Sacred Sunday~Romans 16/Farewell Romans!

Today we read the last Chapter in Romans. Romans 16.

• The last bit of the letter consists of some shout outs to Paul's friends in Rome. Talk about name-dropping.
• There are about twenty-six names in all, but we'll just hit a few of the biggies:
• He first mentions a woman named Phoebe who Paul calls a "deacon." She's probably the person who is carrying his letter from Corinth to Rome.
• There's a married couple—Prisca and Aquilla—who have stuck their necks out for Paul lots of times.
• And Andronicus and Junia, a Jewish couple who were in prison with Paul and whom he calls "prominent among the apostles."
• Then Paul takes a break from his "hellos" to drop in a warning: watch out for false prophets. They don't follow Christ and they're only out for themselves. They're pretty good at tricking people into following them, though. So—eternal vigilance!
• Back to greetings! Paul puts in a few hiyas from the folks in Corinth. Timothy, Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, Tertius, Gaius, Erastus, and Quartus all say hello.
• Lastly, Paul gives one final shout out to God. He brings strength to all Christians through the good news of Jesus Christ.He has revealed a super-secret mystery to us so that now everyone—Jew and Gentile—can share in his Godly goodness.
• Amen and done! A big thank you to those at www.shmoops.com!