Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
Parallel Translations
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Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
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Grete Mary which bestowed moche labour on vs.
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Greete Marie which bestowed much labour on vs.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Romans 16:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 27:55 Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him.
- Romans 16:12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.
- 1 Timothy 5:10 being approved by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, and if she has diligently followed every good work.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. He again testifies his gratitude, in recording the…
6. He again testifies his gratitude, in recording the kindness of Mary to him. Nor is there any doubt but that he commemorates these praises, in order to recommend those whom he praised to the Romans.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
Ver. 6. Greet Mary, &c.] It is profitable that men of great parts and place should preserve their memory with others, though it be but in a salutation; for it may be a means to fire up affection to godliness in such whom they so remember.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Greet Mary: this was a common name, but the…
Greet Mary: this was a common name, but the person here meant was of special note. Ignatius highly commends one of this name, giving her an ample character for wisdom and godliness.
Who bestowed much labour on us; this is the commendation the apostle gives of this woman: it is to be understood of her labour and service in providing food and other necessaries for the entertainment of the faithful, especially the preachers of the gospel; which he acknowledgeth as done to himself, though he had not been at Rome, because of the communion of saints. Some think this woman dwelt before at Corinth, or Antioch, or in some other places, where she had ministered unto the apostle Paul himself.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Some…
Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Some copies read, "you"; and so do the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions: and indeed it seems most likely that the persons on whom this good woman bestowed so much labour, and to whom she was so very serviceable, were the saints at Rome, where she lived, rather than the apostle and his companions; not but that she might have been in some parts where she had met with him, and his friends, and had been very indefatigable in assisting and supplying them, in a very generous and liberal manner, with all the necessaries of life; and was exceeding useful in encouraging the ministers of the Gospel, and in promoting the interest of Christ. Her name Mary is the same with Miriam in Hebrew; whether she was of Jewish extract is not certain, and who she was is not known: some have conjectured her to be the same that Ignatius wrote an epistle to; not Mary of Castabilis, but of Naples, who was at Rome in the time of Linus, the Latin version reads "Cletus", and of Clement, on whom he bestows very great characters; calling her most faithful, worthy of God, and a bearer of Christ, and in all things wise (m): and in another letter (n) of his he represents her as exceeding learned, an exemplar of godly women, and having a church in her house. But both these epistles are thought, by learned men, to be falsely ascribed to him, and so not to be depended on.
(m) Ignat. Epist. ad Mariam, p. 69, 70. (n) lb. ad Heronem, p. 97. Ed. Voss.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on…
Verse 6. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.] Who this Mary was, or what the labour was which she bestowed upon the apostles, we know not. Her works, though hidden from man, are with God; and her name is recorded with honour in this book of life.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Rom 16:6. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on…
Rom 16:6. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us — Performed many good offices for the faithful, especially for the preachers of the gospel. The apostle is very affectionate in these salutations, giving almost every one some signal epithet, that he might both recommend them for their piety and virtue, and propose them as examples for the imitation of others; as also that he might show his gratitude to them, and the esteem he had for them. And concerning these salutations, and others in the apostolic epistles, it is proper to remark in general, “that they were of great benefit to the persons saluted. For, being sent to individuals in letters addressed to the churches of which they were members, such public testimonies of the apostle’s esteem not only gave the saluted much pleasure, but confirmed them in the faith, and encouraged them to bear with patience the sufferings attending the profession of the gospel. And to us, these salutations are an example of that love which we owe to the sincere disciples of Christ on account of their character. Further, the apostle, by naming so many persons in his epistles, hath not only transmitted to posterity an honourable character of them, but hath furnished an additional proof of the truth and authenticity of his own epistles. For all the persons named in them were appealed to as witnesses of the things which he had written.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Who bestowed much labour on us - Who labored…
Who bestowed much labour on us - Who labored much for us. Nothing more is known of her but this honorable mention of her name. It is probable that these persons were formerly residents in Greece, and that the apostle had there become acquainted with them, but that they had now removed to Rome.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Greet--or "salute"
Greet--or "salute"
Mary, who bestowed much labour on us--labor, no doubt, of a womanly kind.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Mary] Mariam or Maria. Both forms represent the…
6. Mary] Mariam or Maria. Both forms represent the Heb. Miriam. In the Gospels, the Holy Mother is always, or nearly always, called Mariam in the Greek text; the other Maries, Maria.—This is the only Hebrew name in this chapter.
bestowed much labour] Lit. toiled; the strongest word for pains and efforts.
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on us] The better reading is, on you. We do not know the occasion or occasions of these “labours.” The verb is aorist, and refers to a definite past period or crisis.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) On us.—The true reading seems to be, on…
(6) On us.—The true reading seems to be, on you. The readers would know to what the Apostle referred. It is useless for us to attempt to conjecture.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 6, 7. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour…
Vers. 6, 7. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on you (umav , rather than, as in the Textus Receptus, hmav). Salute Andrenicus and Junia (or Junias: it is uncertain whether this is masculine or feminine; if the latter, Junia might be the wife of Andronicus), my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles who also were in Christ before me. It is a question whether by "my kinsmen" (tou) here and afterwards St. Paul means that the persons so called were his relations, or only that they were Jews. (cf. Rom_9:3, where he speaks of the Jews generally as twn suggenwn mou kata sarka) There are in all five persons so designated in this chapter. The designation "fellow-prisoners" implies that these two had been, like himself, at some time imprisoned for the faith, but it does not fellow that he and they had been in prison together. If, in speaking of them as "of note among the apostles (epiloiv)," he means to designate them as themselves apostles, this is an instance of a wider use of the term "apostle" than is generally understood. (see note under Rom_12:6, etc.) The phrase, however, will bear the interpretation that they were persons held in honour in the circle of the original twelve. The term, oi apostoloi , is certainly often used distinctively of them, as in Act_9:27 and in Gal_1:19, by St. Paul himself, the reference in both texts being to his own relations to them; and so here, speaking of two persons, who he also says had been in Christ before himself, he may only mean to point to their having been, as they still were, distinguished in association with the original apostles even before his own conversion.
A woman"s labours for Christ.
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During our Saviour"s earthly ministry, many devout and grateful women devoted their time, their substance, and their personal ministrations to the Lord. And Christ"s apostles, as we may judge from the record in the Acts, were also frequently indebted to the hospitality, the zealous co-operation, and the sympathizing and generous spirit, of consecrated Christian women. From this chapter it appears that the early Churches were, in some cases, assisted in their benevolent and evangelistic work by feminine ministrations. Of Mary we know nothing but what is recorded to her honour and remembrance in this passage, that she bestowed much labour upon the Christians of the imperial city. If she be taken as a representative of pious and benevolent and laborious Christian women, the record concerning her may suggest reflections regarding the vocation of such persons in the Church of Christ.
I THE NATURE OF WOMAN"S WORK FOR THE SAVIOUR. This is very varied. It may be more public, or more private; it may be domestic, or official. Some are called to nurse in homes or hospitals; some to teach in classes or schools; some to visit the neglected, the dying, the bereaved; some to restore the lapsed to the paths of industry and virtue; some to show hospitality.
II THE QUALITY OF WOMAN"S WORK FOR THE SAVIOUR. It is often found to be characterized by tenderness and sympathy, by constancy and patience, by sobriety and diligence, by fervour and self-denial.
III THE MEASURE OF WOMAN"S WORK FOR CHRIST. Mary laboured much; and many resemble her directing their energies into various channels, spending strength of body and mind in holy service, continuing even amidst many interruptions, and misrepresentation and ingratitude, and labouring even to old age.
IV THE MOTIVE TO WOMAN"S WORK FOR CHRIST. The Lord Jesus has done much for the elevation and happiness of the female sex, and gratitude for mercy received is in many women"s hearts a powerful motive to zealous services. Means are sought by which the thankful may show the sincerity of their love.
V THE RECOGNITION OF WOMAN"S WORK FOR THE SAVIOUR. This should be spontaneous and ungrudging, generous and expressed. Paul acknowledged the merits of this excellent woman, and by his written salutations admonished the Roman Christians to hold her in honour, and display their gratitude. Yet the best and most desired recognition valued by devout women is the approval and the recompense promised by the Lord himself to every good and faithful servant.
A special salutation.
It is somewhat singular that, the description of these brothers, Andronicus and Juntas, being so full and detailed, we should not meet with any other mention of them, either in the Acts or in St. Paul"s Epistles. The connection between them and the apostle was close and manifold, and their claims to consideration were remarkably high.
I There was FELLOWSHIP IN BLOOD between these brothers and St. Paul. Whether this was a close kindred, or simply consanguinity of race, the term does not make certain. In either case there is a recognition of the claims of kindred. Our blood-relationships, and even our ties of nationality and race, are of Divine appointment, and should not be disparaged or overlooked. When our kindred have a spiritual as well as a natural affinity with us, they should be doubly dear, and should be treated with special distinction and affection.
II There was FELLOWSHIP IN SUFFERING FOR CHRIST. Paul was often in prison, and sometimes in companionship with those engaged in the same service, and therefore knowingly exposed to the same risks. It must have been a happy and honourable experience to be associated with such a man, even in bonds and imprisonment. Silas had joined him in his midnight hymns in the Philippian jail; Luke shared his imprisonment both on land and by sea; Aristarchus, Audronicus, and Juntas had in some place unknown to us, been his fellow-prisoners. Such community was not to be forgotten. It is a distinction to suffer for Christ, and with Christ"s people. "If we suffer with Christ and this we do when we suffer with his people, and for his sake shall also reign with him.
III These men were in THE CONFIDENCE AND ESTEEM OF THE APOSTLES. Some have inferred from the language used that Andronicus and Juntas were numbered among the apostles, in the wider sense of that term. But it is more probable that they are mentioned as held in high respect and honour among the apostles generally. It is sufficient commendation for a man to be known as the trusted friend of the great and good. It is well to ask concerning any Christian Who are his friends?
Not How is he regarded by the titled and the opulent? but Is he in the confidence of those who are venerated and trusted servants of the Lord? "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.
IV There was PERSEVERANCE AND LONG-STANDING CONSISTENCY OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. The Apostle Paul, when writing to the Romans, had himself been "in Christ" for very many years. But these brothers are mentioned by him as having been Christians before he himself had been brought to subjection to the Lord. As "old disciples," whose witness to Christ had been long and faithful, and who remained what they had been, Andronicus and Junias deserved greeting and commendation- " Time tries all;" and time sets an approving seal upon those who for a lifetime have adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour. Respect is due to our seniors in the spiritual life. "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.
APPLICATION.
1. Learn a generous appreciation of the character and services of brethren in Christ.
2. Forget not the ties of Christian fellowship dating from distant years.
3. Admire the power of Christianity to sanctify the social nature; and seek to afford in social intercourse a living example of this benign influence.
A noble encomium.
It is not without significance that this, the most abstruse and difficult of all the Epistles, should have appended to it the longest list of friendly greetings. Doctrine and argument are not necessarily productive of coldness of heart. The apostle was a beautiful example of the blending of the philosopher and the gentleman. Deep thought and elevated diction were not joined to forgetfulness of the courtesies of life. The true refinements of society are worthy of attention; they lessen the friction and harsh grating of the wheels of the machinery. Lofty pillars and strong buttresses may be graceful as well as useful. Of course, reality is ever preferable to mere show, and a rough demeanour covering sincere affection is better than superficial politeness. The tribute of respect which is here paid to Andronicus and Junias suggests several considerations.
I THE BOND OF NATURAL KINSHIP IS IMMENSELY STRENGTHENED BY A COMMON RELIGIOUS FAITH. A philosophical Utopia which annuls special forms of alliance overlooks a fundamental element of our human constitution. A man"s regard for his own family is the first fulfilment of the law to love his neighbour. From this starting-point affection may branch out in all directions. The apostle noted as one of the signs of a corrupt condition that men were "without natural affection." And though our Lord would not permit family claims to interfere with discipleship, he yet rebuked the Pharisees for encouraging gifts to the temple from men who left their own parents in want. "The Saviour made provision for his mother"s comfort even amid the agony of the cross. Christianity may divide some households like a sword and fire, but where the members all receive the gospel, their earthly love is cemented, transfigured, eternalized by loyalty to the same Lord, and participation in the same heavenly hopes and aims. Like Andrew, who brought his own brother to Christ, should our efforts first be directed to the salvation of our own relatives and countrymen.
II THE SINCERITY OF OUR RELIGION IS PROVED BY FELLOWSHIP IN SUFFERING. Andronicus and Junias had shown, by sharing the imprisonment of the apostle, that they were more than fairweather Christians. Their fortitude increased the apostle"s affection and esteem. They had flinched not when trial came, but underwent shame and loss for Jesus Christ. The Church has always need of stout-hearted disciples, ready to face obloquy, ridicule, poverty, rather than sacrifice principle. We could envy these Christians their imprisonment with the apostle. Who could not wish to be Silas to join Paul in his hymns and prayers in the stocks? One of the inmates of Bunyan"s jail was permitted to take the manuscript of the immortal " Pilgrim"s Progress " and peruse it quietly in his own cell. Fancy being the first reader, permitted to pass judgment upon the work and to urge its publication! To suffer together in a righteous cause has ever bound men to each other in mutual respect and sympathy. Even the Peuinsular and the Crimean veterans have liked to commemorate their common deeds of prowess by annual celebrations. If the apostle was not oblivious of the endurance of these Christians, we may be sure that One on high has never forgotten them. No act of heroism is unregistered in heaven. "Ye are they who have continued with me in my temptations.
III IT WAS NO ORDINARY HONOUR TO BE OF HIGH REPUTE AMONG THE LEADERS OF THE CHURCH. From a passage in the Acts we learn that Paul had relatives at Jerusalem who were interested in him, and these mentioned in the text may have belonged to that family well known at the apostolic head-quarters. No true man is insensible to the good opinion of men of acknowledged worth. It was one of the qualifications of a bishop that he should "have a good report of them that are without." How easy is it to value the suffrages of worldly society more than the esteem of the followers of Jesus! Yet the applause of the world is an empty breath, the praise of the newspapers soon dies away, military glory is a "bubble reputation." The desire of fame is one of the strongest passions. Eratostratus burnt the temple at Ephesus to secure notoriety. The gospel does not scorn these natural forces, but utilizes them by refining and purifying our motives. It persuades us to approve ourselves to him who searches the heart and tries the reins, whose eyes are as a flame of fire. "I know thy works and thy charity, thy service, and faith, and patience." Voltaire lamented on his death-bed, "I have swallowed nothing but smoke; I have intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head." "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
IV THEIR PROFESSION STOOD THE TEST OF YEARS. The apostle does not omit to notice their early conversion. They "were in Christ before" him. In any case disciple- stop signified a sharp struggle, and a wrench from old associations. One"s real age is determined ethically, not physically. Seniority in Church-membership is not to take precedence of spiritual gifts, but demands courteous recognition. "Ye youngers submit yourselves unto the elder." Age is doubly venerable when like a mellow sunset it crowns a Christian day. We may well ask whether we have advanced in knowledge, spirituality, and usefulness, as others have who commenced with us the Christian race. Are we lagging behind, whilst they have marched to the front? That is a happy competition to be "first in Christ." There is room for all; there need be no disappointed competitors. To be "out of Christ" is to be hopeless and undone. Shall parents and friends press forward to the Master"s feet while we remain irresolute, undecided? The law is, "He that asketh, receiveth." Paul outstripped many apostolic compeers. S.R.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
Rom_16:6-7
Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
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Marys service
1. Well directed.
2. Diligently performed.
3. Rightly dictated.
4. Abundantly rewarded. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The Marys of the New Testament
I. Two were related to Christ--Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary her sister.
II. Two ministered to Christ--Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene.
III. Two showed kindness to Christs servants--Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, and Mary of Rome. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
A working woman
Have you the slightest desire to be loved, would you have your presence a welcome one in palace and cottage alike, would you be admired, respected, revered, would you feel all sweet human sympathies clustering around you while you live, and know that the tears of a multitude of friends would be shed upon your grave when you die, you must be a working woman--living and working for others, denying yourself for others, and building up for yourself a character, strong, symmetrical, beautiful. If I were you I would rather be that impalpable and quietly gliding shadow which the wounded soldier kissed as the noble Florence Nightingale passed down between the hospital beds, than the golden calf of luxury who has no thought above her personal ease and nourishment. (Great Thoughts.)
Salute Andronicus and Junia.
Andronicus and Junia
Probably husband and wife, or brother and sister. Grace adorns, sanctifies, and sweetens every relation of life. Natural relationships not absorbed by union with Christ. The distinction of these persons was that they were--
I. Kinsmen of paul, either in the wider or more restricted sense. Pauls nephew at Jerusalem warmly attached to his uncle. Grace recognises the ties of kindred. These ties drawn still closer by a common faith.
II. Pauls fellow prisoners. When and where unknown. Valuable undesigned coincidence with 2Co_6:5; 2Co_11:23. Paul had been often in prison, but the history speaks only of one imprisonment (Act_16:23) before the date of this letter. Others mentioned afterwards as his fellow prisoners (Col_4:10; Php_2:2-3). Chains for Christ greater honour than chains of office.
III. Of note among the apostles. They were not, of course, apostles in the strictest sense, viz., of the company appointed by Christ Himself (Mat_10:2), but in the wider sense, viz., messengers (2Co_8:23). Amongst these Andronicus and Junia were highly distinguished. There are different ranks among believers, as there were among Davids worthies who were honoured according to bravery and zeal. Not only sincerity, but eminence in grace to be desired. Grace distinguishes more than gifts, but the best gifts are to be coveted. Pauls relations apparently lived in Jerusalem (Act_23:16). Andronicus and Junia therefore in circumstances to be well known to apostles. Possibly the gospel was brought by them to Rome.
IV. In Christ before Paul. The distinguishing characteristic of a true Christian is to be in Christ. The believer is in three positions--in Adam by nature, in Christ by faith, in the Church by baptism. To be in Christ is to be one with Him as a member of His body. Note Pauls humility. He readily accords pre-eminence. These kinsmen may have been among the converts at Pentecost. Priority of union with Christ to be regarded as an honour. Age in Christ makes venerable. Paul delights to refer to his conversion. The time of our union with Christ never to be forgotten. (T. Robinson, D.D.)
Andronicus and Junia
I. Their relation to Christ. This includes three things.
1. An impressive knowledge and belief of His character and work.
2. An interest in the blessings possessed by Christ.
3. A likeness to Christ.
II. A distinguishing circumstance of their subjection to Christ. Pauls friends were Christians before himself. Note the importance of an early relation to Christ.
1. How many evils are avoided.
(1) An awfully deluded mind.
(2) Inveterate habits in sin.
(3) Much of poignant regret.
(4) The awful danger of being taken away in a state of enmity against God.
2. How many positive advantages are gained.
(1) The pleasures of religion are enjoyed through life.
(2) There is the present satisfaction of being under the promised care and blessing of the Divine Redeemer.
(3) There is the elevating hope that death will be gain. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
A fourfold fellows-ship
1. Of family.
2. Of suffering.
3. Of service.
4. Of grace. Who also were in Christ before me.--
In Christ
I. What is it to be in christ?
1. We are in Christ--
(1) By virtue of the Divine plan and purpose (Eph_1:4; 2Ti_1:9).
(2) When our sins are forgiven (Col_2:11-14).
(3) By regeneration (2Co_5:17). And in connection with this Christ is said to be our life.
(4) When we are justified (Rom_8:1).
(5) When we make profession of faith in Christs name.
(6) By holy walking (Col_2:6).
(7) At His coming.
2. This union is--
(1) Deep and indestructible.
(2) A union which is the source of reciprocal delight.
II. We may be in christ, as far as the development and evidence of it is concerned, at different periods. Andronicus and Junia were in Christ before Paul.
1. When we are young, as soon as the truth of Jesus can be received into the understanding and the heart, the child may be in Christ. We have instances in Holy Scripture of early piety: Joseph, Moses, David, Josiah, Daniel and the three Hebrews, John the Baptist, and Timothy. When we enter upon the serious businesses and occupations of life: Christ says, Take My yoke upon you; and if you receive Christs yoke and hear His burden, you are in Christ.
2. When we are married. We read that marriage is to be only in the Lord. Are you going to be heirs together of the grace of life?
3. Are you forty, and not in Christ? Your peril is extreme. It is a rare thing for a person to be converted after forty.
4. I come to age. We deny not that a man may be brought unto Christ, just when he is about to expire, as the thief upon the cross was; but I beg of you that you leave not a question of such profound importance to such a conjuncture as that. Augustine said, touchingly--I was too late in knowing Christ. Twill save us from a thousand snares to mind religion young.
III. It is a great privilege to be in Christ. The apostle speaks of that which was of first advantage, and it is compared with other advantages. In Php_3:1-21. Paul gives an account of all his Hebrew advantages, and counts all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. But let me advert to other privileges.
1. National privileges. It was a privilege to be a Roman, and the apostle valued that privilege. It is a privilege to be an Englishman, and there are peculiar privileges belonging to some positions in our country, but all of them put together, in comparison with the advantage of being in Christ, are as nothing.
2. What a privilege is the sight of the eye, and the brightness of the sun! Is there no privilege in the spiritual vision and the glory of the Sun of Righteousness?
3. What a value in life! What is the spiritual life worth?
4. And especially viewed in the light of eternity. If not in Christ when you die, you will die in your sins. In Christ, or no resurrection of glory at the last day, but a resurrection of judgment and condemnation. (J. Stratten.)
The common bond
This passage furnishes an interesting illustration of the Christian love of those early days, and how the gospel knit mens hearts together across the earth at a time of the worlds history when the intercourse of man with man was small, and travelling dangerous, laborious, and slow. Yet the number of names mentioned shows how largely, even then, the tenderness of Christian love could draw heart to heart, and unite even personal strangers in a true brotherhood.
I. The phrase in Christ implies the attainment of safety in Christ. The language is founded on the idea of a refuge, as if a man surrounded with foes and in danger of his life should fly to some stronghold, and be in safety. It may be that the devil attacks you with some strong temptation; it may be that God has visited you with solemn convictions, and you know not where to find peace. It may be that life is slipping swiftly by; health failing you, death drawing near, whither shall you look for help? There is but one refuge; one, where the power of sin will be broken; one, where the tormenting sense of guilt will be removed by the atoning blood of Christ; one, where declining life will cease to alarm you, where death itself will lose its fears.
II. The words in Christ imply union with Christ. Here the living idea which naturally occurs is that of a vine branch, living by union with the root arid partaking of its life, just as our Lord said, Abide in Me. He that abideth in Me, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Here we take a step farther than mere safety. It is not from the punishment of sin alone we need to be saved, but from the stain of its pollutions. Why, what is religion but life? and life is joy. There is joy in the state into which we enter when we become children of God, and look up to the great Being who made the heavens and the earth and all things therein, and call Him with happy confidence, Our Father, which art in heaven. It is not all over with us when we die; the best is to come in the cloudless heaven prepared for those who love God.
III. To be in Christ implies the rest of the soul when it has found Him, and the satisfaction with which it dwells content in Him. Here we have the idea of search. Like the merchantman in search of goodly pearls, we look for the object of our desire in every direction, and pursue eagerly our search till, in some happy moment, we find the precious thing for Which we are seeking, and then we rest. It would be as easy to satisfy a man with the playthings of a child, as to satisfy with things perishing a soul that will live for ever. We search and are disappointed. How often in common life we use the phrase of a person or of a thing that has disappointed us, I did not find what I expected in him or in it? But we may find all in Christ. (Canon Garbett.)
In Christ
These words were very familiar and very precious to the early Christians. So much so, that they inscribed them on the tombs of their departed friends, as the catacombs in Rome and other ancient burial places still show you. And it was thought enough to wipe away a mourners tears to see on his friends grave the inscription, In Christ. The preposition in, as found in our New Testament, has a variety of significations in accordance with the various meanings of the word which it translates. It is hero employed to represent presence, or inclosure; as, when we say, in a kingdom, in a family, in a house, in the body. Not as when we say in a valley, meaning upon the surface; thus, you say, a house in a valley, meaning upon the surface of the ground constituting a valley; but, as when you say, in a mountain, or in a river, representing the idea that the thing of which you speak is contained or inclosed. In Christ, is used in our New Testament not unfrequently with this signification; as, when we read of faith in Christ, hope in Christ, truth in Christ. And persons are said elsewhere to be in Christ--thus, babes in Christ--fallen asleep in Christ. There you see the word can have no other idea connected with it than that of inclusion--that of being contained; it cannot be by Christ, or after Christ, or before Christ; If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. You will observe that this is distinct from, and something in advance of, faith in Christ, and truth in Christ. Although the two things in reality are connected, yet you will see that there is a distinction between saying that a mans faith rests in Christ, and that the man himself is in Christ. The two things we know are in reality connected, but you will observe that the ideas are distinct. The words, In Christ, represent some personal relation and connection; for you will observe the phrase is not hope in Christ, or, as elsewhere, faith in Christ. The idea is not that of any particular faculty or susceptibility having Christ for its object. The idea is that of the individual, in all his life, being intimately connected with Christ. Notice that this connection is begun in time. There was a time when, according to Pauls own idea, he was not in Christ. Now, very close union is indicated by Christ Himself, as existing between Himself and His disciples. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye, mark, ye in Me. Elsewhere, by His apostle, Christ teaches, He that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit, for, he adds, we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. There are certain analogies which will here assist us. You know that Christ is called the last man; the last Adam; the second Adam. Adam was a representative man. And there are particular ideas involved in these general thoughts. For example, as an advocate, Christ represents us; and, if Christ as an advocate represents us, we appear before God in Him. Again, Christ is called the chief corner-stone. As the several stones are one in the corner, so are believers one in Christ; and the same thought, you observe, is involved in Christ being the Head. Again, He is called the true vine; and His disciples are the branches. But there are certain doctrines which throw light upon this expression. Let me just remind you that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and, except we are redeemed by the Saviour, we are ungodly. We are not in the spiritual, and in the most blessed, sense living in God. In the lowest sense we all live, and move, and have our being in Him-just as plants, and trees, and flowers, the grass of the field, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, live in Him; but in the highest sense, the ungodly cannot live in Him while they are ungodly. Instead of being of the Father, they are of the world. Their element is not God, And this is our great fault; this is the source of our wretchedness; this is the root of all our wickedness. Look further. God loves the world, and desires, in the most blessed sense, that men should be brought back to Him. Then, to restore them to union with Himself, He gives His Son to be a Mediator. Now suppose that I receive this truth, what have I done? I have not my own case in hand as a suffering, sinful man. I am not trying to be my own advocate. My case is in Christ; it is entirely represented in Him. It is not only in His hand, but it is involved in His very position; because unless there were sinners there could not be a Mediator. In Christ--then your iniquities are forgiven, and your transgression is covered. In Christ--then by His obedience you are accounted righteous. In Christ--then the Spirit of Christ dwells with you. In Christ--then you are joint heirs with Christ. In Christ--then your life is hid with Christ, and it cannot be taken away. (S. Martin.)
The blessedness of being early in Christ
I. It makes our work easier. How easy to bend the pliant twig! How hard to move the sturdy tree! An old man, one day taking a child on his knee, entreated him to seek God now. With artless simplicity the little one asked, Why do not you seek God? The old man answered, his utterance half choked with tears, I would, child, but my heart is hard--my heart is hard!
II. Our work is better done. He who invites us to remember Him in the days of our youth, will show His love by affording abundant help.
III. Life is made more happy. Conscience testifies that we have chosen the good part, and that God is our Friend. The power of temptation is weakened. The growth of graces is promoted. Unreasonable doubts and fears are removed. The sting of death is effectually plucked away. Religious ways are ways of pleasantness and peace. Great peace have they who love Gods law.
IV. It saves us from being destructive examples to others. When Lord Peterborough was the guest of Fenelon, he exclaimed, If I stay here any longer, I shall become a Christian in spite of myself. A young man, who was about to be ordained to the ministry, stated that at one period he had been nearly betrayed into infidelity. But, he added, there was one argument in favour of Christianity which I could never refute--the consistent conduct of my own father! In contrast with such examples for good, imagine the terrible, soul-destroying influence of evil men!
V. It fits one for an exalted position of usefulness in Gods kingdom. Early piety, says Henry, it is to be hoped, will be eminent piety. Those that are good betimes are likely to be very good. Take an old, time-wrinkled man, and endeavour to teach him the arts of a soldier, or to make a scholar or tradesman of him. What painful plodding, and, oftentimes, what unavailing effort! But the young can master any-thing.
VI. We are certain of a heavenly reward. As in a well-appointed army the soldiers pay is regulated by the time of service, so is it with the followers of Christ. Long years of patient continuance in well-doing will be recompensed with the highest seats, the brightest crowns, and the most ecstatic enjoyment. (J. N. Norton, D.D.)
The privilege of being early in Christ
Everything is beautiful in its season. What spring is in the natural year, youth is in the life of man. If that precious season is lost, it is a dreadful thing; rather there should be the sowing to the Spirit, that we may reap life everlasting. It is therefore a beautiful order that the young should remember their Creator in the days of their youth. Hence it was that Paul spake of himself as one born out of due time--not born at the right season. And hence it is that he attaches such distinction to Andronicus and Junta.
I. What is it to be in Christ? Probably the common answer isTo be a Christian. But what is it to be a Christian? To be baptized? Then indeed the whole baptized population of our land were in Christ. But is there any man in his senses that dares to affirm that? There is a sense, indeed, in which all who are baptized are in Christ: they are under solemn obligations to Christ; they have His name upon them; they have the symbol of His service traced upon their brow. But this will only enhance their guilt and aggravate their condemnation, if this be all. And yet there is a sense in which being baptized into Christ is being in Christ, but that is when the sign of the water poured on the child is authenticated by a new birth unto righteousness. Baptism is the outward and visible representation of the grafting of a soul into Christ. Now when the gardener wishes to graft a scion from one tree into another, he inserts it into a little aperture, and afterwards surrounds it with clay and straw, and binds the whole round with strong bands. And thus the grafting, as far as man can accomplish it, is done. But in order that the grafting may take effect, the bark of the stem must grasp and coalesce with the little slip, and that little slip, putting forth its fibres and its stems, must also grasp the bark of the stem, and so there must be a reciprocal union. Then the grafting is effectual. Even so it is in the grafting of a soul into Christ. Baptism and all the means of grace are what men can use and ought to use; but in vain are all the means of grace, except the union of the soul with Christ takes place. That union is accomplished on the part of Christ by putting His own Spirit into the soul, and on the part of the soul by believing in Christ. And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, however duly baptized, however moral, he is none of Christs. Therefore to be in Christ is represented by every figure of adhering union.
II. What is the inestimable blessing of being thus in Christ? And here all thought fails us; for, if a man be out of Christ, he is under sin and the power of Satan; but he that is in Christ is delivered out of the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; all things are his--whether Paul or Apollos, etc. He is safe from every peril, secure from all evils: God is his Father, angels are his attendants, and all things work together for his good.
III. The unspeakable blessing of being found early in Christ. To be early in Christ--
1. Is to be in Christ. At the right time, as Christ Himself designs that we should be. For I have no doubt that infant baptism is of Christ. Circumcision was enjoined upon every child of Gods professing people, so that the child who was not circumcised was to be cut off from Israel.
2. Will save from thousands of evils and dark stains. Out of Christ the child knows not what may become of it, how he may, like the prodigal, debase himself until he is feeding the swine. But to be early in Christ is to be early in the ark, in the stronghold, out of the reach of Satan.
3. Will augment usefulness. The stream that runs a little way to the ocean can leave but little greenness and beauty on its banks; but the river that winds its crystal way through many a valley and over many a plain--oh! what rich blessing it scatters along its course! And so it is in comparison with the man who has but a little course in which to serve God, when he has wasted his best years in sin. (Canon Stowell.)
Early consecration
I. In its relation to God.
1. Our first clear duty is to know and glorify God. He has made, preserved, and redeemed us. It is, therefore, utterly ignoble to ask with how little we may satisfy His claim. A duke of Brittany during a long imprisonment vowed that if he regained his liberty he would give to the Church his weight in gold, and did so conscientiously, for he went into the balance clad in all his armour. When Don Carlos, the son of Philip II., lay ill, he made a like vow, but on his recovery placed himself in the scale clad in damask and fur. We see at a glance which is the more excellent way.
2. We glorify God the most when we come to Him soonest (Eph_1:12), with the free-offering of a life unviolated, fresh, and full of all glorious possibilities--far more than we can by laying fortunes at His feet in distant years (Mic_7:1).
II. In its relation to our own life. It is our business to make the best of our life throughout, and early consecration gives perfection--
1. To our youth. It secures to the full--
(1) The grace of early days. Like the firefly on a flower, or the rainbow above a waterfall, what was already beautiful the grace of God makes doubly so.
(2) The joy of youth. The light-hearted, free joyousness of lifes golden dawn is not damped by the fear of God, only conserved and raised.
(3) The spirit of youth. So far from destroying enthusiasm, the love of God only renders more intense and pure the generous fire.
(4) All the beautiful characteristics of youth. The angel John saw in the sun would not dim the light: religion in youth is that angel giving new splendour to life.
2. To our manhood. A wasted youth tells injuriously on the later stages of life. When the trees in the spring-time are nipped by the frost they never quite recover. But early in Christ means a strong, pure, blessed manhood (Lam_3:27). It is an unspeakable advantage to serve the apprenticeship of life under Christ. He can make us workmen needing not to be ashamed in that most difficult art--the art of living.
3. To our age. Andronicus and Junia were admirable people to the last. Age is much what we make it, desolate old age being the bitter fruit of self-will and indulgence, a bright old age the fruit of discipline. The French artist Millet used to say to his pupils, The end of the day is the proof of the picture. That which will bear the test of the twilight hour is true in character as well as in art.
III. In its relation to social duty.
1. Early in Christ we best serve our generation. Andronicus and Junia were famous workers in their generation. As a rule the world can owe but little to men saved in the eleventh hour. At eventide we hear men say, Well, it is too late to make a good days work of a bad one.
2. None who in early life devote themselves to Christ ever live to regret having done so. Protracted investigation only shows them the reality of the rock on which they have built; the experiences of life only prove the preciousness of Christs truth and grace; the sorrows of life only cause them to cherish with profounder satisfaction the consolations and hopes of faith.
3. None who in later life devote themselves to Christ but wish they had done so earlier. Was not this really the wish of Paul here? Andronicus and Junia were rejoicing in Christ while he was haling men and women to prison.
4. That portion of our life which had no spiritual experience in it we feel was lost, no matter our worldly delights, knowledge, wealth, social triumphs. Pontius, the biographer of Cyprian, passes by the early period of his history with the remark that a mans actions should be recorded not from the time of his first, but of his second birth (Rom_6:20-21).
5. Few who finally fail to devote themselves to Christ but feel that the fatal mistake of their life was their early neglect of Christ.
(1) The external difficulties of beginning multiply with time, until in the course of years they become apparently insurmountable. The aged sinner is conscious that the gossamer thread which once held him from Christ has become an iron fetter, and the rivulet separating from the great inheritance a river.
(2) The internal difficulties increase--the failure of sensibility, will-power, etc., renders the beginning of a new life almost incredible to him who has for years resisted the Holy Ghost. It is always difficult to make the great renunciation, but the initial difficulty is never less than in lifes opening years (1Jn_2:14; Pro_8:17; Isa_26:9). (W. L. Watkinson.)
Early piety, beauty of
Early in the morning the dew still twinkles on the leaves, the maiden blush of dawn remains and reveals an opening beauty, which is lost to those who rise not to see the birth of day. There is a beauty about early piety which is indescribably charming, and unutterably lovely in freshness and radiance. We remark in childhood an artless simplicity, a child-like confidence, which is seen nowhere else. There may be less of knowing, but there is more of loving; there may be less of reasoning, but there is more of simply believing upon the authority of revelation; there may be less of deep-rootedness, but there is certainly more of perfume, beauty, and emerald verdure. If I must choose that part of the Christian life in which there is the most joy, next to the land Beulah, which I must set first and foremost by reason of its lying so near to Canaan, I think I would prefer that tract of Christian experience which lieth toward the sun-rising, which is sown with orient pearls of love, and cheered with the delicious music of the birds of hope. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Early piety, importance of
If the tree is permitted to grow up and to grow old, with the intention of making it new then, there is danger, lest, through storms or fire or war, it may be suddenly destroyed. And, even though it were protected from all these risks, it is strange that any one should deliberately desire that the soil and sun and air should be enjoyed by that tree, and wasted in bearing bitter fruit all the days of its strength, and only make a good tree in its old age, when it scarcely has sap sufficient in its veins to bear any fruit at all. See, reader, in this plain parable, how foolish, how false, how blasphemous, is the desire that throbs cowardly and covertly in many young hearts, to waste the broad sunny surface of life in sin, and throw a narrow strip of its withered, rugged edge at last as an offering to God! If you have no desire to be good and do good throughout the life on earth that lies before you, how can you desire to be good and do good in the eternity that lies beyond? Be not deceived. He who is weary of sin wants to be quit of it now, and instantly to enjoy a new life.. He who says he wants to be holy, but would rather put off the date of the change, lies to himself, to the world, and to God. (W. Arnot, D.D.)
Early piety, enduring
As a vessel will long retain and keep the savour of that wherewith it is first seasoned; even so, if children be taught good things while they be young and tender, they will abide the longer with them. (Cawdray.)
Youth, the root of age
It should be borne in mind that in old age it is too late to mend, that then you must inhabit what you have built. Old age has the foundation of its joy or its sorrow laid in youth. You are building at twenty. Are you building for seventy? Nay, every stone in the foundation takes hold of every stone in the wall up to the very eaves of the building; and every deed, right or wrong, that transpires in youth, reaches forward, and has a relation to all the afterpart of mans life. A mans life is not like the contiguous cells in a bees honeycomb; it is more like the separate parts of a plant which unfolds out of itself, every part bearing relation to all that antecede. That which you do in youth is the root, and all the afterparts, middle age and old age, are the branches and the fruits, whose character
the root will determine. (H. W. Beecher.)
Priority in Christ
1. Is a privilege.
2. Confers honour.
3. Demands proficiency.
4. Should guarantee usefulness.
5. Commands respect. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The blessedness of being betimes in Christ
I. What is the import of being in Christ?
1. Some are in Christ only externally, as by baptism entered into His Church.
2. Some are also in Christ by vital union (Eph_5:30; 1Co_6:17; Joh_6:56).
II. The blessedness annexed to the being thus in Christ. You may see this--
1. In the union itself, as it is--
(1) Most intimate and endearing. Christ is compared to a foundation for our support, a vine for our fruitfulness, a head for vital importance, a husband for the most tender love. This is the ground of that sympathy that there is between Christ and His members (Heb_4:15; Col_1:24; Act_9:4).
(2) Most honourable. No title among men is comparable to that of being a member of Christ. Angels are subject to Him, but are not styled His body (Eph_1:23; Heb_2:16). How great is their dignity who are thus allied to the Lord of glory (1Co_2:8).
(3) Most enriching (Eph_3:8; Col_1:19; Joh_1:16; 1Co_1:30; 1Co_3:21; 1Co_3:23).
(4) Most comfortable. Nothing can be wanting to their support who are taken into it.
(5) Immediate. Every member stands equally near the Head: they are all in Him (1Pe_4:5-6; Eph_2:22; 1Co_12:13; Col_2:19).
(6) Inseparable.
2. In some instances of the happiness that belongs to those who are found in Christ. They--
(1) Have their sins pardoned (Psa_32:1; Col_1:14).
(2) Are freed from sins reigning power (Rom_7:24-25; Rom_8:2).
(3) Are rescued from the tyranny of Satan (Eph_2:2).
(4) Are delivered from the curse and condemnation of the law, and so from hell (Joh_3:18; Rom_8:1; Gal_3:13).
(5) Are brought into a state of favour with God whose lovingkindness is better than life (Psa_63:3; Rom_5:1).
(6) Are adopted into His family, that of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the head (Joh_1:12; Eph_2:19; Rom_8:17).
(7) Have the privilege of free access to God and are always welcome, being made accepted in the Beloved (Eph_1:6).
(8) Have their perseverance secured while they live; the reception of their souls to heaven at death; a glorious resurrection of their bodies, and a blessed eternity.
III. There are special advantages of being early in Christ.
1. This is the best preservative from sin, so displeasing to God, and which will fill the guilty with so much horror in the review.
2. Hereby you will be saved from being destructive examples to others; drawing them on in sin together with yourselves.
3. You will be fitted for more eminent service for God and your generation; be common blessings in helping to keep off judgments, and bring down mercy upon the places of your abode.
4. You will be especially dear to heaven; in the number of those whom God and Christ will delight to favour and honour.
5. This will speak you signal instances of the sovereignty and riches of grace that may be matter of comfortable reflection to you all your days.
6. You will be most like to attain a comfortable evidence of the sincerity and truth of grace, and so that you are the objects of Gods eternal choice.
7. Your great work upon earth will be over, being early provided for a blessed eternity.
8. If you are longer spared you will have a fair advantage of making a greater proficiency in grace, and so enlarge your capacity for greater glory.
IV. Application. Is it the happiness of some to be in Christ before others? Hence learn--
1. That a state of nature is a Christless state, and so a very miserable one (Eph_2:12).
2. How dangerous must it be to rest in a mere profession, and what multitudes are like to perish as looking no farther I (Mat_7:21; 1Jn_3:23).
3. How unreasonable is the backwardness of sinners to close with an offered Saviour! And yet how commonly is it discovered!
4. With what seriousness should every one concerned about his everlasting happiness or misery take up and pursue the inquiry, Am I in Christ, yea, or no? (D. Wilcox.)
Old age in Christ
The date of this Epistle is A.D. 58; the apostle was converted in A.D. 34. So that Andronicus and Junia had been disciples for more than twenty-four years, They were therefore advanced in life. May we not suppose that they were known to Him when He was a persecutor?
I. The characteristic features of aged Christians.
1. Stability in the faith.
2. Fertility in holiness.
3. Expectancy of blessings.
II. The advantages which they confer on the Church.
1. They afford encouragement to the fearful.
2. They suggest caution to the inexperienced.
III. Their special claims to our regard. They claim--
1. Our veneration.
2. Our sympathy on account of their infirmities.
3. Our assistance. (J. Blackburn.)
Age, what men reap in
A young man came to a man of ninety years of age and said to him, How have you made out to live so long and be so well? The old man took the youngster to an orchard, and, pointing to some large trees full of apples, said, I planted these trees when I was a boy, and do you wonder that now I am permitted to gather the fruit of them? We gather in old age what we plant in our youth. Sow to the wind and we reap the whirlwind. Plant in early life the right kind of a Christian character, and you will eat luscious fruit in old age, and gather these harvest apples in eternity. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)
The Christian sage
I. His privilege.
1. Early conversion.
2. Experience.
3. Prospects.
II. Duties.
1. To counsel.
2. Exhort.
3. Encourage.
III. Claims to--
1. Respect.
2. Veneration.
3. Sympathy. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 6–16. Greet Mary. A large number of those named…
6–16. Greet Mary. A large number of those named were personal acquaintances of Paul; some had rendered him special service; many were, no doubt, his own converts. Of most of them we know nothing, save that he places them in this honorable roll.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Rom_16:7. My kinsmen.—Kindred. Perhaps in this passage the wider…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_16:7. My kinsmen.—Kindred. Perhaps in this passage the wider sense of fellow-countrymen. It is difficult to state what is the imprisonment here mentioned.
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Rom_16:8-9.—Amplias and Urbanus, two of few Latin names. Aquila, Junia, Rufus, Julia, etc., are names of Greek origin, and probably for the most part of a lower class, such as freedmen and slaves (Wordsworth). Peter’s name not mentioned. Conclusive against the pretensions of Rome.
Rom_16:10.—Apelles is a name used by Horace in ridicule, but here ennobled by St. Paul. Origen says, “approved by suffering and great tribulation.”
Rom_16:11.—Narcissus, perhaps a freedman of Nero. Another Narcissus was put to death before the date of this epistle.
Rom_16:14.—Everything to be consecrated by Christianity. Phœbe (the name of Diana) is a deaconess of the Church. Nereus and Hermes are Christianised. Striking is the contrast between Tryphena and Tryphosa, with their sensuous meaning and voluptuous sound, with the sterner words that follow, labouring in the Lord. Eusebius says that Hermes was the author of The Shepherd; but Lange says that the author of the book was the brother of Pius, bishop of Rome, and lived about the year 150. This book, pretending to give the revelation of an angel in a dream, once contended for authority with the Epistle to the Hebrews, and was held by some of the Alexandrian school in equal esteem with the Scriptures, and quoted as such; but it was never admitted into the canon.
Rom_16:16.—A holy kiss given at the feast of love. Justin Martyr says, “We mutually salute each other by a kiss, and then we bring forward the bread and the cup.” Tertullian calls it “the kiss of peace and the seal of prayer.” Discontinued on account of scandalous reports. Still practised in the Greek and Oriental Churches. Rabbins attached much importance to a kiss. Every kiss causes that spirit cleaves to spirit.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_16:6-16
St. Paul’s conception of the respectable.—In modern society we do not all move among what are called the respectable classes. There are classifications. It is sometimes highly amusing to hear one of the followers of him who was the friend of slaves, prisoners, freedmen, mere nobodies, parties whom you know one cannot know, declare that people are not respectable. In what is called Christianised society of to-day it is not the qualities but the quantities that a man possesses which command respect. The social pride of the day is odious. Some of the followers of fishermen are as proud as Lucifer. There are ecclesiastical dignitaries in every branch of the Church who need to study the kind of friends whom their great apostle saluted.
I. There is one quality possessed by all who command respect.—That quality is the one of being in Christ, in the Lord. The question with the apostle is not, Is he in our set? Is he the kind of person we ought to know? Does he attend our church? Does he speak our shibboleth? The question which absorbs all other inquiries should be, Is he in Christ? is he in the Lord?—in Christ by vital union with Him, deriving from Him spiritual life and force by active co-operation with all His loving plans and purposes.
II. Some have a bareness of quality which does not immortalise.—Some are saved, but so as by fire. They are Christians, and that is all which can be affirmed. There must have been many more names in the Roman Church, names known, it may be, to the apostle, in addition to those here mentioned; but their names find no place in this immortal scroll of honour. Even in this list are names with no special marks of approval; they are honourable, but do not take the foremost places. It is something, a precious something, precious beyond compare, to be numbered amongst Christ’s redeemed; but it is something more to be numbered amongst Christ’s valiant workers, amongst His true and stalwart soldiers. It is a noble ambition to leave behind a name which the world will not let die; but nobler to have a name which Christ will mention with approval amid the plaudits of rejoicing angels.
III. Others have a richness of quality which commands special respect.—We cannot be the firstfruits of our country in respect to time; but may we not be in respect to fulness, ripeness, and completeness? The richest fruits of our season—what a noble ideal! We cannot be the personally well-beloved of St. Paul, but the well-beloved of Him who knoweth all things and knows those who ardently love and serve Him. Helpers in Christ; mighty labourers in the Lord. However mean our position, however isolated our lot, we may all be helpers in Christ. He has need of all; He lays claim to the service of all. Helpers with Paul in Christ are all the faithful workers through the centuries. Faithful helpers in Christ are the world’s mighty labourers. Earth’s minsters do not entomb their ashes; national mausoleums do not enshrine their effigies; earth’s historians do not indite eloquent panegyrics on their memories. But what are earthly glories? Vanitas vanitatum. Our national mausoleum now honours the names of those whom Christian England a short time ago dishonoured and illtreated. Christ’s approvals do not thus change. His valuations are always correct; His awards are discriminating; His immortalities alone endure.
Immortal friendships.—There were women at Rome wearing in a single necklace of pearls a fortune of a hundred thousand pounds. Their very names have perished with their follies and vices, while Phœbe’s name is resplendent for ever in Paul’s gospel. Open your commentaries at this chapter, and note how often the dreary remark occurs, “Nothing is known of this person.” Nothing known of Epænetus and Urbanus and Olympas? If Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte could make their choice now, have you any doubt they would gladly exchange their fame for such a divine enrolment as this in the letter of some prophet or missionary—Alexander, the beloved, and Napoleon, my fellow-worker in the Lord? Let us first endeavour to find out how these names came to be in our Bible at all, and then consider the immortal friendships they celebrate. Three or four of them appear elsewhere in sacred history, and possibly two of them in the annals of Rome; but all the rest stand alone in this postscript of the letter which more than any other contains Paul’s gospel. How wide was its reach already! Most of the names are of Greek origin. Only a few years before he had come to the centre of learning and the arts with the wisdom of God unto salvation, and now Greece and her colonies furnish him with twenty-one names for his roll of honour. Rome contributes nine more. His own people, to whom the covenants and the oracles of God belonged, are represented by only four Hebrew names; and Persis is not a name, it means “the Persian woman.” The Orient and all the world are laid under contribution, but these names reflect no splendours of earthly honour. Phœbe, the first to appear in this galaxy, is the feminine of Phœbus Apollo; she was named from the fabled divinity which Virgil describes, “Semper rubet aurea Phœbe.” Yes, she shines for ever. But the name which her heathen parents gave her was a decoration of idolatry. And nearly all of these names had been tarnished by the superstitions and degradations of a false religion in which faith was perishing.
The glorious obscure.—Our English Bibles only hint at the fact that the greater number of persons mentioned are not known by name to Paul: “Salute them which are of the households of Aristobulus and of Narcissus.” This is not a literal translation of what was written: “Salute them who came out from the men belonging to Aristobulus and Narcissus.” They are the converted slaves of these great Roman families, the poor creatures who were corralled overnight like cattle, or chained to posts around their palaces. Now they are grouped, to the number of hundreds perhaps, among the shining ones of God. Nameless men, and men of obscure and of tarnished names, make up this divine enrolment. And this is the first practical lesson it yields us: how to make our names shine; how to remove reproaches, justly or innocently incurred, and come out of obscurity and be remembered with veneration and affection. Some good man will be writing a letter by-and-by; you and I can get into its postscript. There is a Lamb’s book of life to be written; we can all get into that divine enrolment.
The friends of childhood.—But these names do no stand here merely because they represent good men and women. They are also pledges of immortal friendships. This is a dull chapter to many because they do not know how to translate it. The friends of my childhood, friends on both sides of the ocean, my fellow-workers in the gospel, my beloved in the Lord—these are the faces that look at me out of this chapter, like the portraits which compose the clouds in Raphael’s great picture in Dresden. The Christian friendships immortalised here are only meant to bring back to you the names you love best in the fellowship of Christ.
How a friendship began.—Remember how Paul came to know Timothy at first, and then think of the special providence that has led to your most precious intimacies. Do you notice that there are no glittering generalities in this postscript? “Remember me to all inquiring friends.” No, indeed; Paul is the inquiring friend. He remembers the very things Phœbe and Prisca and Mary and all the rest have done who have bestowed much labour on him and on the brotherhood.
Unknown heroes and heroines.—Do you remember, or did you ever know, in detail all the little things which your own brethren and sisters in this congregation have done?
Helpful friendships.—The helpfulness of Christian friendships—this is our last and best lesson. It is helpfulness in the every-day work of life. There is no helping in church-work or in spiritual culture without taking hold of the work of making a living and of getting on in business. “Assist Phœbe in whatsoever business she hath need of you.” How were they to go about that? The word means law—business. She was engaged in a lawsuit. Immense interests were involved because it had been appealed to the Supreme Court at Rome. And there were saints at Rome in Cæsar’s household. Maybe they were slaves; but there were lawyers in those days of the servile class. They could get the ear of the court; they could do something; they could try to do something. This is what Paul asks: Assist her in her law business. Brethren, help one another in law business if you are ever so unfortunate as to get involved in law business, and in commercial business, and in all sorts of honest business. It may be that Philologus and Julia his wife, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, describe three homes where a little Church used to meet in turn, and that “the brethren with them” are this Church within their houses. But who are “Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them”? No wife or sister is mentioned to indicate their homes. There is nothing but their bare names. But this clause after their names speaks volumes. I believe the “brethren who are with them” are their workmen or partners in the same business. Perpetuate the Christian brotherhoods which have been sealed in the business combinations for gospel work in Rome, in convents of the deserts and in alpine passes, in soldiers’ bivouacs, in sailors’ forecastles, and in the frugal homes of our ancestors. Never let your warehouses get too big nor your homes too splendid and too frigid for this family life of God’s dear children.
The source of immortal friendships.—And who is Tertius? He has hardly any name. There is a Secundus somewhere else, and a Quartus here. The second, the third, and the fourth—who is the third man, Tertius? Tertius is the amanuensis. He has been in the Lord as well as Paul all through this wonderful composition. Parchment, pen, ink, his own skilful hand, and the heart that is burning within him in the radiance of these sublime truths, are all in the Lord. Now we have found the true source of immortal friendships. It is Christ Himself. Two men who are in the Lord must help one another as the left hand helps the right. They are one divine life.—Rev. Wolcott Calkins, D.D.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_16:6-16
Usefulness of women.—Admitting that the Bible be the word of God, we might have inferred from His wisdom and goodness that no part of it can be useless. But we are expressly assured that “all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Therefore this long postscript, this catalogue of particular salutations, has its uses. It certainly shows us the principle that actuated the first Christians—all men were to know that they were the disciples of Christ by their loving one another. It shows also how mistaken they are who think the New Testament does not sanction private friendship. It also proves how impossible it was to forge this epistle, abounding as it does with so many specific allusions; for these not only render detection possible, but easy. Hence Paley much avails himself of this chapter in his Horœ Paulinæ. Neither is it improper to observe from it the error of Popery: Papists say that Peter was the bishop of Rome. But, had he been there, is it credible for a moment that he would have been overlooked by our apostle? The probability indeed is that he never was there. There is no evidence of it in the Scripture; and we know for what purposes of delusion it has been pretended—the Roman succession of bishops from him. But who can help observing how many females are mentioned here? Phœbe, Priscilla, Mary, Junia, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, the sister of Nereus. All these, with the exception of two, are not only mentioned, but commended; and these two would not have been saluted by name unless they had been persons of religious excellence, for Paul valued no other qualities compared with this. But all the rest of these worthies have ascribed to them some attainments or service “in the Lord.” Let not, therefore, females suppose that they are cut off from usefulness in the cause of Christ. The most eminent servants of God have acknowledged their obligations to them, and ascribed no little of their success to their care and kindness. Servants have blessed God for pious mistresses. Children have been prepared for the preaching of the word and the devotion of the sanctuary by the earlier but important efforts of a mother. How much does even the religious public owe to the mothers of Newton and Cecil, and a thousand more, from whom the Churches have derived such able ministers! To Hannah we owe a Samuel; and to Lois and Eunice, his mother and grandmother, we owe a Timothy. They are at home in almsdeeds, like Dorcas, who made garments for the poor; and are peculiarly adapted to visit the sick and the afflicted. The wife may win the irreligious husband without the word, and fan his devotion and give speed to his zeal when he is in the way everlasting. Who would keep them from those public meetings where feelings are to be excited which they will be sure to carry away and improve at home? In a word, women have the finest heads, and hearts, and hands, and tongues for usefulness in the world. Who does not wish to see them always under a religious principle? Who would not have them, appropriately, more encouraged and employed as workers together with the servants of Christ? “Help,” therefore says the apostle, “those women that laboured with me in the gospel, whose names are in the book of life.”—W. Jay.
The influence of a good woman.—That was a strange influence which Beatrice exercised over the great poet Dante, which not only moulded and affected his actions, but which entered into the spirit of his poetry, directed his thoughts, and gave the inspiration of his genius. Beatrice became to Dante the symbol of pure and holy things. “Death itself disappeared before the mighty love that was kindled in the heart of the poet: it transformed, it purified all things.” And then, when Beatrice died, his love became resigned, submissive; death sanctified it instead of converting it into remorse. The love of Dante destroyed nothing; it fertilised all, it gave a giantlike force to the sentiment of duty. The poet said: “Whenever and wherever she appeared to me, I no longer felt that I had an enemy in the world; such a flame of charity was kindled in my heart, causing me to forgive every one that had offended me.” The death of Beatrice imposed fresh duties upon him. That which he felt he had then to do was to render himself more worthy of her; he resolved to keep his love for her to the last day of his life, and bestow upon her an immortality upon earth. In his love for the beautiful, in his striving after upward purity, Beatrice was the nurse of his understanding, the angel of his soul, the consoling spirit which sustained him in poverty and in exile, in a cheerless, wandering, and sorrowful existence. La Vita Nuova, a little book which Dante wrote probably at the age of twenty-eight, in which he relates, both in prose and verse, the emotions of his love for Beatrice, is an inimitable little book of gentleness, purity, delicacy, of sweet and sad thoughts, loving as the note of the dove, ethereal as the perfume of flowers; and that pen, which in later years resembled a sword in the hand of Dante, here delineates their aspect, as Raphael might have done with his pencil. There are pages—those, for example, where is related the dream of Beatrice—the prose of which is a finished model of language and style far beyond the best style of Boccaccio.
A picture of the primitive Church.—“Here is,” says Gaussen, “a picture to the life of a primitive Church; we can see to what height the most ignorant and weak of its members can rise.… We wonder at the progress already made by the word of God solely through the labours of travellers, artisans, merchants, women, slaves, and freedmen, who resided in Rome.” Not only did the apostle know a large number of these workers, because he had been connected with them in the East (Andronicus and Junias, Rufus and his mother, for example), or because be had converted them himself (Aquila and Priscilla); but he also received news from Rome, as is proved by the intimate details into which he entered in chap. 14; and he might thus know of the labours of many of those saluted, whom he did not know personally. Such is probably the case with the last persons designated, and to whose names he adds no description. The Greek origin of the most of these names constitutes no objection to the Roman domicile of those who bear them. What matters it to us that, as M. Renan says, after Father Garucci, the names in Jewish inscriptions at Rome are mostly of Latin origin? If there be any room for surprise, five or six Latin names would perhaps be more astonishing at Ephesus than fifteen or sixteen Greek names at Rome. Have we not proved over and over that this Church was recruited much more largely from Gentiles than from Jews, and that especially it was founded by missionaries who had come from Syria, Asia, and Greece? M. Reuss no doubt asks what became of all those friends of Paul, when, some years later, he wrote from Rome his Epistles to the Colossians and Philippians; and later still, the Second to Timothy. But in writing from Rome to the Churches of Colosse and Philippi, he could only send salutations from individuals who knew them. And a little before the Second to Timothy there occurred the persecution of Nero, which had for the time dispersed and almost annihilated the Church of Rome. Our conclusion, therefore, is not only that this passage of salutations may have been written to the Church of Rome, but that it could not have been addressed to any other more suitably. As at the present day Paris, or even Rome, is a sort of rendezvous for numerous foreign Christians of both sexes, who go thither to found evangelistic works, so the great pagan Rome attracted at that time the religious attention and zeal of all the Christians of the East. Let us remark, in closing, the exquisite delicacy and courtesy which guide the apostle in those distinguishing epithets with which he accompanies the names of the servants or handmaids of Christ whom he mentions. Each of those descriptive titles is as it were the rough draft of the new name which those persons shall bear in glory. Thus understood, this enumeration is no longer a dry nomenclature; it resembles a bouquet of newly blown flowers which diffuse refreshing odours.—Godet.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 16
Rom_16:8. The tomb of Amplias.—The archœological researches in Rome of recent years have thrown much light upon the life of the early Christians in that city; but no discovery has produced such interest as that announced of the tomb of Amplias. Says Paul in Rom_16:8 : “Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.” Who was Amplias? Who were his friends? Why was he buried in this particular place? The answers to these questions are all furnished by the discovery of his tomb; and a flood of light is let in upon the times of the early Roman Christians. His tomb stands in one of the catacombs excavated in the time of Domitian, on the ground then belonging to Flavia Domitilla, his niece. Roman history preserves the fact that Flavia became a Christian. Amplias, the friend of Paul, must have been a distinguished man. Because he was buried in Flavia’s cemetery we judge they were personally acquainted. By Paul’s greeting we imagine he was a minister of the New World. Then the tomb is of such a character that only the possessor of great wealth could have constructed so remarkable a resting-place. Was this the work of Flavia, niece of the great Domitian? Was it erected at the cost of his family, or by the early Christians of Rome? These questions may not be answered, for the investigations are not yet concluded. All that we know at present is that there is no tomb in the catacombs that equals it for the beauty of its adornments and the variety of pictorial illustrations. The frescoes in the Golden House of Nero, and the adornments of the house of Germanicus in the Palatine, are not to be compared, so it is reported, with the symbolic illustrations of the tomb of Amplias, the teacher of Flavia, the beloved of Paul.—Christian Commonwealth.
Rom_16:12. Lord Shaftesbury’s tribute to a humble woman.—Very tender was Lord Shaftesbury’s reference on one occasion to the kind heart which led him to Christ. He was for a time, at an early period of his life, left solely in charge of an old Scottish nurse. This humble woman took infinite pains to teach him the story of Christ’s love, and with such success that the great earl confessed, “All that I am to-day, and all that I have done, I owe, under God, to that good woman’s influence.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Salute Mary, who bestowed much labor on you .
Salute Mary, who bestowed much labor on you .
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This is a woman's name. (See: How to Translate…
Mary
This is a woman's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
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Andronicus ... Ampliatus
These are men's names. (See: How to Translate Names)
Junias
This could be either 1) Junia, a woman's name, or, much less likely, 2) Junias, a man's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
They are prominent among the apostles
You can translate this in an active form. AT: "The apostles know them very well" (See: Active or Passive)
my beloved in the Lord
"my dear friend and fellow believer"
translationWords
kin
prison
apostle
in Christ
beloved
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.