THIRTIETH PASSAGE (16:1-16). RECOMMENDATIONS, SALUTATIONS, WARNING. It is the apostle's custom, when closing his letters, to treat a number of particular subjects of a more or less personal nature, such as special salutations, commissions, or warnings; comp. 1 Corinthians 16:10-22 (particularly Rom... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a deaconess of the church of Cenchrea, that ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she may have need of you; for also she hath been a succorer of many and of myself._ ” Here, according to som... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 3-5A. “ _Salute Prisca and Aquilas, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles and the church that meets in their house._ ” Aquilas and his wife Prisca (or Priscilla) were Jews, nat... [ Continue Reading ]
To the recommendation of Phoebe, the apostle joins a list of _salutations_, which might indeed still be called recommendations; for the imperative ἀσπάσασθε, _greet_, fifteen times repeated, is addressed to the whole church. It is, in fact, the church itself which he charges to transmit this mark of... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Salute Andronicus and Junias, my countrymen and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, and who also have been in Christ before me.Salute Ampliatus_, _my beloved in the Lord._ ” The word _Junian_ might be taken as the accusative of a female name, _Junia_, to denote the sister or... [ Continue Reading ]
The Alexs.: _Ampliaton;_ the others, following an abridged form: _Amplian._ Paul, having no special distinction to mention as belonging to this person, contents himself with pointing him out to the respect of the church by the expression of his affection; and that is enough, for it is an affection _... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Salute Urbanus, our fellow-worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute Apelles [the brother] approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household._ ” Urbanus, a Latin name signifying _citizen;_ Stachys, a Greek name signifying _an ear of corn._ In speaking of the former as hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_ VV._ 10. _Apelles:_ a frequent name for freedmen at Rome, especially among Jews. Every one knows the _Credat judoeus Apella_ of Horace. Δόκιμος, the Christian who has passed his trials, who has shown himself steadfast in his course. The last words may denote the Christians who are of the number o... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Salute Herodion my countryman. Salute them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute Persis the beloved, which labored much in the Lord._ ” Here, again, συγγενής may signify either _countryman_ or _kinsman_ (see Roma... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul speaks here of three women, the two former of whom were distinguished at this time, and the third had been distinguished previously in the service of the Lord and of the church, like Priscilla and Mary. The two former were probably sisters; their almost identical names come from the verb τρυφᾶν... [ Continue Reading ]
_ VV._ 13. “ _Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine._ ” The term _chosen_ cannot be taken here in the sense in which it applies to all Christians: it must denote something special. Hofmann, judging from what follows, understands: “The man whom I have specially chosen as my brothe... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia_, _Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them._ ” The personages whose names follow are not designated by any epithet of distinction; but it w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Julia_ (for such is the true reading) is undoubtedly the wife of Philologus.... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Salute one another with an holy kiss. All the churches of Christ salute you._ ” The apostle has just saluted in his own name the influential members of the different flocks of the church of Rome; but he naturally feels the need of also testifying his affection to the whole church; and he charges... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now I exhort you, brethren, to mark them which cause [the] divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and turn away from them. For these persons serve not Christ our Lord, but their own belly; and by fair speeches and benedictions deceive the hearts of the simple._ ” A... [ Continue Reading ]
In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle, after a passage of salutations, Romans 16:19-21, stops all at once to address to the church, as in the form of a postscript, a solemn warning (Romans 16:22). It is as if the salutation which he had just written awoke in him once more before closi... [ Continue Reading ]
The parties referred to are men at once sensual and hypocritical; it is therefore under the influence of a deep moral aversion that the Christians of Rome are called to avoid them. They serve their sensual appetites, and not Christ. This feature reminds us of Philippians 3:19, words which apply to t... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For the report of your obedience is come abroad unto all; I am glad therefore on your behalf.But yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple unto that which is evil._ ” This verse has been connected with the preceding in different ways. Thol., Mey., Philip. find in it a reason f... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now, the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet quickly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you._ ” From the visible enemy who threatens, the apostle's eye turns to thine visible world, where he discovers on the one side the more formidable enemy of whom his earthly adversaries a... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Timothy my fellow-worker, saluteth you, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my countrymen.I Tertius, who wrote this Epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the treasurer of the city saluteth you, and the brother Quartus._ ” After the fare... [ Continue Reading ]
But Paul had beside him at this very time a fellow-laborer of a different kind, to whom he must also give a place. This was the friend who had lent him the help of his pen in his long work, the _Tertius_ of this verse. Only, could he dictate to him his own salutation as he had dictated the preceding... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet another fellow-laborer, but of a wholly different kind: he is Paul's host, under whose roof he is composing this work. This _Gaius_ can neither be the Gaius of Derbe in Asia Minor, Acts 20:4, nor the Gaius of a church in the neighborhood of Ephesus, 3 John 1:1. He is evidently the person of whom... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 24 in the T. R. is certainly unauthentic. Meyer quotes, to defend it, the repetition of the apostolic prayer, 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:18; but there no MS. omits it, while here it is not found in any of the four oldest MSS. It is easy to see that certain copyists have transposed it... [ Continue Reading ]
THIRTY-FIRST PASSAGE (16:25-27). THE LOOK UPWARD. Could the apostle have closed such an Epistle with the words: “and the brother Quartus”? After the final benediction, he had added the salutations of some eminent brethren who surrounded him, and who were connected with certain members of the church... [ Continue Reading ]
With these times of silence there is contrasted that of divine speaking. The word νῦν, _now_, strongly expresses this contrast. The participle φανερωθέντος, _manifested_, refers to the inward revelation of the divine mystery by the Holy Spirit, which the apostles have received; comp. the perfectly s... [ Continue Reading ]
The dative τῷ δυναμένῳ, _to Him that is able_, in Romans 16:25, has not yet found the verb on which it depends. It is evidently this same dative which, after the long developments contained in Romans 16:25-26, reappears in the words: _to God only wise._ The idea of God's power in Romans 16:25 was na... [ Continue Reading ]