[This chapter is mostly taken up with salutations or greetings sent to individuals, groups of individuals, and to small bodies of people which met separately, yet composed jointly the church at Rome. Aquila and Priscilla are known to us. The rest are practically unknown, hence their names are passed... [ Continue Reading ]
that ye receive her in the Lord [i. e., as Christians should receive a Christian], _worthily of the saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever matter she may have need of you_ [what Phoebe's business was is unknown]: _for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self_. [In the... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Prisca [The diminutive of this name is Priscilla. Compare Jane and Jennie, Drusa and Drusilla] _and Aquila_ [Paul met these two at Corinth in A. D. 53, and they sailed with him from thence to Syria (Acts 18:1-18; 1 CO. 16:19). Again, two years later they were with him at Ephesus--Acts 19] _my... [ Continue Reading ]
who for my life laid down their own necks [As Paul's chief danger lay in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 15:32), it was evidently there that Aquila and Priscilla risked their lives for him, though no specific account is given us of any such service, or of other dangers than the great riot-- Acts 19:23-41]; _... [ Continue Reading ]
and salute the church that is in their house. [That portion of the church that has its usual place of meeting in their house. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 16:19; Acts 12:12; Acts 18:7; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2) Church buildings did not then exist in Rome.] _Salute Epænetus my beloved, who is the firstf... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Mary, who bestowed much labor on you.... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen [my fellow-countrymen--Jews-- Romans 9:3], _and my fellow-prisoners_ [When or where we do not know. Scripture tells of four imprisonments of Paul, but Clement of Rome enumerates seven. There may have been even more-- 2 Corinthians 11:23], _who are of note amo... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Ampliatus my beloved in the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Urbanus our fellow-worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Apelles the approved in Christ. Salute them that are of the household of Aristobulus. [A Roman "household" included all in service from the noblest retainer to the meanest slave. This was probably the younger Aristobulus of the Herodian family. See Jos. Ant. 20:1, 2.]... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Herodion my kinsman. Salute them of the household of Narcissus, that are in the Lord. [This is probably Narcissus the rich freedman and favorite of Cæsar's, whose household would therefore be compounded with Cæsar's. (Comp. Philippians 4:22) He died A. D. 54, or some three years before Paul w... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Tryphæna and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute Persis the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
alute Rufus the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. [We know nothing certain of these. Paul had evidently spent time in the home of Rufus, and had received motherly care at that time, which he now gracefully acknowledges, reckoning that if the woman of the home was Rufus' mother by nature,... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brethren that are with them. ["With them" indicates another section of the church meeting in the homes of these men. Comp. Romans 16:5; Romans 16:15]... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints that are with them. [These apostolic salutations are addressed to twenty-five individuals. Not a large group for one as widely known as Paul in a city as large as Rome, yet when we consider the limited circulation of... [ Continue Reading ]
Salute one another with a holy kiss. [Osculatory salutation has always been common in the East (2 Samuel 20:9; Luke 7:45; Matthew 26:49). It early became an established practice among the Jews, from whence it passed to the apostolic church (1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5... [ Continue Reading ]
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that are causing the divisions [in Corinth, Galatia, etc.] _and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which ye learned_ [from the brethren to whom I have sent salutations and others of their fellowship]: _and turn away from them_. [In an unregenerate... [ Continue Reading ]
For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly ["Belly" is meant to express all the appetites of the carnal life. The heretics here referred to, being mediocre and insufficient teachers in the true faith, resorted to the artifice of stirring up factions for the purpose of obta... [ Continue Reading ]
For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I rejoice therefore over you: but I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple unto that which is evil. [I warn you, for your obedience and docility, being so notorious, will sooner or later draw them to seek you as an enticing spoil. The... [ Continue Reading ]
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. [Bruise is equivalent to "crush." (See Genesis 3:15; 2 Corinthians 11:12-15) If the Roman Christians hearkened to the apostle as to these open, material, visible enemies, they would quickly gain a victory over the supreme spiritual and... [ Continue Reading ]
Timothy [Acts 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 1:1, and Epistles to Timothy] _my fellow-worker saluteth you; and Lucius_ [Acts 13:1 (?)] _and Jason_ [Acts 17:5; Acts 17:6-7; Acts 17:9 (?)] _and Sosipater_ [Acts 20:4 (?)], _my kinsmen_. [If Paul's colaborers were known personally to churches to which he address... [ Continue Reading ]
I Tertius, who write the epistle, salute you in the Lord. [Paul habitually used amanuenses (Galatians 6:11; Colossians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:7). Tertius, the penman of this Epistle, and known to us only here, shows to us by his salutation that he was no mere hireling in this service.]... [ Continue Reading ]
Gaius my host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. [Very likely the Gaius of 1 Corinthians 1:14. The name is found elsewhere (Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; 3 John 1:1). This Gaius evidently entertained Paul at the time the Epistle was written, and at least occasionally, probably to hear Paul preach, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Now to him that is able to establish you [i. e., to the one who has given you an eternal foundation for your life (Matthew 7:24-27) and is able to build you as enduring material thereon (1 Corinthians 3:10-17). Comp. Romans 1:11] _according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ_ [Establish... [ Continue Reading ]
but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith [Comp. Colossians 1:26; Colossians 4:4; Galatians 1:12; Galatians 1:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10. "Manifested... made known." These two... [ Continue Reading ]
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever. Amen. [Owing to difference in Greek and English construction, the long sentence beginning with Romans 16:25 is grammatically incomplete as rendered in English. If, however, the "to whom" of the last phrase be changed to read... [ Continue Reading ]