Bible Study With Jairus - Romans 16

Bible Study with Jairus – Romans 16. The verses that inspired our bible group were Romans 16:19-20 (ESV), “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. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” A brother in our group asked, “Why does Paul say be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil? What does this mean?”

I said, “First, let’s look at the structure of Romans 16.” Romans 16:1-16 consists of greetings to people in the Roman church; verses 17-20 are words of exhortation; verses 21-23 are more greetings from Paul and others that were sent to people in the Roman church; and verses 25-27 are Paul’s summary of the gospel. When Paul wrote his letters, he probably wrote on parchment. In his day, there were no computers or even paper, so we can imagine it was very inconvenient to write a letter. The greetings in verses 1-16 and 21-23 are naturally indispensable in the last chapter. We can assume that what appears in the last chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans must be his burdensome words since he took the time to write more. Paul’s summary of the book of Romans in verses 25-27 seems to be very important, but why is his exhortation in verses 17-20 so important that it was placed in the last chapter?

One of the difficulties of the Roman Church was the societal conflict between the Jews and Gentiles, which may have led to the conflict between Jewish and Gentile believers within the Roman church. These societal challenges were just external causes of conflict. Those who taught differently within the church are what Paul refers to as the internal causes of conflict. Paul said in verses 17-18 (ESV), “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 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.”

It is evident to us that Paul knew that some people in the church in Rome were “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” They did not consider the interest of the sheep or the flock as the most important thing. Rather, these persons deceived believers out of self-interest. This situation was not only present in Paul’s time, but it also exists among churches today. Upon hearing of the situation, Paul’s first natural reaction was to blame these “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” At the same time, he reminded the innocent believers to be “wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” The direction to stay away from evil and be “innocent as to what is evil” is easy to understand. No Christian is willing to or should do evil. But the good deeds of Christians are sometimes taken advantage of by the enemy.

Read more: https://jbwm.org/bible-study-with-jairus-romans-16-2/