Romans: Unity & Trust

Romans 16.17-27

If you’re joining us for the first time today, we’re happy you’re here, but you’ve come on an unusual Sunday: today we are ending a series we’ve been doing for the last year and a half, on Paul’s letter to the Romans. That might sound like a bad thing for you, like you might be lost because you haven’t followed the last thirty-eight messages in this series, but it’s actually okay. For all its theological depth, Paul’s letter to the Romans actually has a fairly simple and unified message.

My wife and I have two children, Jack and Zadie. Jack and Zadie are very different from one another, but one way you see that difference is through the way they progress.

For the most part, Jack progresses through encouragement—he’s like me. Most of the time, he needs to be able to see that he can do something before he even attempts it. So he needs to be encouraged, he needs us to explain to him why the task in front of him isn’t actually insurmountable, that he really does have all the tools he needs to accomplish a task. And I’m the same way.

Zadie’s like her mom: she progresses through challenge. The best way to get Zadie to do something is to tell her she can’t do it. “This is really hard, kiddo, I don’t know if you’re up to this.” And she’ll go: “Okay, watch.” And she’ll do it. Sometimes if we ask her to do something, she’ll get this look in her eye (that frankly scares me a little) and say, “Tell me I can’t do it.” And when we say she can’t do it, she does it, or at least tries.

Challenge and encouragement are both important motivators for us. Challenge gives us a realistic portrait of where we are today; and encouragement gives us hope that we can be more than we are today.

That is essentially what Paul gives us in this letter—challenge and encouragement. He lets us know what’s actually going on in our lives as Christians today, so we can clearly see the challenge in front of us. But he also gives us incredible encouragement that what we are today is not all we will be tomorrow. That we actually can scale this mountain in front of us.

So that’s what we’re going to see today. We’re going to spend some time reviewing this letter before getting to the final text at the end of chapter 16, because this is where Paul has been going this whole time: it’s not just a final greeting, but a crescendo.

Summary

The first thing that Paul establishes in his letter with absolute clarity is that we are all sinners. All humanity has been plunged into chaos by sin; no one naturally worships God for who he is, but rather we seek to pursue our own desires, to be our own gods. That is what we mean when we talk about sin.

In the first three chapters, Paul levels the playing field. He’s speaking to a very mixed church in Rome. There are Jewish Christians—who were born into the people historically known as “the people of God”—and Gentile Christians, who would have been known as pagans to the Jews. But everyone is in the same situation: we are all sinners, we have all fallen short of God’s glory, and as a result, we are all naturally under God’s wrath. God hates sin, and he’s right to hate sin: he cannot allow sin to go unpunished.

And yet, because God loves his people, he refuses to allow them to continue in their sin. So he comes to save us.

And that’s what we see starting at the end of chapter 3: God’s salvation comes to us all in the same way, and that is through faith, not works. He gives the example of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish faith, who was declared righteous by God before he actually obeyed any of God’s commandments. Why was he declared righteous? Not because he was obedient, but because he believed in God. He trusted that God is who he says he is, and that he is deserving of his obedience. After that, Abraham did obey—but it’s not his obedience that saved him. It’s his faith that saved him.

And through faith, Paul says starting in chapter 5, we have hope. He gives us two very large categories for every human being who has ever lived: we are either “in Adam,” or we are “in Christ.” Naturally, we are all “in Adam”—we all inherit the sin of the first man, we inherit his rebellion against God, and we inherit God’s wrath against our sin.

But God gives faith to his people, takes them out of Adam, and places them “in Christ.” Christ lived the perfect life none of us lived, and took on the rebellion of his people, and was punished for that sin, in our place. Now, through faith, we live in Christ’s righteousness, which we wear (like a coat). God looks at us, sees the perfect life of his Son, and declares us righteous. That’s how he can punish sin while saving the sinner: he places our sin on Christ and punishes Christ for that sin, and he places Christ’s perfection on us and declares us perfect.

And Paul says in chapter 8 that no matter what our struggles are, no matter how much sin we still see in our own lives, it’s already been taken care of: nothing can separate us from his love. Because of this, we have hope. We have hope for eternal life—the promise that because of Christ, we will live forever in perfect joy with him. And we have hope for our Christian lives, today—the promise that through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit who lives in us actually does give us the power to learn to obey him and become more and more like Christ in practice.

Then in chapter 9, Paul widens the scope, showing that God’s salvation has come to all peoples in the same way. The Jews have received the Savior God had promised them, and the Gentiles have been brought in to the salvation this Savior gives.

As a result, these very diverse groups of people can truly live in unity—and that’s what Paul insists on in chapters 12-15. He shows us how we are to live together within the body of Christ (our church), in our cities, in our world. He shows us how we are to take care of one another, and work together to bring the gospel to all the nations.

And now, in this final passage of the letter, Paul gives the Romans a final exhortation, which summarizes the implications of everything he’s said, and reminds us of the true unity he has established amongst his people in Christ.

Fight Division (v. 17-20)

If you remember last week, in v. 1-16 Paul gives a long list of greetings to members of the church in Rome. And then, instead of continuing on to the other greetings he still has to give, he interrupts them with this exhortation: fight division at all cost. V. 17:

17 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. 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. 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. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Some people have wondered why Paul breaks up his final salutations to give this warning against those who create division in the church, but it’s not hard to understand. He’s doing it because he’s literally just finished his list of greetings that celebrates the unity this church enjoys in Christ, and his unity with them. He’ll come back to that unity in a minute, so this warning pops up here in the middle, accentuating the very point he’s trying to make.

Romans, if you wanted to, you could find a million reasons to be divided amongst yourselves, but you haven’t. You’re one body, with many members, and despite the multiple points of tension in your church, you’re doing well. So protect that unity at all costs.

Paul says to watch out for those who cause divisions and who create obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have been taught. Not just people who say wrong things, but who incite others to act in ways that are contrary to sound doctrine.

Now we don’t know specifically what false teachings (or teachers) Paul was talking about here, and we don’t need to, because Paul doesn’t identify them; he describes them.

He says in v. 18 that they draw people away from right doctrine, as we’ve seen. He says that they don’t serve Christ, but their own appetites—no matter what altruistic impression they give, their goals are ultimately selfish. Paul says they deceive the naïve through smooth talk and flattery: “Come on, you’re smart. You love the Lord. You can see this is right.”

Paul says these people are convincing; they’re compelling, because they tell you what you want to hear. But just because you want to hear it doesn’t make it right, and if you learn to know the Bible, you’ll learn to see that.

But sometimes even the most knowledgable Christians can be taken in by a convincing false teacher. In the end, the false teaching will reveal itself,  because the end result of false teaching is always division.

Now we need to be careful to not accuse someone too quickly of trying to create division. “Division” is not the same thing as “disagreement.” We can disagree frequently, and we can do it well—we saw this in chapter 14. We talked a few weeks ago about secondary issues, which aren’t central to the gospel, on which we can disagree and still consider ourselves brothers and sisters in Christ—and even still be part of the same church.

Division comes when we place our disagreements on such a level of importance that it makes communion with one another impossible, when our opinions on secondary issues are so important that they keep us from brotherly love.

Paul is very clear concerning people who provoke these kinds of situations in a church: he says to avoid them. A lot of us won’t dare going this far, for fear of being impolite. Paul’s not afraid of being impolite—if you seek to divide this church, our command from God is to avoid you.

Now, Paul’s not warning the Romans about this because they are currently being divided. He says it in v. 19: For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you. Like Joe said a couple weeks ago, they were doing well. And their disagreements over secondary issues related to their diversity were being handled in the right way. But, Paul says, I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

And this warning, this reminder, is coupled with assurance. V. 20: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

What he says here is incredible, and it’s subtle enough that we might miss it. The God of peace will soon crush Satan—not under his feet, but under your feet. How will he do this? He will do it by giving us everything we need to live united to one another, many members of one body, living out the gospel amongst ourselves and bringing the gospel forward to those outside the church.

We went through a divisive situation in our church last year, many of you will remember it. You remember the pain it caused, and how worrying it was. It was a scary situation to be in.

But God did not allow that situation to gut the church. You resisted the division, you saw it for what it was, and you said no. You loved each other well, and protected each other well.

What God did in our church last year is proof that we don’t need to be afraid. Christ has won the victory over Satan, and Satan will not stand. Even if he seeks to divide, he will not stand. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Live United (v. 21-23)

And it is to this unity in the body that Paul returns in the following verses, when he comes back to his formal salutations. It’s like the second piece of bread on a sandwich. He began by celebrating unity within the church of Rome (v. 1-16, last week), takes a step back to contrast it with those who create division (v. 17-20), then comes back to hammer in the nail even further by highlighting unity again (v. 21-23).

But this time, it’s slightly different from what we saw last week. These greetings are not to specific people in Rome, but rather from specific people who are in Corinth with Paul. And in these greetings, like we saw last week, he encourages the Romans to rejoice in the unity they have, in the midst of diversity—not just unity with one another, but also with other Christians in other places.

V. 21:

21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.

23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.

So first we see Timothy. Timothy is Paul’s young protégé, a Gentile to whom he wrote two letters we have in the New Testament. He eventually became a pastor in the church in Ephesus; he’s a sort of spiritual “son” to Paul, and probably his closest collaborator.

Next, we see Lucius, Jason and Sosipater. These men are Jews—Paul calls them his “kinsmen,” and he himself is Jewish. We’re not sure who Lucius is, but Jason is surely the Jason we see in Acts 15, and Sosipater is probably the man called “Sopater from Berea” in Acts 20.

So already we see ethnic diversity: Jewish and Gentile Christians greeting the church in Rome together.

Next we see Gaius. Gaius was probably a Gentile, given his name, and he was almost surely a man of wealth, because he was able to give Paul a place to live in Corinth, and host the entire church of Corinth in his home.

We see something similar with Erastus. Erastus is the city treasurer, essentially the Minister of Finance. This was a man of great influence, an elected official in the city of Corinth. He’s a man who would have been known to almost everyone in the city.

So that’s one side of the socioeconomic scale.

On the other side, we find two men: Tertius and Quartus. Notice v. 22: I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Obviously, Tertius isn’t asserting that he is the author of the letter (Paul is identified at its author at the beginning), but rather that he’s the one who was holding the pen. Tertius acted as secretary to Paul, at least in this instance, and took dictation from him.

So we have Tertius, and then we have Quartus, at the end of v. 23.

You don’t need a degree in Latin to identify what these names mean. Tertius means “third,” and Quartus means “fourth”. What does this mean? It means that these men were very likely born into slavery and not even given names at birth, but rather were simply called, “Third” and “Fourth.”

And yet, Paul calls Quartus “our brother.” Not my brother—our brother. Although Quartus and Erastus would have had no conceivable reason to even look at one another, much less be found in the same room together, even less speak to one another, here they are: brothers. Tertius and Quartus were considered, and accepted, and seen, by men who had no reason outside of Christ to do so.

Why? Because now, in Christ, they are no longer defined by their ethnicity, or their power, or their socioeconomic status; they are defined by who they are in Christ. So they all have the same value, and they all have the same privilege. Andy Crouch said, “Family is a place where you can’t hide; and it’s a place where you can’t get lost.”

What an encouragement these greetings would have been to the Romans! It’s proof that what was happening in their midst—this unity in the midst of tension and differences that ordinarily would have divided them—was happening in other places too. Paul’s saying, “You see, Rome? Everything I’ve just spent fifteen chapters describing, God is doing it, not just in your church, but throughout the Roman empire!” What an encouragement!

Strengthened with such encouragement, the Romans leave the reading of this letter with a renewed motivation and power to live united to one another as Jewish and Gentile Christians, members of one body.

Doxology (v. 25-27)

As is his usual way, Paul ends his letter with a doxology, which serves as a reminder of the assurance the Romans have in Christ, in the light of all of these massive truths he has laid out for them. V. 25:

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 that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been 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 forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Remember, Paul has given the Romans some monumental tasks here. Living in unity in a context in which division would be very easy—even (humanly speaking) inevitable. Taking to heart the need for peoples in other places (namely, Spain) to hear the gospel. Living out in practice the earth-shattering realities he laid out in Romans 1-8. This is a heavy load he’s placing on their shoulders, and ours.

But the good news, which he has stated over and over again in this letter, is that it’s not up to us to make it happen. We don’t need to muster the strength in ourselves to get this work done.

God is able to strengthen us, by anchoring us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is how he has always strengthened his people—see what he says in v. 25-26, when he reminds the Romans of the revelations given by the prophets that have now been made clear in the gospel of Christ. This too, he has done over and over again in this letter, to remind us that everything he describes here was always God’s plan. He has never once deviated from his plan, and he won’t do so now.

Which is very good news for us, because God’s goal and his intention, which Paul already stated back in chapter 1, verse 5, is to bring about the obedience of faith.

God gives us faith to obey; God gives us strength to remain united and to help one another grow in obedience; God gives us faith to undertake God’s mission to bring the gospel to the nations. He is the one who does all of it, through his people and for the good of his people.

Joe mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but Paul likely didn’t make it to Spain. We know he made it to Rome, but we don’t know for sure what happened to him after that.

And it doesn’t matter. The gospel made it to Spain, because God brought it there. And he brought it much further than that—all the way to us, two thousand years later.

God performs this glorious work in his church, according to his wisdom, for his glory, through Jesus Christ. We can trust him.

Because of what Christ has done, God saves sinners.

Because of what Christ has done, God causes imperfect people to grow to be like his Son.

Because of what Christ has done, nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Because of what Christ has done, God will make his glory known to the whole world.

Now, what does this mean for us, today, in Paris in 2023?

It means that we can trust him.

If you are feeling dubious about your own salvation, and whether or not you think God will keep on loving you over time (because you know how unlovable you really are), you can trust him.

If you are worrying about what your place in this huge story might be, you can trust him.

If you’re burdened by the thought of your family members or friends or neighbors not knowing Christ, you can trust him.

If you’re bothered by the idea that you don’t get to reign over your own life, you can trust him.

If you’re worried about being part of the church, worried about getting too close to people because of how often you’ve been wounded in the past, you can trust him.

If you’re hearing all of these magnificent things about God’s plan and worrying that they just might be too good to be true… They’re not. You can trust him.

We can trust him, brothers and sisters. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. His plan, kept secret for long ages, has now been disclosed to us in his Word. He is able to strengthen us in the gospel and in Jesus Christ. He will bring his good news to the nations, to bring about the obedience of faith. He will be glorified, forever, through Jesus Christ.

And we will be there to see it. We will be there to work with him, and be served by him, and love him, and rejoice in him, forever.