16 1I want you to know that you can trust our sister in Christ, Phoebe. She is a special servanta of the churchb in Cenchrea. 2I ask you to accept her in the Lord. Accept her the way God's people should. Help her with anything she needs from you. She has helped me very much, and she has helped many others too.3Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, who have worked together with me for Christ Jesus. 4They risked their own lives to save mine. I am thankful to them, and all the non-Jewish churches are thankful to them. 5Also, give greetings to the church that meets in their house. Give greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus. He was the first person to follow Christ in Asiac. 6Greetings also to Mary. She worked very hard for you. 7And greet Andronicus and Junia. They are my relatives, and they were in prison with me. They were followers of Christ before I was. And they are some of the most important of the ones Christ sent out to do his workd. 8Give my greetings to Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord, 9and to Urbanus. He has worked together with me for Christ. Give greetings also to my dear friend Stachys 10and to Apelles, who has proved himself to be a true follower of Christ. Give greetings to everyone in the family of Aristobulus 11and to Herodion, my relative. Greetings to all those in the family of Narcissus who belong to the Lord 12and to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, women who work very hard for the Lord. Greetings to my dear friend Persis. She has also worked very hard for the Lord. 13Greetings also to Rufus, one of the Lord's chosen people, and to his mother, who has been a mother to me too. 14Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and all the brothers in Christ who are with them. 15Give greetings to Philologus and Julia, to Nereus and his sister, to Olympas, and to all of God's people with them. 16Give each other the special greeting of God's peoplee. All the churches that belong to Christ send their greetings to you. 17Brothers and sisters, I want you to be very careful of those who cause arguments and hurt people's faith by teaching things that are against what you learned. Stay away from them. 18People like that are not serving our Lord Christ. They are only pleasing themselves. They use fancy talk and say nice things to fool those who don't know about evil. 19Everyone has heard that you do what you were taught, and I am very happy about that. But I want you to be wise about what is good and to know nothing about what is evil. 20The God who brings peace will soon defeat Satanf and give you power over him. The graceg of our Lord Jesus be with you. 21Timothy, a worker together with me, sends you his greetings. Also Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater (these are my relatives) send their greetings. 22I am Tertius, the one writing this letter for Paul. I send you my own greetings as one who belongs to the Lord. 23Gaius is letting me and the whole church here use his home. He sends his greetings to you. Erastus and our brother Quartus also send their greetings. Erastus is the city treasurer here. 24h 25Praise God! He is the one who can make you strong in faith. He can use the Good Newsi that I teach to make you strong. It is the message about Jesus Christ that I tell people. That message is the secret truth that was hidden for ages and ages but has been made known. 26It has now been shown to us. It was made known by what the prophetsj wrote, as God commanded. And it has now been made known to all people so that they can believe and obey God, who lives forever. 27Gloryk forever to the only wise God through Jesus Christ. Amenl. aspecial servant The Greek word is diakonos, which is usually translated “servant.” However, in three places (Rom. 16:1; Php. 1:2; 1 Tim. 3:8-13) the service of those so described is associated with a local church, indicating that they were chosen to serve in some special way. Compare Acts 6:1-6. bchurch Literally, “assembly” or “community,” the people who have been brought together as God’s family through their common faith in Jesus Christ. The word often refers to a group of believers who meet together or who live in the same area, but it is also used to mean the worldwide community of all believers in Christ. cAsia The geographical area, sometimes called Asia Minor, that is now the western part of modern Turkey. d16:7 most important … work Literally, “important among (or to) the apostles.” e16:16 the special greeting of God’s people Literally, “a holy kiss.” fSatan A name for the devil meaning “the enemy,” or “the accuser.” ggrace The love and kindness that God shows in his complete willingness to give people favors he does not owe them and blessings they don’t deserve. h16:24 Some Greek copies add verse 24: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” iGood News In the Gospels this is usually the news about the coming of God’s kingdom (see above) or its representative Jesus the Messiah. In other places it is, more specifically, the news or message of God’s grace - that he has made a way through Jesus Christ for people to be made right with him and enjoy his blessings now and forever. jprophet A person who speaks a message from God. Many of the books in the Old Testament are messages spoken or written by “the prophets,” who were some of those God chose to speak for him. God often used dreams or visions to tell or show his prophets what they should say. kglory A word that refers to the special qualities of God. Often it means brightness, referring to the way he appears to people. Sometimes it means majesty or power, referring to a kind of greatness that cannot be compared to anything in human experience. It can also include the ideas of wealth, honor, fame, or respect, especially in expressions of praise. lAmen A Hebrew word meaning “That’s right,” “True,” or “Yes.” It is used to express strong agreement with what has been said. |