Romans 16

Romans 16 is the final chapter of Romans. In Romans 15, Paul set out his plan to travel by way of Jerusalem to Rome and Spain and closed with a blessing. Chapter 16 follows with a commendation, greetings, a final warning, and a doxology (a hymn of praise giving glory to God).

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Paul commends Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, and asks the believers to receive her and assist her in whatever she needs.
• Verses 3–16 Paul greets the believers in Rome. More than twenty names appear, beginning with Prisca and Aquila and the church that meets in their house. He closes by telling them to greet one another with a holy kiss.
• Verses 17–20 Paul warns them to mark those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine they have learned and to avoid them. He then says that the God of peace will bruise Satan under their feet.
• Verses 21–23 Those with Paul send greetings: Timothy, Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, Tertius (who wrote the letter down), Gaius, Erastus, and Quartus.
• Verses 25–27 Paul speaks of the mystery of the gospel, kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and ends the letter with a doxology giving glory to God.

Key Verses

• Romans 16:1 "I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea" — frequently cited in discussions of the roles women held in the early church. The interpretation of this passage is treated in a separate article, Romans 16:1–7.
• Romans 16:20 "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" — many commentators read this as an echo of the promise in Genesis 3:15.
• Romans 16:25–27 "To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever" — the doxology that concludes the entire Epistle to the Romans.

People and Places

• Phoebe: A servant of the church at Cenchreae. Paul describes her as a helper (patron) of many, including himself. Many hold that she carried the letter to Rome.
• Prisca and Aquila: A married couple who were Paul's fellow workers. Paul says they risked their lives for him.
• Junia: A kinsman of Paul who, together with Andronicus, had been imprisoned with him.
• Urbanus, Apelles, Tryphaena and Tryphosa, Persis: Believers in Rome to whom Paul sends greetings.
• Rufus: Paul refers to Rufus's mother as his own ("his mother and mine"). Some identify him with Rufus, the son of Simon of Cyrene mentioned in Mark 15:21, though the text does not make this identification.
• Timothy: Paul's fellow worker.
• Tertius: The man who wrote down the letter as Paul dictated it.
• Gaius and Erastus: Gaius is the host of Paul and of the whole church; Erastus is the treasurer of the city.
• Cenchreae: A port east of Corinth. On the basis of this place name and the names of Gaius and Erastus, Romans is commonly thought to have been written in Corinth.

Interpretive Considerations

• Interpreters disagree over whether "Junia" in verse 7 is a woman's name or a man's name (Junias). The phrase "of note among the apostles" is also read in two ways: either that they were outstanding among the apostles, or that they were well known to the apostles. These questions bear on the debate over the ordination of women.
• Phoebe's title, "servant," translates the Greek diakonos. Some understand it as the church office of deacon, while others take it in the general sense of one who serves.
• In the Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul), verse 24 is left blank and marked "omitted." The verse appears only in some manuscripts; it is included in the King James Version. The doxology in verses 25–27 is likewise known to appear in different positions in different manuscripts.
• Citing the large number of people greeted, some scholars argue that chapter 16 was originally a letter sent to Ephesus. The more widely accepted view, however, is that it belongs to Romans.