Romans 16:17-27 – Warnings and Encouragement

Topic: Warnings and Encouragement

Reading: Romans 16:17-27

17 I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. 19 For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I would have you wise as to what is good and guileless as to what is evil; 20 then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosip’ater, my kinsmen. 22 I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Ga’ius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Eras’tus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. 24 25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith– 27 to the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Introduction and Overview

In these last words of the letter to the Romans, there are some interesting teachings. Paul gives the church some final warnings and encouragement. We can learn a lot from his last words today. While these final warnings and encouragement are quite broad, they are also very important. We would do well to remember them and follow these warnings and words of encouragement.

Apart from the final warnings and encouragement, we also gain some insight into the spread of the gospel. We see some of Paul’s contemporaries in the church and his love for the church in general. There is also the interesting comment in verse 22 that mentions this letter was written by someone named Tertius. This would suggest that the letter was dictated to Tertius by Paul, who then put the words to paper. Although it is only speculation on my part, we know from other parts of the New Testament that Paul had some issues with his eyesight. Perhaps this was why he had someone else physically write the letter, although there is nothing to suggest that to be the reason.

Anyway, as we look at these final warnings and encouragement we see the empahsis of Paul on helping the church to find and hold fast to the truth. He encourages them to lean on the Lord for strength, but also to be watchful and aware of issues that will and were arising amongst the member of the church. His desire was to ensure the doctrine of the church held firmly to the truth.

Key points from reading:

1. Beware of those who flatter and create dissensions for their own ends
2. Stay away from the troublemakers that may come into the church who try to bring in false doctrines and lead people astray.
3. Focus on the words of Jesus that can strengthen, encourage, and keep you safe through faithful obedience to the truth.

Discussion:

1. Scripture: Romans 16:17
   • In this first verse we see the first warning to the church. He tells them to take note of those who create dissensions in the church. These are the troublemakers who are not there to seek peace and harmony in the study of the gospel of salvation. Rather they are there to disrupt the church. They may be “weeds” sown by the enemy to cause disruption and to try to lead astray the members of the church. (Refer: Matthew 13:24-30) They use fair and flattering words, and by deception and cunning they seek their own desires.
   • Such people are in the church for what they can get out of it. They are there to take rather than to give. They have hearts set on greed and do not care for the members of the church. They are interested only in what they can take or what the church can do for them.
   • They are trouble, which is why Paul warns us to take note of them. Watch them carefully, and as the verse says at the end…avoid them. If you want to avoid trouble, dissension, and difficulties, then avoid those who cause such things. These people do not build up the church or the people in the church. Instead they are destroyers, desiring to tear down the church and sow seeds of dissension among the members. Avoid such people and have nothing to do with them. The Lord will deal with them in His time.
2. Scripture: Romans 16:18
   • Here we see the tactics of these evil people who seek to destroy the church. They use fair and flattering words to try to gain the confidence or goodwill of people, They are cunning and deceitful and in due course, their deeds and actions will expose them for who and what they are.
   • It is a classic example of the parable Jesus told of good and bad trees. He said in Matthew 7:15-20
     
     15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.
     
   • The warnings and encouragement Paul gives the church is to watch out for such people. They will and did come, and they will also appear in the churches today. The broad church is filled with many false and misleading teachings, some going back the early days of the church. We see in the writings in the epistles of John that he was seeing and warning people about Antichrists in the church back then. And they have had nearly two thousand years to continue their deceptions and destruction under the power and influence of the devil.
   • But you and I are called to be aware and watchful for such things. We need to be immersed in the scriptures and teachings of the Lord so that when such people bring false teachings into the church, we can reject them. And it is essential that we learn and understand the scriptures because they are the divinely inspired words of God, remembering the words of Paul to Timothy:
     
     All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
     
     We should also recall that Jesus Himself used the power of the scriptures to overcome the attacks and temptations of the devil. During His forty days in the wilderness, (See Matthew 4:1-11), Jesus was tested and tempted by the devil on a number of occasions. In each test, Jesus overcame the temptation by saying, “It is written…” and then quoting the relevant scripture to crush Satan’s attack. We must do the same.
3. Scripture: Romans 16:19-20
   • It is by our knowledge of the truth, our understanding of the will of God, and our obedience to His words that we will overcome. As Paul shows in his warnings and encouragement, we need to be wise to what is good and guileless to what is evil. This can only be achieved when we are well versed in the word of God. We need to know what the Bible says, and how the words apply to any situation.
   • I have already mention the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, but I would reiterate that Jesus knew the scriptures. He understood them and then He used them to deflect and destroy the devil’s arguments. Just as Jesus was obedient to God, we too need to do the same.
   • And we see in these words that when all of the testings and temptations are over, God Himself will crush Satan under our feet. God will give us the victory over the devil through our faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to His word.
4. Scripture: Romans 16:21-27
   • Verses 21-24 are basically greetings to and from various members of the church and Paul’s fellow travellers. I have already mentioned the interesting tidbit from verse 22 where we see the actual physical writing of the letter was not written by Paul himself, but by Tertius. And we see in these various greetings the extended network of people who formed the fellowships and churches that Paul established and visited.
   • When you consider that in the beginning, Paul was a destroyer of the church, this is quite the change. Paul was ravishing the early church and imprisoning Christians to try to stamp out Christianity before it could spread. That is, until Jesus stepped in and Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. And seeing all of the people he was greeting in this letter, as well as his greetings at the end of other letters, we see that the purpose of the Lord in calling Paul was not in vain.
   • And that is something to take encouragement from. We do not know the plans of the Lord for the people around us. We do not know what Jesus is doing in the lives of other people. I have often seen people bound by the shackles of sin, complete and utter atheists, who receive the call of the Lord and have turned their lives around. There are many such testimonies of people on the Internet who have given up the ways of this world to find Christ and be redeemed and restored by His love and the ge=race of God.

Prayer Points

1. Pray and ask the Lord to help you to recognise the things discussed in Paul’s warnings and encouragement to the church in Rome. Ask the Lord for the wisdom and insight to recognise false teachings and people trying to lead you and the church astray, so that you can reject the teachings and avoid these troublemakers.
2. Pray and ask the Lord to provide you with a deeper insight into this whole letter of Paul to the Romans as it contains great wisdom and insight into the working of the gospel and the New Covenant. This letter is a road-map to salvation and transformation by which all people can learn and be encouraged.

This now completes this extensive study and coverage of the letter of Paul to the Romans. It is one of the most insightful and valuable books in the New Testament and needs to be deeply read, studied and understood. This is not to say it is more or less valuable or important than any other book in the Bible. All scripture is the inspired word of God, as mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:16. But Romans gives us a great road-map of the journey all Christians need to take. It starts with man in the world, full of sin and all manner of evil due to the passions, lusts, and desires in man. And it then leads us through the journey on the walk with Christ to reach the ultimate state of being perfected into God’s love and walking in His love. It is a truly inspiring and enlightening work to be studied and understood by all people.