Rom. 16:13-22 Paul Identifies His Friends

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So Paul is giving personal greetings to various people in Rome. The letter that he is sending to Rome, you remember, is most probably carried by Phoebe, who is a businesswoman and going on business to Rome. And he recommends, Paul urges them to receive her and attend to her needs and any business activities that she has there. And so he goes through that list, you remember, that we worked on yesterday a little bit. And then there’s that beautiful one, the mentioning of Rufus in verse 13. “‘Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.'” Now, it’s quite possible that this Rufus was the son of Simon of Cyrene, the one who carried the cross, you remember? Mark chapter 15, verse 21, “…then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross.” Oh boy, how incredibly interesting that is. Here’s this man coming out of the country, working probably in the countryside, coming home and passing by as Jesus is being taken to crucifixion, and he’s so overwhelmed by the weight and the torture that he has gone through. that he can hardly bear to carry the cross, and so they simply yank Simon of Cyrene into service and get him to carry the cross. Who knows what could have gone on between the moment of Simon of Cyrene carrying that cross and to the time he watched Jesus being crucified on it and then listened as he saw the interchange between Jesus and John regarding his mother and all the other expressions of faith that he expressed on the cross. Simon most likely was converted at that point to believing that Jesus was the Savior of the world. And he would have gone home that day and told an incredible story to his wife and children. And they all became Christians. Now, it doesn’t mention Simon in this verse. Perhaps he has since died. But the mother is known to Paul. greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. That Paul would speak of Rufus as being chosen would indicate, I think, that Simon’s accounting of Jesus’ death and then, of course, the resurrection to Rufus led him to be converted and led him to believe that he was chosen by God as a missionary for Jesus. How wonderful that is. That’s Romans chapter 16, verse 13. And then greet Asyncretus and Phrygion and Hermas and Patrobus, I don’t know these men, Hermas and the brethren who are with them. And there are greetings to others too. Greet one another with a holy kiss. That was the kiss on the cheek. And the churches of Christ greet you. That expression, greet one another with a holy kiss, was an expression designed to convey affection. Be affectionate to one another. The churches of Christ greet you. So we have a wonderful display here of Paul’s deeply affectionate and personal interchange with those in Rome, those he knew, those whom he had met on his missionary journeys outside of Rome, and perhaps many of whom he led to Christ, and then they returned to Rome after the ban on Jews and Jewish Christians in Rome was lifted. and that would be after Caesar had died. Now I urge you, brethren, he says in verse 17, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. It’s a pretty firm statement, is that, isn’t it? But it’s all in line with what Paul had said in regard to receiving those who are weak in the faith, not entering into disputes with them, but receive them and support them as they grow stronger in their faith. Paul is all about uniting the church in Jesus Christ, not uniting it in humanism, not uniting it in social culture, but uniting it in Jesus Christ so that the church of Christ is one body. Well, of course, it didn’t pan out that way. For a while it did, yes, but there became, over the first hundred years and then centuries beyond that, lots of divisions. But that wasn’t an accident. God was in control. He has said in Ezekiel, I will overturn, overturn, overturn. Why does God overturn institutions? Because they become atrophied and stale and dead. And so he overturns one and starts up another. This is the way God keeps alive the Christian faith throughout the ages. We have a tendency as Christians to fall asleep, fall asleep at the wheel, and so God creates a few crashes here and there to wake us up and to get us moving again. So he says, for those who are such, that is, those who cause divisions, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly. Now, why does he say belly? Why doesn’t he say their own mind? Because he’s been talking about those people who make divisions by insisting that you eat only certain foods and you’re not a true Christian or a true Jewish Christian if you eat food offered to idols and so on. He’s constantly aware that there are Christians who are in name only and who have a tendency to interpret Christianity totally as a humanistic thing. Paul is talking about the kingdom of God. He’s talking about what life is like by faith in Jesus when we enter into his resurrection life, knowing that In future we ourselves will be raised from the dead, and there will be a new kingdom covering all the earth, and sickness and sorrow and dying and sin will pass away. For those who are of such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. You see, that’s what he’s talking about when he’s referring to those earlier on, you remember, starting at chapter 14, who are weak in their faith because some of them believe they can eat anything, even if it has been offered to an idol, and others believe that, no, you can’t do that. They were weak in faith because they did not understand that the atoning sacrifice of Christ covered all those things and there was no sin in it anymore. But those who differed, they used smooth words, flattering speech. They didn’t forcefully confront, at least at the beginning, but just tried to deceive. So he then says, for your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. Now here he’s talking about simple in a different way from how he used it in verse 18. The simple in heart in verse 18 are those whose faith does not yet rise to believe that Jesus Christ atones for all their sins and has taken away all judgment from them. But here, in his use of the word simple, he’s looking at it in regard to having a simple attitude in regard to evil. Don’t negotiate with it. Don’t argue with it and reason with it. Don’t reason yourself into evil. but have a simple attitude towards it. I have to say that is really a very beautiful thing. I can’t say that I am there yet in that simplicity of faith, but let’s keep moving towards it, shall we? And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet, surely. Now God is going to reconcile all things in heaven and on earth. All the angels are going to be reconciled to him through the blood of Christ. That we hear in the book of Revelation and in other places. But Satan in his role, Lucifer in his role as Satan, who is a deceiver and who is a liar from the beginning and who would destroy everything and anything, that he can get his hands on, will be crushed. His work will not continue. And we have to believe that by faith, because looking at it without faith, evil seems to reign supreme, doesn’t it? It seems to be all over the world. It seems that it will never go away. Once evil is crushed in one place, it rises in another. Men’s hearts are continually in opposition to God. But the victory of Christ over the forces of evil is so potent and so evident by his resurrection from the dead. He rose from the dead because there was no sin in his life that could hold him in death. That victory is so clear. that we believe that sin and evil will finally be crushed. You and I lift up our hearts towards God in that regard. We say to God, Father, evil is all around. I am distressed by it. I am overwhelmed by it, even my own evil, dear Lord. But I praise you that you have gained victory over evil and that you will finally crush it, and I praise you for that. That is what you and I can pray by faith. And the God of peace, now notice, the God of peace is going to crush Satan. In other words, he doesn’t do it by the instruments of war that you and I know all about in this secular world. He does it by a victory that is so incredible that even Lucifer is overwhelmed and submits to it. The victory over evil is a peaceful victory. I find that incredible to read, but it’s there, and we must believe it and accept it. God’s peace will overwhelm the forces of evil. The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. And there we have, it seems, another conclusion. It seems the end of the book. But a few words are added because it says now in verse 21, Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my countrymen, greet you. That’s interesting, isn’t it? So there in verse 21 is a verse that is not written by Paul. It’s Timothy and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater who are writing that or greeting. And notice, finally, I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord. What does that mean? Well, he was the amanuensis, as it’s technically called, or the secretary. He was dictating Paul’s letter as Paul was walking up and down, reciting it to him. How beautiful all this is. Thanks for listening today, everyone. This is Colin Cook, and you’ve been listening to my broadcast, How It Happens. You can hear this broadcast any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens when you get there. Please consider a donation. This is listener-supported radio. It costs $39 per 15 minutes, $200 for a week’s broadcast and about $850 to $900 for a month. You can make your donation on the line at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.