Some Friends to Greet
16: 13-16
Some Friends to Greet DIG: Go through verses 1-16, listing all the things for which Paul commends these people. What does this show you about how we ought to measure a person’s success in life? Although Paul had never been to Rome, how aware was he of this church?
REFLECT: Who are some people you know whom you consider real servants of Messiah? What impresses you about them? Have you reached out to them lately? Why not do so now? How do you let your love show to believers and unbelievers, not merely in words, but actions?
Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, and cling to what is good.
Paul continues his greetings. It’s as if he wants to make certain he doesn’t overlook anyone who has touched his life in a significant way. His love isn’t self-promoting, but thoughtful, genuine, and Messiah-oriented, for all of these people are ambassadors for Messiah. Their history is our history. They carried the banner of Messiah in their generation. They fulfilled the warnings of their teacher and friend, Paul, who taught: Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, and cling to what is good. Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect. Don’t be lazy when hard work is needed, but serve the Lord with spiritual fervor (12:9-11).402
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for how wise Your love is – loving good, and also wisely hating evil. In this day when everyone chooses what is his own truth and so supposedly sin/evil no longer exists – it is refreshing to see Your love which hates evil. You do not gloss over sin, nor ignore it – but You forgive sin when sinners repent. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (First John 1:9). Thank You for Your complete forgiveness to those who have a holy fear of You. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12). Your love is so awesome to willingly plan to give Yeshua’s righteousness to those who love You. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). It is a joy to love and follow You! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
Greet Rufus, chosen by the Lord, an extraordinary believer in every sense of the word (16:13a). We learn from Mark’s Gospel, which was written around 58-59 AD from Rome after Paul wrote his letter to Rome in 57 AD from Corinth, that Simon of Cyrene, a city on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, who was pressed into service by the soldiers to carry Yeshua’s cross (Mark 15:21). Only Mark mentions Simon’s sons, Alexander and Rufus, suggesting that they were known to the church in Rome.
Scholars therefore agree that the Rufus mentioned here by Paul was one of the sons of Simon the Cyrene, who may have been brought to saving faith through that contact with Yeshua on the way to Calvary (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ls – Then They Brought Jesus to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull). If so, he must have died before Paul’s letter to the Romans, or else he surely would have been greeted and commended by Paul. If Simon, the man privileged to have carried Yeshua’s cross and to have walked beside Him to Golgotha, had become a believer, he would have been among the most honored men in the early church. It is obvious that his wife, the mother of Rufus, believed and it seems safe to assume that Alexander likewise was saved, giving Mark the reason to mention him along with his brother. Alexander was either dead or did not live in Rome at the time, or else Paul would have greeted him also. And his mother, who has been a mother to me too (16:13b). Like many Jews saved at Shavu’ot (see the commentary on Acts An – Peter Speaks to the Shavu’ot Crowd), Simon and his family may have chosen to stay in Jerusalem and therefore had the opportunity to know and befriend Paul during his visits there.403
Paul makes no comment about Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers and sisters who are with them (16:14). The mention of the brothers and sisters who are with them indicates that the five men named here were leaders of one of the many assemblies of believers in Rome.
Paul’s greetings here were to another such congregation of believers, Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all of God’s people who are with them (16:15). These were men and women who were obedient in planting seeds of faith that have been passed along one person at a time to the present day. If this is but a sampling of the early church, we can conclude that this church was distinguished by its faithful workers and their love for each other.404
The careful research of William Barclay sheds light on one of the people Paul mentions in this beautiful passage. About Nereus, Barclay writes: In 95 AD there happened an event that shocked Rome. Two of the most distinguished people in Rome were condemned for being believers of the Way (Acts 9:2). They were husband and wife. The husband was Flavius Clemens. He had been consul of Rome. The wife was Domatilla and she was of royal blood. She was the granddaughter of Vespasian, a former Emperor, and the niece of Domitian, the reigning Emperor. In fact, the two sons of Flavius Clemens and Domatilla had been designated Domitian’s successors in the imperial power. Flavius was executed and Domatilla was banished to the island of Pontia where “she [Domatilla] drew out a long martyrdom for the name of Christ.” And now the point – the name of the servant of Flavius and Domatilla was Nereus. Is it possible that Nereus the slave had something to do with making two believers of Flavius Clemens the ex-consul and Domitila the princess of royal blood? Maybe this is merely an idle speculation, for Nereus was a common name . . . but then again, it may be true.405
Greet one another with a holy kiss, which is a Middle-Eastern custom (First Corinthians 16:20; Second Corinthians 13:12; First Thessalonians 5:26; First Peter 5:14). In recent years hugging and holy kissing has come back in vogue in some other countries as well, after centuries of being out of fashion (a handshake is obviously a much weaker expression of body language). When between members of the opposite sex, care must be taken that it is a holy kiss and not an unholy one! More generally, in an age of transition when customs are changing, the principle of Chapter 14, not causing distress to another for whom Messiah died, applies here: those who experience discomfort from a given form of bodily expression should not be made to suffer it against their will.406
Finally, Paul said that all the Messiah’s congregations send their greetings to you, doubtless referring to all the congregations that he had recently visited (16:16). We know from the B’rit Chadashah that there were differences of opinions in the early Messianic Community, even among the most spiritual leaders, including the apostles. Even serious factionalism, such as that in the church at Corinth, was not unknown, but there were no denominations as we know of them today, no splinter groups within the body of orthodox believers. They all simply were Messiah’s congregations. Those believers, Jews and Gentiles, wealthy and poor, free and slave, famous and unknown, enjoyed in Messiah the depth of fellowship and partnership the world has no way of understanding.
But the world can observe it, and God’s people should give the world more opportunity to do so. Yeshua assured us: Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other (John 13:35). That love must be genuine and pure for it to strengthen the Church or to have an impact on the world. For that reason, Paul had earlier commanded: Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, and cling to what is good. Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be sensitive to each other’s needs – don’t think yourselves better than others, but make humble people your friends. Don’t be conceited (12:9-10 and 15-16).
That kind of love characterized the church at Ephesus, of whom Paul wrote that he had heard about their trust in the Lord Yeshua and their love for all God’s people (Ephesians 1:15). Again, linking faith in Messiah with love for all God’s people, he told the Colossian believers: For we have heard of your trust in the Messiah Yeshua and of the love you have for all God’s people (Colossians 1:4). Finally, he would say to the church at Thessalonica: Concerning love for the brothers we do not need to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other (First Thessalonians 4:9).407
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