To Christ Be the Glory Forever
13Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 14Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of Christ greet you. 17Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. 18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent. 19For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil. 20And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 21Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives. 22I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord. 23Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus, the brother. 24The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! Amen. 24Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages, 25but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations; 26to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
All this time we have listened, with the church in Rome, to Paul’s precious words; we have given thanks, we have been rebuked, and we have repented. Through these expositions of Romans we have learned the love of Christ and experienced God’s lofty plan and its fulfillment. Paul is a believer of integrity who gives God the glory. He is also a true worker who sincerely loves his brothers and sisters in the faith and does not fear death for the gospel. Wherever the name of Christ had to be proclaimed, he did not hesitate to go, though he knew persecution awaited him. He never ceased striving to present his brothers and sisters perfect in Christ on the last day, and to make them stand without blemish before the eternal glory of God, he did not hesitate to sacrifice himself.
Watching Paul call the saints in Rome by name, I thought of how our church takes a group photo at every event. In introducing his fellow workers with such pride, he looked to me like a parent of fine character, the kind who stays out of the frame so that the children come out well. Paul served God’s work superbly. Yet without fellow workers who loved him, understood him, and trusted him, it was a work he could never have carried out, and without the help of the Holy Spirit, his was a life like a miracle that could never have been lived. Paul knew well that he had been able to fulfill his calling because they were there, and so he called by name, with all his heart, those who had labored beside him.
Many brothers and sisters in the faith appear in chapter 16, but the one we know best is the apostle Paul. Even so, he humbly calls each of them by name. As we watch him, let us ask ourselves whether we have ever looked down on a brother or sister in the faith from a seat of pride. Paul was firm yet kind; he seemed flawless, yet he wanted the help of his brothers and sisters, and he was a humble man who asked the Holy Spirit for help in everything. Because he knew God’s will, he always hoped that even those who persecuted him would be given the chance of salvation, and he wanted them to become his friends in Christ. Paul had a remarkable gift for drawing out the potential in others, so that they could take up the work themselves and throw themselves into it as members of Christ’s body. He helped them be faithful to God and receive his commendation.
People esteem themselves more than God’s will. When they give to the poor, when they show love, when they serve, they decide everything within limits they have set. They judge by their own measure: “as I see it,” “when it feels right to me,” “within the limits I allow,” and so on. So they may seem to have given much, but we must ask whether it truly meets God’s standard. What makes the apostle Paul great is that he had no human standard of his own. He preached the gospel even to those who had done things deserving a curse, and to those strong in faith he gave more opportunities to labor for the Kingdom of God. Paul’s, then, was not a life lived for himself. He sought no reward from God or from people; he taught the church the word he had come to understand and hoped they would live for God alone.
Romans 16:1
1I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,
Sending his letter to the church in Rome by the hand of Phoebe, Paul asked them to receive her worthily, with fitting courtesy. Telling them to help her in whatever she needed, he showed his respect and trust, calling her a protector of many and of himself. When Paul calls Phoebe his protector, that is, his patron, rescuer, and helper, we can tell that she had been supporting him generously with her means. And that Phoebe was the one to carry Paul’s treasured letter to Rome shows how much respect and trust she had earned from Paul and from the church.
Romans 16:3
3Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
Prisca and Aquila were a couple Paul could not do without in his work. They believed in Christ before they ever met Paul, so in Corinth he must have heard a great deal from them about the church in Rome. Prisca was born into the Roman nobility and Aquila was a slave, yet their faith shows that in the Lord they had the fine character to respect and love each other. In those days, naming a wife before her husband was highly unconventional, yet Paul entrusted Prisca with teaching the word, and from that we can see she was a woman of great knowledge. When Paul set out for Ephesus on his mission, Prisca and Aquila wound up their business and followed him there to help in his ministry. Paul called this couple his helpers, those who stood at his side with hands joined to his. They always opened their home as a church and served there gladly, and they were so faithful that they risked their own necks for Paul. His life was constantly in danger, and knowing they would suffer for it, they stood by him at the risk of their lives. In 1 Corinthians 16:19 Paul writes that the churches of Asia greet them, and that Aquila and Prisca, with the church that is in their house, greet them warmly in the Lord; their house, plainly, was a church. To give one’s home as a church and serve the saints there is a remarkable faith. Even if a wife wished in faith to offer her home as a church, it would be hard without Aquila’s consent. But Aquila joined her in faith so that she could be faithful to God, and that shows what a mature man he was.
More than thirty people appear in chapter 16, so we cannot look at them all. But before their names Paul sets words like my protector, my fellow worker, the first fruits, my fellow prisoner, my beloved, approved in Christ, who labored in the Lord, my mother, my relative, and my host and host of the whole assembly, and from these we can tell how full of faith these saints were.
Romans 16:7
7Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, who were also in Christ before me.
Some ancient manuscripts, it is said, record Junia as Julia. Junia and Andronicus were husband and wife, and they are said to have ministered while introducing themselves as apostles. Since Paul too calls this couple people who were in Christ before him, they are understood to have been present when Jesus rose and ascended. Those who followed Jesus, listened eagerly to his words and proclaimed them, and witnessed his resurrection are said to have shared the title of apostle along with the Twelve. Like Paul, who became an apostle when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, they too were called apostles by an extension of what it meant to be a disciple. Having heard the word and experienced miracles, they carried out missionary work in many places in the office of apostle. So the Bible names Junia as a woman apostle. Grant Osborne notes that this is the only place in the New Testament that mentions a woman apostle. The apostle Paul recognized this couple as apostles and called them fellow workers who were in Christ before him, and that shows how firmly Andronicus and Junia were convinced of the word of truth.
Romans 16:13
13Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
Mark tells how they put a crown of thorns on Jesus, struck his head with a reed, spat on him, mocked him in every way, and then led him out to be crucified. Just then Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross and took him to Golgotha. Simon seems to have come into Jerusalem for the Passover. He carried the cross against his will, but he saw with his own eyes the last moments of Jesus, bleeding and dying, and through this his whole family was saved. Rufus was the son of this Simon of Cyrene, who so suddenly found himself carrying the cross. The saints in Rome all knew Alexander and Rufus. Paul calls Rufus the chosen in the Lord, which tells us that Rufus stood out among the others in service and faithfulness.
Acts 13:1 records that in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. If this Simeon is the same man who appears in Mark, then Paul would have met Simeon’s wife, the mother of Rufus, in Syrian Antioch. That is because Paul once spent a year there with Barnabas. [Acts 11:25-26] If she was the wife of Simeon, who carried the cross in Jesus’ place up to Golgotha, and the mother of Rufus, a man of faith, then her own faith must also have been full. Paul had received Christ, yet Christians would not accept him, and Rufus’s mother, taking pity on him, would have shown him special care and love. When Paul calls her “my mother,” we learn that at his loneliest she took him in like a son and gave him her love. The apostle Paul never forgot Rufus’s mother, who had wrapped him in a mother’s love when he had not yet found his place in the faith, and he remained grateful to her always. Paul’s faith, which never forgot the love he had been given by God or by people and gave thanks without wavering, would have given him the courage to face martyrdom.
Romans 16:16
16Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of Christ greet you.
Though he suffered as he preached to the Gentiles, the churches had grown so much that he could speak of all the assemblies of Christ, and this tells us how tirelessly Paul had labored. Yet in the church, Jews and Gentiles, masters and slaves, rich and poor, men and women worshiped together in one place, and problems were bound to arise. In spite of these problems, he reminded them that they were all brothers in Christ and urged them, over and over and without ceasing, to love one another.
Romans 16:17-18
17Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. 18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
Even as he greeted his brothers and sisters in the faith, Paul kept reminding the church in Rome that heretics had come in among them. Whenever the apostle Paul planted a church at the risk of his life, heretics would creep in, spread a false gospel, and make the faithful stumble. You must never, then, let down your guard. In the Old Testament, too, we see false prophets twisting the word of God that the true prophets proclaimed and drawing people away from God. People who do not know the word have no spiritual discernment, and so they listen to false prophets and leave God. The heretics who entered the church in Rome distorted the death and resurrection of Jesus and claimed that Jesus was not God. Paul therefore told them to look out for those who cause occasions of stumbling, the false prophets, so that they would not fall over the obstacles laid in their path.
If we do not rightly understand the word of truth, we will be caught in Satan’s grip, set ourselves against God, and fall into death, a grievous thing to happen. These people mix the law with the gospel, oppose the apostles, and throw the church into disorder, which is why Paul told the church not to be deceived by them. Those who proclaim the word of truth and the heretics have different aims from the start. Heretics speak in ways that sound like Scripture and deceive people for their own gain; if we are not to be deceived, we must know the Bible rightly.
Heretics do not serve Jesus Christ as Lord; they serve their own belly. Full of greed, they use the gospel as a pretext to accomplish wicked ends, and only by knowing the word of truth rightly can we escape their deceit. Heretics lead the innocent astray with smooth and flattering speech. They speak with great skill, but every word serves their own purposes, so we must not be caught in the snare of death they have laid. Because people like this are the ones leading, we need spiritual eyes that see through a heretic’s true colors; with such eyes we can discern the lies they tell to fill their own bellies. Pastors must teach nothing but the word of truth so that those deceived by heresy cannot stir up strife in the church. Heretics try to reinterpret the Bible as though they alone had understood it, but brothers and sisters who have wisdom must discern such people and drive them out of the church at once.
Romans 16:19
19For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil.
The good that God approves is not what I like or what I judge and decide for myself; it is knowing the direction God desires and acting on it. To be innocent in that which is evil means to be simple, or pure, toward it. If we stop judging by human knowledge and righteousness and instead think and act with the purity of a child in spirit, we can walk with God according to his will. Those who corrupt the gospel of Christ for their own ends may enjoy riches that fill their bellies, but in the end the God of peace will shut them away in eternal darkness.
Countless heresies are abroad in the world today. Live thoughtlessly in so evil a world, and you will be pierced by the sharp blades they keep hidden. May you live wisely, holding the sword of the Spirit, honed and polished by the word.
Romans 14:24-25
24Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages, 25but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations;
Paul proclaimed the work of redemption: Jesus died for us and rose again. The gospel he proclaimed announced the salvation that had been kept secret for long ages and was revealed in Christ. The salvation God planned was made plain through Christ and his work, and fully revealed by the Holy Spirit. God promised this gospel beforehand through his prophets in the Scriptures, concerning his Son, and, wonder of wonders, we have met Christ, who took on flesh and came into this world himself. Salvation is no longer a hidden mystery; it has been revealed so clearly that we can experience it, and we too must proclaim the gospel as the apostle Paul did. Unlike those who lived in Old Testament times, we are not looking at a salvation seen only dimly. We must proclaim the gospel with confidence.
Romans 14:26
26to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
The God we serve as our Father has a wondrous wisdom that nothing in the world can match. If those who believe in Christ in the Holy Spirit hold to a steadfast faith, they can offer God unending praise and glory. Paul’s hope, then, was that the church in Rome would become new creations through the word, no longer following the flesh but living by God’s will. He earnestly longed that the souls he had brought to Christ, as precious to him as his own life, would not stumble but would enter the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.
You have heard these expositions of Romans. My hope is that you will not forget Paul’s earnest plea, and that you will become a living sacrifice acceptable to God. May you treasure the salvation God gave freely through the death of his only Son, and lift your voices high in praise to our great God. Those who do not spare their lives to proclaim Jesus Christ are God’s people, whose hope is in heaven. Believing that God would crush Satan under his feet, they gave up their own lives to offer praise to our mighty God. Perhaps that is why the last chapter of Romans, where their names are written, stirs our hearts so deeply.
Just as Paul recorded the names of the saints in chapter 16, I believe that our names too are written in the book of life, spread open before God. You have been born again as God’s holy people; I earnestly hope that you will carry the gospel to the ends of the earth, give glory and praise to God in Christ, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. You who believe in Christ, may you hear his voice calling on the last day and come to the wedding feast as his holy bride.
The Law’s Demand and the Cross’s Fulfillment