
On the face of it Romans 16 doesn't look very promising. In fact it looks pretty dull. It is simply a long list of names of people we have never heard of and whose names we struggle to pronounce. It bears a resemblance to those long genealogies we often come across in other parts of the Bible. It would be tempting to simply skip Romans 16 assuming that Paul has already said everything that is important and worth hearing and that we won't find anything of value trawling through this chapter. But we would be wrong. Once again we need to remind ourselves that, “all scripture is God breathed and is useful.” So what is chapter 16 useful for? It is a rich and rewarding section that yields many insights into the life of Paul, into the lives of other early Christians and into the nature and character of the first century church.
Main Points:
- What We Learn About Paul - The Person
- What We Learn About the Church - The People