Romanos 16
Origen of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Romanos 16:1
This passage teaches that there were women ordained in the church's ministry by the apostle's authority.… Not only that—they ought to be ordained into the ministry, because they helped in many ways and by their good services deserved the praise even of the apostle. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:2
Paul commands that those who dedicate themselves to good works ought to be received by their brethren and be held in honor by being provided with whatever they might need. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:4
This shows that Priscilla and Aquila were hospitable to Gentiles as well as to Jews. Hospitality is highly esteemed both by God and by man. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:6
Paul is teaching here that women too ought to work for the churches of God. They work when they teach children how to behave, when they love their husbands, when they feed their children, when they are modest and chaste, when they keep a good household, when they are kind, when they are submissive to their husbands, when they exercise hospitality, when they wash the feet of the saints, and when they do all the other things which are allotted to women in the Bible. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:7
It may be that these were Paul's kinsmen according to the flesh, but the expression "my fellow prisoners" is what fascinates me. When was Paul in captivity? It seems that this was the captivity of sin and that they were together with him in the blindness of unbelief. When Christ came they were set free, as was Paul. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:10
Paul does not say that those of the family of Aristobulus were beloved, or approved, or fellow workers in Christ. Perhaps they were not any of these things, and so he honors them only with a simple greeting. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:11
Narcissus had a large family, but they were not all Christians, which is why Paul singles out "those in the Lord." — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:14
I think this Hermas was the author of the book called The Shepherd of Hermas, which seems to me to be a useful book and one which was inspired by God. I think the reason Paul does not praise him is that he himself tells us in his book that he was converted only after many sins. Scripture tells us not to rush to honor someone who has just repented from sin nor to give him praise as long as the angel of repentance is still over him. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:15
It is possible that Philologus and Julia were married and that the others named here were their domestic servants. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:16
From this and other statements like it, it appears that it was the custom to greet one another with a kiss after the prayers. The apostle calls this a holy kiss. How could Paul write that all the churches sent greetings, when he was only in one of them at the time? I think we have to understand this to mean that there was one spirit common to Paul and to all the churches, so that he could speak on behalf of them all. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:19
This is similar to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he said: "Be babes in evil, but in your thinking be mature." The Lord also said much the same thing: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:20
It seems to me that "Satan" here refers to any spirit which is opposed to God. For in our language, Satan means "adversary."But just as the apostle teaches that if they behave and demonstrate that they are the kind of people he says they are, then he promises that Satan will soon be crushed under their feet by the God of peace, so the same God of peace will stir up Satan in the hearts of those who do not keep his peace with a pure heart and a clean conscience. Thus whoever neglects the blessing of peace will suffer the bitter pangs of the adversaries until he remembers the sweetness of the peace which he has rejected. Therefore we are edified by both of these things, for God is said to stir up Satan against those who neglect him and to subdue him for the benefit of those who dedicate themselves to him, giving them the palm of victory over their vanquished foe and pouring out on them the rewards of victory. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:21
Timothy is well known from the Acts of the Apostles, where it is recorded that he was from Derbe, the son of a believing widow and of a Gentile father. Paul asked him to remain at Ephesus in order to warn the people there not to teach anything different from what they had been taught nor to listen to myths and endless genealogies.Lucius may have been the same person as Luke the Evangelist, because names are sometimes given in the native form and sometimes in the Greek or Roman one. Jason is the same person as the one who, when there were riots against Paul and Silas at Thessalonica, posted a bond for them so that they might have the freedom to preach. Sosipater was the son of Pyrrhus, from Berrhoea. … Paul calls them all his kinsmen because, although they were Gentiles, they were his brethren in the faith. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:23
This is the same Gaius whom Paul mentioned as having baptized at Corinth. Paul would not have mentioned that Erastus was the city treasurer if he did not intend a spiritual meaning as well, viz., that Erastus was the treasurer or paymaster of that city whose builder and maker is God. This is why he did not indicate in what city Erastus served as treasurer! — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:24
Marcion, who interpolated both the Gospels and the Epistles, deleted this passage [Romans 16:24] from the text, and not only this but everything [after 16:25] as well. In other manuscripts not edited by Marcion we find this passage in different places. Some have it immediately after [16:25], and others have it here, at the end of the epistle. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:25
Paul wants to show that there are two ways in which those who believe in the gospel are strengthened. One is by his preaching, which is the preaching of Christ. The other is by the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages and which has now been revealed in Christ … not without suitable witnesses but with the backing of the prophetic Scriptures. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:26
Those who advance in the knowledge of Christianity do not treat the things written in the law with disrespect. On the contrary, they bestow even greater honor upon them, showing what a depth of wise and mysterious reasons is contained in these writings, which are not fully comprehended by the Jews, who treat them superficially and even as if they were to some extent mythical. — AGAINST CELSUS 2.4
Romanos 16:26
Although the message is made known to all nations, it is not made known to all people, because only a few chosen ones are able to understand the wisdom and knowledge of God, of whom it is said: "Many are called, but few are chosen." — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Romanos 16:27
God cannot be called wise in the way that human beings are wise, because a wise man merely has a share in wisdom, whereas God is its author and source. — COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS