appears once, named together with Tryphaena, and remembered for the same active work in the Lord.

A Worker in the Lord at Rome

Paul greets her by name in the run of personal salutations that close the letter: "Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who labored much in the Lord" (Rom 16:12). The verb tying her to Tryphaena is present tense ("who labor") — both are still at work in the congregation when Paul writes. The next clause, naming Persis, switches to a past tense ("labored much"), so the contrast within the verse pairs Tryphaena and Tryphosa as currently laboring, with Persis remembered for an earlier season of much work.

The qualifier "in the Lord" places that labor inside Christian service rather than ordinary household work. Tryphosa stands as one of several women Paul names individually in this greeting list — Phoebe, Prisca, Mary, Junia, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, the sister of Nereus — whose labor he has personal knowledge of and whose names he sends greetings to by name at the close of the letter to Rome.