Romans 13-16

Chapter 13

v. 1-5 - Be subject to the government

Does this mean that breaking the law is a sin?

No

The New Testament records multiple instances of government authorities arresting early Christians for their faith and activities.

Peter and John were arrested by temple officials and Sadducees who were angered by their teaching about Jesus’s resurrection, and they were held in custody overnight. (Acts 4:1–3)

The apostles faced a second arrest when the high priest and Sadducees, motivated by jealousy, had them placed in the public prison. (Acts 5:17–18)

King Herod arrested and executed James, the brother of John, and subsequently imprisoned Peter, placing him under heavy guard with the intention of bringing him before the people after Passover. (Acts 12:1–4)

Paul and Silas were seized in Philippi by angry merchants, brought before magistrates, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison with orders to keep them securely. (Acts 16:19–24)

Paul was arrested in Jerusalem when Asian Jews stirred up a crowd against him in the temple; he was dragged from the temple and subsequently arrested by the Roman tribune, who bound him with two chains. (Acts 21:27–33)

Paul was later delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into Roman custody, and when the Romans found no cause for his execution, he was compelled to appeal to Caesar because Jewish opposition prevented his release. (Acts 28:16–20)

Paul himself recounted experiencing “far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.” (2 Cor 11:23)

Jesus prophesied that his disciples would experience imprisonment, a prophecy that was repeatedly fulfilled in the experiences of the Twelve.[1] According to the early Christian writing 1 Clement, Paul was imprisoned a total of seven times.[2]

It means you should live a life that is abiding by the law. However, the government is not a higher authority than God.

You are to be obedient to God.

This means to things:

Submit yourself to the authority of the government if you break the law. (I.e. speeding ticket)

The governing authorities will be held to a higher standard because they are put in a position to govern by God and should govern by the will of God.

V. 7-10 - Pay your debts

Don’t just pay your taxes but pay your debts.

Is it a sin to be in debt?

No

There is nothing in the bible that says debt is sin. There is however, multiple scriptures that say that debt is something to avoid.

Luke 14:28–30 “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”

This suggests believers should live within their means rather than borrow.

Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”

1 Timothy 6:6–8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

The overall biblical posture treats debt as a condition to avoid through prudent living, not as something made acceptable simply because repayment is possible.

If you have debt, you should pay it off.

Make a list of your debts

Pay them off smallest to highest.

Prioritize debts to the government (taxes, child support, etc.) because they can take it from you.

Prioritize church and family members because that debt should not be a factor in your relationship.

Romans 13:8 “Owe no one anything, except to love each other…”

V. 11-14 - Walk in the light

Now is the time walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16–25 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Wake up!

Chapter 14

Do not judge the convictions of another

V. 2 - the vegetarian is weak.

Icons of the Orthodox

Protestants tend to see the use of icons as idolatry.

However, the Orthodox belief is that the icon is something that you look though to see God. You are looking through the faith of a saint to understand how you should position yourself toward God.

This is why many of their icons are made into stain glass windows so that you literally look through them to see the light.

This is the equivalent of Protestants looking at the faith of Billy Graham, John Wesley, or George Meuller and being inspired and blessed by their faith.

They just do it through a painting or stained glass window.

Penance of the Catholics

It is easy to see the Catholics working to be righteous through confession, penance, and mass and knowing that is not what we read in the Bible.

However, to Catholics, how the Pope interprets the scripture is their authority as opposed to how we interpret the scripture ourselves.

I can be critical of that concept, but I should be blessed by the view of a Catholic father who goes to confession, completes his penance, and does so by faith.

That faith should not be judged, even if I disagree with the method.

V. 21 - Do not cause another to stumble

Do you know someone that struggles with drinking. Don’t drink around them

Do you know someone that struggles with pornography. Don’t watch a movie with them that shows anything.

This says a brother. That’s not just believers. Non-believers are potential believers.

Chapter 15

This chapter is essentially the conclusion.

It circles back to Chapter 1’s opening theme of Jesus as the Davidic Messiah and he is Lord over all of the nations.

Romans 1:3–4 “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,”

v. 5-6 - Live in Harmony

v. 7-9 - Believers should welcome one another as Christ has welcomed them.

2 Samuel 22:50 ““For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.”

Deuteronomy 32:43 ““Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.””

Psalm 117:1 “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!”

Isaiah 11:10 “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”

Paul’s central theme in this letter is that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah, the one from he root of Jesse, the one to whom all nations shall bow to.

14-21 - Paul’s mission

V. 14 - He is satisfied that (in the context) as long as they choose to be united, Jew and Gentile, they have everything else they need for sound teaching among them.

These are people that know the truth of the gospel, they just needed some direction.

Evidence that God sets in leaders to keep the body focused in the right direction.

V. 20

He explains to them that he is looking to go to the people that do not know Christ.

We do not look to bring more Christians to our church unless they don’t have a home.

We are looking to bring more people to Christ.

V. 22-32

V 24+28 - Spain

There is some evidence that Paul was released from prison in Rome and did go on to Spain.

Clement of Rome, writing around A.D. 95, records that Paul “bore chains,” “was sent into exile,” and “served as a herald in both the East and the West,” ultimately reaching “the limits of the West” where he “bore his witness before the rulers.

The Muratorian Canon, dated to around A.D. 200, explicitly states that Luke omitted “the journey of Paul, who from the city (of Rome) proceeded to Spain.

The apocryphal Acts of Peter (c. A.D. 190) depicts Paul receiving a vision commanding him to “arise, and be a physician to the Spaniards.

Paul was likely released from Roman imprisonment around A.D. 62, enabling further missionary work in Spain.1 The isolation and tone of 2 Timothy suggest a second, later imprisonment distinct from the A.D. 60–62 custody recorded in Acts.1 Many scholars accept Clement and the Muratorian Canon as historical evidence that Paul’s release allowed him to travel to Spain

V. 25-27

He reports again on the delivery of the generous gift from the churches in Greece and Asia.

V. 27 - Sharing of spiritual blessings merits the sharing of material blessings. It does not demand it. But it does merit it.

Chapter 16 - Farewell

v. 1 -

“servant” is the Greek word diakanos which is what we translate to deacon.

Paul’s statement gives legitimacy to women as deacons.

It also states that leaders in the church are servants.

The best leaders are the best servants. Those that are called to leadership should start by stacking chairs and making coffee.

V. 3 - Priscilla and Aquila

Acts 18 Paul encounters them in Corinth after they fled Rome due to the Jewish expulsion.

They had a home church in Corinth (1 Cor 16:19)

He also greets them later in 2 Timothy 4:19 “Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.”

Here they are also leading a home church.

They, together, instructed Apollos more accurately regarding the gospel.

Priscilla’s position in all of this would have been against cultural norms and may have indicated that she was more of the public face of their ministry.

v. 5 - Epaenetus

The first convert in Asia.

A Gentile.

Likely one of the key leaders of the church during the expulsion of the Jews.

v. 7 - Fellow prisoners

Only 2 recordings of Paul’s imprisonment in Acts:

Philippi (possibly only overnight)

Jerusalem-Rome (after the writing of this letter)

2 Corinthians 11:23–27 “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

Evidence that just because Luke didn’t record it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Support for an Ephesians imprisonment.

V. 13 - Rufus

Mark 15:21 “And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.”

Son of the man that carried the Cross of Christ.

Was likely mentioned by Mark specifically to highlight him to Roman Christian readers and he was part of their church.

V. 17-18

Watch for those that cause division.

V. 18 - recognize the silver tongues.

If they are causing division, their smooth talk doesn’t matter.

V. 23 - Gaius

Baptize by Paul in Corinth. (1 Cor 1:14)

Evidence that this was written in Corinth.

V. 23 - Quartus

The name means “4”

Likely a slave.

Scholars believe 60% of the people mentioned were either slaves or freed me and women based on naming conventions.

No true evidence, but an interesting take on these people.

V. 25-27