A Roll Of Honor
A ROLL OF HONOR
ROMANS 16:7-16
Paul often describes those people actively serving Christ as “in Christ,” “in the Lord” or “in the Lord’s service.”
This chapter mentions twenty-six Christians in Rome by name, several of them women. Notice the affection and generosity of Paul’s references to them. Some had known Christ before he did. Others had shared Paul’s imprisonment. Thirteen of the names occur in documents or inscriptions relating to Caesar’s vast community of slaves, freedmen and clients. These names, of course, are not uncommon, and the reference may not be to the same individuals. Paul, however, does speak in Philippians 4:22 of Christians in Caesar’s household, and in 16:11 he refers to Christians in the family of Narcissus, the notorious freedman of Claudius. It is likely that Aristobulus was the grandson of Herod the Great. Claudius, who, in his foreign policy, imitated Augustus, had close relations with the Herodian house, and it is known that Aristobulus was educated in Rome. His household may have been absorbed into that of Claudius at Aristobulus’ death, but would retain a distinctive identity. It is evident that the imperial household was deeply infiltrated by Christianity. The leaven was working upwards. It was to reach the top.
Tryphaena and Tryphosa mean “dainty and delicate.” Paul jokes slyly when he speaks of how they “labored to exhaustion” for Christ (such is the force of this verb, 16:12). Is Rufus, to whom Mark, probably writing in Rome, appears to refer (Mark 15:21), the brother of Alexander, and son of Simon, who carried the cross? Had they emigrated from Libya (see Acts 11:20)? And was Nereus the chamberlain of Domitilla, and part of a story of aristocratic Christianity?