The Open Word

Paul finishes his conclusion to the book of Romans with some final exhortations regarding false teachers and those who cause division, followed by some final greetings to individual believers in Rome.

Paul continues his lengthy conclusion in Romans 16:1–16 by naming many of the people with whom he ministered and asks for greetings to be sent to them. Of note is Phoebe, whom Paul describes as a servant of the church in Cenchrea, the sister city of Corinth and the location that many think Paul wrote the letter of Romans from. Two other co-workers are noted, Priscilla and Aquila, who were fellow tent-makers and companions of Paul in Corinth.

Paul ends his letter to the Romans with an extended discussion of his plans to visit Rome along with personal greetings and a final exhortation. In this section of Scripture, he focuses on the first theme, that of his desire to visit Rome after taking aid to the saints in Jerusalem as the result of a famine in the late 50's AD (see 2 Corinthians regarding the collection he took for this relief effort). He then relates his desire to pass through Rome on his way to Spain, and closes with a request for prayer to be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

Paul continues his defense of his ministry to the Gentiles, proclaiming that he had faithfully carried out God's commission to him as the Apostle to the Gentiles, of which the church in Rome was a recipient.

In this short section of Romans, Paul speaks of his ministry to the Gentiles by quoting several passages in the Old Testament that speaks of God's blessings being poured out on Gentiles, not just the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation had assumed, wrongly, that they were the only recipients of God's blessings, however, God had never intended His blessings to end with Israel, but to encompass all people.

Paul encourages those who are strong in the faith to bear with the failings of the weak, not too see them as a burden. Christ did not come to please Himself, but to minister to others, and in the same way those who are strong believers are to help those weaker or more immature in their faith as an act of love to them so that together both the strong and weak may glorify God.

We complete our look at Romans 14 by examining the responsibility we have to not cause our brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble over those things that are no essential. The central theme is that we are to consider others over ourselves, because what may be fine for us is sin for others since whatever we do that is not of faith and violates our conscience is sin.

We continue our look at Christian liberty in Romans 14 by looking at the freedom we have in Christ which is bounded by the reality that someday we will all stand before Him and give an account. Our actions in the gray areas are not going to be evaluated by other believers, instead they will be evaluated by Christ. So instead of comparing ourselves to others, we need to compare ourselves to Christ with the understanding that we will give an account to him someday.

How can a believer exercise their Christian liberty while at the same time considering those who still feel many things are off limits for believers? We continue our discussion of this important topic in Romans 14, in which Paul instructs those that are mature in Christ to not look down on others and pass judgment on them because they have not yet understood their freedom in Christ.

In Romans 14, Paul turns his attention to the exercise of personal liberties and disputes over doubtful things. We begin our study of this topic by introducing this concept and how to practice it in the body of Christ.