Daily Bible Reading Reflections

The Faces of Romans 16

Bible passages like Romans 16:1-15 can be difficult to read, especially out loud. Just take a look at the names referenced by the apostle Paul:

Phoebe. Prisca. Aquila. Epaenetus. Andronicus. Junia. Ampliatus. Urbanus. Stachys. Apelles. Aristobulus. Herodion. Narcissus. Tryphaena. Tryphosa. Persis. Rufus. Asyncritus. Phlegon. Hermes. Patrobas. Hermas. Philologus. Julia. Nereus. Olympas.

Get asked to read this section of Scripture in a Bible class and the challenge is likely to give most of us a hot flash.

Maybe in our personal Bible reading as we come to sections of Scripture like this, we see the long list of hard-to-pronounce names and gloss right over the conclusion of Romans, skipping straight to the introduction of 1 Corinthians. After all, why spend time wading through the names of people who lived such a long time ago and with whom we seem to have so little in common?

But what if we slowed down long enough to really look at, notice, and think about the descriptions immediately before and after those hard-to-pronounce names? Listen to the way Paul described these men and women…

Our sister … a servant of the church … a patron of many … fellow workers in Christ Jesus … beloved … who has worked hard for you … in Christ before me … approved in Christ … workers in the Lord … who has worked hard in the Lord … chosen in the Lord … who has been a mother to me as well …

Descriptions like that ought to remind us that these were real people–brothers and sisters in Christ–with faces, stories, struggles, homes, hopes, and fears. Their faith had not only transformed their lives, it was having a ripple effect for good throughout the world. Why do we even know the names of Tryphaena and Tryphosa today? Because they were “workers in the Lord.” We don’t know the name of Rufus’ mother, but we do know, two thousand years after the fact, that she had been a mother to Paul as well.

I recently sat with a great group of 20-somethings in my office. We opened our Bibles to Romans 16 and just went in a circle, reading verse by verse through this difficult list of names. Then we took a “field trip” down the hall to the big picture board in the foyer of the church building, full of the faces that make up our church family. I went around the circle again and asked them to put modern faces to those ancient descriptions…

Our sister … a servant of the church … a patron of many … fellow workers in Christ Jesus … beloved … who has worked hard for you … in Christ before me … approved in Christ … workers in the Lord … who has worked hard in the Lord … chosen in the Lord … who has been a mother to me as well …

And suddenly, it was a little easier to look at that ancient text with fresh light. The faces have changed. The names are obviously different. Empires have risen and fallen as centuries have passed. But God’s kingdom is alive and well as the fruit of the Spirit continues to be borne in the lives of men and women whose allegiance has been wholeheartedly pledged to King Jesus.

As you come to passages like Romans 16, don’t be so intimated by the names that you fail to notice how the people behind the names are described. These were servants of the Lord, kingdom citizens, and blessings to the people around them.

In fact, maybe today is a good day to make that personal. Take a little while to thumb or scroll through your congregation’s picture directory. Notice the servants. As you look at the faces, marvel at the fact that you’ve been blessed with so many brothers and sisters! Thank God for the good examples of those who were in Christ before you. Remember those who’ve gone on to their reward after working hard for the Lord. Then use that little exercise as fuel to verbalize your appreciation for someone who has made a real difference in your life.

From the faces of Romans 16 to the faces of our brethren in the 21st century, what a blessing to be a part of the ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation!