Scripture Reading: Rom. 16:1-4, 6, 12b
The divine word in God’s revelation is always very economical. In every case, not one word is wasted. Every page, every line, even every word in this Holy Book is valuable and necessary. Based on this principle, we must consider Romans 16 just as important as Romans 6. We all value Romans 6 highly, and we know what is revealed there. But very few of you are clear about Romans 16. Romans 16 is not a short chapter but a chapter with twenty-seven verses.
There are no doctrines covered in Romans 16 — no justification, no redemption, no reconciliation, no sanctification, no glorification, no “-tion” of any kind. But this chapter is full of names, with name after name. We want to pick up five names from this chapter with a purpose.
The number one name is Phoebe, which is the best name among all the female names. The second name is Prisca, the Greek spelling for Priscilla, a dear name. I do love these two names. The first one was given by me to my first daughter because I knew that this name was a good name. The second name, Priscilla, was given to my wife. The reality of a name is the person.
The third name is a brother’s name, Aquila, the husband of Prisca, Priscilla. According to the principle in the Bible, the husband’s name always comes before the wife’s name. But in this case, altogether against the divine principle, the wife’s name comes first, and then the husband’s. It seems to break the principle.
When this couple is first mentioned in Acts 18, Aquila is named first, and then Priscilla. When I was young, when I came to Romans 16, I questioned which one was the husband. I even thought that there must be a mistake in some manuscript. However, there is a definite reason for this arrangement in the Word.
The fourth name is a very familiar name, Mary. There are at least six Marys in the New Testament, and the Mary in Romans 16 is the sixth one. Mary is the New Testament form of the Old Testament name Miriam.
The first Mary is the mother of the Lord Jesus. Another is Mary the Magdalene. She had been possessed by seven demons, and those demons were cast out by the Lord Jesus. She was released, and from that time she became a real seeker of the Lord, one who loved Him very much. Yet another Mary is the mother of John Mark in Acts 12.
Here are four Marys: the Mary in Romans 16, the mother of Jesus, Mary the Magdalene, and the mother of John Mark in Acts 12. In addition to these, there are another two Marys.
The six Marys cover the Christian life and the church life as well, starting from the incarnation of Christ and consummating in the practical church life. The incarnation of Christ started with the first Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the Mary in Romans 16 is the consummation of the practical church life. From the first Mary to the last Mary, all of the Christian life and the church life is fully covered.
Mary is the fourth name that we want to pick up, and the fifth is Persis, in verse 12. Probably none of you has ever paid attention to this name, and many do not know that Persis is a female name. A sister by the name of Persis was greeted purposely by the apostle Paul in Romans 16.
In this chapter there are a number of names in addition to these five that we have picked up. Because not one word is wasted in the Holy Bible, we must consider these names in the greetings of the apostle Paul as something very practical.
We need to consider Romans 16 as important as Romans 6, even as important as Romans 8, and as important as Romans 12. Romans 6 is one chapter of the book of Romans, Romans 8 is another chapter, and Romans 12 is another. But we must not forget that Romans has the sixteenth chapter. If you know Romans 6, you must know Romans 16. If you know Romans 8, you must know Romans 16. If you know Romans 12, you must know Romans 16. It seems that the Romans of even many seeking Christians does not have sixteen chapters. Their Romans contains only fourteen chapters, perhaps with some fragments of chapters 15 and 16.
We all need to be impressed that Romans has sixteen chapters. We all have to pick up chapter 16 of Romans. Without adequate experience it is very hard to get into Romans 16 to see what is covered there, what it reveals to us. In this matter Romans 16 is like Romans 8. You need experience to get into Romans 8 and to understand it. Even more, without experience it is impossible for you to understand Romans 16.
Most Christian readers would consider that Romans 16 is merely a chapter of greetings. Apparently, this is the case. But I would say strongly that this is not the case. Actually and practically, this chapter is much more than a list of greetings.
The book of Romans is a full and complete sketch of the Christian life and the church life. No other book is so complete as the book of Romans in these two matters. It is not so much in detail, but it is complete. It is a sketch, an outline, in full, of the Christian life and the church life.
It is somewhat easy to understand that Romans 6 and Romans 8 reveal the Christian life and that Romans 12 reveals the church life. However, it is not so easy to see what is revealed in Romans 16. As the last chapter of this book, Romans 16 reveals the practical church life.
The practical church life is not revealed even in Romans 15. The main point in chapter 15 is the communication between the churches, the fellowship in the Body between the churches. You could not see the practical church life in any of the first fifteen chapters of Romans. The term church or churches is not used in those chapters at all. But in this one chapter, chapter 16, church or churches is used five times. The practical church life is here in this chapter.
We must not consider Romans 16 merely a chapter of greetings. It is a chapter of the practical church life. From this chapter we can see that the proper church life, first of all, depends on the sisters.
Before Paul greeted the saints, he recommended a particular sister to them in a very meaningful way. We may expect such a recommendation to come at the end, but Paul made this recommendation of a sister the number one item. Moreover, after this recommendation, the first ones that Paul greeted were a couple, but he mentioned the wife’s name first.
Then he greeted Mary, a sister, and two more sisters we did not cover, and Persis, another sister.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul put his recommendation and his greetings in this way with the purpose of showing that the sisters occupy the first place in the practical church life.
Now we need to get into the details related to these four sisters and one brother.
If you read carefully, you could see that all the things related to these four sisters include all the aspects of the practical church life. First, Phoebe is a serving one, a deaconess. Deaconess is the feminine form of deacon, which is the Anglicized form of the Greek word for serving one. Therefore, Phoebe represents the serving spirit in the practical church life.
In the practical church life the first thing is not doctrine but serving. The one recommended is not a pastor, not a lady-minister, but a deaconess, a serving one, one who serves. The holy Word is economical, but Paul uses two long verses to recommend this dear sister, to indicate in what way she serves: “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church which is in Cenchrea, that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been the patroness of many, of myself as well” (vv. 1-2). First, Paul calls her a deaconess, then a patroness, which is a word of dignity, denoting one who helps, sustains, and supplies, and which indicates the high esteem with which she was regarded.
Perhaps the best nurse in an American hospital could give you a part of the picture of the service of a Roman patroness. In Paul’s time a patroness was one who was always with you, alongside you, taking care of you, supplying all your need, bearing all your burdens, and solving all your problems, meeting all your need. Paul charged the saints in Rome to take care of Phoebe because she had been serving many in this way. Her service meant that she would provide whatever you needed. Whether your need was great or small, right away she would simply give you whatever you needed. The service of the best nurse may be a picture of one-third of the service of such a patroness.
What we need is the training of so many sisters to be church nurses. In a sense, the church is a hospital, a haven to care for so many sick ones. We need to bring the sick ones in and take care of them. The brothers are doctors, and the sisters and some of the brothers have to be nurses.
If you sisters love the Lord and mean business to be for the church in the Lord’s recovery, you have to consider yourselves as serving ones, as those giving nursing care, just as the nurses in a hospital. Yet this nursing care is just one-third of the service of a Roman patroness.
The Greek word that refers to the Holy Spirit is parakletos, and it is translated as “Comforter.” It is hard for any translator to find the best English equivalent for this word. The best suggestion is the word for the Roman patron. The Holy Spirit is the Patron, and all the serving sisters are patronesses. Moreover, 1 John 2:1 says that the Lord Jesus is our Patron with the Father. In this verse the word parakletos is usually translated “Advocate,” but the best English translation would be “Patron,” one called alongside you to take care of everything you need. A Roman patron takes care of your cases, your legal cases, legal causes, and also takes care of your business need.
The thought in Paul’s recommendation of this sister is in this line. In every local church there is the need of a group of serving sisters like this sister, a group of serving sisters taking care of the saints. I have seen the practicality of such a service among the sisters in the church in Shanghai, which was the largest church in China. That church was ninety percent built up with the serving sisters. Brother Nee’s ministry was there, but his ministry rendered only one-tenth of the building up in that church.
There were a good number, not just one or two, not even only ten or twenty, but a good number of sisters there in Shanghai serving the saints, serving the apostles, the servants of the Lord. Their service was more than that of a nurse. The church in Shanghai was raised up in 1926. From the time Brother Nee began to minister in 1927 until he was married seven years later, in 1934, for the most part he was taken care of by those loving sisters, most of them older than Brother Nee. The church there was built up very much by the serving sisters. Most of the practical things there were taken care of by the sisters.
When I first went to Shanghai in 1933, every Saturday the sisters did the cleaning of the hall and the cleaning of all the chairs. Very few men were free on Saturdays. The few brothers who were there were the full-time co-workers. Most of the brothers had to work six or seven days a week, so nearly all the cleaning work was under the hand of the sisters.
Other places in China had a similar situation. But there were places that would have been much better if there had been a group of serving sisters. In some places the lack of the building of the church was mainly due to the shortage of the serving sisters. For this reason we are burdened to have some training for the sisters so that there could be a group of serving sisters raised up for the building up of a strong church.
The first picture of the church life in miniature was a family of three persons, one brother and two sisters, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, in John 12. In that little picture Lazarus was resurrected from the dead as a testimony. But there was the need of Martha serving. Do not consider that Martha was so bad. Martha was really good. The church needs a group of Marthas who serve. Even Mary was serving in a different way. Lazarus was the only one who did not serve. He was just sitting as a living testimony, resurrected from the dead. This picture shows that the serving is not with the brothers but with the sisters.
In Paul’s recommendation the first practical aspect of the church life is unconsciously covered. Implied in this recommendation is the serving spirit of the sisters. First of all, the sisters have to be trained as church nurses.
The second vital aspect implied in Paul’s recommendation of Phoebe in Romans 16:1 is that she was a sister more than one hundred percent related to the church. She was a sister in the church. She was recommended as one serving in the church, serving for the church, and serving the church directly. She served so many dear ones not in any other sphere but in the church. She was a sister one hundred percent in the church.
As long as you sisters are serving in the church, there is value to the Lord. Anything you do in the church has meaning. Whatever you do outside the church does not mean much. In my Christian life I have seen many good sisters loving others, taking care of others, but all outside the church. Eventually, what they did became pitiful because it was done outside the church. What the Lord wants is the serving in the church, serving for the church, and serving the church directly. This is a major point.
In Romans 16:1 Phoebe was a serving one, a serving nurse, a church nurse, a serving patroness, and she was one hundred percent in the church. Paul’s recommendation is very good.
The second sister in Romans 16 is Prisca, or Priscilla. I do believe she was much stronger in the church life than her husband, and in a sense she took the lead to take care of the church. Wherever they went, she and her husband took care of the church in the way of having the church meeting in their home. When they were in Ephesus, the church met in their home. When they were in Rome, also the church met in their home.
Paul says that these two risked their own necks not only for him but also for the churches. Therefore, the apostle Paul was grateful to them, and the churches were grateful also.
In a family, if the wife does not take the lead to have the practical church life, the husband would always be frustrated. The best way and the highest way for a family to have the church life is for the wife to take the lead. In any other matter the wife should not take the lead. But in the matter of taking the way of the practical church life for the family, the wives may take the lead. I do not mean in matters such as teaching, making decisions, and giving direction, but in serving the church, the sisters may take the lead.
In every family, if the wife takes the lead to have the church life, it could be so easy to bring the whole family into the church life. But if the wife would not take the lead in this matter, if the husband takes the lead for the church life, it may be hard for the family to be wholly for the church life. The frustrations would always come from the source of the wife who would not take the lead for the church life.
The brothers must forgive me for encouraging all the sisters to be bold to take the lead in relation to the practical church life, to let all the Aquilas follow the Priscas in this one matter. It may even seem that the sisters are breaking the principle of the headship, but they should not allow legality or religion to hold them back from taking the lead in this one matter. In every local church there is the need of a group of sisters to be so bold to take the lead for the practical church life. Someday the Lord will show us all that this is exactly what is on His heart.
Only in one unique thing are the sisters allowed to take the lead. Romans 16 has such a revelation that the sisters may take the lead to risk their necks for the church. For this reason Aquila is behind Prisca. The Lord would not allow the sisters to take the lead in any other matter — not for their spirituality, not for their spiritual taste, not for anything else. To do so is the real breaking of the principle of the headship, and the sisters should not do this. But among thousands of things, in this one unique matter, the sisters may take the lead for the practical church life. The sisters have to be so bold only for the church life, not for their own spirituality. Spirituality does not mean that much. The only thing that is so meaningful is the church life. There is no need for you to ask the Lord to excuse you or to forgive you for taking the lead in relation to the church life, for the Lord would encourage you to do this. He would be so pleased for a sister to take the lead in this matter, because in this age there are so few families who would be for the church life in a practical way. The Lord would be so happy for any wife to take the lead for her family to have the church life.
The sisters need to be encouraged to take the lead in their families for the church life — not for teaching, not for spirituality, not even for gospel preaching. If the sisters would not do this, they could not be up to the standard; they are not qualified before the Lord. For the church life the sisters have to take the lead, to be the Priscas.
In verses 6 and 12 Paul says that Mary has been laboring for the apostles, and that Persis has labored very much. This laboring is serving.
We have pointed out all the things related to the sisters in the practical church life: serving, laboring, and taking the lead for the church life.
If these matters are put into practice among us, right away we could see that our situation does not match the revelation in Romans 16. There is a shortage of the serving spirit among the sisters. If you would give me the freedom to speak a frank and honest word without offending you, I would have to point out this shortage. Among the sisters there is more talking than serving. There is no need for you to talk about doctrines, but there is a real need for you to serve people.
There are two different ways to talk with people regarding the truths or doctrines. One way is just to talk in a doctrinal way, but the other way is to serve people with certain truths because you realize that that one needs a particular truth for the growth in life. Such talk, even though it may seem to be talk about doctrines, is talk in a serving way, talk in the way of serving others according to their need in life. My talk with you should serve you something.
Many times the sisters would talk about certain doctrines, but in the eyes of the Lord their talk would actually be considered gossip because there was no serving in it. None of those talking needed those matters for their growth in life, so their talk became gossip. Paul uses this word in 1 Timothy 5:13, where he says, “They also learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and they are not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.” Busybodies are meddlers, interfering in the affairs of others. The things which should not be spoken may be good things, good doctrines, even very heavenly and spiritual, but there is no need for the talk about them.
If all the sisters would be so much burdened with the serving spirit, not one of them would have the time, the strength, the energy, the attention, or the heart to talk about anything that does not serve something of life to others. The sisters should be fully occupied with the serving spirit.
In a hospital the good nurses are not good talkers. All their time and their energy are fully occupied with serving. Only the idle ones like to talk. May the Lord train all the sisters to be the proper church nurses.
If you sisters mean business to be serving ones in the church, first of all you have to learn not to talk, not to talk at all. Many of the sisters would consider gossip just as idle words but would not include the vain talking of doctrine. But I would tell you strongly that the vain talk concerning doctrine is also gossip. Your talking should be the serving of something to others that they need for their growth in life. Because you realize that certain ones need this point, you serve it to them for their growth. If they do not need that point and yet you talk with them about it, your talk is also an idle talk. Whether or not your talk is idle talk is not determined by the subject of your talking but by whether what you are talking about is needed by the other one. If it is not needed, whatever you say is an idle word. The Bible calls this kind of word an idle word (Matt. 12:36) because you are idle, you have nothing to do, you have no serving to occupy you. Therefore, you have the energy, you have even the heart, and you have the time to speak those idle things.
Serving includes both the material things and the spiritual things. The sisters have to serve the younger ones the spiritual life. They have to serve all the dear ones the spiritual growth.
If the church is going to grow and to be built up, first of all the sisters have to learn not to talk. This is a big lesson. In other words, the sisters have to learn what to talk about and what not to talk about. There are many good things that the sisters do not need to talk about. There is simply no need for talk about them.
In these days we have covered so much from Romans 8 concerning our need to walk according to the spirit. I am more than sure that so many talks among the saints are not according to the spirit. I do not mean only the talking about shopping and weddings but the idle talking about doctrine. Brothers and sisters alike all must learn to be restricted first not in our mind but in our mouth. We should not think that to walk according to spirit only means to use our two feet. To walk according to the spirit means first to use our two lips. We have to learn to talk according to the spirit.
To serve others with something also includes the matter of praying for others. A sister may realize that there are four younger sisters who need someone to serve them by praying for them, without talking to them, without letting them know she is praying for them. She simply needs to serve them with her prayer, with her intercession, even interceding for them desperately. That prayer is also a kind of serving.
In Shanghai the elderly sisters served in this way. They prayed very much not only for the young sisters but also for so many brothers. For example, a number of times one of the brothers stood up in the meeting and said something that he should not have said. Those serving sisters did not talk, but they picked up the burden to go home and pray for that brother, to serve that brother with their prayer. After a certain period of time, that brother testified how the Lord had turned him. The prayer of the sisters was a serving of the brother that gave the Lord a way to do something.
Those serving sisters also realized that a number of the younger ones needed to be served by their prayers for their marriages. In some cases all of them were working together praying for one brother’s marriage. That is the serving.
A number of times the sisters invited some for whom they were praying to dinner. During the mealtime there would be no idle word, no gossiping, no vain talks about certain points, and no vain talking about the church affairs, but there would be a serving that would cause these younger ones to be edified. Today there is too much vain talk about the church affairs but not much serving. All the vain talk about so many points, all the vain talk about others, is just gossip in the eyes of God, and it wastes your time. The sisters must be the serving ones and must learn to serve.
In order to serve, first you have to stop talking. You have to learn what not to talk about, or to be simple, learn not to talk. Yet you need to fellowship one with another with a serving spirit. If you have such a serving spirit with such a burden, you will be more than occupied. So many brothers need your serving. They need you to pray for them. So many sisters need your serving. And the elders need your serving. The work, the ministry, needs your serving.
If the sisters mean business with the Lord, they have many things to do in the way of serving. Such a fellowship would surely cause something to rise up within all of you to be the serving ones. You have to labor, you have to serve, and you have to be the good patronesses. And all of this must be done in the church and for the church.
Out of such a fellowship I believe the Lord would burden all the sisters and that He would open their eyes to see how many things need to be taken care of by their serving.
The best way to serve is to pray. In the home of Mary in Acts 12 there was a prayer meeting to pray for Peter, who was imprisoned. The Scripture does not mention other homes. The prayer meeting in Mary’s home was a serving.
When you sisters see a need in the church life, you must not talk but bear the burden to pray. When you see that there is a need for a real broken life, you must not talk. You have to bear the burden with four or five, eight or ten, coming together to pray to serve this purpose. Pray for the real broken life.
When you see that a brother becomes a problem to the church or that a sister has some problem in her life, do not talk. Pick up the burden to pray with two or three others to serve this purpose. If you would be like this, many of you would be today’s Phoebes. Then the church will have the best serving.
We all have to learn to serve the church and serve the saints like the sister Phoebe whom Paul recommended in Romans 16. This should be the burden of the sisters, and they have the position to serve in this way. What the sisters can do if they pick up this burden and are faithful to the Lord in it is something that the brothers cannot do. The need is so great with the sisters. May the Holy Spirit interpret these words to us.
