[Romans 16]

 

             ^16:1 Now I commend to you^° Phoebe our sister, who is a servant from the congregation^* in Cenchreae, ^16:2 in-order-that you^° should accept her in the Lord, worthily of the holy-ones, and in-order-that you^° should stand beside her in whatever matter she may have need from you^°. For^* she herself has also become an assistant of many, and of me, myself.

 

             ^16:3 Greet^° Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, ^16:4 who risked their own neck on behalf of my life, whom I not only give-thanks, but also all the congregations^* of the Gentiles, ^16:5 and the congregation^* who is in their house. Greet^° Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first-fruit of Achaia to Christ. ^16:6 Greet^° Mary, who labored much ^*for us. ^16:7 Greet^° Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and my fellow captives, who are notable even among the apostles, who have also happened to be in Christ before me. ^16:8 Greet^° Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. ^16:9 Greet^° Urbanus our fellow worker in Christ and Stachys my beloved. ^16:10 Greet^° Apelles, the approved, in Christ. Greet^° the ones who are from the household of Aristobulus. ^16:11 Greet^° Herodion my relative. Greet^° the ones from the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. ^16:12 Greet^° Tryphaena and Tryphosa, the ones laboring in the Lord. Greet^° the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord. ^16:13 Greet^° Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. ^16:14 Greet^° Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Hermas, Patrobas and the brethren who are together-with them. ^16:15 Greet^° Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the holy-ones who are together-with them. ^16:16 Greet^° one another with^* a holy kiss. The congregations^* of Christ greet you^°.

 

             ^16:17 Now brethren, I am encouraging you^°, to note the ones making^* {Or: practicing} the dissensions and the offenses contrary to the teaching which you^° learned and are practicing, and shun^° away from them. ^16:18 For^* such are not serving^* our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and they are deceiving the hearts of the guiltless through their smooth-talk and the speaking well of the guiltless.

             ^16:19 For^* your^° obedience has reached out to everyone. Therefore, I rejoice over you^°, but I wish you^° to be indeed wise as to what is good, and harmless to what is evil. ^16:20 Now the God of peace will crush the Adversary under your^° feet shortly.

 

             The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you^°.

 

             ^16:21 Timothy my fellow worker greets you^°, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. ^16:22 I, Tertius, who wrote the letter, greet you^° in the Lord. ^16:23 Gaius greets you^°, my host and of the whole congregation^*. Erastus the steward of the city greets you^° and Quartus the brother. ^16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with all of you^°. Amen.

 

             {Verses 16:25-27 in the KJV are in the Majority Text as Romans 14:24 - 14:26. These are written here just in case you don’t know this fact.}

            ^(14:24) Now to the one who is able to establish you^° according-to my good-news, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according-to the revelation of the mystery, has been kept-silent in times everlasting, ^{16:26 (14:25)} but now, was manifested, and through the prophetic Scriptures, according-to the commandment of the everlasting God, was made known to all the nations, into the obedience of the faith; ^{16:27 (14:26)} to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, in whom the glory is forever. Amen.

 

 

             {NOTES: Please read the Preface and other non-bible sections. * is our universal footnoting for words contained in the ‘Definitions’ section. These words are NOT the same Greek word as the non-asterisk form; i.e., *FOR is different from FOR* is different from FOR. ^° (degree sign) denotes plural forms.}

 

 

 

 

{{ Introduction to 1 Corinthians 56-58 AD

 

            If there was a place where sin was rampant, it was Corinth. What made it worse was the attitude common today of ‘it really doesn’t matter.’ The more trash you take in, the more likely of it influencing you! Then the congregation in Corinth seemed to take everything to the extreme.

            They were not unified in much of anything, and full of splits, and the ‘anything goes’ policy so common to many religious groups today. A common commandment throughout all the letters was ‘In the same...’ or ‘be mindful of the same...’ but not in this congregation. Paul’s use of sarcasm is notable throughout both Corinthian letters, ‘Christ sent me not to immerse, but to proclaim the good-news’ – actually both are commands of the Lord written at the ends of Matthew and Mark with Luke adding ‘repentance and forgiveness of sins’ witnessed in Acts 2:38 ‘to be saved.’ Man’s foolishness is used by God to promote His purpose as in 4:10, “We are foolish because of Christ, but you^° are prudent in Christ.” and this sarcasm appears in many more places.

            Then in chapter 2, Paul goes from foolishness of man to wisdom of man vs. God’s wisdom, which progresses onward to the spiritual things. In chapter 3, Paul calls them babies and fleshly. Then he talks about the foundation (Jesus) that he and Apollos built, and warns them to build properly upon it. Because even if Paul’s work with the Corinthians fails at judgment day, Paul is still saved as though he walked through the fire. In chapter 4 and 9, Paul calls them arrogant because they are judging him. They have everything, even reign like kings; they do not need Paul. In chapter 5, a man was fornicating with his stepmother. Instead of disciplining him (so that he might be saved and not spend eternity apart from them), they just do not care! This ‘leavening’ could have ruined the batch of them, and they just did not get it. Then (chapter 6) they had lawsuits against each other. Paul finally lists all of their past sins (possibly current ones) and tells them no one who practices them will inherit heaven. The Corinthians thought you could be like the world and still be in the Lord’s body at the same time. Chapter 7 deals with marriage and the unmarried. Then in Chapters 8 and 10, they add idol-sacrifices to the list. Also in Chapters 10 and 11, it was pointed out how they were abusing the Lord’s Supper and the love feast versus how it should be respected. We know from Acts 20:7 that the Lord’s Supper is one of the reasons the congregations come together every Sunday. Chapters 12, 13, 14 talk about the spiritual gifts that Christians had during the first century, gifts used to evangelize the world (Mark 16:15-20). In 13:10, Paul tells them the completed word will stop all of this so concentrate on love which never fails. Once again, the Corinthians took this to extremes as with everything else they did. In 15, Adam and Jesus are compared, and the last part talks about the time when Jesus will come back describing how ‘in the blink of an eye’ we will inherit our heavenly bodies. In 16, he concludes with his typical greetings and encouragements.}}