Hermas (Ἑ ρμ ᾶ ς, Romans 16:14)
Hermas is a Greek name, a contracted form of several names such as Hermagoras, Hermeros, Hermodorus, Hermogenes, etc., common among members of the Imperial household (J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians 4, 1878, p. 176), It is the last of a group of five names (all Greek) of persons, and ‘the brethren with them,’ saluted by St. Paul. Nothing is known of any member of the group. It is conjectured that together they formed a separate ἐ κκλησία or ‘church,’ the locality of which we shall suppose to have been Rome or Ep hesus, according to our view of the destination of these salutations. Cf. vv. 5, 15 and perhaps v. 11, and 1 Corinthians 16:19 and perhaps Acts 20:20 . Possibly these five men were heads of five separate household churches, or leaders or office-bearers in the Church.
T. B. Allworthy.