Narcissus

Biblical Record

Narcissus (Greek Narkissos) appears only once in the Bible, in Romans 16:11. At the close of his letter, Paul greets a number of people in the church at Rome, and in this verse he writes, "Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord" (KJV). The Korean Revised Version uses the word gwonsok ("household"), which the New Korean Revised Version renders as gajok ("family"). Gwonsok denotes those who belong to a single household. In Roman society of the time, a household included not only blood relatives but also the slaves and freedmen attached to it.

The text says nothing about the faith or life of Narcissus himself.

Significance Within the Bible

Paul greets not Narcissus himself but those of his household who are "in the Lord," that is, those who had become Christians. Interpretations of this expression differ. Some hold that Narcissus himself was not a believer, while others suggest that he had already died or was not in Rome. Together with the greeting in the preceding verse to "them which are of Aristobulus' household" (Romans 16:10), this verse is often cited as an example of how the early church spread along household lines, particularly among slaves and the lower classes.

Interpretations and Issues

• Identification with a historical figure: The nineteenth-century English scholar J. B. Lightfoot and others identified this Narcissus with the freedman Narcissus, a close aide of the Roman emperor Claudius. This Narcissus is known to have been executed or to have taken his own life around AD 54, after the emperor's death. On this view, his slaves may have continued to be known by their former master's name even after they became imperial property. This, however, is a conjecture based on the shared name, not an established fact.
• Church tradition: Eastern Orthodox tradition counts Narcissus among the Seventy disciples sent out by Jesus and holds that he became bishop of Athens. This account is not based on the biblical text but is a later tradition.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted specifically to Narcissus are rare. His name usually comes up in sermons on the greetings of Romans 16 as a whole, including Romans 16:1–7. In such contexts he is sometimes cited to illustrate the faith of believers whose names have not been remembered or the spread of the gospel within households.