Last instruction and praise

(Rom. 16:17-27)

Introduction: Last Sunday’s sermon title was ‘Fellowship in the gospel’ based on Rom. 16:1-16. In the first two verses in chapter 16, Paul recommended Sister Phoebe to the Roman churches. We know that she was the person who took this Epistle to Rome to the Roman churches. She was a faithful servant of God. As we saw from verses 3 through 16, there were many faithful helpers in the Roman churches for the gospel and for Paul. Some of them were willing to lay down their lives for the gospel and for Paul. We can do many things in our life. Dedicating our life for the gospel is a beautiful and meaningful way to live. Today’s passage is Rom. 16:17-27. It is the last part of the Romans. Paul finishes this letter with the last warning for false teachers and the praise for God.

1) Warning (17-20): We occasionally find warnings against false prophets and false teachers from the apostles’ letters. We also learn from the church history that there have been false prophets and teachers. They believed different doctrines about God, Jesus Christ, salvation, church, and other important topics. One of their characteristics was that they loved money and they asked people to send money to them. The second characteristic was that they lied every time they faced a difficult time. Paul also wants the Roman believers to be wise about what is good, but be innocent about what is evil. If you mess it up, your life will be ruined. It seems that Paul wanted to finish the letter here by saying, “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you,” the final greeting. But he continued his letter.

 
2) Greetings from brothers who were with Paul (21-23): The brothers mentioned in this paragraph were all with Paul in the City of Corinth. They were helping Paul for his evangelism. Tertius was the person who wrote this letter to Romans for Paul. While Paul was dictating the letter, Tertius was writing the letter. Gaius served Paul and his colleagues with food while they were in Corinth. Eratus was an official in the City of Corinth. They were all brothers in Corinth. While Paul was traveling for evangelism, they all helped Paul in a various way.

3) Praise (25-27): This paragraph shows Paul rhetoric ability very well. This whole paragraph can be divided in to two parts. The first part starts in verse 25, “Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, (27) to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” The second part explains the gospel, which is in verse 25, “. . according to  the revelation of the mystery . . ., (26) so that all nations might believe and obey Him.” Paul is praising God for giving him the mission to preach the gospel because the gospel is the power of God which gives salvation to everyone who believes. Thank you and God bless you.