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Welcome to Studies with Stearman. Join us as we look deeper into the Bible. Strengthen your faith with us even as we see the day approaching. And now here's Gary. Well, as promised, we are going to finish Romans this morning. And we left off in chapter 15 last week. I was thinking driving here this morning, I wasn't planning on doing this, but it really illustrates what it's like to study the Bible. If you look at patterns in the Bible, large scale patterns in the Bible repeat themselves over and over and over again. And the Bible always begins with a macrocosmic view of things and it ends on a personal note. For example, Genesis 1:1, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. So that's the way the Bible opens in Genesis. But if you go to the end of Genesis, Genesis 50:26, which is the very last verse in Genesis, it says, so Joseph died, being 110 years old, and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Genesis begins with, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And it ends with, so Joseph died. There's a lot between those pages. But that's the way the Bible works. It always begins with a macrocosmic view and it ends on a very personal note at the human level, with human struggle. And so it is with the book of Romans where Paul begins with a macrocosm, verse 1:18 in Romans, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. And you thumb to the end of Romans, and it ends with, Gaius, my host and of the whole church salutes you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city salutes you. And Quartus, a brother. So Romans begins with the wrath of God revealed from heaven, and it ends with Quartus, a brother. Nobody knows who Quartus is, but he's a brother. That's the way the Bible works. It scales you down over and over again. If you carefully examine the Bible, it scales you down from the galactic to the microscopic. Over and over again. Paul in Romans 15 says in verse 22, for which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. He said, I wanted to come to Rome and preach the Gospel, but I have been hindered. And I'm writing this letter to you. But now having no more place in these parts. And having great desire these many years to come unto you. Whensoever I take my journey unto Spain, I'll come to you. For I trust to see you in my journey and be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go into Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia. And Macedonia. And Achaia would be all the way from Philippi in the north down to Athens and Corinth in the south of Greece. A very large span of Gentile territory. He says it has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church was having a rough time in the year 57 with Nero on the throne. The Christians in Jerusalem were outcasts. The Jews did not like the Christians. The Romans did not like the Christians. And guess who was running Jerusalem? The Jews and the Romans. Not to mention the Herodians. But the poor saints at Jerusalem really needed help. And so Paul is led to go back and to try to bring help to them. It hath pleased them, verse 27. Verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore, I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you unto Spain. And I'm sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. So it's Paul's plan to go to Jerusalem, then come back to Rome, and then to go to Spain. In the meantime, he's sending them this Roman letter. And he says, now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea. In other words, the Jews who are not yet Christians. He said, when I go back to Judea, it's not going to be a good thing for me because there are a lot of Jews in Judea who still would like to get rid of me. They'd like to stone me to death for having preached Christ. And that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, may with you be refreshed. And now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. And so that's the way he ends the Epistle to the Romans. But There is a P.S. at the end of Romans, which is chapter 16. It follows the pattern that is Romans begins with massive statements about God and justice and justification by faith and sin and all those large scale qualitative expositions. And it ends with people. Chapter 16. I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea. Phoebe went to the church of Cenchrea, which was about nine miles from Corinth. It was a sea coast or a seaport. It was the western seaport of Corinth. And the ruins of Cenchrea are still there today. There's a little church at Cenchrea of which Phoebe was a deaconess. And she took Romans in whatever form it was in. It could have been a vellum, could have been a papyrus scroll. I don't know what form it was in. But when she carried the letter to the Romans from Corinth, she was carrying the entire future of Christian theology inside the folds of her garment. Phoebe, a deaconess, traveled from Cenchrea or Corinth all the way over to Rome carrying the Roman letter. This is just amazing to me, the little sidelights that you get into biblical history, because Phoebe was very important. I mean, very important. She's a deaconess, that is a female servant whose office traditionally was reserved for ministry to widows, but also to the young unmarried women. And their duties generally were to take care of the sick and the poor and to minister to the imprisoned to prepare food and sort of act as nurses or wherever they were needed. The deaconesses of the early church were very important people indeed, and they exercised a general supervision over the female members of the early church. As we get down into Romans 16, we're going to run into some other women who also have this role as deaconess. Now, Romans is written in AD 57. Paul was executed 10 years later, in AD 67, shortly after his execution, Nero was killed. His throne was taken by Vespasian in 69, by Titus in 79, by Domitian in 81, by Nerva in 96, Trajan in 98, Hadrian in 117, Antonius Pius in 138, and Marcus Aurelius went from 161 to 180. And after Paul's death in AD 67, there was the beginning of a huge pogrom against Christians, particularly against Christians, not so much against Jews, because the Romans thought that Christ, whom they called Chrestus, was a pagan God in competition with their own pagan gods. And they did not take kindly to another God standing up against their gods. And so they began to persecute the Christians. That had not quite begun at this point in time when Phoebe carried Romans over to the city of Rome, really at that point, there was not much threat of her being detained or possibly even executed after Inquisition. The Roman letter that she carried was delivered from Corinth. Phoebe was a Gentile. The Greek name Phoebe, that's the way it would be pronounced in Greek. Phobe is one of the titles of the Greek goddess Artemis or Diana, the goddess of the moon and also the goddess of fertility. She was said to be the sister of Apollo, the God of the sun. And so when Phoebe was born, her parents had named her after the goddess of the moon. And it's obvious that she was raised as a pagan, but had received Christ and was now in service to the church. I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea, that ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she hath been a succourer of many and of myself also. In other words, she has proven herself very, very helpful. She's always where she's needed. She's done a lot for a lot of people. The early church was not a giant institution. It was a series of home churches. And those home churches in love had to stand for each other against the pagan community, because the community of Greece and Rome worshiped Greco Roman gods. And we just mentioned a few, for example, Zeus and Apollo and Artemisia, the gods of fertility, Athena, the goddess of the city of Athens. There were just literally hundreds of pagan deities. And if you said, well, I don't worship any of those, I worship Christ, immediately you are on the big suspects list. And you either had to go underground or have very good friends. Because it was not very long after A.D. 57, they began to kill Christians for their belief in Chrestus, as the Romans called him. Verse three, Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. Say hello to Priscilla and Aquila. Now all the way through this postscript, chapter 16, verse 3, you'll see the word greet. In verse 6, you'll see the word greet Mary. Verse 7, you'll see the word salute in the King James. Salute andronicus. In verse 8, greet amplius. Verse 9, greet urbane. You notice it says greet and salute. Greet and salute. And the King James translators, for the sake of diction, alternated those terms, but really it's the same term being used throughout. It's the Greek word aspazomai, which is Greek for hi there, aspazomai. And that's what occurs everywhere. You see a translation either greet or salute. Well, we all remember Priscilla and Aquila. Back in Acts 18 we have this. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. Now, Corinth is the place where the letter is being written from, a letter to the Romans. And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. So Priscilla and Aquila had been part of the pogrom of Claudius, and they had come from Rome to escape Claudius. And they had come over to Corinth, and they got to be very, very close to Paul and Silas and the others, Priscilla and Aquila. They were tentmakers, by the way, if you recall a Jewish couple who were tent makers. They traveled with Paul. He was also a tent maker by trade. And so he says, greet Priscilla and Aquila. At this point in time, they are back in Rome, and they will be among those who hear this letter read when it arrives in Rome. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, verse four, who have for my life laid down their own necks. They risk their lives for me, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also unto all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. So Priscilla and Aquila had a home church over in Rome. And wouldn't you love to be able to go back in time and just see that church and see how it met and who the people were? I would love to see what they did. But they were very effective, obviously, and probably were ultimately martyred because that happened to many, many Christians in Rome. He says, greet the church that is in their house. Aspazomai, you know, send good tidings to say hi to salute my well beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Epaenetus was a citizen of Athens, which is in the Greek province of Achaia. And Epaenetus, the name, by the way, in Greek means praised. His name is praised. Epaenetus was the first Athenian whom Paul brought to Christ in the city of Athens. And so he is remembered that way. And now Epaenetus is over in Rome with the Roman church, but he's called the First Fruits of Achaia. Meaning that he was the first one saved down in southern Greece. Greet Mary. Aspazomai Mariam. Greet Mary. Mary is the Hebrew word mariam, which means rebellious. And I've said many times, why would you ever name a little baby girl rebellious? But traditional Hebrew name. This Mary, however, was very fruitful. Paul says, greet her. Say hi to her, who bestows much labor on us. In the Greek, it says, she worked to the point of exhaustion for us, and we don't know what she did. But whatever needed to be done, she was there to do it to me. That's the church people quietly doing what needs to be done is the whole idea of the Church. The body of Christ. Salute Andronicus and Junia. Aspasisti. Andronicon. Chi. Julian. Say hi. Say hi to Andronicus and Junia for me, will you? That's what he's saying. This is very friendly. My kinsmen, meaning they came from where I came from. Using that term, kinsman in his original manuscript implies that Andronicus and Junia grew up in Tarsus, where Paul grew up. In other words, they were close to him, people very close to him. And he calls them my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles. In other words, the work of Andronicus and Junia was so well known that many of the other apostles apparently took note of them. Apparently the word of what they had done all over the empire, we don't know what they did. Andronicus is a Greek slave name. Junia is a Roman slave name that could be either masculine or feminine. But kinsmen means that they came from Tarsus. I think that they're two men. Andronikus, Kyunion. That would be two men from Tarsus, 16, 8. Greet Omplius, my beloved, in the Lord. Amplius is a common slave name. In fact, the name Omplius is found often in the catacombs of Rome. Amplius means. It can mean overweight, kind of chubby. Our term ample, you know, he is of ample proportion. Amplius kind of means chubby in Greek. Now, why somebody would be named chubby, I don't know, but that's what he said. Greet Amplius, my beloved, in the Lord. Salute again. All these greets and salutes are the same Greek word. Esposomai. Say hi to urbane, or it looks like urbane in English. And urbane means a man of the city or city bred, or having the manners of the city. Cosmopolitan somebody of the city. Salut, Urbain, our helper in Christ. And Stachis My beloved Stachis is a slave name that was found listed in the royal household of Nero. Archaeologists have tons of documents from the house of Nero still exist to this very day. And many of the names found in 16th chapter of Romans are found in the household employment register. Nero. And it is often said that somebody like Stokis could very well have been employed in the house of Nero. There were literally hundreds of employees, if not thousands of employees on the royal grounds. Groundskeepers, food prep, repairmen, all kinds of people worked for Caesar. It was kind of a public works deal in its own way. Urbane and Stachis. Salut, Apelles. Apelles means approved and it's a very common name for either a Jew or a Greek tradition mentions Apelles as the bishop of Smyrna, the church at Smyrna later on, and also the church at Heraclea. So Apelles is a very well known individual and a very, very highly placed leader of the early church. And we find that out through the historical documents of the early church fathers. Apelles approved in Christ. And by the way, Apelles means approved in Greek, the approved one is what it means salute them which are of the household of Aristobulus. Salute them which are of the household of Aristobulus. The family of Aristobulus is thought to have been one of those families that had a church in their home. Aristobulus is also traceable genealogically to the family of Herod the Great, of all things. He would have been a great grandson probably of Herod the Great. And he became a Christian. Now that's amazing. He was a Herodian and he became a Christian. Verse 11. Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them that are the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord Herodion, verse 11 is a Jew who again Paul refers to this man as a kinsman, which means a fellow countryman. And he has Herodian genealogy. His forebears were the house of Herod. Well, that was a horrible house to come from. Pretty evil bunch of people. But apparently many of them became Christians. And here we have two examples. Both Aristobulus and Herodian are said to go back to the house of Herod and now they're living in Rome. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus which are in the Lord Narcissus was a very, very well known Roman Christian and he was hated by Nero's mother. Nero's mother was a bad, bad woman. Her name was Agrippina. Her name was Julia Agrippina and she was Best known as being a fanatic poisoner. If she didn't like you, she'd put poison in your food and you were gone. She got rid of Nero's enemies. This way. Anybody who looked like a threat to her son, she would kill him. It is said that she either killed or had put to death Narcissus, who was a well known Christian in possibly the last year or so of the reign. Narcissus. Now the next names that we have on this list, verse 12, are three women salute trofina and Trophosa, who labor in the Lord, salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord. Trofina and Trophosa come from Greek words which mean luxurious. And trofina means luxuriously dainty. And triphosa means luxuriously delicate. So you can get a picture of these two women. Now what they actually looked like, I don't know, but their names were dainty and delicate and they were servants in the household of Nero. You've all seen those Hollywood pictures that show the Roman households and servants coming and going and carrying jugs of this and trays of that, whatever, that's what they did. And their names have been found in the royal register of Nero's household. So some of the Christians to whom Paul sends greeting are actually in Nero's house. Persis, by the way, who's mentioned here, is a freed woman who is very well known. In other words, she was raised as a slave, but she received her Roman citizenship papers. And Roman citizenship papers were real documents. In other words, a document of Roman citizenship was on the same status as a birth certificate would be to us. Usually it was put on a non corrosible metal. You could carry your certificate of citizenship, which would contain your name, your date of birth, your genealogy, your province. All kinds of data would be stamped into a little metal plate which could either be kept in a safe place or it had some little holes in the corner of it and you could put a cord through it and wear it around your neck under your clothing so you'd always have your birth certificate with you. Well, Persis was a freed woman and Paul says she too worked to the point of exhaustion in the cause of Christ. You know, it's really amazing as you go through this list of people, what you come up with. You're looking at an amazing phenomenon in a Roman empire which was known as climb over your brother and get everything you can before he gets you. That was basically what Roman culture was all about. Look out for number one. But as we look at these Christians in action. These are people who gave of themselves, not thinking of their own reward. And this was the characteristic pattern of early Christianity. It was love in action. And that's what we see here. So we have Trofina, Tryphosa and Perseus. Next we have Rufus. Greet Rufus. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. Now this is fascinating. Who's Rufus? Well, go back to Mark 15. I'll just flip back there right now. Mark 15:21 says, this is by the way, at the scourging and crucifixion of Christ, when Christ marched out to be crucified under roman guard. Mark 15:21 says, and they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian who passed by coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. Isn't that interesting? So Rufus is the son of Simon of Cyrene. And by the way, this is historically borne out elsewhere. So he's Rufus of Cyrene. And guess what? Paul regards himself as so close to the family that he greets Rufus mother as his own. He says, she's just like my own mother. Talk about a side story. In the Bible you have Simon of Cyrene picking up the cross of Christ, but his two sons were there and Rufus was one of them. And Rufus later became a very, very big part of the Roman church. So Paul says, salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. So the wife of Simon of Cyrene Paul regards as close as his own mother. That's interesting to me. It just shows you the intertwinings. Well, what it really shows you is the things we don't know about the Bible. There are just probably thousands of details like this that we would find interesting in the lives of the early Christians. We catch very tiny glimpses of them here. But what we do catch is love in action. Because Paul regards Rufus mom like he regards his own. That's fascinating to me. It shows Paul's heart. It gives you just a little peek. Paul is usually thought of as brusque and kind of arrogant and dismissive. And he could be that way. But he was also a man of great emotion and a man of great sentiment and of Christian love. By the way, Rufus means red. Now whether he had red hair, I don't know. But Rufus is the Latin word for red. Salute. Asyncratus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobus, Hermes and the brethren which are with them. Now, it's commonly thought that v.14 is a house church and a syncretus here would be the leader of that household church. A syncretus means incomparable. Phlegon means burning. Hermas is the name of a man who later wrote one of the most intriguing documents of this period called the shepherd of Hermas. Has anybody ever heard of the shepherd of Hermas? It was an epistle which at one point was considered so profitable that it should be included in the New Testament. But in the church councils it was decided the shepherd of Hermas would not be included in the Bible. Many people say that the member of this particular Roman household church, Hermas, was the writer of the shepherd of Hermas. And by the way, a person well known to Paul, Patrobus, abbreviation of Patrobius, of the patristic line, somehow of the fathers. We don't know exactly who he was. Hermes was a Gentile. Hermes, by the way, was the Greek name for Mercury, the messenger God, who was also considered to be the God of good fortune. And this man, Hermes, is probably mentioned in Acts 14. And if you flip back it Acts. You don't have to, but I'm going to flip back here to Acts 14:12. I'm going to start in Acts 14:11. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Laconia, which is by the way, Attic Greek, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of man. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter and Paul, they called Hermes. It says Mercurius in the English text, referred to Paul as Hermes. And then elsewhere, Paul developed a compatriot, a friendship with a compatriot named Hermes. And this Hermes lived over in Rome. So we have a household church here. Another household church follows in verse 15. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister Olympus, and all the saints which are with them. So here's another household church in verse 15. This idea of house churches being addressed is very interesting. House churches had significant leaders, but that's the only thing you ever hear about their structure. Just the people doing the work we have here in this particular household church. Philologus and Julia. Philologus and Julia are said to be brother and sister. In the histories of the patristic fathers, they are brother and sister. Philologos is a slave name, and Philologus is thought to be another freedman who had been raised as a slave, but received his freedom. But he's the leader of this household church. Julia is Philolocos sister. Nereus is the name of a Greek God, but it's also a slave name, a name given usually by masters and they would give a name like Nereus1, Nereus2, Nereus3, and so forth. It was just a slave designation for a name. Olympus. Her name was Olympiadorus. In history, she's called Olympus here. This is a gentile name for the mystical mountain of the Delphic oracle. Olympus was obviously raised a pagan and named after a pagan place, but now she's a Christian. Verse 16. Greet one another, salute one another with a holy kiss. And salute is kind of an unfortunate word here in our era. Salute means, you know, put your hand up to your forehead and salute. But again, these are simply part of King James diction in which they vary between greet and salute, greet and salute. And what it says here in verse 16 is Asi Aleluz. It means, y' all give each other a hug. That's what that means in English. It sounds kind of fancy. And salute, you know, sounds kind of formal. And you miss what it really is saying in the Greek. It's saying, give so and so. A hug for me is the way we say it in modern English. When you see Bill or you see Aunt Myrtle, give her a hug for me. It's extending love. And yet when you read it in the Bible, it almost sounds like a formality. So what we have here now is in verse 16, I want you to greet each other with a holy kiss. Churches of Christ greet you now. He is writing from Corinth on behalf of the churches of Christ. The holy kiss was an Eastern cultural phenomenon in which you would sort of put your arms around someone's shoulders and kiss both sides of their face. It's still done in Middle Eastern culture. It goes way beyond just the formal handshake, which in my opinion, is designed to create distance between. Between people. You know, when you extend your hand out and somebody else does the same, it automatically implies distance and formality. And when you get to know people, you quit shaking hands with them. Have you ever noticed that you don't shake hands with brother or sister or close relatives or people that you've worked with for a long, long time? You just quit shaking hands. Handshaking is for strangers, but for brothers and sisters in Christ, something more is required. The holy kiss, I guess, has come down to our era as a hug. Because greeting with a handshake is just kind of a cold thing to do. People you really know, you give them a hug. You know, that's what this holy kiss is all about. In Scripture. It's just a greeting that is beyond a formal recognition. It implies love. I love you, man. You know, I love you so he says, the churches of Christ. And by the way, that is not the name of a denomination. Salute you, they greet you. Verse 17. Now I beseech you, brethren, getting serious here. I beg of you, when you see the word beseech, it's a translation of the Greek word parakalo, you may hear it sometimes, parakaleo, which is a name given to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Paraclete, the helper, the advocate. But it's also used as a verb. Parakalo means I urge. I want to say something to you in all seriousness. Brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine, doctrine which you have learned, avoid them. Now I ask you a question. What is the point of division between brethren? Not the clothes they wear, it's not their customs, not their manner of speech, not skin color, it's not anything. It is doctrine. He says, I beseech you brothers, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. For the apostles, doctrine was everything. In other words, the church rises or falls on sound doctrine. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. So from the very first days of the early church there were self serving Christian leaders who saw in Christianity a way to feather their own nests. There have always been people like that. There will always be people like that in Christendom. And Paul says, look, be conscious of them and remember the doctrine. Do not be pushed away from the doctrine, please. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I'm glad therefore on your behalf. But yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil. Don't get caught up in a bunch of fancy philosophy and weighty theological arguments that range from how many angels can sit on the head of a pin to what does God look like? Or all those things that you can talk about that take you away from doctrine, which is the issue. Be harmless, he says, concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. That's interesting, very interesting, because Paul is writing this in the first two years or three years of Nero's rule. There is coming a horrific time just ahead for Christians as he writes this. And yet what does he say? The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Well, it was to be about 12 more years as he wrote this, until Nero finally died. If he's referring to Satan here as a guise for Nero, it was going to be 12 more years before Nero died. And yet Paul says, and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. When you see the word shortly in the Bible, it's hard to know how long a time it means. When I say coming to you shortly, what does that mean? Spiritually speaking? I think it touches on faith, the idea of hope, the idea of cultivating hope. God is going to do what God does shortly. It's not going to take forever. That's the whole idea. In other words, don't get discouraged is what he's saying to them. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. And then there is a little footnote to the footnote. Timotheus, my workfellow, and Lucius and Jason Sosipater, my kinsman, salute you. So with Paul in Corinth as he writes this letter, are Timotheus. Now everybody knows who Timothy is. That's Paul's understudy, Lucius. Lucius was a man called in Acts, Lucius of Cyrene or Kyrene, Acts 13:1. Now there were in the church that was in Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. So Lucius of Cyrene was a big name earlier in the time of the Acts of the Apostles in the church at Antioch. And now he's over in Corinth with Paul as Paul writes this letter. Timotheus, my workfellow Lucius Jason. Jason is a fellow Jew who is mentioned in Acts 17:1 and following verses 1 and 4 really, of Acts 17 mentioned Jason. He's a Jew, well known to Paul, who traveled with Paul and Silas for a time, apparently. And now Jason is over in Corinth as Paul writes the letter to the Romans. These guys got around. They traveled all over the empire. And as we mentioned earlier, Paul had intentions of traveling to Spain. And we now know that he traveled not only to Spain, but also to Britannia, as the Romans then called it. Sosipater. Sosipater is called Sopiter. You can translate the name either way. In Acts 24, Sopiter was a Macedonian who lived in the city of Berea. And when Paul went down to the Berean church, he met Sosipater. And now Sosipater is still with him in Corinth and is one of the insiders with Paul. These people, Timothy, Lucius, Jason and Sosipater are very, very close to Paul and might be considered his closest aides at this point in time, A.D. 57. And then the amanuensis gets into the act. The only letter of all the letters of Paul that he wrote in his own hand was Galatians. All the other letters were written by an amanuensis. Here he's called Tertius. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Tertius means third, first, second and third. Tertius is just the Latin that means third. And then in verse 23, Gaius, my host and of the whole church saluteth you. Gaius has a household church in Corinth. Gaius means I am glad. It's a Greco Roman word that means I am glad Gaius was with Paul in Ephesus. You read Acts 19:29 and you discover that when Paul was in Ephesus during that uproar at the temple of Diana, Gaius was with Paul at that time, went through all that horrific persecution with him. And now Gaius has a household church in Corinth. And of the whole church saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, salutes you. He's the oikonomos, something like a cross between the mayor and the city manager of Corinth is Erastus. Erastus means beloved in Greek. He is the city treasurer, he is the mayor, he is the city manager. He is the big cheese, you know, he's the guy you got to talk to. Erastus, you want to get anything done in Corinth. And guess what? He's one of Paul's inside people. That's wonderful. I love it. By the way, Erastus has been discovered archaeologically. It's kind of fascinating that in 1929, archaeologists working in the city of Corinth uncovered a pavement stone that was inscribed. Erastus, Commissioner of Public Works, has laid this pavement at his own expanse. That stone, by the way, may still be seen. So Erastus is the name. The individual is preserved in scripture, but also on the stones of the city of Corinth, where his name was written. What part he played in the early church is unknown. But don't you know he played a big part. I mean, he cut a wide swath in Corinth, which was a very wealthy town, and it was a shipping town. The Lord picked perfect people and a perfect place to plant a church where the word would get spread. 35 people are mentioned by name in Romans 16. And number 35 is quartus, which means fourth in Latin. Quartus. Now, what a diminutive name that is. How do you like to be named? Fourth? Hey, come on over here. Fourth. If Your brothers and sisters are named first, second and third. You got to be fourth. It's not a very fancy name, but he's in the book, forever preserved in Scripture. This guy named Quartus, whom nobody knows. Remember the pattern in Genesis? Genesis begins with. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis ends with. And Joseph died. Romans begins with. Thinking themselves to be wise, they became fools and corrupted the name of the Creator God. And it ends with Quartus. He always moved from the macro to the micro in Scripture. Moved from giant concepts down to individual people like Quartus, who is forever preserved as a saint. He is as big a man as it's possible to be because he's safe in Christ written in the Lamb's Book of life. And he's mentioned in the same breath as the mayor of the city of Corinth. I like that. They're just two Christian brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. And finally, we come to the Doxology which contains a mystery. Now, to him, that is the power to establish you according to my Gospel. You notice Paul says my gospel. You have to be an apostle before you can speak of my Gospel. And Paul's Gospel is very specific. It is the gospel of the body of Christ the Church. Paul is the only apostle that writes about that. The only, only, only apostle. Just to make it very, very firm, he's the only apostle that writes about the Gospel of Christ, the body of Christ the Church. And he says now to him that has the power to establish, according to my Gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. What is this mystery? It is the mystery of God's loving kindness and the fact that he is going to bring his body to fruition and culmination in love. And that mystery was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations. For the obedience of faith to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Love is the commodity. Love and communion in the body of Christ. You can spend so much time in Romans on the esoteric, the fine and deep points of theology, but really, what Romans boils down to is loving, commitment and viewing others as more worthy than yourself. It's very simply love that makes this whole thing happen.