Book by Book
The Bible is the most important book in the world.
It not only takes us through the whole history of the universe from beginning to end, but it can also speak clearly to us about daily life:
Why are we here?
Is there really a God who has shown up in human history?
How should we live?
Book by Book explores the Bible's answers to the deepest questions.
Book by Book
Romans episode 10 - The Gospel's Global Imprint
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The final chapter of Romans contains something remarkable – proof that Paul's gospel actually works. As we conclude our journey through this powerful letter, we discover a treasure trove of names representing the diverse, international impact of early Christianity.
Behind each name lies an extraordinary story. Phoebe, the deaconess who likely delivered this letter, established a tradition of women in ministry that inspired church leaders for centuries. Priscilla and Aquila, the missionary power couple who risked their lives for Paul, hosted a house church and mentored countless believers. Most surprisingly, we meet Andronicus and Junia – a married couple described as "outstanding among the apostles" who reportedly preached throughout Eastern Europe.
The stories become even more fascinating as we discover Rufus, whose father Simon of Cyrene carried Jesus' cross, and Tryphena, allegedly a former barbarian queen who witnessed Christian martyrs and became a missionary alongside her sister. These aren't just names on a page – they're living testimonies that the gospel transcends every barrier of gender, ethnicity, and social status.
What emerges is a portrait of early Christianity as radically diverse and inclusive, yet unified in Christ. Though Romans focuses on grace, it culminates with a list of workers – evidence that grace produces action. When Paul writes that "God will soon crush Satan under your feet," he reveals that this diverse, united church is the fulfillment of God's original promise to defeat evil through human partnership.
This study challenges us to examine our own legacy. Are we workers for Jesus? Do our churches reflect the beautiful diversity of early Christianity? The same gospel that transformed the ancient world still holds power today – "for the salvation of everyone who believes."
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Welcome to Book by Book
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to Book by Book , the joy of meeting Jesus in all the scriptures . My name is Steve Nicholls and I'm so glad you've joined us today . We've had a great time learning together from Paul's mighty letter to the Romans . I hope you have enjoyed it and been blessed by it too . And today is our 10th and final study , and here to lead us in our discussion is Tobias Brown , senior Pastor of Grace Church , broccoli , dr Paul Blackham , theologian , church planter and church minister , and PJ Blackham , from the Global Church History Project writer , and Paul's son , pj . It's great to have you here with us . Thank you everybody for being here for this study .
Paul's Gospel for Everyone, Everywhere
Speaker 1Paul believed the same gospel could save the Gentiles of Macedonia , the Jews of Jerusalem , those at the heart of the Roman Empire , and the pagans in Spain . But is that right ? Can the same gospel save anyone anywhere ? Is there any proof that what Paul has said so far actually works ? Well , let's turn to Romans , chapter 16 , and find out .
Phoebe, Priscilla and Aquila
Speaker 1If you have a Bible , pick it up .
Speaker 1Romans , chapter 16 , we'll read a few verses together . Paul writes I commend to you our sister Phoebe , a servant of the church in Cancria . I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you , for she has been a great help to many people , including me . Greet , priscilla and Aquila , my fellow workers in Christ Jesus . They risked their lives for me . Not only I , but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them . Greet also the church that meets at their house .
Speaker 1Greet , my dear friend Epinatus , who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia . Greet Mary , who worked very hard for you . Greet Andronicus and Junia , my relatives who have been in prison with me . They are outstanding among the apostles and they were in Christ before I was . Well , the list goes on and on . And , paul , if I may begin with you , romans , chapter 16 , it's as much a part of God's inspired word as every other chapter of this letter , Although we might be tempted , when we come to these greetings at the end of the letter sometimes to rush through them . What's so great about Romans , chapter 16 ? I ?
Speaker 2don't know . In some ways , when I'm asked what's my favourite chapter , I sometimes say , oh , it's chapter 16 , because he's been promising all the way through . Listen , church is God's answer to the world's problems , and here the whole world can get united together instead of it being this bunch of tribal nations fighting each other and hating each other . Actually , everyone can all be united together and love one another and serve one another and all the you're like I don't think so . How's that gonna work ? And then he's saving up this amazing jackpot moment at the end where he's gonna go . I'm just gonna say hi to some people and then in the process , he's giving you like I'm saying hi for this person from africa , asia , russia , like all over the world . And he's giving you all these names of people . And if you , as we get to know them all because at first you're like I don't know who that is , yeah , but once we get to know more of about them and some you know , there's bits about them in the bible , but sometimes they're from famous , from other church history and things but even just like , there's a like in verse seven there , herodian . Well , is that someone to do with Herod ? You can't have someone like that in church ? Yeah , they're in church .
Speaker 2And then Persis , in verse 12 , that's someone from Persia . So he's got someone from Herod . How's he got in church ? Yeah , well , and someone from Persia , a woman who's worked hard in the Lord . Then there's someone mentioned about it in 14 , he's called Hermas and he kind of writes a book that becomes an absolute bestseller in the first century and things , and you're like whoa , how are all these different people from so many different backgrounds all united together in church ?
Speaker 2Paul , what a blockbuster of an ending to the book . And then , connected to that in verse 17, . It's just what is his passion , what's his heart ? And as he's telling you this and I can imagine he's loving it and he's all proud of this and he's like look at this person , this person , this person , this person , they're all wanting Jesus . And he's like , mind you , verse 17, . Watch out for people who cause divisions . Like the worst thing in church is people who cause divisions , because what they're doing , as he explains , is they're not serving our Lord Christ verse 18 . Keep away from people like that . They're not serving Christ , they're serving their own appetites , their own interests . They have smooth talk , flattery , but they're just deceiving people . You think , wow , what is it that most upsets him ? It's people who actually they may look okay and say the right things , but actually they cause division . So that's poison , because the heart of church , the thing that's going to change the world , is unity around Christ . What a chapter .
Speaker 1They undo all that Christ has done . Oh yeah , terrible . All right , let's get into these names . Pj , verse one Phoebe . I commend to you our sister Phoebe , a servant of the church . Go on , tell us about Phoebe
Rufus, Simon of Cyrene's Son
Speaker 1.
Speaker 2So there's so many early church traditions , but one of the people that tells us most about Phoebe is St John Chrysostom , and he's this incredible preacher in the is he the fourth or the fifth century ? Is John Chrysostom ?
Speaker 3and he's this incredible preacher in the . Is he the fourth or the fifth ?
Speaker 2century Is he ? Yeah , fifth century From Constantinople , yeah , incredible man , incredible preacher , and he records loads of stuff about all these names . And he does say that Phoebe was a deaconess , and you know where we have that word servant , but then it's the word like deacon , you know , in scripture . And he says and he had loads of his family , had deaconesses , his auntie was a deaconess and she , uh , she was an inspiration for him . She may have been the reason he became a preacher in the first place and the way he talked about her so highly .
Speaker 2And when he ended up being exiled , um , into , you know , beyond the borders of the roman empire and being killed , that auntie of his went all the way with him and she was like preaching to places she'd never heard of . And he feels that phoebe was like the , the founder of this tradition that the people were still keeping alive in his own day centuries later . And so he really feels that , but with good , uh , good cause , because he knows all these traditions , all these documents handed down and all the uh people who had been taught by people and so on . Back to phoebe , and he knows this was a kind of that , all these deaconesses that he knew so well about . They were all like emulating this phoebe . She was this icon of uh of god to the people of rome , and she had been to corinth before that , and she set this example which lasted centuries . So many people wanted to be like her Brilliant .
Speaker 1And she probably carried this letter of Paul to Rome , didn't she ? So he says , receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints . Give her any help she may need Brilliant . Okay , pj , we're going to stay with you . Verses 3 and 4 , we meet Priscilla and Aquila . Now we know a bit about them from elsewhere in the New Testament . Who were they ?
Speaker 2Yeah , well , there's a story from the second century and it collects together earlier traditions , even called the Clementine Recognitions , and it is worth reading this . It's a crazy story and I can't tell the whole thing . Ignitions , and it is worth reading this . It's . It's a crazy story and I can't tell the whole thing , but it does tell us about aquila and where he came from , and it says that he was actually clement's brother . When we read about clement , he's mentioned , isn't ?
Speaker 1he yeah , yeah um and he .
Speaker 2So he was clement's brother , but then he had been sailing to the middle east once and then there was a storm which made the shipwreck , and then pirates caught him and so he used to be called Faust , but he had to rename himself to Aquila once he had joined this crew
Warrior Queens Transformed by Christ
Speaker 2and then when that crew fell , on hard times , that's , he sold him into slavery , but then , thankfully , the Syrophoenician woman that Jesus met , she adopted him , she . So she bought him and bought his freedom and then adopted him and then raised him to read these scriptures and everything from a very early age and and then , uh , then he fell . Well , I can't do the whole story , but basically there's so much more about him you'll have to read the whole story . But in the end he meets zacchaeus because he fell astray for a bit , but then zacchaeus brings him back on board and then peter comes to meet him and then , as peter's going to journey all through Lebanon and Syria and Turkey and eventually to Rome , aquila joined him .
Speaker 2So he had been a preacher from basically probably his teenage years with the apostle Peter , and they say when he got to Rome with Peter , that's when he met Priscilla , and then they ended up getting married and she had already been an amazing preacher . They say that she had been persecuted for her faith and so they had both independently been incredible witnesses . And then they marry and they , you know , they keep at it and other people think he's , he had to be one of the 72 apostles , which is the you know . So you get so many of these early church lists of who all those people were and they feel it's got to be , because Paul calls them fellow helpers and he calls so many other apostles now . So they're like so , even if so , they may have been trained by Jesus , uh , some people feel , but other people feel like , even if they weren't , if it's that story , uh , from the Clementine recognitions , um , then they achieve like an apostolic height . They were like as good as apostles , hanging out with the apostles .
Speaker 1Yeah , and when they appear together in the New Testament , which they do a number of places , don't they ? We can look them up and sort of trace who they are and build up some more biography . So her name is often first , isn't it ? It's Priscilla and Aquila , and very rarely Aquila and Priscilla , yeah , which maybe says something about her role and her leadership in the church .
Speaker 2Yeah , that she was the more famous teacher . Another example like that in the Bible you have Huldah , who's more famous than her husband , and she's obviously this incredible teacher who , it seems , taught Jeremiah , because Jeremiah was in the school of the prophets when she was in charge of it all . So she was this incredible teacher in the Old Testament and preacher who preached to kings of the Old Testament . Yeah , and so she's this incredible teacher in the Old Testament and preacher who preached to kings . That's the Old Testament . Yeah , and so she's just like that . Well , she , you know . So people often have . You'll see some commentaries and they say , oh , the early church was quite patriarchal and things like that . You can see that really is the case . And when you know a woman's a more famous preacher , the Bible will just tell you and it does happen there we go First .
Speaker 1Two names on the list , wow , okay , let's keep going , tobias , we're going to scoot down to verse 13 . Rufus greet Rufus , chosen in the Lord , and his mother , who's been a mother to me too . What do we know about Rufus ?
Speaker 3Well , rufus is a very interesting person in the Bible . We don't know much about him , but what we do know is that his father has an interesting story . You go back to Mark , chapter 15 . His father was Cyrene , the Jew from the countryside who was forced to help carry Jesus' cross for him . This was Rufus' father .
Speaker 3Now , their whole life was changed because of this experience , and that's one of the things we know about them is that his father was someone who came to Christ after carrying Jesus' cross , and could you imagine him going home after that experience and after the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to see , just , just just what he was involved in this , this sort of hands-on sort of act of redemption that God was accomplishing in and through the person of his son , jesus Christ ? His whole life changes and his whole family changes , and that's why Paul says that Rufus chosen in the Lord . This family was chosen . His father was just out and about going from the countryside and he was chosen by God to carry the cross of Jesus Christ , and that changed their family forever . So his father was Simon of Cyrene , and so that's what we know about him from the Scripture .
Speaker 2I always think that must be great , that when it gets to the verse in Mark and it's like Jesus says take up the cross and follow me , he'd be like his dad's like .
Speaker 3I did . I'm the only one who did .
Speaker 2It must have been a great story .
Speaker 1And he did that and his children came to faith . Amazing , isn't that a lesson for ?
Speaker 3us today .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , PJ , I'm going to return to you . Going back a little bit to verse 7 , Andronicus and Junia . They're not mentioned again in the New Testament , but there are sources outside the Bible that tell us a bit about them . Tell us about where we learn about them and what we learn .
Speaker 2Well , just within the passage and this is what most early people pick up on is that they are both apostles . Both of them are of note among the apostles , so junior and andronicus are both apostles who are married to each other , which is incredible thought . So they must be from that 72 , the 72 apostles , because what is the definition of an apostle . That means it has to be that one who's sent . Basically , isn't it that an apostle apostle by Jesus himself ? Yeah , that's true .
Speaker 2So Paul gets sent like after time , but we know they were much earlier than that because Paul tells us so they must have been part of that earlier group and that you know there's that one time Jesus only has the apostles with him . And then he asked are you going to leave me too ? You know , so we know the apostles . Whenever someone has been a Christian for a long time , you know in the in , the early , in the acts of the apostles , it means they were part of that group , really part of the 12 apostles . So that had been their backstory . And uh , what one church tradition says that they were not originally married . They were both sent out as apostles by the lord jesus , and then that's how they met . And then they hadn't been married for a while until , like , they went to Ephesus where John was , and then John's like you actually should be , and he did that they say . And then he helped them in their missionary journeys together all around like the Aegean , and they preached in like Thrace and so on . And then they because Peter was Andrew's and andrew was preaching around that sort of area , so he was like you should go help peter . And there's a lot of people in these lists . If we look at lists of those 72 apostles in the early church , a lot of people tried to get all those names together and there's too many uh lists to mention but like some of them are very early , like dorotheus of uh if you've read saintly saviour chapter , you'll know who Dorotheus is and he wrote one list , so that's quite early . And , yeah , so you'll see that Andrew sent a lot of these people to Rome to help his brother out because he was like I'm going to have to trek off on my own to some pretty dangerous places , but I know Peter needs some help , so he sends a lot of these people and that included Andronicus and Junius . So they've already set up in Rome but they would have incredible new things . Because we think Paul is right in this , because he's saying I know you already know this , but I'm trying to remind you , you know , to inspire you to go out again .
Speaker 2And so they went to incredible places . They went to Pannonia , so the biggest city in the Roman Empire . Where is that ? Oh , that was yeah , it doesn't exactly exist anymore the province of Pannonia . It encompasses a lot of countries like Serbia and Hungary and it's that sort of like Middle Europe or Eastern Europe sort of area , and it had the biggest city in the empire . Sirmium was more populous than Rome . It had millions of people , five million , didn't it ? Millions of people ? Five million , didn't it ? Five million people ? Yeah , some records , isn't it ? It's incredible stuff , um .
Speaker 2And so they went there to like the biggest in the empire , and then they so you'd think , they went to like the height of , like the urban , the most urban context you could in the ancient world . And then they went into the wilds of like you know where you have like the north men that Romans were always like they're're totally barbarous , like Thracians and Dacians . And they went to Czechia . You know they preached to the Slavs . And you get early Russian lists of these apostles and they will say that they preached even in Russia . So they preached all in those kinds of areas . It's no wonder that he says they are outstanding even among the apostles . Even the other apostles are like whoa .
Speaker 1PJ . Thank you , let's keep going , because there's so many , and these aren't just names on a piece of paper , are they ? These are servants of the Lord .
Speaker 2These are real people with real stories .
Speaker 1Verse 21, . Tobias , here's a name we might be more familiar with , timothy . He comes up elsewhere in the New Testament . Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 3He's in quite a few places in the new testament . He has two books named after him . Um , he was paul's understudy . Who , uh , who'd come from ? Come from a christian background . He had a grandmother and a mother who were believers in in christ and at some point he was following paul on some of his missionary journeys . I think he was with him in thessalonica and then athens . Point , he was following Paul on some of his missionary journeys . I think he was with him in Thessalonica and in Athens . So he was a really important understudy of Paul that Paul was training to help lead some of the churches , pastor some of the churches that he had planted .
Speaker 1It's another name that we've got to find , either online or in a book , a concordance , and look up these names and trace the story , trace the biography ourselves . That's it , pj . I'm coming back to you again . We haven't forgotten you , paul , we're coming to you in just a moment . No , it's all right , Verse 12 , PJ . Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa , those women who work hard in the Lord . What's so special ?
Speaker 2about them . Wow , so many things . They appear in the history books . They were very famous because Trithena had been a queen , a queen of the Thracian people . So what happened ? When she first came to power , she had married the king of half the Thracians . They were divided and then her husband got murdered by the rival king and he sought to , you know , take over the whole of Thrace . But then this queen , she takes this issue to the Roman emperor and says you know , she tells him everything that happened and everything . And then she , so then the rival king , he gets deposed and she becomes the queen of all the Thracian . She unites the tribes .
Speaker 2But she , her background was actually Cimmerian . So before that point , so she , the Cimmerians , you might know them from Conan the Barbarian , those stories , and they were the most famous of these warrior peoples of the north in so many languages of places that they adventured in . Uh , chimerion means hero , like in the . Into the georgian language it means hero , um , they . So they were super renowned and famous and they said they had to be defeated by trickery and intrigue , like people couldn't just take them on like that . And she was from that background . So she was this like warrior , barbarian , but then she was also wise and new , like , oh , I can't take this person on , but I can , like you know , appeal to the emperor and everything .
Speaker 2And so that all happens and she thinks the emperor then seems to be the most just person . And this is caesar augustus . And she's like , he's absolutely incredible . And she ends up worshipping the emperor like so many people , wow , and she became a priestess of the imperial cult until , of course , nero takes over , you know , and then he's , he's not great at all . Um , so then she , obviously her faith is rocked then . But then she goes to antioch and there's a student of paul there . Oh , what's her name ? I can't remember . It's her name Fekla .
Speaker 3That's the one .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's Fekla . So she saw Fekla as she was in the arena of Antioch and she was like about to be martyred , but she wouldn't give in , she wouldn't renounce the faith of Jesus . And she was like so that's the true God . And so she joins Fekla in the arena . She's like I'm ready to die for Christ . And so they release the lions , or like these lionesses . But the lionesses won't attack the saints , you know , they peacefully lie down and so they can escape in the end . And so then Tryphena , she has to go and find Tryphosa , her sister , and it's like , you know , I found the true God . And they become missionaries together and they preach all throughout the roman empire because they are , you know , famous , yeah , princesses from canaria , these barbarian princesses . They're so famous , and so they can go all throughout the roman empire . They've got these privileges and so on , and they use it to preach the gospel everywhere amazing , amazing , wow .
Speaker 1oh , coming to you finally , verse 20 . Verse 20 . How and why can Satan be crushed under our feet ?
Closing Prayer and Farewell
Speaker 2Wow , it's great . It goes right back to the beginning of the Bible where the Lord , when Satan looks as if he's like I've got the human race , now I've got you , You're mine . And then Jesus was there and he said no , no , like she's Eve is gonna , through a descendant , give birth to me and I'm gonna crush you and you're not gonna have the human race . And this wonderful way where Paul's like saying that promise , which is really what Jesus has accomplished in destroying the devil . Actually , the devil is crushed . When we take the gospel out to the nations , the devil thinks he owns the nations . When we get the church out and plant churches all over the world and preach the gospel , Satan's getting crushed every time we share the gospel .
Speaker 1Wow , yeah , wow , tobias . Last question falls to you , verse 26 , I think it is . Paul writes so that all nations might believe and obey God . Is that the right conclusion ? I mean , I guess it is . Is that ?
Speaker 3the right conclusion to this letter . This is such a befitting conclusion to this letter because Paul has just spent the last 16 chapters talking about how the gospel solution is to unite all things together to himself and in , through the person of his son , jesus Christ , that all people , jew and Gentile , would be united under the gospel , as Paul says in Romans , chapter 10, . He says there is no difference between Jew and Gentile . The same Lord is Lord over all and richly blesses all who call upon him , so that everyone , everyone , jew , gentile , rich , poor , black , everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved . So I believe this is the right conclusion to this gospel letter that Paul writes here . Wonderful wonderful .
Speaker 1Paul preaches this international gospel , so we will preach the gospel internationally , absolutely . Oh wonderful , pj . Paul , tobias , thank you so much for our studies together in Romans . It's just been such a blessing , thank you , thank you . Thank you , steve , it's just been such a blessing , thank you , thank you , thank you , steve .
Speaker 1As we finish our final study in Romans , what's the key truth from chapter 16 ? I think it's this the first century was filled with living proofs of the gospel . Paul said in chapter 1 , verse 16 , that he wasn't ashamed of the gospel , because it's the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes . The international message of the gospel left an international crater when it crashed down onto Rome . Wherever the gospel is preached , it ought to leave a church as diverse as the society around it , a diverse church with an international vision . Not only was the church in Rome as cosmopolitan as the place it found itself , but it was hard-working . Phoebe , priscilla and Aquila . Mary Tryphena and Tryphosa . Mary Tryphena and Tryphosa .
Speaker 1Romans is a letter all about grace , but it ends with a list of workers . The gospel creates workers for Jesus . If you were included in a list like this , what would be written about you ? There are still people , groups , who have never had a missionary visit them . There are still people , groups , who have never had a missionary visit them . There are still languages in which God's word has never been heard . There are still communities with no church . There are still people living and working near you and me who need Jesus and the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes . Lord , make us workers for you . Look out for other titles in the Book by Book series and join us again soon as we end our time in Romans . Today , let's use the words of Romans 15 , 13 as our prayer . May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him , so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit . Amen , god bless you and goodbye , bye .
