Romans 16
1 – 2
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church of Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God's people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.
Since Cenchrea was a few miles away from Corinth, Phoebe was probably bringing Paul's letter from Corinth to Rome, and so he gives her a letter of introduction. Most Bible teachers agree that this verse shows us that women can serve as deacons.
3 – 4
Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co–workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches.
We see that this couple were able to go back to their house in Rome because Claudius was dead. We have no information on how they saved Paul's life. Acts 18:2
5. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epenetus. He was the first person from the province of Asia to become a follower of Christ.
It is possible that Epenetus is mentioned next because he became a Christian in Ephesus when Paul first went there with Priscilla and Aquila.
6. Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit.
See the note on verse 11.
7. Greet Andronicus and Junius, my fellow Jews, who were prisoners of war with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did.
Junius is a man's name. Paul would have called him Junia if this was a woman. Paul does not say these men are apostles but were respected by the apostles.
8 – 11
Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co–worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves. And give my greetings to the believers from the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet the Lord's people from the household of Narcissus.
All we can do is to take our best guess as to who these people were based on whether they had Roman names or can be found in some family history. The only thing we know is that they were good friends of Paul. Apelles must have passed a hard test with God's help.
12. Give my greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa, the Lord's workers, and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord.
What would it look like if someone were to use one sentence to tell us about your life?
13. Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be His very own; and also his dear mother, who has been a mother to me.
For those who love to push the idea that God only saves certain ones, why would Paul only say that Rufus was “elect” and not anyone else in this list? Rufus was the son of Simon who helped Jesus to carry the cross.
A man who was walking by, named Simon, who was from Libya, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) Mark 15:21
14 – 15
Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who meet with them. Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believers who meet with them.
See the note on verse 11.
16. Greet each other with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.
In those days there was a custom of men giving other men a kiss on the cheek or forehead, and women doing the same with other women to show how they loved each other. This custom shows us what an evil thing it was for Judas to kiss Jesus this way.
17 – 18
And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who bring death traps and upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.
Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.
There are people who come into the church to bring some crazy ideas they have. They are looking for people to follow them. If they cannot make trouble in the church, they leave and go to another church to try it again.
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; if they had been of us, they would have stayed with us; but they went out, so that everyone can see that they are not of us. 1 John 2:19
19. But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord. This makes me very happy. I warn you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of knowing about evil.
The original language warns us not to mix the things of God with evil things. In our day, Christians watch demonic movies and play demonic games and think that it does nothing to their spirit.
Anyone who thinks this way does not know that we are in a war against the same evil spirits that they are inviting to play in their minds. When someone wants to tell us some details about an evil thing we need to let them know that we are not interested.
People who work in a bank are trained to only know what good money looks like and feels like. This way they immediately know when they see or touch fake money.
20. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
With God's help (not in our own power) we can destroy the plans of the devil.
Jesus called together His twelve disciples and gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal all diseases. Luke 9:1, Genesis 3:5
21. Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.
Paul stopped in Thessalonica and brought Jason with him as he left Corinth on his way to Jerusalem. Acts 17:5, 2 Corinthians 8:18,19
Lucius is not Luke. Remember Luke was not Jewish.
Sosipater – Acts 20:4
22 – 23
I, Tertius, the one writing this letter for Paul, send my greetings, too, as one of the Lord's followers. Gaius says, "Hello!" to you. He is my host and also serves as host to the whole church. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings, and so does our brother Quartus.
Gaius – Romans was written in his house. 1 Corinthians 1:14
Erastus – In 1929, a pavement stone was discovered in Corinth was says: “Erastus in return for his [political office] laid this pavement at his own expense.” Acts 19:22, 2 Tim 4:20
24. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Some teachers say that verse 24 is not found in the best copies of Romans. They say that Paul would not say, “Amen!” until he was finished writing. Another way to look at this would be that Paul was so excited that he began praising God. This makes the letter read like something that really happened.
25. Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as the Gospel I received says. This Gospel of Jesus Christ has revealed His plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time.
Pauls is saying, “The Gospel I received.” We talk this way when we say that we have read Mark's Gospel or Luke's Gospel but we do not mean to say that each one of these books teaches something different than the others. We can say that Paul shared the Gospel along with the message that it was for everyone but we cause people to be confused if we leave them with the idea that Paull taught a different Gospel than the one Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:12
26. The eternal God has commanded, by using the writings of the prophets, this message is to be made known to all nations everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey Him.
We see here that God has given us the Bible to bring to all the nations. We do not bring them our private ideas. If we bring them the Bible we can trust God to show Himself to them. If we bring our own ideas they will only be confused. We can bring a lot of trouble when we do not have faith and think that we have to “help” God by adding our opinions to the Bible.
Whatever is not from faith is sin. Romans 14:23
27. All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.
This is why men like to say that there is no God. They want everyone to think that they have some special kind of wisdom that nobody else has. This is why they think they can become gods.