Listen to the Romans 16 Podcast
A Call for Unity and Fellowship in our Romans 16 Podcast
16:1-27 is a significant conclusion to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, emphasizing the importance of unity, fellowship, and mutual support within the body of Christ. In our Romans 16 podcast we mention how Paul acknowledges the contributions of several individuals and groups in the Roman church, showing the diversity of the early Christian community. These names, often overlooked, reflect the broad inclusivity of the Christian mission, which transcends ethnic, social, and gender boundaries. Paul commends people from various walks of life who played vital roles in spreading the gospel.
One of the key figures mentioned is Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae (Romans 16:1-2), whom Paul recommends for support from the Roman believers. Phoebe’s role highlights the significant leadership positions women held in the early church, offering a profound example of active participation in the ministry.
Paul also greets many others, such as Priscilla and Aquila, Andronicus and Junia, and several unnamed believers, demonstrating that the work of the gospel is built upon the contributions of many. Each of these individuals had their unique role in building up the Christian community, whether through teaching, hospitality, or serving in various capacities.
Role in the Body of Christ
In the Romans 16 podcast, these greetings are framed as a model for contemporary Christians, emphasizing that no role is too small in God’s kingdom. The podcast also highlights Paul’s warning against divisive individuals and urges believers to be vigilant in preserving the unity of the church (Romans 16:17-20).
The chapter concludes with a powerful doxology (Romans 16:25-27), which encapsulates the message of the entire letter: the gospel is for all nations, and it is through the gospel that God reveals His wisdom and power to the world.
In summary, Romans 16 underscores the unity of believers in Christ and calls for a deep, active, and cooperative participation in the mission of God.
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- Classic Christianity Book by Bob George
- Simple Gospel – Simple Grace by Bob Christopher
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Podcast Transcript
Transcript of Romans 16 Podcast
Wanna discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach. It's Kevin Smith. Got my best friend, Mike Stone, with us today.
What's up, Mike? Yes. Kevin, good to be here, and I love doing the podcast with you. We're in Romans 16. I can't believe we made it all the way to the end.
Tell you, man, when I just read this, it is really amazing when we get to heaven and know all the stories that Paul did in a much deeper level. We'll really see really what these people met in his life and hear all the stories. But this is basically a hall of fame of the early church, people that really were in the trenches serving, in ministry with Paul, and he felt compelled to list them all here, which is very unusual. He's never made this long of a list of people in any of his other books that he's written. I mean, literally, he identifies, like, three house churches, 27 people in total.
One of the interesting things about this list, there's 10 women listed here also, and he starts out with Phoebe. So it really just breaks like Christianity does. It breaks all the labels that you might have. Like, there's no Greek or Jew, man or woman, slave or free. And he by him doing this with women, it really just takes away all those levels of, roles and levels of playing field in in serving in the gospel.
So there's a lot of things you can glean from this this last chapter. Well, I'll open up in one I'll read one and two. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Centreya. 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. Yeah.
So Paul is really being thankful of Phoebe, especially, that, they've helped him get the gospel out, which is so crucial because we have it today. Yes. You know, as you read that, it reminded me I wanted to mention bible app. I know you speak highly of the, Bible Gateway app on your phone. Yeah.
And it is an awesome app. Another bible app called Bible Hub. Have you ever used that one, Mike? Yeah. I love Bible Hub because you'll put in a verse, and it gives you 20 other versions.
And I love to look at the different versions. And sometimes I'm struggling trying to figure, hey. What does this mean? And another version really opens up the meaning of it to me. So I love it.
Yeah. What I was gonna highlight was it's got an audible, click little tab there, on the second row down right below the different versions of the bible, and it will literally read it audibly to you. And I must have listened to this chapter about five times trying to learn how to pronounce these names. Oh, how about it? Why don't you take three and four, Kevin?
Alright. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me, not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. And then verse five, greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend, Appentes, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
So, yeah, I love that he says they risk their lives. I mean, I really believe what he's saying. You know, when you risk your life for the gospel, when you put yourself out there, it's because you're really sure and confident of something. And that is that Christ is alive. He's living in you, and he'll never leave you.
And that he also has taken away all of your sins. So that's worth living for. It's worth dying for, and it's worth taking a risk for. And also here here in verse five, that the church meets at their house. Yeah.
I I you know, we see that more and more. I know for you and I for the past thirty years, I think our best teaching moments, both as a teacher and learning the gospel, have been in our homes or other people's homes. It's just very comfortable to be in in somebody's home doing a bible study. Yes. It it really is.
When you see where people live, you see the pictures of their kids and special things that are meaningful to them, it really brings you to a different level and just openness and sharing and hearing and getting to know people. And it's really about, knowing one another and and being known. That's that's one of the basic human needs that we have. Yeah. And being comfortable to do it.
I think homes really do that. In verse six and seven, it says, greet Mary who worked hard for you. Greet Adronicus 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. So they were probably helping Paul with the gospel in prison.
Right? I'm trying to understand what what the old covenant because they didn't have the New Testament yet. They were they had the Old Testament. And so Yeah. These two were helping Paul in prison understand the Old Testament and now understand Jesus Christ.
Yeah. That that's huge. I mean, can you imagine being in prison with somebody as believers? And you know Paul, he was, you know, leading the jailer in Rome to Christ. He he was, just a fireball for the gospel.
Yeah. Why don't you take eight through 16 there, Kevin? Greet, Ampliatus, who I love in the lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my dear friend, Stakus. Breed Apelles tested and approved in Christ.
Greet those who belong to the house of Aristobolus, Herodian, my relative. Greet those of 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 the Lord, and his mother who's been a mother to me too.
Greet Asyncritus, Theogon, Hermes, Petrobas, Hermes, and his brothers with him. Greet Phalugas, Julia, Nurses, and his sister, Olympus, and all the saints with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ, same greetings. I mean, it really shows how the church, not not the church as a building, but the church of born again Christians, the body of Christ, just how they work together and how beneficial it is to be in the body with other believers.
Amen. Amen. Yeah. The other thing about this list of people is you can tell just by the name, but we would never wanna name any of our kids these names. They get brutalized in school, but as you just look at just the root word just the root, of these words, a lot of them are, you know, Greek.
So you see just the blending of the Jews and the Greeks in this church. Yeah. I mean, it was definitely a a international home church here. And that's a good point because he spent how many chapters, like, thirteen, fourteen, 15, talking about unifying the Gentiles and the Jews that came from different backgrounds, different rituals. Jews were very ritualistic, and they had different customs.
And and here, they're all working together as one unit. Yeah. You know, actually, when it in verse 16 where it says, greet one anothers with a holy kiss, This is just symbolic of, you know, Paul and his ministry and just, like you said, the bond that he created when he served with people. And and I tell you, I really encourage everybody. It doesn't matter where you're at in your spiritual journey, but we just wanna encourage you as we read this letter that, Paul wrote, and this is ending chapter, you can just tell that he used people with him in the in the work of the gospel.
And we just wanna encourage you, if you feel led at all, just to take a step of faith and do something to advance the kingdom of God with somebody else. And I assure you, you will have an incredible bond, an incredible memory. I tell you, some of the best friends that I have in life, even to this day, were from a bible study I led twenty five, thirty years ago, at our church in the city, and we are still friends. We still go on a yearly annual vacation with these people, and they're some of our dear friends. But, you know, we we had this bond of serving in this in this church plant of a church in this Chicago.
Yeah. But I wanna read to you, just from this where in verse 16 where it says, greet one another with a holy kiss. In Acts 20, verse, 36, Basically, when Paul was leading a group of people going like one of his missionary journeys, he was going from one place to another. This is just an example of what he experienced. I'll just read this verse 36 and through 38.
When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. That's just a who knows what went on that day when they left, but these people were probably never gonna see Paul again, and they had, loved him and embraced him and kissed him as they did here in as Paul's encouraging them in in Romans 16.
I'm gonna read, seventeen and eighteen. There's a big change here in chapter 16. He's now gonna warn all of his friends, his brothers and sisters. And he says, I urge you in verse 17, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Basically, you have learned from me.
Keep away from them, for such people are not serving our lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the minds of naive people. So, yeah, these were false teachers who were probably in ministry that were obstacles to Paul's message of the the grace of God. They that we are forgiven one time, that that we are righteous by faith, not by works. And, you know, all the things that Paul taught about, these men or woman, possibly, were in Paul's way.
And he says, watch out for them. You know, Matthew seven fifteen to 20, Jesus says pretty much the same thing. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them.
Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, thus by their fruit. You will recognize them.
And when he's talking about fruit, he's talking about the message that they're bringing, the obstacle that they are to growing in grace, that they're teaching in ways that are completely contrary to what we have read for the last 16 podcasts about the grace of God that really free us and it sets us free. So we we all know people like this, and and Paul was warning his friends, watch out for them. Absolutely. Just another reminder that there is a huge spiritual battle. And if you're advancing the gospel like Paul was, Satan is gonna have his demons coming after you for sure.
Yeah. Second Corinthians eleven thirteen to 15 says, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
I mean, he just this is the same book, Paul. Not the same book, the same author. You know, Paul. He's saying the same thing in verse seventeen and eighteen as he is in second Corinthians eleven thirteen to 15. Watch out for them.
And how do you watch out, Kevin? You watch out by knowing the scriptures, by going to the Word of God, not just listening to what people say, but testing the Word of God. And that's how you're gonna know if if you're being deceived by somebody. Yeah. The word of God is always the the rod that you measure everybody's beliefs by.
If it doesn't square with the word of God, doesn't matter how smooth and silky their words are. It's the word of God that is what we measure all truth by. And and they may say, hey. I'm also reading the word of God, Kevin. But here to me is how we know if it's true.
That Jesus says you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. If somebody's trying to put me as a Christian back under the law, I know I am not free. Now I'm back under the law and watching my every step. And what does the law do? The power of sin is in the law.
If somebody says you shouldn't do this or don't do this or God will condemn you and punish you, that's all I'm gonna be thinking about is what I'm not supposed to be doing. So Yeah. The truth will set you free, and I think that's how I have, over the last thirty years, really been able to know truth from error. Amen. You hear so many sermons that are legalistic, and, I mean, I don't listen to them.
Soon as they I I just like, okay. I'm out I'm out with this guy, but they're out there. News station. Alright. Take, nineteen and twenty, Kevin.
Alright. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Yeah. You know, Revelation 20, which we studied together in a home bible study Yeah. Verse 10. Revelation 20 verse 10 says, and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever. So when he Paul is saying in verse 20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, that's when that's gonna happen.
At the end of the age, when Jesus comes back with all of his bride and born again Christians, Satan will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire. Yeah. Also, that verse, where it said Satan will crush, Satan will be crushed under his feet is similar to in Genesis chapter, three verse 15. It says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
And that's a very, very, I know there's a word for it. I'm not gonna even try to say it. It's like proto evolution. But it this Genesis three fifteen is a huge verse just saying, kinda giving you the big picture. He's gonna try to strike your heel, but you're gonna crush his head.
That's right. So Yeah. The other thing on this, verse in Romans, going back to Romans verse 19, the end of it where it says, and be innocent about what is evil. Now that that kinda convicts me a little bit too because there is a lot of evil out in the world, and I do like, I wanna know what it is a lot of times. You know, if there's some some, like I mean, it's just intriguing when, you know, there's a YouTube video or whatever that's got some situation about somebody experiencing evil or Satanism or something.
I I will often listen to it just because I'm curious about it. And this is kinda convicted to me. It says, be innocent about what is evil. Don't be so don't rush to understand all the evil in the world. Kind of like, you know, the counterfeit dollar bill.
You know what the dollar bill that's what counterfeiters do. They look at or people who are in the government trying to find counterfeit dollar bills. They know what the real dollar bill stands for and what it looks like. They don't worry about what all the count they don't go around studying all the counterfeit bills. They just know what the truth of the one right dollar bill is.
I think that's that's a conviction to me. It's like, keep your nose in the Bible, know the truth, and the truth like you're saying, the truth will set you free. That's right. You gotta study the word of God. And I hope these podcasts, do help people listening understand the word of god better.
So verse 21 to 24, Timothy, my coworker sends his greetings to you as to Lucius, Jason, and Sosis Peter, my fellow Jews, I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord. So Tertius was a scribe, helping Paul write out his thoughts on paper, and Paul just initialed it at the end. Verse 23. Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, send you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
And then in verse 24, not all manuscripts add this verse, but I love the verse that the versions that do include it because it says, may the grace of our lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Not sure why it's in some versions and not or why somebody would even keep that out, but, yes, may the grace of our lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. So why don't you read, 25 through two twenty seven?
Alright. Now to him who was able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God so that all nations might believe and obey him. To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen. I love how he says it's my gospel because, yeah, it was Paul's gospel.
He is who God revealed many of these truths to that we talked about, that we're born spiritually dead, we need to be made alive by the resurrection of Christ, or faith in the resurrection of Christ, that we're made righteous by faith. But his gospel is now my gospel, and it's your gospel. It's our gospel because we've received it. We received what God revealed to Paul, and now it is ours. But it's not ours just to keep it and hold on to it.
We want nothing more to give it away give it away to somebody else so it then becomes their gospel. That's right. Ownership. Ownership. Nobody nobody's gonna get to heaven on coattails of anybody else.
You have to own this gospel for yourself. You have to receive and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ for your own personal salvation. Yes. So, Kevin, it has been an absolute pleasure going through these 16 chapters with you in the book of Romans, and I listen to them all the time because I you know, you forget. You gotta go back to chapter one, three, five, and and and so on.
But I just wanna thank you for these 16 chapters and studying it together, and I look forward to our, the next book or the next topic that we decide to I absolutely have totally enjoyed this doing this with you, Mike, and it is my honor and privilege and pleasure. And I just wanna take a moment and just thank everybody for listening to these podcasts and just ask you to, like we said over and over, own this stuff yourself and share it with a friend. It's the the best thing you could ever ever do in your whole life is receive Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and and just rest from your own works and just rest in what he's done for you knowing that you are just secure and loved and have great favor by the God who created you. That's our hope and prayer. Thank you for listening to Grace Coach.
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