Romans 16:1-16

(Romans 16:1-16)

I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household. Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.  Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.  Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

 

Romans 16:1-16 can be divided into two parts. The first is the introduction of a person who takes a letter to the Roman church in verses 1-2, "Phebe", and the second is from verses 3 to 16, which contains the apostle Paul's greetings to the Romans. The three main features of the Roman Church can be found in the text composed of two sections.『 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea 』 The first saint Paul greeted was Phebe. Paul introduced her as a church worker. It can be inferred that Phebe was a woman leader in the church, and Paul introduced Phebe as my guardian, showing that she was an economic supporter. The Roman church was found to be a unity of several house churches, not a church with many saints in one building, and this letter from Paul was also circulated by these house churches. Also, looking at the names mentioned, more women's names are mentioned, and when the couple is called, they are in the order of women and men, not men and women. A typical example is the Bris and Aquila couple. In addition, it can be seen that the Roman Church was also a multicultural church with slaves or former slaves from families with high socio-economic status, such as Aridosbolo and Nagitsu.

『 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: 』 Paul introduces Priscilla and Aquila as representative house churches of the Roman Church. In an expression that remembers them, 『Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 』 In other words, we can see that they were prepared to die together and dedicated themselves to the gospel and the church.

The first mention of the wife, "Brisga," shows that the leader of this house church was also Brisga. In Acts 18:1-3, these Roman citizens came to Corinth when Emperor Gladio deported the Jews and met Paul to "make the tent" together. Later, Paul met Apollo in Ephesus to preach the gospel, and then returned to Rome. It is not known what kind of ministry they gave their lives by saying, "All the churches of the Gentiles are also grateful to them." However, they returned to Rome to form a house church by surrendering like a Paul for the mission of the Gentiles. Can be seen.

『 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. 』 Here, their home refers to the home of Brisga and Aquila. Paul met Ebanese in Ephesus and came to Rome with the family of "Brisga." In particular, when Paul introduces him, the expression "I love" can be inferred that the relationship is particularly deep. Maria was a Jewish woman, and Andronigo and Unia were introduced as my relatives, and introduced them as "They are respected by the apostles and are also in Christ before me." Here, Unia is the name of a woman.

It can be seen that she is a female apostle. Not only did he go to jail with Paul, but by expressing that he believed in Christ before Paul, he may have guessed that he probably met Jesus and began to believe in Jesus at the time of the Pentecost. In the early church, we can see that women have played a great role as leaders of the Church without discrimination.

Then, the Bible (Romans) mentions "Amblia I Love," "Urbano, Our Partner," "My Beloved Sudagu," and "Abele Recognized." Particularly, Aridoubulo, the grandson of King Herod, grew up in the house of Emperor Glaudio, and when Emperor Caligula tried to build his own statue in the temple in Jerusalem, he mobilized political power. However, before the Romans were written, he died and Paul greeted his relatives.

Herodion was a slave from Herod's family, named after his master, and Nagitsu was also the secretary of Emperor Glaudio as a slave, and when Nero became emperor, he was forced to commit suicide. Greetings to the family. The Gospel tells us that there are people with sad stories like that.

Finally, Drubbana and Drubosa were sisters, and we can see that they did a lot of work with Bercy, and Rupo and his mother are mentioned, and it was a pretty close relationship from what Paul calls his mother. You can see that verses 14-15 are house churches made up of brothers and saints who are together.

The three important features of the Roman Church are, first, the home church without discrimination. phebe, brisga, maria and unia. The expressions that introduced them show how much they treated each other equally without discrimination. It can be seen that they were regarded as co-workers, as guardians who met all their needs, and as disciples without discrimination. Second, it is a house church that was sacrificed by the Gospel. They were at a high socio-economic position at the time, but were threatened by the gospel and even forced to commit suicide. Even the vested interests and powers they deserved were voluntarily laid down by the Gospel. Lastly, it is a house church composed of a bloody family. The closest and most uncomfortable family members lived in a church because of the Gospel. Introduce them in the chosen and shared expression of the Lord.

The apostle Paul said to all of these: "Greeting one another with a holy kiss, and all the churches of Christ greet you."The apostle Paul encourages each other to greet each other with a holy kiss to the Roman church, which is composed of all different house churches.In Christ Jesus, not only the Roman church, but all the churches of Christ in different regions are greeted