Slices
Prepare
Paul names 26 people by name. For whom in your church or networks would you choose to give thanks today?
Bible passage
Personal greetings
16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon 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 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.
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 fellow 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.
Explore
Having given reasons why they should accept him, Paul seeks common ground with those in Rome. While he praises those in their number who have come to his attention (vs 6,12,14,15), Paul strongly emphasises his personal relationship and shared ministry experience with many others (vs 3–5,7–11,12b). Paul is essentially asking those who don’t know him to speak to those who do. He’s asking them to give him a five-star review.
This passage reminds us that, regardless of how gifted an individual may be, mission and ministry is always done in and through community. Although there’s much debate as to how formalised their roles were, at the very least we need to note the significant involvement of so many women here being named without embarrassment as leaders in the church in Rome.
Paul reminds us that the church and its mission is a people business. Relationships and the growing of people in their faith, gifts and ministries is at the heart of any healthy church. Even as they’re grappling with the tension between the strong and the weak, the picture we have here is of five household churches (vs 5,10,11,14,15) that are vibrantly alive.
Respond
Romans 12:3–8 reminds us that mission and ministry happen through community. How engaged are you in both through church?
Deeper Bible study
‘We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you’.1 Pray for Christian friends now.
What an astonishing list! Diverse in race, gender, religious tradition and social status; united in Christ, they are dear friends and fellow workers of Paul. The ‘holy kiss’ greeting (v 16) lifts the relationship of these people and distinguishes it – there is a new kind of familial bond between them – Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male and female.2 Despite their differences, we detect a heart-unity of those who have worked and suffered together.
First, he commends Phoebe. This impressive woman has carried Paul’s letter all the way from Cenchreae (a port near Corinth) to Rome (v 1) – she probably would have also had the responsibility of reading it to the church.3 She is a leader and a supporter of many, including Paul. Next, personal greetings, featuring a household church (v 5). Priscilla and Aquila4 had risked their lives for him. Andronicus and Junia, fellow Jews, had been in prison with him. Others may have had distinguished, imperial connections (eg Aristobulus, v 10; Narcissus, v 11). Some may have been slaves (eg Ampliatus, v 8; Julia, v 15). We imagine each ‘dear friend’ as Paul holds them briefly in his memories: their ‘fidelity’ (v 10), their hard work (v 12), their mothering of him (v 13).
Names in this triumphant procession pique our interest and shift our perspective. ‘Rufus, chosen in the Lord’ (v 13), is possibly the son of Simon of Cyrene, ‘chosen’ to carry the cross of Jesus.5 Then, if there had been any doubt, here is testimony of Paul’s honouring of the role of women in church: they are dear friends (v 12), fellow workers (v 3), ‘outstanding among the apostles’ (v 7). However, beyond their personal distinctions, this roll-call embodies the message of Paul’s magisterial epistle: ‘in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith … all one in Christ Jesus.’6
What characterises your church most? Its diversity, its homogeneity, or its unity in Christ?
1 Col 1:3 2 Gal 3:28 3 Scot McKnight, Reading Romans Backwards, SCM, 2019, p5 4 See Acts 18 5 Mark 15:21 6 Gal 3:26,28, italics added
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Kings 12,13; 1 Corinthians 14
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for Rooted Junior – our upcoming new range of resources bringing the Rooted approach to those who work with 8- to 11-year olds. Pray that children will come to know the good news of Jesus for themselves through their Rooted Junior group.
