Background and Recap

Welcome back for Series 4 and Episode 10. We are in Romans 16, and we are coming towards the end of this remarkable book of Romans. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching through the book and trying to understand all the many, and sometimes complicated, things that Paul is trying to communicate. But this episode is not so complicated but it is very moving because Paul, having spoken about his mission plans, which we discussed in the last episode, now comes to talk about his friends, his co-workers; people he valued and loved.

We see another side of Paul in this episode. He was so looking forward to coming to Rome. In the last episode, I told about his mission plans, the fact that he was in Corinth at the time when he was writing, and he planned to go to Jerusalem to take a financial gift to the church there, and then to travel by sea to Rome. It took him several years to achieve that because of many problems, challenges, risks and dangers along the way. The amazing thing about Paul was, he knew a lot of people. He travelled a lot and he made relationships quite easily as far as I can tell. There are certain people like that, aren’t there? They make relationships quickly; they form many friendship groups; they are flexible and then perhaps they are travelling from place to place. Paul was one of those people, gifted in friendship; open to partnership; needing support; and welcoming the support of other people.

Phoebe

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. 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.”

Romans 16:1-2, NIV

At the very beginning of Series 1, I introduced two of the key people who lie behind the book of Romans. One of them was Tertius the scribe, the person who wrote down the letter for Paul, and we will talk about him when we get to our final episode. The other person I mentioned was Phoebe. This interesting lady was from a town called Cenchreae which was a port town very near Corinth. Paul was probably at Corinth at this time, in southern Greece, and Phoebe lived in a nearby town only a few kilometres away. Not only did she live there, she was a member of the church there. Not only was she a member of the church, she was a deacon in the church.

This means she was an officer of the church.

Paul instructed his churches to appoint two types of leaders. Some were called elders, who had the spiritual oversight of the church, and some were called deacons, who were also leaders, but held specific responsibilities in the church on behalf of the elders, and on behalf of the church members. We see, for example, in Philippians 1: 1, an example of Paul greeting the leaders of the church.

“To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus in Philippi, together with the overseers (or elders) and deacons.”

Philippians 1:1, NIV

For Paul this was a standard church: a team of pastors or elders or overseers, and a team of deacons. It appears that Phoebe was a church officer in this nearby church. She was not only a church officer, she was a benefactor. This word probably means she was financially wealthy and used her money to support church ministry. It either means money, or hospitality in her home, or probably both. Paul said he had been on the receiving end of her gifts of support. She was a benefactor to Paul as an Apostle. It probably means that she supported him financially, especially during the time when he arrived in Corinth and was setting the church up, where there were some financial challenges that he faced.

Why is she being mentioned to the Roman church? Probably because she is the courier who is bringing the letter. “Greet her,” he says, as if she is about to arrive in the church. Why would she be arriving? Probably because she is bringing the letter. This letter was taken by hand. There was no postal service. There was no official way to take a letter from one location to another. This was delivery by hand, which was the standard means by which Paul got his letters distributed to the places that he was writing to. He would always want a reliable person and it appears that Phoebe, both in terms of her character but also in terms of her official status as an officer of the church, was a very suitable person to take the letter. She would probably have travelled with others, not on her own, and we thank God for Phoebe. Just imagine if she had lost the letter on the way, we would never have the book of Romans today. She probably had the responsibility of explaining to the church why the letter was written, and some of the more complicated things in the letter.

Paul’s Co-workers and Friends

Then we have a long list of people that Paul knew in the Roman church and we have to remember that he had never been to Rome. These were people who had travelled around, through trade or family reasons, or perhaps on church ministry and, as far as Paul knew, these people were living in Rome. Some of them may have corresponded with him, some of them may have travelled to meet him in other locations, and then gone back to Rome.

“Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 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. Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who’ve been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. 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. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. Greet Asynchritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Petrobas, and Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.”

Romans 16:3-16, NIV

This is the longest list of greetings we ever get from Paul, and extraordinarily interesting. He had many friends. He had many warm relationships, for example, Ampliatus is described as ‘my dear friend’. But he also had friends from different ethnic backgrounds. If you look at the names you will find that some of the names are Jewish like Herodian; some of them are Latin names like Urbanus; some are Greek names like Hermes. So, these are people from all sorts of different ethnic groups.

Some of them he described as co-workers. These are people he spent time with on mission. At a certain point they met together and they actually worked together in a certain place. What kind of roles would they have fulfilled in Paul’s teams? He would have had people handling the practicalities of travelling; people looking after security and money; people providing hospitality; and people who were couriers. All sorts of different roles were needed on Paul’s teams. Wherever he went on mission he would develop a flexible team. People would come and go and some people would stay for longer. Some of his main team members are mentioned in the book of Acts, people like Barnabas originally, then Silas and Timothy, for example, who were with him for quite long periods of time. But there were lots of other team members, who he describes here as co-workers, who were helping him with his work. We can note here that his friends were male and female. He had very warm relationships with women. ‘My dear friend Persis,’ is an example. He considered them key parts of the mission of the church.

When he says, that he is greeting those who belong to a particular household, he might also be greeting the slaves in those households. Some Christian households of richer families had domestic servants, bonded workers, and he might be greeting them as he mentions that phrase.

Paul treats the church as a family. There are many references to the Christian family. He describes ‘brothers and sisters.’ He describes, for example, Rufus’ mother as having ‘been a mother to me’. So, we can imagine that at a certain time she took care of him. Maybe Rufus and his mother lived in a different place and Paul was staying there, and she expressed maternal affection for him; she was concerned for his needs; she was a mother to him. Churches met in households, on the whole, and this emphasised this feeling of being a family together, which Paul very much affirms in everything that he says.

Holy Kiss

It concludes with a reference to greeting ‘one another with a holy kiss’. He is distinguishing a kiss of affection and friendship from a romantic kiss. He is describing a custom of the Ancient World in which you greet people by kissing them, likely on one or perhaps on two cheeks. The holy kiss is a representation of warm affection and family relationships in their culture. The holy kiss represents the family unit, the Christian family unit that Paul is keen to nurture in Rome, and which he refers to in these warm and friendly greetings to a variety of different people who were living there.

The holy kiss is similar to what we might find in some Southern European cultures and in Arab cultures today, as greetings are in a similar form. There are, of course, various expressions of warm greetings in different cultures. We have to think of how to apply this most effectively in our own culture. Some people focus on shaking hands. There is a Tibetan culture of sticking your tongue out as a sign of a warm greeting. The Māoris of New Zealand, rub their noses. In some African cultures, the clapping of hands is a sign of warm and affectionate greeting. There are all sorts of different ways that we express warm greetings. Whatever works in our culture should be applied as a representation of the warm greeting of Christian family relationships.

Priscilla and Aquila

Let us look at one or two examples of people in this list, starting with Priscilla and Aquila,

“Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.”

Romans 16:3-5, NIV

Fortunately, we know quite a lot about Priscilla and Aquila because they appear several times, both in Paul’s letters but also particularly in the book of Acts. They are a married couple - there is no reference to their children - who appear to be first of all in the city of Rome. They were forced to leave the city of Rome, probably during the time of the Emperor Claudius, as recorded in the book of Acts, when he expelled the Jews after some rioting. They ended up in Corinth, where they met Paul when he came to Corinth, and they formed a team. Paul lived in their house and worked with them in their leather working and tent-making business. They supported the mission in Corinth. They had supported the church in Rome before. Then Paul invited them to travel with him from Greece to what we would call Turkey today, the province of Asia Minor, where they settled in Ephesus. Paul left Ephesus and he left them there to look after the church in Ephesus, and to be a father and mother in that church.

Here, in the in the book of Romans, we find they have gone back to Rome again. So, Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, and back to Rome. Here is a couple who have committed their lives to Christian mission. They are using their tent making business, as a way of making money in different locations, and they are supporting the churches that Paul is planting. No wonder he describes them as co-workers. ‘They risked their lives for me’ he said. Probably a reference to persecution in Ephesus when things got very difficult there after a riot that took place in the city. And Paul says, ‘all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful for them’. Not surprising - because they kept appearing in different locations, and providing encouragement, training, teaching, fellowship and leadership in the local house-church context.

Andronica and Junia

Another interesting couple are Andronicus and Junia, who appear in verse 7. They are probably also a married couple, Jewish, they were converted in the early days, and they are known to Paul. They have been in prison with Paul on one occasion - we don’t know the occasion - and they are closely connected with the original Apostles. It says here, ‘They are outstanding among the Apostles,’ but it might easily mean, in the Greek language, ‘well known to the Apostles.’ They were closely linked to the early Apostles. They were missionaries and they had ended up in Rome. Sadly, we don’t know very much about them because there is no other reference to them anywhere else in the New Testament.

Luke

Another example of Paul’s team members is Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. If you read the book of Acts, you will find that Luke is travelling with Paul on certain occasions. He was a doctor, so he probably served the travelling team with medical advice and support. He is also someone who records things so he acted as a kind of historian, who was writing down the stories of the things that were happening during that time.

Paul as Team Leader

What an extraordinary list of people! What an extraordinary set of relationships that Paul had. It gives us a really interesting clue as to how the mission of the church functions effectively. A lot of it is through relationships and common vision. Paul could provide the vision. He could always say to people, ‘This is the city I need to go to; this is the area that we need to evangelise.’ It was clear what the vision was but teams of people were needed. Through warm relationships and flexible working patterns, Paul was able to find teams to engage in the most extraordinary and risky ventures, because people who travelled with him literally risked their lives. Persecution could break out at any point, especially associated with Paul preaching in the synagogues, and the Jewish reaction to the gospel. He himself was imprisoned on a number of occasions, along with some of his co-workers, and forced out of different towns and cities on several occasions. All this is recorded in the book of Acts. His co-workers shared that risk. This was not a comfortable journey. They were traveling to places they hadn’t been to. It was unclear very often, where they were going to stay, and what reception they were going to receive. You needed real character, confidence and commitment to the vision, to work with Paul. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. And yet it appears he was able to develop teams everywhere he went. That is a very remarkable tribute to his character. There were many interesting people travelling and working with Paul and some of them are listed in this remarkable list that we have in this episode.

Reflections

What reflections can we gain from this text? It is very easy to pass over these things quickly, and very often preachers won’t spend much time looking at the details of these greetings that Paul gives, and especially this one. But I think we can learn a few important lessons.

First of all, the value of deep relationships in the church community. Not of all of these people were working hard for Paul. Some of them are described as co-workers, some of them were on the front line; but others were just faithful Christians who had been consistent, warm-hearted, given hospitality, been fervent for the Lord, and been encouragers of others. That is a really important thing that we can all give to others: encouragement, support and prayer. Some of these people were financial donors, and that is very important. Almost certainly Phoebe is in that category, probably a wealthy lady, a benefactor. That is an incredible, important resource - to give money for the mission of the church. What we can think about, perhaps in reflection, is where do we fit into that pattern? How do we, as individuals or as families, support the mission of the church? How do we develop strong partnerships with other people that can achieve things for God?

Paul achieved much through many partnerships. But not every partnership went well. Sometimes there was a difficulty for Paul. One good example occurs in the book of Acts, where a young man called Mark was unable to sustain the pressure of one of Paul’s missionary journeys, and when Paul’s friend Barnabas said, ‘Let us have Mark back again for the second journey,’ Paul said, ‘No. I don’t trust his capability to survive the work we are going to do.’ That led to a disagreement between him and Barnabas. So, sometimes there were tensions. Those tensions are not seen in this passage. I think those tensions were rare and, on the whole, Paul had very harmonious relationships with his co-workers. But where do we fit into that picture? Most of us are involved in local church life, we have ordinary work, we have ordinary family circumstances, we are living in one place; we are not travelling, like Paul. But we can play a part by considering ourselves as a strategic resource to help the mission of the church. That is what I would really encourage you to do. We can be co-workers.

My final thought is to remind us again, in Paul’s thinking the church is a family. Although we are involved in mission and the life of the church and there is a lot of work to be done, the underlying relationships are primarily family relationships. God is our Father. Jesus Christ is sometimes described as our brother and our family is brothers and sisters, and that means that everybody is valued, whatever they contribute – even if they can’t contribute very much, their value is great in the Christian community. I think Paul doesn’t just value the people who achieve a lot, or work hard, he also values people for their character, and their consistency as members of the local church.

When we come back again for our next episode, we will reach the final episode of the 39 episodes of our study of the book of Romans. And I hope you will join us as we conclude our studies of this remarkable book.