Rom 16 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Rom 16:1-16: 16:1-16 Paul here commended and greeted twenty-seven Roman Christians, ten of whom were women. Women played important roles in the early church. • Paul had never been to Rome, which has led to some speculation as to how he knew so many people there. One theory is that ch 16 was actually part of another letter that Paul sent to Ephesus. However, we have no good manuscript evidence for a separate letter (cp. study note on 15:33). Perhaps the answer is that Paul was able to greet so many people in Rome because he had encountered them during their travels away from Rome (see Romans Book Introduction, “Setting”). 16:1 A deacon (Greek diakonos , “servant”) refers both to a Christian who is recognized as a servant of Christ and specifically to someone who holds the office of deacon in a particular church (see Phil 1:1 ; 1 Tim 3:8-12 ; cp. Acts 6:1-6 ). • Cenchrea was located about five miles from Corinth and functioned as its port. Paul might have been writing this letter to the Romans from Corinth on a winter-long stop there near the end of his third missionary journey (see Acts 20:2-3 ).

Summary for Rom 16:1-16: 16:1-16 ^a Paul here commended and greeted twenty-seven Roman Christians, ten of whom were women. Women played important roles in the early church.

• Paul had never been to Rome, which has led to some speculation as to how he knew so many people there. One theory is that ch 16 ^b was actually part of another letter that Paul sent to Ephesus. However, we have no good manuscript evidence for a separate letter (cp. study note on 15:33). Perhaps the answer is that Paul was able to greet so many people in Rome because he had encountered them during their travels away from Rome (see Romans Book Introduction, “Setting”). 16:1 ^c A deacon (Greek diakonos, “servant”) refers both to a Christian who is recognized as a servant of Christ and specifically to someone who holds the office of deacon in a particular church (see Phil 1:1 ^d; 1 Tim 3:8-12 ^e; cp. Acts 6:1-6 ^f).

• Cenchrea was located about five miles from Corinth and functioned as its port. Paul might have been writing this letter to the Romans from Corinth on a winter-long stop there near the end of his third missionary journey (see Acts 20:2-3 ^g).
16:2 ^h she has been helpful to many: This phrase indicates the ancient role of the patron, a wealthy person who used influence and money to help people and causes. Phoebe was apparently a woman of wealth and influence who used her resources to help missionaries such as Paul.
Summary for Rom 16:3-16: 16:3-16 ⁱ Although Paul had never visited the Christian community in Rome, he established rapport with these believers by personally greeting many of the church’s members. The names reveal that the Roman Christian community was very diverse—Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, men and women all formed a new society in the church (see Gal 3:26-29 ^j). 16:3 ^k Priscilla and Aquila were Paul’s good friends. After leaving Rome around AD 49, they became his co-workers for an extended time in Corinth and Ephesus (see Acts 18–19 ^l). They had apparently returned to Rome by the time Paul wrote Romans (about AD 57).
16:5 ^m the church that meets in their home: Early Christians did not have large buildings for their meetings—they met in private homes. The church in Rome was composed of a number of house churches where small groups of believers gathered for worship and instruction.
16:7 ⁿ In Greek, the name Junia could refer to a man named Junias or to a woman named Junia. Most interpreters understand Junia as a feminine name. This section pairs masculine and feminine names to refer to husband-and-wife teams, so Junia was probably a woman.

• who were in prison with me: When this occurred is uncertain. According to Acts, Paul had been imprisoned overnight in Philippi (Acts 16:19-28 ^o); after Romans was written, he would later be imprisoned for two years in Caesarea (Acts 24:27 ^p) and for two years in Rome (Acts 28:30-31 ^q). Paul was undoubtedly imprisoned on occasions not mentioned in Acts (see 2 Cor 11:23 ^r).

• highly respected among the apostles: This phrase probably indicates that Andronicus and Junia were apostles—i.e., accredited missionaries of the church (see Acts 14:4 ^s, 14 ^t; 1 Cor 9:5-6 ^u; Gal 2:9 ^v).
16:10 ^w This Aristobulus was probably the same man as the brother of Herod Agrippa I; Aristobulus was a member of the Roman aristocracy who lived in Rome many years prior to his death in AD 48 or 49 (see Josephus, Antiquities 18.8.4; War 2.11.6). His household probably refers to his family and their servants in Rome.
16:13 ^x This Rufus might be the individual mentioned as the son of Simon of Cyrene, who carried Christ’s cross (see Mark 15:21 ^y).
16:16 ^z with a sacred kiss: The kiss was a common way to greet another person in the ancient world and particularly among the Jews. It is mentioned frequently in the New Testament as a greeting (1 Cor 16:20 ^aa; 2 Cor 13:12 ^ab; 1 Thes 5:26 ^ac; see 1 Pet 5:14 ^ad); the kiss of peace became a standard feature of the Christian liturgy by the second century.
16:17 ^ae people who cause divisions: Paul had trouble with divisive false teachers elsewhere (see Galatians, Colossians, 1 Timothy), so he warned the Roman church about this danger.
16:20 ^af The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet: Paul alludes to the curse that God pronounced upon the serpent after he had deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15 ^ag). Christ, the offspring of Eve, will soon crush Satan under the feet of the church (cp. Matt 16:18-19 ^ah).
16:21 ^ai Timothy was one of Paul’s closest ministry associates. Timothy accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:2-3 ^aj) and was with Paul in Corinth while Paul wrote this letter to the Roman church (see Acts 20:2-4 ^ak).
16:22 ^al Tertius was the scribe (or amanuensis) who wrote the letter as Paul dictated. Most ancient letter writers employed such a scribe.
16:23 ^am This Erastus was probably the individual Paul sent from Ephesus to Macedonia during his third missionary journey (Acts 19:21-22 ^an; see 2 Tim 4:20 ^ao). An inscription in Corinth mentions an Erastus who was a city magistrate, possibly the same Erastus mentioned here.
Summary for Rom 16:25-27: 16:25-27 ^ap This doxology makes a very appropriate conclusion to Paul’s letter and its argument, reprising many of the themes found at the very beginning (1:1-15 ^aq).

• The doxology is missing in two late manuscripts and is in different places in other manuscripts (after 14:23 ^ar and after 15:33 ^as). Therefore, these verses might have been added to Paul’s letter at a later time. However, the majority of manuscripts do include the doxology at the end of the letter, and it uses vocabulary and themes common in the rest of the letter. Paul most likely wrote it himself as a conclusion to the letter. 16:25 ^at plan (literally mystery): For Paul, the mystery is the truth about God and his plan that was not clearly known in the Old Testament era but which has been revealed in the New Testament era. While the Old Testament predicted the conversion of Gentiles, it did not make clear that Gentiles would become equal members of the people of God without becoming proselytes of Judaism.
16:26 ^au so that they too might believe and obey him: Paul uses the same language about the mission to the Gentiles that he used in 1:5 ^av, creating a beautiful frame around the letter as a whole.