Daily Devotional • July 30
A Reading from Romans 16:17-27
17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who create dissensions and hindrances, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. 18 For such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. 19 For your obedience is known to all; therefore, I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and guileless in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 Timothy, my coworker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Israelites.
22 I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.
25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages26 but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
Meditation
With these last few verses, Paul completes his longest and most theologically dynamic letter. The sign-off names a few people and closes with an inspiring doxology. But wait — that very list of names is super instructive! After naming a bunch of people in Rome in yesterday’s lesson, Paul closes by naming seven believers where he is — almost certainly Corinth where he is staying in the home of Gaius. Surely this reveals to us the nature of Christian community in a way that we can learn from.
Now, sometimes if I write a newsy letter to a friend I might close with something like, “My wife Dymphna says to say ‘hello’,” or “Please give my love to your children Magnus and Portia!” Such is evidence of a close relationship and shared affection. And so it is in Paul’s letter. Paul mentions Timothy, whom we know something about, but also six others who are no more than names to us. Apparently it was natural within the Christian community to proliferate such greetings. Even Erastus, the city treasurer in Corinth when Paul was writing (about 55 to 57), greets the Christians in Rome. And Tertius, the fellow who wrote the letter down as Paul dictated it, poked his name in there.
These names add a noble personal warmth to a marvelous treatise and give evidence of a compassionate community that crossed boundaries that prevailed at every other place in Roman life. Paul taught this in Galatians 3:28 where he wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” He didn’t mean that these categories were undone, of course, but in the Christian community they were revalued in the depths of divine charity. May such a marvel always be commonplace among us!
David Baumann served for nearly 50 years as an Episcopal priest in the Dioceses of Los Angeles and Springfield. He has published nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. Two exuberant small daughters make sure he never gets any rest.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Ho – The Church of the Province of West Africa
Washington National Cathedral
