2018 STUDY OF ROMANS
Chapter 16, Verses 1-27
“Wise About Good, Innocent About Evil!”
[7-21-19]
Review: “Why Hadn’t Paul Already Preached In Rome?”
Romans 15:28-33) [NIV] So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.
29) I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
30) I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
31) Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,
32) so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.
QUESTION: What did Paul want his readers to pray about?
ANSWER: He wanted them to pray:
- That God would rescue him “from the unbelievers in Judea;”
- That his “service in Jerusalem” would be “acceptable to the saints there;”
- That God would allow him to visit Rome.
Concerning his visit to Rome and Spain,
When “he came to Jerusalem he was apprehended, and after sometime sent a prisoner to Rome” [Gill].
NOTE: Paul wasn’t able to fulfill his desire because he was arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 23). However, he did end up in Rome, as a prisoner, to stand trial before Caesar.
Acts 21:10-13) [GNB] We had been there for several days when a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea.
11) He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied up his own feet and hands with it, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: The owner of this belt will be tied up in this way by the Jews in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles.”
12) When we heard this, we and the others there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
13) But he answered, “What are you doing, crying like this and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”
NOTE: Paul knew he would be arrested but went anyway.
33) The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
This Week’s Lesson: “Wise About Good, Innocent About Evil!”
Romans 16:1-27) [NIV] I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.
2) I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.
3) Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow 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.
“That is, risked their lives; either at Corinth (Act 18:6, Act 18:9, Act 18:10), or more probably at Ephesus (Act 19:30, Act 19:31” [JFB].
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.
“This phrase gives us a clue to the organization of the early church. In a city with a Christian community of any size, there would be several ‘congregations’ meeting in different houses, since there were no ‘church’ buildings at this time. Each house church probably had its own ‘pastor’” [Guzik].
6) Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
7) Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
**NOTE: They “are outstanding among the apostles.” This could mean that they were outstanding apostles, or that the apostles considered them to be outstanding Christians.
8) Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord.
9) Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
10) Greet Apelles, tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.
11) Greet Herodion, my relative. 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 brothers with them.
15) Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them.
16) Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
*17) I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
*18) For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
NOTE: Paul warns his readers to stay away from false teachers. He said they were serving “their own appetites;” the KJV says “their own belly.”
**19) Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
NOTE: Paul exhorts his readers, which include you and me, to be “wise about what is good.” He also wanted them to be “innocent about what is evil.”
Matthew 10:16) [KJV] Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
NOTE: The Greek word used for “innocent” in Romans 16:19 is the same Greek word used for “harmless” in Matthew 10:16.
“innocent,” – “Lit., unmixed, unadulterated. Used of wine without water, and of metal without alloy. Hence guileless. So Luther, without falsity” [Vincent].
20) The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
In regards to “crush” [NIV] and “bruise” [KJV],
“to crush completely, that is, to shatter (literally or figuratively)” [Strong].
QUESTION: What encouragement did Paul give his readers?
ANSWER: “The God of peace” would completely crush “Satan under” their “feet.”
1 John 3:8) [KJV] He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
21) Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.
22) I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23) Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
24) [KJV] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
NOTE: This verse is omitted in the NIV, and many other modern translations.
Concerning this,
“Is not genuine, not in Aleph A B C Coptic” [Robertson].
25) Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,
“establish” – “1) to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix; 2) to strengthen, make firm; 3) to render constant, confirm, one’s mind” [Thayer].
(GNB) Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.
26) but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him-
27) to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
QUESTION: What was the one thing that would cause the Roman believers to be firmly established; i.e., to “stand firm in” their “faith”?
***ANSWER: Believing the Good News about what Christ Jesus has accomplished for us in the only way that they would, and we will, find steadfastness in our Christian walk.