Nymphas

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A disciple at Laodicea, whom Paul salutes "and the church which is in his house" ( Colossians 4:15). An assembly of Christians met in his house. So delta, G, f, g, the Vulgate. (See NEW Testament But the Sinaiticus and the Alexandrinus and the Ephraemi Rescriptus manuscripts read "which is in their house," the Vaticanus manuscript has "her house," making Nymphas a woman.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The person whom Paul salutes in his Epistle to the Colossians. ( Colossians 4:15) The name is supposed to have been a woman's name, being feminine, and in the original Greek signifying spouse; but the church is said to be in his house, and therefore Nymphas is of the brethren.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Saint at Colosse or Laodicea, to whom Paul sent his salutations.  Colossians 4:15 . Several editors read, 'the church which is in their house.'

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A Christian at Laodicea, whom Paul salutes, together with the company of believers wont to worship at his house,  Colossians 4:15 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Colossians 4:15

Holman Bible Dictionary

Nympha

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nim´fas ( Νυμφᾶς , Numphás  ; Lachmann, Tregelles (margin), Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek read Νύμφα , Númpha , the name of a woman (  Colossians 4:15 )):

1. A C hristian in Laodicea:

A C hristian resident in Laodicea, to whom Paul sends salutations in the epistle which he wrote from Rome to the church in Colosse, the latter city being only a very few miles distant from Laodicea. Indeed, so near were they, that Paul directs that the Epistle to the Colossians be read also in Laodicea. Nymphas - or if Nympha be read, then it is a Christian lady who is meant - was a person of outstanding worth and importance in the church of Laodicea, for he had granted the use of his dwelling-house for the ordinary weekly meetings of the church. The apostle's salutation is a 3-fold one - to the brethren that are in Laodicea, that is to the whole of the Christian community in that city, and to Nymphas, and to the church in his house.

2. The Church in His House:

This fact, that the church met there, also shows that Nymphas was a person of some means, for a very small house could not have accommodated the Christian men and women who gathered together on the first day of every week for the purposes of Christian worship. The church in Laodicea - judging not only from the Epistle to the Ephesians, which is really Paul's Epistle to the Laodiceans, and which indicates that the church in Laodicea had a numerous membership, but also from what is said of it in  Revelation 3:17 the King James Version - must have been large and influential: "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." The house of Nymphas, therefore, must have possessed a large room or saloon sufficiently commodious to allow the meeting of a numerous company. Nymphas would he a person both of Christian character and of generous feeling, and of some amount of wealth. Nothing more is known regarding him, as this is the only passage in which he is named.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Νυμφᾶς ; Vulg. Nymphas), a wealthy and zealous Christian in Laodicea ( Colossians 4:15). A.D. 57. His house was used as a place of assembly for the Christians; and hence Grotius, making an extraordinarily high estimate of the probable number of Christians in Laodicea, infers that he must have lived in a rural district; nor is there any good reason for the supposition of Chrysostom that the Church consisted solely of the family of Nymphas (comp.  Romans 16:5;  1 Corinthians 16:19;  Philemon 1:2).

In the Vatican MS. (B) this name is taken for that of a woman ( Αὐτῆς ); and the reading appears in some Latin writers, as pseudo-Ambrose, pseudo-Anseim, and has been adopted in Lachmann's N.T. The common reading, however ( Αὐτοῦ ), is found in most MSS., and is the only one known to the Greek fathers. The Alexandrian and Sinaitic Mss. (A and א ), and that of Ephraem Syrus (C), do not determine the sex ( Αὐτῶν ). The difficulty presented by the plural in the text is easily explained by referring it to Nymphas and his family (constructio ad sensum), or Αὐτῶν may refer to the Ἀδελφοί .