Rom 15:14-16:27 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Rom 15:14-16:27: 15:14–16:27 This final section contains elements common at the end of New Testament letters: a discussion of travel plans (15:14-29 ), requests for prayer (15:30-33 ), references to ministry associates (16:1-2 , 21-23 ), greetings (16:3-16 ), and a doxology (16:25-27 ). Only the warning about false teachers (16:17-19 ) is a non-standard feature in this conclusion. 15:14 You know these things so well: Paul praises the Roman Christians, as he had in the opening of the letter (see 1:8-12 ), demonstrating a gracious manner toward a church he had neither founded nor visited.

Summary for Rom 15:14-16:27: 15:14–16:27 ^a This final section contains elements common at the end of New Testament letters: a discussion of travel plans (15:14-29 ^b), requests for prayer (15:30-33 ^c), references to ministry associates (16:1-2 ^d, 21-23 ^e), greetings (16:3-16 ^f), and a doxology (16:25-27 ^g). Only the warning about false teachers (16:17-19 ^h) is a non-standard feature in this conclusion. 15:14 ⁱ You know these things so well: Paul praises the Roman Christians, as he had in the opening of the letter (see 1:8-12 ^j), demonstrating a gracious manner toward a church he had neither founded nor visited.
Summary for Rom 15:15-16: 15:15-16 ^k by God’s grace: Paul emphasized that his role as apostle and teacher was because God had chosen him to lead in the formation of the Christian church (see also 1:5 ^l; 12:3 ^m; 1 Cor 3:10 ⁿ; Gal 2:9 ^o; Eph 3:2 ^p, 7 ^q, 8 ^r).
15:16 ^s special messenger: The Greek word (leitourgos, “servant” or “minister”) could refer to almost any kind of servant, but Jews often applied the word to priests. Paul probably chose this word to emphasize the priestly nature of his ministry.

• to you Gentiles: Paul stresses the Gentile flavor of the church in Rome (see also 1:6-7 ^t). This does not mean that there were no Jews in the church (see 16:3-16 ^u), but Gentiles had become the majority.

• present you as an acceptable offering to God: Paul was fulfilling Isa 66:19-20 ^v.
15:19 ^w I have fully presented the Good News of Christ: Paul was not claiming that the work of evangelism had been completed in these regions. His point was that churches had been planted in enough major population centers so that those churches could carry on the work of evangelism themselves. Paul’s own distinctive ministry of planting foundational and strategic churches had been fulfilled.

• An arc drawn from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum would include the areas where Paul had planted churches (southern Galatia, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece). Illyricum was a Roman province that occupied most of the coastlands northeast of Italy along the Adriatic Sea, from modern-day Albania to Croatia.
15:24 ^x I am planning to go to Spain: In Paul’s day, “Spain” included the entire Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal). Parts of the peninsula had been occupied by the Romans since 200 BC, but only within Paul’s lifetime had the area been organized into a Roman province. Paul saw Spain, at the far end of the Mediterranean, as his final target in fulfilling the promise of Isa 66:19-20 ^y.

• you can provide for my journey: Spain was so far from Paul’s previous sending church, Antioch in Syria, that he hoped the Roman church could serve as the logistical base for this future evangelistic effort.
Summary for Rom 15:25-28: 15:25-28 ^z I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there: During his third missionary journey, Paul collected donations from the Gentile churches to help the believers in Jerusalem and to draw the two wings of the first-century church closer together (see also 1 Cor 16:1-2 ^aa; 2 Cor 8–9 ^ab).
15:26 ^ac Paul founded churches in several prominent cities in Macedonia, including Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. In Achaia, Paul had preached in Athens and founded the church in Corinth (see Acts 16–18 ^ad).

• the poor among the believers in Jerusalem: Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were suffering from famines that had hit the area (see Acts 11:27-30 ^ae) and also because their faith in Christ caused them to be ostracized from Jewish society.
15:27 ^af they owe a real debt: Gentile Christians owe their spiritual existence to God’s work among the Israelites (see 11:17-24 ^ag).
15:31 ^ah Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God: See Acts 21–22 ^ai. God preserved Paul’s life and used the circumstances of his arrest in Jerusalem to take him precisely where he planned to go—Rome.
15:33 ^aj Some manuscripts do not include Amen. One very early manuscript places the doxology (16:25-27 ^ak) here. This has led some scholars to conclude that the original letter to the Romans consisted of only 1:1–15:33 ^al, but few now follow this theory. The best early manuscripts place the doxology at the end of ch 16 ^am, and the whole of ch 16 ^an was most likely part of Paul’s original letter to the Romans. See also study note on 16:1-16.

‏ Romans 16

Summary for Rom 16:1-16: 16:1-16 ^ao 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 ^ap 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 ^aq 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 ^ar; 1 Tim 3:8-12 ^as; cp. Acts 6:1-6 ^at).

• 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 ^au).
16:2 ^av 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 ^aw 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 ^ax). 16:3 ^ay 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 ^az). They had apparently returned to Rome by the time Paul wrote Romans (about AD 57).
16:5 ^ba 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 ^bb 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 ^bc); after Romans was written, he would later be imprisoned for two years in Caesarea (Acts 24:27 ^bd) and for two years in Rome (Acts 28:30-31 ^be). Paul was undoubtedly imprisoned on occasions not mentioned in Acts (see 2 Cor 11:23 ^bf).

• 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 ^bg, 14 ^bh; 1 Cor 9:5-6 ^bi; Gal 2:9 ^bj).
16:10 ^bk 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 ^bl This Rufus might be the individual mentioned as the son of Simon of Cyrene, who carried Christ’s cross (see Mark 15:21 ^bm).
16:16 ^bn 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 ^bo; 2 Cor 13:12 ^bp; 1 Thes 5:26 ^bq; see 1 Pet 5:14 ^br); the kiss of peace became a standard feature of the Christian liturgy by the second century.
16:17 ^bs 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 ^bt 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 ^bu). Christ, the offspring of Eve, will soon crush Satan under the feet of the church (cp. Matt 16:18-19 ^bv).
16:21 ^bw Timothy was one of Paul’s closest ministry associates. Timothy accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:2-3 ^bx) and was with Paul in Corinth while Paul wrote this letter to the Roman church (see Acts 20:2-4 ^by).
16:22 ^bz Tertius was the scribe (or amanuensis) who wrote the letter as Paul dictated. Most ancient letter writers employed such a scribe.
16:23 ^ca This Erastus was probably the individual Paul sent from Ephesus to Macedonia during his third missionary journey (Acts 19:21-22 ^cb; see 2 Tim 4:20 ^cc). 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 ^cd 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 ^ce).

• The doxology is missing in two late manuscripts and is in different places in other manuscripts (after 14:23 ^cf and after 15:33 ^cg). 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 ^ch 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 ^ci 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 ^cj, creating a beautiful frame around the letter as a whole.