Every Day Devotion

Romans 16:23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. (ESV) This final greeting comes from some special people. Certainly all of those who are listed in this letter are special. Some of them we have had the privilege of gaining additional information from the text to know more of their background. These three mentioned are special in specific ways. Let's look at these last three "special" friends whom Paul includes in this letter to Rome. Gaius would have been very special to Paul because he was a convert of his when he first went to Corinth. Paul mentions him by name in his first letter to the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 1:14 Paul writes, " I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius," One of the most exciting things for any minister is to baptize believers in the name of Jesus. Erastus is special for a different reason. Paul tells us that Erastus

Romans 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. (ESV) If you have read through this letter to the church at Rome you would be thinking that Paul is writing the letter. Well, it is Paul's words that we are reading. The one writing down Paul's words is his personal secretary, Tertius. We do not know much about Tertius. We may wonder what he would say if he were to open up more about his love for Paul, and ultimately his love for Christ. We do have Tertius speaking in this letter. He greets the church at Rome in the Lord. Seeing as how it was not his letter he was writing, but rather, it was the Apostle Paul's letter, it is actually surprising that he was permitted to include his own greeting. After all, we are dealing with a letter that was God speaking through Paul. It includes critical teaching on what it means to be a Christian. Paul must certainly have approved Tertius inserting himself into the text. In one way, it shows that the Apostle Paul, a man

Romans 16:21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. (ESV) Paul makes an interesting distinction in this list of people who send their greetings to the church at Rome. Timothy is listed as a fellow worker. Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater are listed as kinsmen. In other words, he has members of his earthly family to whom he is related. Timothy is not included in this list. If you know other parts of Scripture you may remember that Paul viewed Timothy as a son in some respect. There are two books of the New Testament that are letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to this same Timothy. In these letters that Paul wrote we find a closeness that is very much like family. He begins the first letter to Timothy with these words, "To Timothy, my true child in the faith." Paul likened himself a spiritual father to Timothy. What does it mean to be a spiritual father to someone? Paul was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to a young Timothy. He

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (ESV) We all love the concept of peace. For all centuries of time man has tried to have peace. One thing is sure. Peace does not come without a fight. Nations will fight one another and secure a peace treaty. It will last, but only for a relatively short time. The lasting peace that we all long for has eluded us for all centuries. Where should peace truly come from? Peace comes from the God of peace. There are many ways that we can describe our wonderful God. Here Paul describes him as the God of peace. He says that this God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Notice that this peace only comes with a fight. Who is fighting for our peace? The God of all creation. He alone has the power to crush Satan. He alone is able to provide lasting peace. In regards to the timing of Satan being crushed there are two things that we need to understand in this verse. First o

Romans 16:19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. (ESV) We live in a world that has more access to information than any century of civilization has ever known. If you have a question about almost anything you can get access to the answer within seconds. We tend to think that this is always a good thing. I wonder if the Apostle Paul would agree. He says something curious in this verse about our approach to what we know. We are to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. It is evident in this instruction that we are to be more focused on the pursuit of that which is good. It seems that the evil will find us without us looking for it. Our pursuit of that which is good will be a preparation for the evil that surrounds us without us making any effort to find it. So, let's consider what is good. Everything that proceeds from God himself is good. In his holy Word we

Romans 16:18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (ESV) In the previous verse the Apostle Paul made an appeal to the believers in Rome to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine they had been taught. It seems that there is always a temptation to seek after some "new" and "exciting" teaching. Today there is always someone who will give you some special word that has not been known before for all centuries of Christendom. People who bring false teaching always bring division. When the church is not unified she is not effective. The unbelieving world sees a divided church and sees it as weak and irrelevant. It becomes clear, then, that Satan himself is behind false teaching. He is known as the deceiver. Jesus called him the father of lies. Paul says that these who cause division with false teaching deceive the hearts of