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4. THE TEMPLE OF GOD.
GOD’S
WILL
is transformation, and we are exhorted.
romans
CHAPTERS
FOURTEEN, FIFTEEN AND SIXTEEN.
We
are still in the TEMPLE OF GOD in our “building” outline.
This is still about GOD’S WILL for the redeemed.
The TRANSFORMATION AND
EXHORTATION, which began in Romans 12:1.
PUBLIC responsibilities are addressed in
12:1 to 15:6.
PERSONAL comments are given for saved
people in 15:14 to 16:27.
READ
romans 14:1-23.
We see here what could be considered by some a contradiction, something that does not “jell” with other parts of the Bible. Those who do not want to expose false doctrine and teachers, often use Bible verses that are contained in this passage. What is it then, are we to “judge” or not? We have to get the context properly sorted out, and understand what is being told us by the Holy Spirit in various passages about judgment. There is no contradiction in God’s Word in any way. A brief summary on judgment:
Read the whole passage 1-13, about a fornicator in a church group.
(A deeper study on this subject is contained in our notes,
“Is it
right: to judge, to expose error, & to call names?” by Pastor E.L.
Bynum).
Here in Romans
14 the judgment has to do with other matters.
It is about the LAW of LOVE
in DOUBTFUL THINGS. Some believers were strict on themselves in Paul’s
day, insisting on a LEGALISTIC regime in regard to diet and days. These
are shown in 14:1-23 to be weaker Christians who were not able to accept their
liberty in Christ. We are to show love to such ones, to help them without being
harsh. God will enlighten them as they grow in the Lord’s Grace. “For the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17).
BUT, we must never compromise our own liberty. To put it plainly, if others do no work on the “Sabbath” and act as though they are bound by the dictates of the law, we must not harshly judge them, but we must not let them drag us into bondage, either. The same goes with how long a woman’s hair should be, women and a covering of the head in church, alcoholic drinks, the wearing of certain clothing etc. Read the sum-up in 14:13,16,19:
“That no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” “Let not then your good be evil spoken of.” “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”
If your actions may lead another into sin,
then do not do that thing out of love, not because you are bound in legalism.
You might find your liberty in Christ allows you to eat a meal in a place where
beer is served, to you it is good, but if others then speak of it as evil –
beware lest your action bring disruption into a fellowship. We should be
careful, in love, and seek to bring peace, and to build others up in God. This
may well cause us to stop doing things that we, personally, see no wrong in.
ALL
BELIEVERS WILL BE JUDGED BY THE MASTER IN HEAVEN.
Read Romans 14:10-12.
This has to do with the
“Judgment Seat of Christ”, certainly not to do with salvation.
THE BELIEVER AND THE
SAVIOU
Read Romans 15:1-13.
The law of love is still the personal way for the redeemed, as was dealt with in Romans 14.
What is of love is the Law of
Christ, not a legalistic bondage as was the Law of Moses.
THE
PATTERN FOR THE BELIEVER IS CHRIST HIMSELF!
See 1 Peter 2:21-25.
a) Christ had a sacrificial ministry, we also are not to please ourselves, but be sacrificial in our giving of ourselves in service (Romans 15:3).
b)
His was a suffering ministry:
“As it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproached thee fell on me” (Romans
15:3).
c)
Christ moved in and through the Word of God.
We also must have a scriptural ministry,
not of this world and its values (Romans 15:4).
d)
Christ had a sharing ministry. We too must not be selfish, but share with
others.
See Romans
15:7. This brings glory to God.
e)
Romans 15:8
shows us that just as God confirmed the promises to the O.T. fathers.
He
has given us a SURE ministry, based on His mighty promises in Christ and of
Christ.
f) Christ had a spirit-filled and joyous ministry, although He was a man of sorrows because of the horror of sin all around Him. This is to be our pattern of service as well!
Read Romans 15:9,10. Also Psalm 18:49; 117:1; Isaiah 11:10.
“And
that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this
cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And
again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the
Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.”(Colossians
2:9-11).
MORE
PERSONAL REMARKS FOR SAVED PEOPLE.
Romans 15:14-16:27.
Paul gives a review of his past ministry in Romans 15:14-21. A highly interesting passage, if we read it carefully.
Especially in
view of the women who are mentioned by him in Romans
chapter 16.
Let us
begin then by considering this review of Paul’s thrilling ministry:
a)
In Romans 15:16
Paul speaks of his SPECIAL ministry from God.
“The
minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.”
He was
especially called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles! Which includes ourselves.
b) The book of Acts records the many miracles God worked through Paul.
In Romans 15:19 he mentions these. As Paul was a mere saved sinner, as we are, his wonder at what God could do through him was immense!
What
were these miracles, in a nutshell?
1. Striking a sorcerer with blindness at Paphos of Cyprus (Acts 13:11,12).
2. A number of miracles at Iconium (Acts 14:3,4).
3. God through Paul healed a cripple in Lystra (Acts 14:8-18).
4. God used Paul to set a demonic girl free in Philippi (Acts 16:16-18).
5. At Ephesus God caused Paul to heal many with diseases and cast out demons (Acts 19:11,12).
6. God used him to raise Eutychus at Troas (Acts 20:9,10).
7. Miracles of healing on the Isle of Melita (Acts 28:8,9).
c) Paul mentions his mission field in Romans 15:19.
d) He comments of his methods in Romans 15:20.
e) Paul wants his readers to understand his MOTIVATION in Romans 15:21.
That all people might hear about the glorious Saviour from God. Is this our motivation as well?
Are we keen
that others, who “have not heard” can get to understand the Gospel
message?
NOW
PAUL LOOKS INTO A PLAN FOR MORE MINISTRY IN THE FUTURE.
Read Romans 15:22-16:27.
Although we might think of Romans as a book of the Bible, it had a living, vibrant life as an epistle to REAL PEOPLE in a time slot as well. It was a letter, of course, to believers in Rome. It was written in AD 60 from Corinth. We can perhaps gain a better insight into those early Christians as we read their names and think a bit of what Paul wanted to do:
a) Paul wanted to visit the Roman believers at a later time – when he went to Spain (15:24,28).
Did he actually go to Spain?
Here I will quote from Willmington in full:
“The Pillars of Hercules beckoned to Paul, the
westernmost reaches of Imagesland Europe, and the civilized world in his day. Did
he later get to Spain? Just before his death he would write, “I have
finished my course” (11 Tim.4:7). Since Spain was on his itinerary we
assume he did indeed get there.”
b) Paul asks for their prayers – he wants to come to them in Rome (Romans 15:25-27, 30,31).
c) Here we will quote from Willmington again:
“He was
going there to deliver to the poor saints a financial offering which he had been
collecting from all over the Empire. Paul had, no doubt, in his preconversion
days, caused the poverty of many Christians in Rome. He asked for prayer:
“That I may be
delivered from them that do not believe in Judea:and that my service which I
have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints” (15:31).
He asks for
prayer that he might be delivered from those who did not believe in Christ as
Messiah in Judea. And he asks for prayer that the Jerusalem saints would accept
his missionary distribution of funds.
LOOK,
NOW, AT THE LIST OF HELPERS AND FELLOW-WORKERS.
There is much material here as the subject is so important –
Who
were the workers in the early church, and were women included in ministry?
I have
included comments on women workers here, to enlighten the student.
Paul had
reached a mountain-top of spiritual enlightenment in the book of Romans, but he
comes back down to the roads of Rome, so to speak, walking with his fellow
believers. He mentions 28 of them by name as he finishes off his epistle.
If we look back at Romans 1:9 we can see
how very people-centered his letter was. Not dry old doctrine, but a living,
Spirit-filled communication utterly inspired by the Lord God Almighty!
Read Romans
16:1. PHOEBE.
She carried the precious epistle from Corinth to the Roman believers. Who was she?
Phoebe’s ministry and life has been obscured in part in our English Bibles, she should be examined minutely:
We will use
the findings of the Greek scholar, Katherine Bushnell,
and other Greek scholars here:(
pp364 -367).
“The Lord says, through the mouth of Moses “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small,” Duet. 25:13; and Proverbs 20:10 teaches us: “Divers weights and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.” It seems to us that divers weights and measures have been employed, occasionally, when translating the utterances of the Bible.
It was not until the middle of the third century that an order of women called “deaconesses” (diakonissae) became common in the churches of the East- they were scarcely ever known in the early centuries in the Western branch of the Church. Speaking of the rendering of this title attached to Phoebe’s name,—”deaconess,”
Bishop
Ellicott says:
“The proposed rendering ‘deaconess’ is open
to the objection that it introduces into the N. T. the technical name (diakonissa),
which is of later origin.”
Conybeare and Howson, in their Life of St. Paul, (p. 240), call
attention to the use, in connection with Phoebe’s name, of two words
associated together in technical legal matters, in Paul’s
recommendation of her, which indicates that she was abroad on some important
business with the courts,—possibly in behalf of the church. Yet with all this,
our translators found no difficulty in levelling her down to the “servant”
class. But Paul calls her, not a “deaconess” but a “deacon,” a
“minister.” In the Apostolical Constitutions (a third century document of
the Church), “deaconesses” are referred to; but here we have the
“deacon” or “minister” of the Church. Paul uses precisely
the same form of the word that he does in such passages as 1 Tim. 3:8, 12. This
goes a long way toward proving that when he gave directions as to ordaining
“deacons” he made no distinction as to sex, in his own mind. To be sure, he
had to caution Timothy about ordaining any men who were polygamous (women were
not likely to have two husbands), which gives such passages more of a masculine
twist than they otherwise would have had.
What Paul says of Phoebe as a prostatis (translated “succourer,”
literally meaning “one standing before”), proves that she was of no inferior
order in the Church. Had the words been given the strong cast into which they
are run, when (supposedly) spoken of men only, in 1 Tim. 3:12, we should be
reading here about Phoebe, in our English Bibles:
“I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, minister [or deacon] of the church
which is at Cenchrea; . . . for she hath been a ruler of many, and of myself
also.” This is the noun form corresponding to the verb translated “rule”
in the Timothy passages (1 Tim. 3:4, 5, 12; and 5; 17), where Paul
is supposed to be commanding that these men “rule well’ their own
households.
We have only to say that if these men are to
“rule” their households, then Paul tells us that Phoebe ruled
herself and many others but if it be impossible to concede that Paul
was ruled by a woman, then it is equally impossible, by every law of truthful
and just translation, to prove that these passages in Timothy instruct men to
“rule well” their households The translators cannot have it both ways. The
Greek noun used of Phoebe, prostatis, means a “champion leader, chief,
protector, patron.” Phoebe held the same relation to the church at Cenchrea,
that Paul says church officials should hold to their own children
and household, —that is, they should take good care of them; these passages
have no direct reference to rule, or government. In Tit. 3 :8, 14, the word is
translated “Imagestain.’; When a man is told to “stand before,” his family
“well,” men translate the word “rule.” When the Bible tells us that
Phoebe is a “stander-before” they translate “succourer.”
Read Romans
16:5, PRISCILLA
AND AQUILA. pp192 -196 ibid
What is actually known about the situation, which occasioned the writing of this
Epistle to the Corinthians? We
gather from the Epistle itself that the Corinthian Christians had written Paul a
letter (7:1) and he is answering it. There
were divisions among them (1:11). He had enemies at Corinth, who
disputed his right to be called an Apostle (9:1), and criticised him and
his companions for leading about a woman with them (9:5) and he declares that
"we" have as much right to do it as "the other apostles, and the
brethren of the Lord, and Cephas." Who
was this woman? Doubtless
Priscilla, who with Aquila her husband had left Corinth, in company with the
Apostle, shortly before (Acts 18:18, (the woman whom Paul mentions before her
husband). He actually dares to put
this woman's "head" on behind! How
that would scandalise the proprieties of modern theology! She was, all are bound to agree, a very able person, and well
known to: “all the churches of the Gentiles" (Rom. 16:4), and how
could that be if she was altogether silenced and veiled?
Paul was probably writing this very Epistle in her home at Ephesus (1
Cor.16:19).
Here we have the proper setting for these words addressed to the Corinthians.
Aquila was a Jew of Pontus in Asia Minor, converted to Christ, and
his wife probably also a native of Asia Minor (Acts 18:2).
Here women were held in great honor, as Professor W.M. Ramsay
of Aberdeen University clearly shows in his valuable books, The Church in the
Roman Empire, and The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia.
This woman would expect to take her position as on a perfect equality
with her husband, and the attempt to do so on her part would at once arouse the
ire of the Palestinian Jews who pursued Paul wherever he went, the so called
"Judaizers," bent on winning the Church back to Judaism. We believe
this is what stirred up the "woman question" at Corinth, and led to
Paul's two famous utterances in the Epistle.
Says Prof. Ramsay:
"The
honours and influence which belonged to women in the cities of Asia Minor form
one of the most remarkable features in the history of the country. In all
periods the evidence runs on the same lines.
On the border between fable and history we find the Amazons. The best
authenticated cases of Mutterrect (2) belong to Asia Minor.
Under the Roman Empire we find women magistrates, presidents at games,
and loaded with honours. The custom
of the country influenced
even the Jews, who at least in one case appointed a woman at Smyrna to the position of archisynagogus" (“ruler of the synagogue”).
Again he says:
"Among the Asian Jews, women took an unusually prominent place."
But later, when Priscilla was at Corinth, she was in a totally different
atmosphere, as regards the position of woman.
Here, all she did would be subject to severe criticism by the "Judaizers,"
and by the Jews, who must have hated her for having instructed Apollos so well
that he was converting many of their number to Christianity (Acts 18;26,28, and
19:1); and St. Paul could not have given a woman such prominence under any
circumstances without angering the Jews, for the latter (of a later date at
least, and probably by this time), forbade that women should even learn the
Scriptures, much less teach them.” For candid scholars admit that, according
to the best manuscript authority Acts 18:26 should read as in the R.V. (not as
in the A.V.) “that is Priscilla and Aquila expounded" unto Apollos
the Way of God; and
Dean Alford says.
"There are certain indications that he himself (Aquila) was rather
the ready and zealous patron than the teacher; and this latter work, or a great
share of it, seems to have belonged to his wife, Prisca or Priscilla.
She is ever named with him, even in Acts 18:26, where the instruction of
Apollos is described. When first met with, and comparative strangers to St. Paul
and Luke, the husband is mentioned first, according to usual custom (Acts18:2,)
but quickly the order changes:
after eighteen months acquaintance (Acts 18:11) Priscilla is mentioned
first (Acts 18:18,26; Rom. 16:3;
2 Tim.4:19 ) with a single exception (1 Cor. 16:19 ).”
We are not accustomed to look to German sources for broad-minded statements as
regards women, therefore we the more readily turn in that direction for a
statement as to Priscilla's position in the Apostolic Church.
Prof. Harnack of Berlin says
"In any case she must have been associated with and more distinguished than
her husband. That is verified from
Acts 18:26 and Rom 16:3, convincingly. For
according to the former passage not only Aquila, but she also instructed Apollos.
One is allowed to infer from it that she was the chief instructor;
otherwise she would scarcely have been mentioned. And in the Roman Epistle Paul
calls her and Aquila, not the latter only, his “fellow-laborers in
Christ Jesus”. This expression, not so very frequently employed by Paul,
signifies much. By its use Priscilla and Aquila are legitimised official
Evangelists and Teachers.
Paul adds, moreover the following:
“Who for my life laid down their own necks; unto
whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”
To what heroic service the first half of this clause refers we unfortunately
know not. From the second part it
follows that the Christian activity of the couple was genuinely ecumenical work.
Why “all the churches of the Gentiles”
were obliged to thank Priscilla and Aquila Paul does not say."
Then Dr. Harnack adds in a footnote, quoting the views of
Origen and Chrysostom as in accord with his own, "That the thanks of the
Gentile churches relate only to the fact that Priscilla and Aquila saved the
life of the Apostle is to me not probable."
footnote:
(2). Matriachy, see
pars.53 ff. “
Epaenetus: Paul’s first convert in Achaia 16:5
Mary:
“Who bestoweth much labor on us” 16:6
Note: Many of these faithful helpers of Paul are women. It was the women who also aided Christ in his hour of need when the men forsook him. He was aided by women:
a. On the way to the cross. Lk. 23:27
b. At the cross. Jn. 19:25
c. At the burial Mt. 27:61; Lk. 23:55.
d.
At the empty tomb. Jn 20:11; Mk. 16:1
Andronicus and Junia a couple possibly related to Paul. 16:7
Amplias: “My beloved in the Lord” 16:8
Urbane: “Our helper in Christ” 16:9
Apelles: “Approved in Christ” 16:10. This man had apparently gone successfully through a test.
Stachys: “My beloved” 16:9
Horodion: grandson of Herod the Great? 16:11
Aristobulus’ household 16:10
Narcissus’ household 16:11
Tryphena and Tryphosa: “Who labor in the Lord” 16:12
Persis: “Which labored much in the Lord” 16:12
Rufus and his mother: “chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine” 16:13.
Note: Simon Cyrenian who carried the cross for Jesus was the father of Rufus Mark 15:21
Asyncritus: 16:14
Phlegon: 16:14
Hermes: 16:14
Philologus: 16:15
Julia: 16:15
Nereus and his sister: 16:15
Olympus:
16:15
THE
GREATEST LETTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!
Paul ends the greatest letter in the history of the world with a concern that possible future problems could arise in the early churches. See Romans 16:17,18.
Can a
person be Biblically removed from a church fellowship, or a church in the home?
Yes indeed,
as we will see.
There are THREE
reasons for dismissal from a local church:
1.
For troublemaking (Rom. 16:17; 11 Thess.3:6; Prov.6:19)
When Paul finally reached Rome, there
were the troublemakers stirring up strife!
(Phil.1:14-18; 3:18).
2.
For being immoral (1 Cor. 5).
3. For
heresy against God’s revealed Word (Titus 3:10).
Today, if Godly persons carried out this dismissal, hardly a church would not
lose numbers!
HOW
WOULD THIS DISMISSAL BE CARRIED OUT?
The proper procedure is described in 1 Corinthians 5:4,5; and Matthew 18:15-17.
Note also 11 Thessalonians 3:14,15.
PAUL
SPELLS OUT THE DOOM OF SATAN.
In Romans 16:20 Paul shows that the doom of Satan is sure.
Compare with
Rev.20:1-3 and finally the end forever of Satan, after the Millennium Reign.
Rev. 20:10.
PAUL
sends greetings from SEVEN of his companions who were with him at the time of
writing.
See their names in Romans 16:21,22, 23.
TERTIUS wrote
the letter for Paul and sends his own greetings, in 16:22.
THEN COMES THE GLORIOUS DOXOLGY,
with which we too will finish our study:
“The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Now to him
that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret
since the world began,
But now is
made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the
commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith:
To God only
wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
[Written to the Romans from Corinthus, and sent by Phoebe servant of the church at Cenchrea].”
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
These
works were used in the preparation of these study notes, for outline, doctrinal
confirmation and establishing sound teaching, true to God’s revealed Word.
Willmington’s Guide to the Bible. Pub. Tyndale House.
The New Bible Commentary. Pub. InterVarsity Fellowship.
The Scofield Reference Bible. [original not the New Version]
Zodhiates’ Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible.
God’s Word to Women. By Kathrine C. Bushnell.
Bancroft. Christian Theology. Pub. Zondervan.
An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. W.E.Vine, M.A. Pub. Oliphants Ltd.
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