Week 36

Romans 16

Discussion question: Why does Paul take some time out to commend certain brothers and sisters in Christ? Why does God record this in His written Word?

Leader: for your review:
This is the practice that we, today, call an introduction or a reference letter. You can see examples of this everywhere in business, academia, relationships, etc. Paul is saying to the church at Rome that if they should meet these people, to welcome them, to make them feel at home. We are blessed that God has recorded this as part of the Scriptures for a few reasons. It makes us feel like we are part of a larger, catholic, body, reaching across not only geographic locations but also time. We know a little more about Phoebe, that she was helpful to Paul and the church, and we can relate to her. We also have examples to follow, we see that Mary was a hard worker and we can strive to be like her, we see that Prisca and Aquila saw past their own lives and focused on Christ’s church and we can seek that same perspective. We can see that those in the early church cared for one another, that they desired to serve the people in the church and that they desired relationships with those in the church. We also get a glimpse of the workings of the early church; Prisca and Aquila are first mentioned in Acts 18 and now we see them again here and also in 1 Corinthians 16 and 2 Timothy 4, so we see that people traveled and continued serving the church even if they were away from their home church.

Leader: for your review:
Commentators have done a lot of research into the actual names mentioned here by Paul, for instance, Rufus might be the son of Simon from Cyrene who carried Jesus’ cross according to Mark 15:21 since Mark’s gospel is commonly thought of as being written to the Romans and Simon was from a Roman province, the believers probably would have known of his household. Mark mentions Simon as being the father of Rufus, usually when a father is described in terms of who his sons are, the sons have greater importance or they are more well-known than the father, so it is possible that this Rufus was the same mentioned in Mark. Leaders are encouraged to pick up a few commentaries and read through some of the possible stories of who these people were.

Discussion question: Why is Paul so careful to admonish his readers to watch out for people who would seek to turn away from the teachings they had already heard in vv17,18? What does this tell us about the importance of proper teaching in the church?

Discussion question: Paul says that the God of peace will soon crush Satan. How does the description of God as “God of peace” match the fact that God will soon crush Satan?

Discussion question: Do you think there is any reason that Tertius put in his own greeting as this isn’t found in Paul’s other letters?

Discussion question: Why does Paul end his letter with a doxology? What is a doxology?

Discussion question: How does this point our hearts and minds towards our Lord Jesus Christ?