The Weekend, July 4 –
We come to the weekend and the celebration of our nation’s independence – when we declared our intention to form a “more perfect union”. We have a day to realize that God has given us a country of diversity and yet unity. Two words that highlight the final reading in the book of Romans. I would ask you to read Romans 16:1 – 27. I know there’s a lot of names, but slow down and look at them to catch the words Paul uses to describe these “friends”, “brothers”, “sisters” in the faith. Come back after you’ve finished and we’ll walk through this together.
After almost 50 years of pastoral ministry, I have a lot of friendships that have developed. Being a pastor is not always easy because you live in a fishbowl of expectations – and therefore, people are not always happy with decisions or direction. Yet in reflecting back, I have memories of some great people God put into my life – people who served alongside me in leadership, and sometimes people who just served to be an encouragement to me. Yes, Romans 16 has a lot of hard-to-pronounce names, but to hurry over these names is to miss out on who God put in Paul’s life as an Apostle, Missionary, Pastor, Teacher, and if we hurry over them, we lose a bit of Paul’s family album.
There are 26 (or 27) names (depending on how you count one set of names) that are listed here. Nine of them are women. In fact, the first two Paul begins with are women: Phoebe and Priscilla, who is written in front of her husband Aquila. The names Paul writes go from well-known friends to those he has met and had some time with while in Asia. How did he know so many people from the Roman Church? In 49 a.d., the Emperor, Claudius, had expelled all the Jews from Rome because of the uproar caused by “Christus” – i.e., because Jesus was being proclaimed in the Synagogue. It was in this context that Priscilla and Aquila had come to Corinth (Acts 18:3). They were tentmakers and had worked with Paul while he ministered the Gospel in Corinth and the surrounding area. Phoebe who is listed first was from Cenchreae, a city just to the north-west of Corinth. Paul names her first as a “servant” (ESV) or “deacon” (NIV). The NIV is best since the Greek word Paul uses is “diakonos”, from which we translate the word into Deacon. Paul sent the letter he had written to the Romans to be delivered to the church by her. Paul would not have entrusted a letter of this magnitude with just anyone, so we understand a bit of what Phoebe meant to him.
Beginning in verse 3 through verse 16, the dominant word is “Greet”. The Greek word is the same in all cases and it literally means to “embrace” – which implies not so much a throw your arms around these people but to receive them warmly as you would a dear friend or family member. This was some of the people in Paul’s spiritual family.
Priscilla and Aquila were friends from the beginning of their arrival in Corinth. When Paul left Corinth to travel across the sea to Asia minor and the city of Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila accompanied him, and Paul left them to lead the church in Ephesus. They stayed there for many years (Acts 18:8-9). Interestingly, we also get a picture of early church life in his words in vs 5, “Greet also the church that meets in their house.” It was years later – Claudius was dead and Priscilla and Aquila had moved back to Rome where a church now met in their home. Paul’s affection for them is clear: “they risked their necks for my life” (16:4).
Now Paul launches into a number of names less well known, except for his own descriptions.
16:5, Epaenetus (the a is silent) – first convert (the word Paul uses means “firstfruit”) in Asia.
16:6, Mary, from the Hebrew for Miriam, a Jewish woman who Paul said: “worked hard”.
16:7, Adronicus and Junias, a husband and wife team... “kinsman” meaning they were also Jewish. He says of them, they were “fellow prisoners”, “outstanding among the Apostles” which probably means they were doing missionary work alongside Paul...and last of all, “were in Christ before me”. These two met Paul sometime on his journey and shared in his ordeals and circumstances of ministry for Christ.
16:8 – 15 contains the names of 20 people we know little of. Paul knows them well, and as we read through it we see in his words how he feels towards them: “dear friend” (8), “co-worker”, “dear friend” (9), “Apelles, whose fidelity (faithfulness) has stood the test” (my paraphrase) (10), “my fellow Jew” (11) means much more than he’s a Jew like I am, but one who came alongside Paul to work in the face of Jewish opposition. “A household” (vs 11) and “women who worked hard” (vs 12). Rufus (vs 13), Paul says is “chosen in the Lord”. He is mentioned in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 15:21). He was the son of Simon of Cyrene who had carried the cross of Jesus as he marched towards his crucifixion.
The last group of names (vss 14-15) is full of Greek names and speculation is that they were slaves who had come to faith in Christ, and at least in some cases may have been slaves in the Emperor’s household. This is some of the people of Rome’s early church. “Friends in Christ” is what Paul calls them (4x’s). They are “sisters”, “brothers”, “beloved”, “fellow workers”, people who cared about the Gospel and wanted to help Paul declare it. Paul concludes the list with his own smile and says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (16:16), a typical greeting of kisses on the cheeks for welcoming friends and loved ones. What is the church if not a group of believers in Christ who are known for their serving, down-to-earth love?
The second to last section is short but important. Paul gives them a final cautionary warning – “ I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them (16:17). It’s a simple word: “Guard your unity in both the matters of Doctrinal belief and in your unity as friends/family of believers”. I can’t tell you the number of times someone’s gossip, or whispered discussions – “I was only trying to be helpful”, “I was just concerned” – brought more harm than good. The only way to guard against division is by openness, a willingness to be upfront about the concerns and doing it in the hearing of all. The only way to guard doctrinal truth against those who move away from the truth is “to avoid them” (16:17). Paul recognized what we often fail to see as crucial – truth matters and it is what binds us together in common faith; and Satan will do whatever he can to introduce division.
The final section is a list of the people who are alongside Paul when he writes this letter. Timothy heads the list. Lucius is Dr. Luke. Jason had traveled with Paul after his conversion in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-5). Tertius (16:22) was Paul’s secretary faithfully writing down the words Paul had spoken over this long letter. I can imagine Paul trying to think of everyone he needed to include, and Tertius looks up and asks, “Paul, would it be ok to put in my own greeting?” Paul smiles and says, “Of course Tertius, of course”. Who is this young man? Tertius means “Third” – it was the name of a common household slave. Owners did not give them names but referred to them as numbers. Tertius literally writes his own greeting: “I, the freed slave ‘Third’, who penned this letter, greet you in the Lord” (16:22). It is a small, but heart-warming touch at the end.
The final names were of a “city treasurer” (Erastus from Corinth), and another slave converted and along with Paul, “Quartus”, meaning “Fourth”...Paul called him “a brother”.
Paul ends this letter as a church service often ends – with a doxology – a blessing from the Spiritual leader to the readers, or church as a whole.
“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen (16:25-27).
Here is a final word...the Gospel of Jesus, a mystery kept hidden for so long in the heart of God, is now made known, and is for all peoples so that in believing and in obedient faith, God’s glory may be made known throughout the ages – it’s all because of Jesus!
“Amen”, so be it, let it be true, let it be proclaimed, let it be our anchor, and hope!
What are we if not brothers and sisters in Christ who have come together to worship and proclaim that “God has brought us together as a household through faith in his Son”? Our unity is not based on our similarities, but on our fellowship together around Jesus. It is this fellowship through Jesus that is to mark us - a fellowship of Jesus’ people on earth as it will be in Heaven. Take a moment and look around the next time you get together as a church. It’s not a building or an online meeting. It’s not a service to perform. It is a rag-tag group of sinners who all found Jesus!
Peace
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