Romans 16:1-16

Personal Greetings
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon [a] of the church in Cenchreae. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

3 Greet Priscilla [b] and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

10 Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

11 Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.

Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.

15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord's people who are with them.

16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ send greetings.


Dig Deeper
A few years back, my maternal grandmother passed away. She was a wonderfully unique person that I have missed more than I would have imagined before her passing. She loved to read and she especially loved theological and religious books. When she died she left many of her religious books to me. Some of them were great books that I was happy to have but there were a few that just didn’t seem that interesting. One of those was a rather old and plain looking book on Luke’s role as a theologian. When I got her books, I looked through them all but I remember thinking that this one looked boring and not worth reading and so, without ever really opening it, I just set it on a side shelf and there it sat. About a year ago, however, for some reason I picked up the book and began to page through it. I was amazed when I realized that this book seemed pretty good so I started to read it. I found it that it was an incredibly valuable book by someone who has turned out to be one of my favorite theologians (since reading that book I have attempted to purchase and read several of his other books and have enjoyed them all). Oh, if only I had paid attention to this nondescript little book earlier.

Christians often like to say things like every verse of the Bible is inspired and that we love every single word in it. Those noble sentiments become strained for many when considering passages like this one or some of the genealogy passages in the Old Testament or the gospels, or some of the other lists of people, tribes, or items included in the Temple in the Old Testament. If we’re honest, many of us tend to skip over these types of passages when we arrive at them in our reading. It’s a shame because passages like these, although they usually don’t contain anything overt or obvious, often do have little hidden gems of information that are worth taking the time to discover. Oh, if only we had paid attention earlier.
Paul was eager to reconnect with those in Rome that he knew well and to establish bonds with those Christians in Rome that he didn’t know that well or only knew by reputation. Sending out greetings like this accomplished both of those things. But as we look through this list of names and greetings, several important little details and things about the early church begin to pop up; things that we would do well to pay attention to.

One thing that we note in this list is the fact that Paul’s old friends Priscila and Aquila are part of the church in Rome. Paul first met the husband and wife team of Priscila and Aquila in Corinth on his second missionary journey. They had originally left Italy when Claudius had kicked the Jews out (Acts 18:2). They had apparently become close friends and valued partners in the faith with Paul that not only shared their common commitment to Christ but they were also tent-makers as was Paul. They had been instrumental in bringing the influential Apollos to the life of Christ (Acts 18:26) and they had been with Paul in Ephesus for a fair amount of time working together in the ministry of the gospel (1 Cor. 16:19). Now it appears that they have returned to Rome and whether it was simply because Jews like themselves were being allowed back or because Paul had specifically sent them to prepare the way for him to come to Rome is unclear, but Paul clearly valued them and their work in Christ. They were co-workers that had risked their lives for Paul and the sake of the gospel. It is also quite possible that Epenetus, mentioned in verse 5, was converted as part of their ministry in Asia, the cultural center of which was Ephesus, and that he had accompanied Priscila and Aquila back to Rome.

Another element in this section that is worth noting is the make-up of the church in Rome. Very few, if any, churches in the first century would have had the means or the opportunity to purchase and maintain their own meeting place for worship so they were quite creative in meeting in different locations and set-ups. It wouldn’t be until the 2nd century that church buildings began to appear. Perhaps the most common form of Christian gathering in the first century was in house churches. It was rare that an entire collection of believers in a city or town could all meet together in one place at one time, so they met in groups in the home of someone who had a house big enough for such a thing. Paul mentions as many as five of these house church groups in his greetings. This gives us the picture of devout believers gathering together in small groups, probably not much larger than 20 or 30 people in each group. It’s possible, then, that the Roman church, at the time of Paul’s writing, was around one hundred Christians who meet together in house churches and only occasionally would come all together. In a city of about a million, that gave this tiny little group much to do. To pattern modern churches after such an ancient model, however, is certainly wise and many larger churches do break up their church as a whole into smaller house churches as a way to maintain family unity within the confines of a larger church. The idea of a house church is a good one, but we should remember that it is not one that is ever mandated in the New Testament or even encouraged, it is simply described as the means through which a new family of believers met the difficult circumstances and limited resources that were available to them. Some in their zeal and appreciation for the house church style have claimed that it is the only legitimate way for Christians to meet. It may be effective, it might even be preferable for some, but there is no biblical ground on which to stand and claim that it should be mandated.

As we continue to look at Paul’s personal greetings we note that of the twenty-six Christians that are listed specifically by name that no less than nine of them are women. He mentions dear friends, important laborers in the church, and those who were worthy of imitation (Paul also specifically mentions Rufus, whom many experts believe may well be the same Rufus that was listed as one of the sons of Simon of Cyrene who carried the Cross of Christ in Mark 15:21), so it is no minor details that more than a third of those mentioned are women. Women shared in an important part of the labor and ministry of the first century church and enjoyed equality and respect (although this does not conflict at all with the fact that they were equal and respected and yet their were some boundaries for the roles that women played in leadership in the early church as described in passages such as 1 Timothy 2:11-15). Two important women in particular in this passage were Phoebe and Junia, who was likely the wife of Andronicus. Phoebe served as a deacon, which meant that she most likely had a specific organizational role in some aspect of church service. It appears to be fact that Paul entrusted Phoebe with bringing this letter to Rome, which meant that he trusted her and respected her greatly. She was clearly an important figure in Paul’s ministry and was a benefactor in the church, meaning that she was a woman of some financial significance who made her private resources available for public use by the believers. Junia’s name is more properly understood as a woman’s name but can be understood to be a man’s name. It is worth noting that the early church fathers were nearly unanimous in their assumption that Junia was a woman and this seems far more likely. Some have hesitated to do this because Paul refers to her and her husband as apostles. In using the term apostle, however, Paul often doesn’t refer to the specific role of authority and leadership that he fulfilled. That was certainly one meaning of the word, but the more common use was applied simply to those who had seen the risen Christ and who had a vocation to share the gospel as eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection. Thus, Junia played an important role in the early church as did Phoebe, and it is probably that her and her husband spent some time in prison (possibly with Paul but the original language is not as clear as the TNIV makes it seem) for the sake of the gospel. It is certainly important to not go beyond the proper biblical roles that God has ordained for women in the church but surely we need to take a look at their labor, importance, and role in the early church and learn a few things in our day about the importance of women in the church.

It is also important to stress that Paul constantly refers to co-workers throughout his writings but certainly here several times (vv. 3, 7, and 9). This reminds us that Paul was not running around the world working by himself. He had a specific mission and vocation but Paul knew well that the concept of being a lone ranger Christian simply didn’t add up. Paul constantly depended on co-workers and supporters. Let us never think that we do not need the constant help and support of others in whatever role we have been cast in the body of Christ.

Finally, we note that Paul ends his greetings with an exhortation to greet one another with a holy kiss. This kiss of peace became a standard part of Christian worship from the earliest days. The purpose of the holy kiss was, no doubt, to demonstrate that Christians who engaged in this warm greeting were members of the same family. Those who had entered into the Christ shaped family would show that fact to the world when they greeted one another with a holy kiss. Thus, the kiss was not just a warm way of showing affection and gratitude to one another, it was yet another very practical way to work out the doctrine of justification by faith in the life of Christ in the real world. They were members of one family and should act like it at every opportunity. This serves as a constant challenge to us to constantly look for new and exciting ways to make the same statement in our culture.


Devotional Thought
Paul not only wrote this letter to teach some important and timeless doctrines but he took time at the end to encourage others. When is the last time that you wrote a little note or card to someone simply to encourage them? Take some time this week and think of how you can encourage someone by writing them or in some other creative way.