Spurgeon's notes on ROMANS
Romans 1:1-23
The Epistle to the Romans is one of the greatest of Paul's writings, and is rather a treatise than a letter. It was probably written by him from Corinth, three years before he himself arrived at Rome. Dean Alford says, "There is not a grander thing in literature than this opening of the Epistle to the Romans."
Romans 1:1-4
As to his flesh, he was of the seed of David, but his higher nature was by his resurrection manifested most powerfully to be divine. Had he not risen he could not have been God; his resurrection by his own power has made his Godhead plain.
Romans 1:9-12
Little did he dream that his prayers were to be answered by his being conveyed in chains to the great city. Very mysterious are the Lord's ways of granting our requests.
Romans 1:13
let or hindered
Romans 1:14
His office and his gifts placed him in debt to mankind to labor for their conversion, and every Christian, according to his ability, is in the same condition. Are we paying the debts under which the Lord has laid us?
Romans 1:15
He was not afraid of danger, and was willing to come right under the palace walls of Caesar. In due time his desire became a fact.
Romans 1:21-23
They must have known better. No man in his senses can worship birds and beasts without feeling degraded by so doing. Natural reason rebels against such an insult to God, and as they would not listen to its voice the heathen were left to fall into abominable vices. Let us never slight the checks of conscience, lest we should be given over to our own corrupt hearts. No doom could be more terrible.
Romans 3:9-26
Having by our last reading been taught our own connection with Adam's fall, we will now attentively consider a passage of Scripture which shows the consequent corruption of human nature in all times and places. Let us read
In this portion Paul quotes the words of several Old Testament authors, puts them all together, and presents them to us as a terrible, but truthful, description of fallen man. Of the boastful Jews the apostle asks the question—
Romans 3:9
As an old divine puts it, "whole evil is in man, and whole man in evil."
Romans 3:10
What the prophet said of one is here applied to the whole race, for the nature of man is in all cases the same. Note how strong are the three negatives here, how they quench all hope of finding a natural righteousness in man.
Romans 3:11-18
See how in character and nature, without and within, in every faculty, in mouth, feet, heart, and eyes, the disease of sin has affected us. We may not actually have committed all the evils here mentioned, but they are all in our nature. Circumstances and education prevent our being so bad in practice as we are in heart, but as the poison is in the viper even when it stings not, so is sin always within us.
What crimson sins are these which defile us! How divinely powerful must that medicine be which can purge us from such deadly diseases. After this indictment of human nature there follows a declaration that by the works of the law none can be saved, since all are already guilty, and the book of the law itself contains the evidence of their guilt and condemnation.
Romans 3:20
We use the law rightly when it convinces us of sin and drives us to the Savior, but we altogether abuse and pervert it if we look to be saved by obedience to it.
Romans 3:21-22
There is no difference in the fact of guilt, in the impossibility of salvation by merit, and in the plain and open way of justification by faith.
Romans 3:23-26
What a precious gospel verse. May every member of this family understand it, and be a partaker in the substitution of the Lord Jesus. We are all fallen; may every one of us be justified freely by God's grace through faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus. Let us earnestly pray to be cleansed by the atoning death of him who bore for his people all the curse of the law.
Romans 4:1-25
Paul was moved by the Spirit to explain to us the bearings of the solemn transaction which we considered in our last reading. Let us hear his exposition.
Romans 4:23-25
The argument is very clear and conclusive. Abraham was justified by faith, therefore by grace; and this justification was not given to him as a circumcised man, for he was not circumcised until years after; therefore the covenant blessings are not given in connection with the law and its work, but in connection with faith and grace. The covenant promise was made to a seed to be born not after the flesh but according to promise, and in that promise all nations had an interest, for out of them would come a blessed people whose badge should be faith, and not the deeds of the law. Jesus is the promised seed, and those believing in him are Abraham's seed. Are we all in this family believers in Jesus? Who is there among us unsaved? Pass the solemn question round.
Romans 5:1-11
We shall read at this time a short but very precious portion, in which Paul writes of the high privileges and perfect security of believers.
Romans 5:1
Faith lays hold upon the righteousness of Jesus, and so makes us just before the Lord, and this brings a heavenly peace into the soul. No self-confidence can ever do this. Our own good works are faulty, and can neither make peace for us nor work peace in us. What a joy it is to be just before God, because "accepted in the Beloved!" No wonder that the man who is so favored enjoys peace of soul.
Romans 5:2
Being at perfect peace with God we are enabled to approach him, and in his presence we obtain a fullness of joy. Do we know anything about this? Let us answer this question each one of us for himself.
Romans 5:3
Whatever privileges we enjoy, there are more to follow, and we may add, "and not only so." We come at length to find joy even in our sorrows, since they work our spiritual good.
Romans 5:4, 5
See how one fair stone is piled upon another, course upon course of priceless jewels; a heavenly character is built up like the very temple of God, and then the love of God comes into it like the divine glory into the holy place, and lights it all up with a celestial splendor. Happy believer to be thus endowed with all the wealth of Heaven!
Romans 5:6
This is a rich gospel verse in which every word drops fatness. We were powerless, but Jesus came to us, came at the right time, came to die for us, to die for us as godless beings, who had no merit and no fitness for his astounding love. Surely, we must praise him for this, or the very stones will cry out.
Romans 5:7, 8
good or benevolent
Romans 5:7, 8
We were neither righteous nor merciful, we had no claim upon divine love, yet the Lord did all that even infinite love could do, he died for us while we were yet rebels and enemies. Was ever love like this?
Romans 5:9
When we were enemies he died for us: will he now forsake us, and pour his wrath upon us? Impossible.
Romans 5:10
When we were sinners he justified us, will he now leave us? He reconciled us when we were enemies, will he not save us now that we are his friends? If his death has done so much, what will not his life do? The threefold argument is overwhelming; he cannot, he will not now suffer us to perish. His wrath is turned away, and his love is settled upon us for eternity, if we have believed in Jesus. Have we so believed? There is the great point.
Romans 5:11
God himself is now our joy. We dreaded him once, but we do so no more. We are at one with him through Jesus, and the love of God is now the overflowing fountain of joy to us. Again let us each one ask, Is it so with me? Parents, children, servants, is it so with you?
Romans 5:12-21
The New Testament is the key to the Old. There we find an explanation of the position of Adam in reference to the race of man. He represented us all, and we all share the sad effects of his transgression. He was the door through which both sin and death entered into our world. So the apostle Paul teaches us in
Romans 5:12
All men sinned in Adam who stood as representative for them all, and therefore all men die.
Romans 5:14
It is clear that there was sin in the world before the law because men died; that sin came in through the fall,
Genesis 5:14
even infants die through Adam's sin, though without personal guilt,
Genesis 5:14
For Jesus is the second head of the race, the second representative man. As we fell by our union with Adam, so if we are in Christ we shall rise by virtue of our union with the Lord Jesus, who is here intended by the term, "him that was to come." But he is the Head and Leader of a believing people: the great question is, are we believers in him?
Romans 5:15
Note that salvation is not the reward of merit, but a free gift; and mark how God's grace outruns human sin. The apostle speaks of "much more," as if he meant, more likely, more easily, more abundantly. It was Gods strange work when he condemned the race for Adam's sin; but it is his delight to accept men for the sake of his dear Son.
Romans 5:16
One sin destroyed us, but grace blots out many sins.
Romans 5:17
Ruined by one man's sin, restored by one man's righteousness. The rise will be greater than the fall.
Romans 5:18
All in Adam fell by Adam, all in Christ are restored by Christ.
Romans 5:19
This is the fundamental doctrine of the gospel; Jesus makes us righteous in his righteousness. We are accepted in the Beloved.
Romans 5:20
The law of Moses makes us conscious of sin, it probes our wounds, it brings out into action the evil which lurks in our hearts, and so by the blessing of the Holy Spirit it drives us from self-dependence, and compels us to look to the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
The floods of grace prevail above the mountains of our sins. Almighty love paints a rainbow on the blackest clouds of human transgression.
Romans 5:21
Happy are those in whom reigning grace has implanted spiritual life, for the same grace will sustain, increase, and perfect that life until it melts into glory. Are all the members of this family saved in Christ Jesus? Endeavor every one of you to answer the question. Let us not be divided, but let us together seek the Lord, and may we all meet in Heaven.
Romans 6:1
Because salvation is all of grace shall we plunge into yet more sin? Some of the children of darkness have been vile enough to reason thus: shall the believer adopt the same base argument?
Romans 6:2
We are new men and cannot delight in sin. Our nature has undergone a change which has made the argument just mentioned most abhorrent to us. We are dead to sin, and have made an open declaration thereof in our baptism: we should be base indeed if we lived to sin as we once did.
Romans 6:11
We are one with Jesus, being both dead with him, and risen in him; ours therefore it is to live the new life, and view ourselves as dead to all the sinful joys of our former lives. Oh for grace to carry this out to the full.
Romans 6:12, 13
We cannot obey our old tyrant, sin: as citizens of a new kingdom, we must serve our glorious Monarch.
Romans 6:14
Being under the law, it cursed you for your iniquity, and in return you transgressed the more; but now eternal love has set you free, and you cannot become again the slaves of sin.
Romans 6:16
If indeed we did run into evil because we believed in free grace, it would show that we were still the servants of sin, and not under grace at all.
Romans 6:21
How true is this! We served a bad master for bad wages: shall we not with far greater zeal devote ourselves to the delightful service of our Redeemer?
Romans 6:22, 23
Now we do not work for wages: every good thing comes to us as a free gift; therefore let gratitude move us to obedience, and constrain us to be in all things holy before the Lord. Self-interest makes the legalist work; gratitude for eternal love shall be a far stronger force in our hearts, and by the Holy Spirit's help we will abound in good works because grace abounds.
Romans 7:1
There is no deliverance from its power but by death; but, blessed be God, we were crucified with Christ, and as new creatures we are under the rule of grace and. are not under the dominion of law.
Romans 7:2-4
Jesus is our husband, grace is the ruling principle of his house, and holiness is the fruit of the marriage. Glory be to God for this!
Romans 7:5, 6
Law provoked our old nature to rebel, grace impels the new nature to obey.
Romans 7:7-10
The evil in us resented the divine command, and so the holy law aroused the enmity of our nature, and we rushed on to death. This was not the fault of the law, but of our depraved hearts; yet so it was.
Romans 7:15
Such is our complex condition. We are new creatures, but the old man struggles within us to get the mastery.
Romans 7:16, 17
The new I sins not, but the old nature is sin, and remains what it always was.
Romans 7:21
law or rule
Romans 7:22, 23
This is the believers riddle, which only regenerate men can understand. Do we know what it means?
Romans 7:25
So that on the one hand he agonizes, and on the other hand he triumphs. Loathing sin and glorying in Christ are our daily experience. Groaning after holiness, and finding it in Jesus, we both sigh and sing, repent and rejoice, fight and conquer. This is not a past, but a present experience, and he is a true heir of Heaven who feels it within.
Romans 8:1-18
He who comprehends the struggle of the seventh chapter is the man to enjoy the blessed elevation of the eighth. It is well to experience in due order the truths which God reveals, indeed they cannot be rightly known except in their relation the one to the other.
Romans 8:1
They are not condemned and cannot be, They struggle, they mourn, they weep, but condemned they are not. These happy men are known by their character, the old nature does not rule them, the Holy Spirit guides their lives, both in their secret walk with God and in their public conversation among men.
Romans 8:3
in that it was weak through the flesh, God has done by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
Romans 8:4
The principle of law produced no holiness in us, but Jesus has condemned sin and created a new life in our hearts, and thus he has brought forth in our lives the conformity to God which legal terrors never produced.
Romans 8:7, 8
Since their mind is enmity to him, their acts cannot please him; renewed men are at peace with God, and their persons are acceptable to him, and hence their lives please him.
Romans 8:9, 10
Though our inner nature is transformed, the body still suffers and tempts us to sin; but even the body is the Lord's and is yet to be changed.
Romans 8:15
A noble cry, with far more true eloquence in it than all the orations of Cicero and Demosthenes. Can we look up to God and cry "Abba, Father"? Then are we miracles of divine grace.
Romans 8:16
Our new nature claims kinship with God, the Holy Spirit confirms the claim, and hence comes our full assurance.
Romans 8:17
This is a chain made of diamond links. It leads us from the cradle of regeneration to the perfection of glory, by sure steps, each one firm as the throne of God. Are we children? Then we shall be glorified with Christ.
Romans 8:18
Here the rule of proportion is calmly applied, and by heavenly arithmetic it is shown that our present griefs are hardly worth a thought, for eternal glory so infinitely transcends them. Blessed be the Lord God of our salvation forever and ever. Amen.
Romans 8:26-39
We will now read the concluding verses of that glorious eighth of Romans.
Romans 8:26
Our ignorance shows itself in prayer, and is our great infirmity, we cannot tell what blessing we most require. What a mercy it is that the Holy Spirit knows all things, and moves us to ask for what is best. Before we pray we should wait upon the Spirit for his guidance, and then we shall go in unto the King with an acceptable petition.
Romans 8:27
So that he inclines our hearts to request the very blessings which the Father has determined to give, and hence our prayers are but the transcripts of the divine decrees.
Romans 8:30
Like links in a golden chain, each one of the blessings of grace draws on another. The central links are within our view, and if we know them to be ours, we may be sure that the others which belong to the past and the future are securely fastened to them. He who is called is most assuredly predestined, and shall, beyond all question, be in due time glorified.
Romans 8:31, 32
This is the master argument in prayer. If we understand its force we shall not be afraid of asking too much.
Romans 8:35, 36
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? All these have been tried.
Romans 8:35, 36
But did they divide the suffering ones from Jesus?
Romans 8:37
So far from being divided from the love of Jesus, the saints were in persecuting times driven closer to their Lord, so that they enjoyed yet sweeter communion with him. No earthly trial can make Jesus forget the souls for whom he died; he changes not in the purpose of his mind or the affection of his heart.
Romans 8:38, 39
The apostle began with No condemnation and he ends with No separation, filling up the space between with priceless covenant blessings. No chapter in the Bible is more crowded with sublime and consoling teaching. Lord, grant us to know and enjoy all the inestimable privileges which it reveals.
Romans 9:1-13
We omit some of the minor details of the history as contained in Genesis, and pass on to the birth of Isaac's twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Let us see how the New Testament explains the Old. We shall read
In this chapter the apostle illustrates the doctrine of election by the history of the households of Abraham and Isaac, in which the will of the Lord made differences irrespective of merit. Here he brings us into a great deep; but if we only wish to know what God reveals and no more, we may safely follow where Scripture leads. Election is not a fit subject for idle curiosity, neither is it to be passed over in neglect, for whatever is taught us in the Word is profitable for some gracious purpose.
Romans 9:1-3
Paul did not write as he did because he hated the nation to which he belonged. Far from it. He would have sacrificed everything for their good; and he felt almost ready to be cast away himself, if by such a fate he could have rescued the Jewish people. Passionate love speaks a language which must not be weighed in the balances of cold reasoning. View the words as the outburst of a loving heart, and they are clear enough. O that all Christians had a like love for perishing sinners.
Romans 9:4, 5
Paul pauses to adore the Lord whom he loved. Let us bow our heads and worship also.
Romans 9:6, 7
Here was a difference made according to the divine will. God has a right to dispense his favors as he pleases, and it is not for us either to censure his actions or ask an account of them.
Romans 9:8-13
God passed by Esau, and gave Jacob the covenant blessing. This is a fact to be believed, and not to be made a matter for human judgment. Who are we that we should summon Jehovah to our bar? God is righteous in all his ways. We find that Esau despised his birthright, and sold it for a mess of pottage, and so by his actions abundantly justified, as well as fulfilled, the purpose of God.
How it ought to humble us when we remember that we have no claims upon God. If he should leave us to go on in sin and perish, we have no right to complain, for we deserve it. How earnestly and humbly should we implore him to look upon us in mercy, and save us with his great salvation. "Whoever comes unto me I will in no wise cast out," is the voice of Jesus, and whether we see it or not, it is quite consistent with the predestination taught in this chapter. The Lord has a chosen people, and yet his gospel is to be preached to every creature. Believe, but do not cavil. When we believe on the Lord Jesus, we are in the way to make our calling and election sure. Only by faith can we be assured that the Lord has called and chosen us.
Romans 10:1-21
We have selected for our present reading a chapter which illustrates the difference between the law and the gospel.
Romans 10:1
The true spirit of Christianity is that of love and sympathy, it leads to prayer even for persecutors, and to hope for the most obdurate of men. Paul pleaded for the Jews.
Romans 10:2
Do not deny the good points in others, even if they are not all we could wish them to be.
Romans 10:3-4
He fulfills the law's purpose for us, and when we have him we have all the law requires.
Romans 10:6-9
Precious gospel. Not doing, but believing, saves us. We have not to do or feel great things but simply to trust.
Romans 10:13
Think over this verse, for it ought to comfort even the most depressed seeker. Real prayer will be heard sooner or later.
Romans 10:17
Be constant in attendance upon the gospel ministry, and be devoutly attentive while hearing, for it is the way by which faith comes.
Romans 10:18
Alas, all hearers do not become believers. The many hear with deaf ears, and obey not the truth.
Romans 10:19, 20
Sovereign grace sometimes saves the most unlikely, while those who sit under the gospel harden their hearts and perish. Beware of resting in outward privileges: you must possess real faith in Jesus.
Romans 10:21
So that they were sincerely warned, and lovingly invited, yet it was all in vain. Shall it be so with any of this household? God forbid.
Romans 11:1
Personal evidence is best. Paul, as an undoubted Israelite, found in his own conversion the proof that the Lord had not utterly rejected the seed of Abraham.
Romans 11:2
Know or know
Romans 11:4
Things are often much better with the church of God than wise and good men think they are. They are ready to give up all for lost, when it is not so. God has a remnant still.
Romans 11:5, 6
This is the gospel in a nutshell. He who remembers these distinctions is on the right road to sound theology.
Romans 11:7, 8
"It is a dreadful are that some acquire of having eyes and not seeing, of having ears and not hearing, of sleeping on when Heaven, earth, and Hell are making their souls a battle-field."
Romans 11:25
Though blindness has happened to Israel in part, yet not to all Israel. The Lord knows them that are his, and he will save them by his grace. Better times are, however, coming even for Israel after the flesh, for in the latter days they shall be converted to the Savior.
Romans 11:28, 29
He never repents of his choice, or changes his purposes of love.
Romans 11:30-32
He shuts them up as condemned by the law, that he may deal with them in a way of grace.
Romans 11:36
All things are of him, as the efficient cause; through him, as the disposing cause; to him, as the final cause. They are of him, without any other motive; through him, without any assistance; and to him, without any other end.
Romans 12:1
As the pious Jew presented a bullock or a lamb upon the altar, so consecrate you your whole selves unto the Lord, to live and to die for him. This is his due, and ought to be rendered to him.
Romans 12:2
Mark well that the only way to escape being conformed to the world is to be transformed. The customs of society will lead us away unless the grace of God rules in us with divine power. We are set to prove to the world what the mind of God is: may we have grace to accomplish our mission.
Romans 12:10-13
Paul writes at full length upon the doctrines, but he is very concise and pithy upon the precepts, for things of daily practice need to be short and easy of remembrance. Let us learn each one of these weighty sentences by heart and put them all in practice.
Romans 12:18
Some people will quarrel, and it is barely possible to keep upon good terms with them. In their case we must do our best, and if after all, we cannot live peaceably with them, it will be fortunate for us if we can move off and live without them.
Romans 12:19-21
It is recorded of a Chinese emperor that, on being informed that his enemies had raised an insurrection in one of his distant provinces, he said to his officers, "Come, follow me; and we will quickly destroy them." He marched forward, and the rebels submitted upon his approach. All now thought that he would take the most signal revenge, but were surprised to see the captives treated with mildness and humanity. "How!" cried the first minister, "is this the manner in which you fulfill your promise? Your royal word was given that your enemies should be destroyed; and behold! you. have pardoned them all, and even caressed some of them." "I promised," replied the emperor, with a generous air, "to destroy my enemies. I have fulfilled my word; for see, they are enemies no longer: I have made friends of them" This is a fit example for the Christian.
Romans 14:1
Receive the weak but sincere believer into fellowship, but do not at once commence discussing knotty points with him, or quarrel with him upon matters of no importance.
Romans 14:4
Matters of meat and drink are to be left to Christian liberty, and no one has any right to dictate to another how he shall act. It is, however, a good rule—"in all cases of doubt be sure to take the surer side."
Romans 14:5
Some kept the Jewish festivals and some did not.
Romans 14:7
No true Christian lives to himself, and therefore as he lives to God we have no right to judge his course of action.
Romans 14:8, 9
The very design of our Lord's work is to make us live unto him and not as the servants of our fellow men; we are therefore very wrong when we attempt to make our brethren the servants of our opinions and ideas. Let us leave them to serve the Lord as their consciences teach them.
Romans 14:14
We must not violate our conscience. We may not do what we believe to be wrong because we see others do it. We must neither judge them nor excuse ourselves.
Romans 14:15
You have liberty to do as you please, but do not use that liberty if it would be mischievous to your brother in Christ. If your action, though right in itself, would have a tendency to destroy his soul, deny yourself for love's sake.
Romans 14:22
Do you feel quite sure upon such matters?
Romans 14:22
Keep it within your own bosom, but do not worry others with it.
Romans 14:23
And he who doubts is damned or rather condemned
Romans 14:23
If you are not sure that a thing is right, let it alone, for it will be sin to you.
Romans 15:1
If any course of action which would be safe to us would be dangerous to weaker brethren, we must consider their infirmity and deny ourselves for their sakes.
Romans 15:2-4
Jerome says, "Love the scriptures, and wisdom will love you." Chrysostom says, "Is it not absurd, that in money matters men will not trust to others, but the counters are produced and the sum cast up; yet, in their soul's affairs, men are led and drawn away by the opinions of others, and this when they have an exact scale and an exact rule, namely, the declaration of the divine laws? Therefore, I entreat and beseech you all, that, not minding what this or that man may say about these things, you would consult the Holy Scriptures concerning them."
Romans 15:6
Among Christians there must be unity, and especially in Christian families, so that all our powers may be undividedly employed in praising God. If we are jealous one of another, or use angry language, and quarrelsome words, we cannot glorify God as we ought.
Romans 15:7
If the Lord Jesus has indeed received us, and bears with our weaknesses and follies, well may we have patience with one another, and show pity to each other's infirmities.
Romans 15:8
Jesus, our Lord, became the servant of the Jews, and preached among them in fulfillment of prophecy; shall we not become the servants of others for their good? Nor did his ministry end with Israel; but we, who are Gentiles, share the blessing; therefore, like our Lord, we should seek the good of all mankind and live to bless them.
Romans 15:15, 16
As Paul was peculiarly the apostle of the Gentiles, he was the more anxious that in the Gentiles the gospel should produce the acceptable fruit of mutual love. Every man should give most attention to that part of the work with which the Lord has entrusted him, with the one pure motive that God may be glorified thereby. Paul was insatiable for the glory of God and the prosperity of the church; let us be filled with the same zeal.
Romans 15:18-33
What plans of usefulness were in Paul's mind at this time, and what he did after the uproar at Ephesus, we gather from—Romans 15:18-33.
Romans 15:20, 21
His was an aggressive policy, he pushed into the enemy's territory, as all God's servants should endeavor to do, for multitudes are still ignorant of the name of Jesus.
Romans 15:22-24
Little did he know in what manner he would enter Rome. He thought to journey thither at his own cost as a free man, but the Lord had other plans for him: he would enter Rome, but only as a prisoner.
Romans 15:25, 26
It seems that his business at Jerusalem was, for a second time, to carry help to the needy brethren. Such generous tokens of love from the new converts would greatly tend to break down the prejudice against the Gentiles, which still lingered in the Jewish capital.
Romans 15:27
We are all debtors to believing Jews, and ought to be always doubly ready to relieve their necessities. To despise or think harshly of a Jew is very unfitting in those who adore "The King of the Jews."
Romans 15:28, 29
And in this he was not disappointed. His minor expectations failed, but the major were fulfilled; so shall it be in our own cases as we journey through life. Our. essential interests will be safe, though in many a matter of less moment we shall experience failure.
Romans 15:30-32
Even an apostle craved the supplications of saints, and that, too, about temporal matters. Never can we attach too much importance to prayer. Everything should be gone about in the spirit of prayer, if we desire it to prosper. Yet how strangely is prayer answered; for Paul went to Rome, but it was as an ambassador in bonds. His wish was granted, but not in such a manner as he would have preferred.
Romans 15:33
Sweet blessing. Lord, fulfill it to us at this hour.
Romans 16:1, 2
This godly woman laid herself out for usefulness, and even the apostle was indebted to her. Should not the sisters of the household imitate her?
Romans 16:3-5
Both the heads of the family were saved, hence the household grew into a church.
Romans 16:6
This is the third woman whom Paul commends in this chapter as working for the Lord: gender is no hindrance to service.
Romans 16:7
These relatives of Paul were converted before he became a Christian. Did their prayers lead up to his call by grace?
Romans 16:8-10
But not Aristobulus. It is sad to find the head of a gracious household himself unsaved.
Romans 16:11-13
Two sisters, and both believers. It is well when it is so.
Romans 16:11-13
The mother of Rufus had no doubt been so kind to Paul that he calls hey his mother. Love begets love.
Romans 16:21, 22
Tertius, the amanuensis, could not help putting in this line for himself. Christianity is the mother of courtesy. Kind words cost little, but are of great value.
Romans 16:23, 24
Paul cannot finish. He writes postscript after postscript. Letter writing was a serious business in his day, and as he might never be able to write again, he wishes to say all he can. The last postscript is a delightful doxology in which we can heartily unite.