Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 16

Paul completes his letter to the church at Rome with prayers, urgings, and greetings. These personal notes give us a glimpse at the very human side of Paul who was always about loving the individual men and women in his life. He was a pastor in the truest sense, teaching and proclaiming not for academia, but for the wellbeing of his listeners whom he loved and cared for very dearly.

As we move to the end of the final chapter of his letter to the Romans, we see that Paul continues on with some final important urgings: “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Romans 16:17-20). In these words Paul urges us to avoid false unities and unions with men who proclaim false doctrine. If we unite with men of false teachings we will find that even a little bit of their false yeast will infect and corrupt the whole batch. “Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). We need to cling to the gospel of Jesus Christ without the yeast of false teachings; even though these false teachers may start with the sincerity and truth of the real gospel their adding of false teachings and doctrines ruins the whole loaf. Therefore Paul warns us to be on guard against those who pervert the truth in such ways and to avoid their lies and deceptions. In conclusion let us pray the prayer of Paul as we remember that the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is our only true focus and purpose, because thru it God has rescued us from our utter sinfulness and depravity by the blood of His only Son. “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen” (Romans 16:25-27).

We find in this letter, then, the richest possible teaching about what a Christian should know: the meaning of law, gospel, sin, punishment, grace, faith, justice, Christ, God, good works, love, hope and the cross. We learn how we are to act toward everyone, toward the virtuous and sinful, toward the strong and the weak, friend and foe, and toward ourselves. Paul bases everything firmly on Scripture and proves his points with examples from his own experience and from the Prophets, so that nothing more could be desired. Therefore it seems that St. Paul, in writing this letter, wanted to compose a summary of the whole of Christian and evangelical teaching which would also be an introduction to the whole Old Testament. Without doubt, whoever takes this letter to heart possesses the light and power of the Old Testament. Therefore each and every Christian should make this letter the habitual and constant object of his study. God grant us his grace to do so. Amen. (Martin Luther)