 Okay, welcome back everybody to this lecture. I've just started the recording. We are now in Romans the 16th chapter. Any questions, any thoughts or any comments so far? Any, are we all together? We are understanding things. Okay, all right, so let's get into chapter 16. It's like we said, it's the conclusion. Paul just takes some time to greet and thank and mention several people and then he makes a few final exhortations and then he closes the chapter. Kiran, you want Romans 15 and Romans 15-20? Yeah, so you know Paul, Romans 15-20 is the worst Kiran wants to just explain. So Paul, you know in those days, especially in Paul's time, see the gospel just began to be proclaimed out of Jerusalem, right? The church began in Jerusalem and then from there the gospel was, people were going out proclaiming the gospel and Paul the apostle was one of the pioneers, was one of those people who, along with his team of course, in his first missionary journey, he went with Barnabas, second missionary journey, he was there with Silas and then he had a team. Luke joined him, there was Timothy and Titus and other people and eventually there were more and more people who were part of his team. But Paul really expanded the reach of the gospel. He went to places where the gospel had not been preached. So there were villages, towns, even cities that he, along with his team, would go in and preach the gospel. So that's what he's referring to in verse 20 that I have made it my aim to preach the gospel where Christ was not mentioned, where Christ was not preached before. And so he's not building on somebody else's foundation. Somebody else has come and already done work and he's adding to it. He's not doing that. He's going and laying the foundation. That's what he's referring to. Now in today's world, in one sense the gospel has been preached far and wide, meaning, you know, there are churches and people in many, I would say, a majority of the cities and towns and villages who already find that there's a church or somebody has come in. But nonetheless there are people who have not really heard the gospel. So in today's world the gospel has reached many of the world's cities and towns and villages. There would be certain parts of the world where the gospel has never been proclaimed even once. But for most parts it has reached and there may be even a church or ministry at work. But there are still people who haven't heard the gospel. But in Paul's case things were very different. Paul's time things were very different. The gospel had never even come to that village or not even come to that city. And I remember this was way back in 1992, I think, I went to Albania. So when Paul mentions Illyricum, Illyricum is towards the northern part of Albania. And so I remember going to Albania and those days Albania was somewhat like North Korea, meaning it was completely cut off from the rest of the world. And at that time Albania had just opened up for the first time to outsiders. For a long time that country was a closed country. They had an emperor, Hoja, was his name. And he had completely cut the country off from the rest of the world. And he had tried to completely eliminate religion. Now Mother Teresa was from Albania. That was where she was born. And I remember when I visited that gone to Albania, they still had that place. So this is where she was born and so on. But anyway, for quite a few decades Albania was cut off from the rest of the world. And then in early, early, early 90s, you know, the emperor was overthrown and Albania was opened up suddenly to outside world. People started coming in. So we went, many to preach the gospel. And I remember going out into certain villages out in those parts in Albania where they had no idea. They never seen a Bible. They didn't know what Christmas was. You know, and it was during Christmas time, 1992, I think. And you know, the whole world was celebrating Christmas with these people. I had no idea what Christmas was. And they had no, I never, you know, because because the country was so closed, they had, they didn't know who Jesus was. They nothing. And they had that, you know, at least in those, in the towns, yeah, the gospel had come in because people had come in to bring the gospel. But this was out in the village. And, you know, it was, yeah, it was very, very different. They had no context of Christianity. But but now I'm sure by now, you know, the gospel has penetrated throughout the country. So that's what Paul was talking about, you know, taking the gospel to where people had not heard. And anyway, let's get into chapter 16. I hope that answered your question, kid. And I went off on a little story there. Anyway, Romans the 16th chapter. Let's read, which was one through 16. Romans chapter 16, one through 16, Paul's greetings, he greets a lot of people. Now, if you find the names difficult to read, you can just skip the names, just read, read, you know, read the rest. Who wants to read for us? One through. Yes, go ahead. One to 16, please. I commend to you, baby, our sister, who is a servant of church of St. Priya, St. Priya, that you may receive her in the Lord in the manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has made of you. For indeed, she was, she has been a helper of many and of myself also. Very Priscilla and Attila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own next for my life to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Ipa, Ipa Nikas, who is the first fruit of Akhaya to Christ. Greet Mary, who labored much for us. Greet Andrew Nikas and Zunaya, my countrymen and my fellow business, who also, who are of not, not among the apostles, who also were in Christ for me. Greet Anthlias, my beloved in the Lord, greet Urvanas, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stan Stati. Thank you. Approved in Christ, greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus, greet Herodion, my countrymen, greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. Greet Triphena and Triphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Francis, who labored much in the Lord. Greet Rufus, also chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. Greet Assign Citrus, Plegon, Hermes, Patrabos, Hermes, and the brethren, who are with them. Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereas and his sister, and Olympos, and the saints, who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss, the Church of Christ, greet you. Thank you. Thank you, David. David, thank you. Good job with all the names. Yeah, it's not easy. We're not sure ourselves how to pronounce these names, but thank you. Very good job. So, let us highlight a few things. Now, of course, you know, when you read this passage, what is very touching or what impresses us first is how Paul honors, recognizes other people who have served, who have served either with him or who are serving the Lord in different contexts. And that's very, you know, it's something we can also imitate, right? That is, we recognize, you know, we don't have to recognize others who are also called by God, who are also serving God. We don't have to be so focused on ourselves as we are the only one serving God. No. Paul recognizes so many people by name. He, you know, even recognizes their family, their mother or sister or brother, and then he greets all of them and he calls them as people who are workers and God or fellow workers in Christ or fellow laborers in the Lord. You know, so it's a lot of honor and a lot of respect that you see Paul expressing towards so many people whom he remembers by name. That's, that's, that's pretty notable here in this, in these verses that we've read. And the other thing is, you know, verses one and two, he mentions by name Phoebe, who's a sister, I mean, who's a lady, from this church in Sankria, so which was close to Corinth. So it was probably a small town near Corinth and there's a church there. So she is responsible for handling the, he used the words, this word servant that is deacon, what you know, today we would call it deaconess and she's just handling some of the business of the church, you know, so maybe some administrative things of the church and he's saying, you know, hey just make sure that you assist her in whatever she has need of. So she's probably helping the church in Corinth and then she is over in Rome doing certain things and Paul commenced her to the believers there and saying, hey I assist her in whatever way she needs help. He also remembers Priscilla and Aquila, you know, they worked with Paul, this is verse three, they worked with Paul in Corinth and and so he remembers them, he even remembers the sacrifice they made, he says, they risked their own necks for my life. So he's very thankful, very grateful for their lives, you know. So it teaches us a lot of things that, you know, how we should appreciate, we should honor people who've served with us and sacrificed with us for the gospel and that's what we see coming out in all of these verses, he recognizes them. The other thing that we can point out is in verse seven he mentions Andronicus and Junia, so who are his countrymen, that is they're Jewish, they've fellow prisoners, they suffered together with Paul, what a note among the apostles. Now this is not like 100% certain but the name Junia is of course a feminine name, so that would refer to Lady and this is verse seven, right? Andronicus is a name of a man, Junia, the name of a lady and he says they are of note among the apostles. So it's, you know, it's most likely that Junia was recognized as an apostle. Now I'm not stating this conclusively, I'm stating it as a possibility, right? That maybe here there's an indication that here was a woman apostle and Andronicus and Junia were of note among the apostles and who were in Christ before me, that means they were well-recognized apostles and leaders in the church. So that's just a side note. We also see Paul, you know, the other mentioned here is about churches that meet in their house and that's in verse five, greet the church that is in their house, so it just indicates to us that in those days, you know, churches met in homes which was convenient, they didn't have these, you know, church buildings or facilities that we have today, but that's how they met and so on. So those are things we can really highlight from these verses. Let's read the remaining verses from verse 17 to 27, please. Could somebody read it? And once again, you will, you'll run into certain names and if you can't pronounce it, it's okay, you can skip it. Could somebody read that? We're 17 to 27, please. Greet one another with the holy kiss, the churches of Christ greet you. Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause division and offenses, concrete to the doctrine which you learn and avoid them. For those who are such, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly and by smooth words and flattering speech, device deceived the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all, therefore I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to wise in what is good and simple concerning evil and the God of peace will curse Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen. Timothy, my fellow workers and Lucius, and so see further, my countrymen greet you. I tell this, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord. Grace my host and the host of the whole church, greet you, officious and treasure of the city, greets you and quaters our brother. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to our revelation of the ministry keep secret since the world began but now has been made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all nations according to the commandments of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith to God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. So in this concluding section of Romans 16 you can see Paul's heart once again on desiring believers to live together in unity. As verse 17 he says, you know, look out, watch out for those who are causing divisions and offenses which are contrary to what you've been taught so he has taught them a lot of things and which are of course recorded for us in this episode as well and he says, you know, if there are people who are speaking things that are different from this and they are causing division separating people and offenses, offenses simply a stumbling block causing people to stumble he says avoid them, avoid people who are divisive and offensive. Avoid them, stay away from them, don't partner with them, don't go along with them but just avoid them and he says because these people are just serving their own selfish interests that's verse 18 you know they're there for their own belly that means their own selfish interests and they are not serving Jesus Christ, people are offensive and divisive and they're just deceiving the hearts of the simple you know people who are gullible, people who are just believing of everything they hear, they're simple they get easily deceived and it's such people that these divisive and offensive people take advantage of but Paul is saying just avoid such people because you know it's important for the church for the body of Christ for believers to stay together and so he says be wise in what is good and be wise just so that be wise to know what is right what are the things to pursue and the things to avoid just just leave it in things when it comes to that's verse 19 and it comes to things that are evil you know don't even get involved in it just be innocent and stay away from it but when it comes to what is good you know be wise and know and understand and engage with things that are good and and then as we do that he says in verse 20 the god of peace will cross Satan under your feet shortly that means you as a church as a people are going to walk into a minion and experientially walk into a minion over satan and god will you know cause you to turn over whatever satan is doing and then you know he he greets a lot of people and what is interesting is in verse 22 is 30 years so so obviously Paul must have been dictating the episode and this person 30 years must be must have been his scribe or his writer typing writing out his episode right yeah so i see the question there verses 17 to 18 yeah it's for believers right so he's in brethren so the question is are verses 17 and 18 talking about believers the answer is yes believers note those who cause divisions offenses you know so there will be believers also who are offensive and divisive so he's suffering to people within and among the believers right so they are they're not really serving Jesus but they are serving their own interests and so avoid them now it can include even those from outside the church who will try to divide the church the so verse 17 18 i think you know what the church should be looking for anything anything whether it's from within the church or from outside the church anything that is offensive and divisive we should avoid whether it's from believers or from unbelievers so there will be both that that people from within the church and people from outside the church who try to cause divisions and we should avoid them okay so going back to what i was mentioning there in verse 22 am 30th is the person who was writing down this episode verse 23 is what gives us an indication that this episode was written from Corinth because Gaius my host so Gaius is mentioned there in first Corinthians and and and so it's it's most likely it's likely that Gaius was the one who is mentioned first Corinthians 114 is the same Gaius and and because he is mentioned as a person living at Corinth that's why we see here in Roman 16 23 okay that's a clue that Paul was in Corinth when he was writing this episode the other clue is Erastus Erastus the treasurer of the city he was like the financial officer of the city managing the treasure of the city and his name was found or in a stone inscription in Corinth so that's another clue that Erastus was a treasurer of the city so that's why we you know Bible scholars are pretty confident that Paul wrote Romans the episode to Rome to the believers of Rome from while he was in Corinth and so that's that's that's the clue there and in conclusion it was 25 and 26 you know it's very very interesting to see how Paul says and he talks about according to my gospel my gospel meaning the gospel that Paul is preaching you know he refers to it as my gospel is what I am preaching and the preaching of Jesus Christ you know that's that's Paul is really this is the gospel I'm proclaiming it's the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is actually an unveiling of a secret that was hidden from the days so so the gospel was actually kept as a secret but now it's been made now it has been revealed and that's the secret that Paul is preaching the gospel and verse 26 it's it's been made manifest by the prophetic scriptures and it's been made known to all the nations that means this message of Jesus Christ was kept hidden but now it's visible everybody can know it it was there in the prophetic scriptures I mean the scriptures had it but it was hidden there people didn't know it but now it's been unveiled and we are proclaiming it to all the nations so Paul concludes uh with that right so um so this is Romans the Paul Paul's epistle to Rome um and it's it's it's a you know it's a a thorough thorough well you know a complete teaching a doctrinal episode you know starting from Romans one where he starts with just the very you know the proof of God's existence the issue of sin uh and then in chapter two talks about conscience and um chapter three that we have sinned and God has provided for our redemption through Jesus Christ chapter four the importance of faith that it is through faith we are reconciled to God chapter five the difference that Jesus makes in Adam we die but in Christ we receive God's gift of righteousness and so salvation this possible through Christ six seven and eight how we overcome sin that the cross uh and you know we identified the Jesus in his death burial and resurrection and therefore through the cross we overcome the power of sin Romans eight it's the Holy Spirit who enables us to walk in victory over sin and crucify the flesh and walk in victory and uh as we walk in the spirit we overcome the flesh and no matter what we suffer in this world the love of God will never fail us Romans 9 10 11 um a little digression he talks a little bit about God's work for the Jews and the church what God is doing then 12 to early part of 15 uh our chapter chapter 14 early part of chapter 15 is how we should live as believers and relating to one another relating to the government relating to those who are weaker in the faith relating to those who might have different views and opinions deals with that then Romans 15 and 16 are some of his personal thoughts conclusions and uh and a wonderful um you know conclusion just honoring all the others who have been serving Jesus during those days so overall a wonderful book this book of Romans uh so now with this we finish our journey through Romans uh what we are going to do or what I am going to do is give you the remaining two assignments I've already put out one assignment uh in classroom and also in the e-learning for those who are doing e-learning uh so uh the month of November we won't have class but just use the time to do the assignments I will take time to just prepare the assignments and release it and then you can just take the time to do the assessment and um that's it uh in a very complete our course on Romans any questions any comments anybody wants to say anything uh I see Kiran's comment wonderful book Romans yes it's been a blessed time studying any questions any comments before we close okay so thank you everyone uh for this opportunity to study the book of Romans with you it's been wonderful um just keep an eye out for the two assessments that'll be put on google classroom and the um workspace or in the e-learning portal just finish those assessments by the end of November and we are done with this course okay so no classes in Romans from next week right let's close in prayer could somebody pray with us as a class and uh thank god for this journey through Romans the understanding and truth that we have learned and um we will dismiss could somebody please pray father we thank you we praise you we bless your holy name daddy you are so good in our lives thank you for the opportunity to study the book of Romans thank you daddy we meet righteous your faith by the grace of god we thank you thank you for the wonderful revelations from from Paul thank you for the life of Paul thank you for the scriptures daddy we bless you daddy thank you dad let the scriptures will be manifest in our life and the righteousness of god will manifest in our life through faith in grace thank you Jesus we praise you we bless you daddy thank you for the wonderful journey let's journey of grace we continue father even though the suffering that we carry this truth and preach to many people and bring many people to the salvation we thank you we praise you we glory and honor in Jesus name we pray amen amen thank you everyone god bless you all thank you for being on this class see you again thanks bye now thank you sir thank you thank you everyone