As the conclusion of this book, this chapter consists entirely of recommendations and greetings. It speaks not only of the concern among the saints but also of the fellowship among the churches (vv. 1, 4-5, 16, 23), showing some of the conditions that should exist in the local churches as the fourth station revealed in this book (see note Rom. 16:1², second par.) and as the conclusion of the revelation in this book. This strengthens the content and significance of this chapter, which not only contains recommendations and greetings but, even more, presents a display of the local churches.

The term church is not used in this book until Rom. 16:1. In this chapter the church and the churches are mentioned five times (vv. 1, 4-5, 16, 23). This is a strong indication that many matters covered in chs. 1—15 concerning God's complete salvation are for the producing and building up of the church. These matters include the Triune God Himself (Rom. 8:31), as the Father (Rom. 1:7; 8:15), as the Son (Rom. 1:4; 8:3) (the Son being the Lord — Rom. 1:4, 7; 10:12; 14:9 being Jesus — Rom. 3:26; 4:24 being Christ — Rom. 5:6; 6:3, 6:4; 8:10, 8:34; 13:14 being the man — Rom. 5:15 and being the root of Jesse — Rom. 15:12), and as the Spirit (Rom. 5:5; 8:16, 26) (the Spirit being the firstfruits — Rom. 8:23); His mercy (Rom. 9:23; 11:32), His compassion (Rom. 9:15; 12:1), His love (Rom. 5:5; 8:35, 39), His kindness (Rom. 2:4; 11:22), His grace (Rom. 5:2, 15), His free gifts (Rom. 5:15-16; 11:29), His gifts (Rom. 12:6), His righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:21), His Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4), His faithfulness (Rom. 3:3), His peace (Rom. 15:33; 16:20), His hope (Rom. 15:13), His joy (Rom. 15:13), His endurance (Rom. 15:5), His encouragement (Rom. 15:5), His riches (Rom. 10:12; 11:33), His wisdom (Rom. 11:33), His knowledge (Rom. 11:33), His power (Rom. 1:16), His authority (Rom. 9:21), His life (Rom. 5:21), His law of life (Rom. 8:2), His sonship (Rom. 8:15), His glory (Rom. 5:2; 9:23), and His kingdom (Rom. 14:17); His foreknowing (Rom. 8:29), His selection (Rom. 9:11; 11:5), His predestination (Rom. 8:29), His preparation (Rom. 9:23), His reserving (Rom. 11:4-5), His calling (Rom. 8:30; 11:29), His grafting (Rom. 11:17), His redemption (Rom. 3:24), His propitiation (Rom. 3:25), His salvation (Rom. 1:16), His justification (Rom. 3:26, 30), His reconciliation (Rom. 5:10-11), His freedom (Rom. 8:2), His sanctification (Rom. 6:19, 22), His transformation (Rom. 12:2), His renewing (Rom. 12:2), His conformation (Rom. 8:29), His redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23), and His glorification (Rom. 8:30); His receiving (Rom. 14:3; 15:7), His indwelling (Rom. 8:11), His life giving (Rom. 8:11), His leading (Rom. 8:14), His witnessing (Rom. 8:16), His helping (Rom. 8:26), His interceding within us (Rom. 8:26), His interceding in the heavens (Rom. 8:34), His giving all things to us (Rom. 8:32), and His causing all things to work for us (Rom. 8:28); plus His incarnation (Rom. 1:3; 10:6), His crucifixion (Rom. 5:8; 6:6), His blood (Rom. 3:25), His ending of the law (Rom. 10:4), His resurrection (Rom. 4:25; 10:7), and His ascension (Rom. 8:34). All have been made available, and most of these have been applied to the producing and building up of the church for the fulfillment of God's purpose according to His will (Rom. 12:2).

Four stations are revealed in this book: the matters covered in chs. 1—4 bring us in ch. 4 to the first station, the station of justification; chs. 5—8 lead us in ch. 8 to the second station, the station of sanctification; chs. 9—12 lead us in ch. 12 to the third station, the station of the Body of Christ; and chs. 14—16 take us in ch. 16 to the fourth station, the station of the churches expressed in different localities, the station of the practical living of the Body of Christ in different localities. The churches are the ultimate consummation of the complete salvation of the gospel of God revealed in this book, which was written not in the way of doctrine but in the way of practicality. In the first station we are regenerated and saved, in the second station we are sanctified, in the third station we are renewed and transformed, and in the fourth station, in the practical church life, Satan is crushed under our feet and we are able to fully enjoy the Lord's grace and God's peace (v. 20).

I.e., worthy of her status as a saint. Verse Rom. 1:7 says that the saints are called by God and separated from all things other than God to be a special people sanctified unto God, and as such they are noble and not common.

Or, protectress. It is a word of dignity, denoting one who helps, sustains, and supplies. It indicates the high esteem with which Phoebe was regarded because of her service in the church life in Cenchrea.

Prisca and Aquila were absolute for the local churches. Their only interest was the church, and they were willing to risk their necks, to be martyred, for the apostles.

Lit., soul.

The Body of Christ as the universal church is unique (Eph. 1:23; 4:3). When this universal church appears in many localities on earth, it becomes the many churches. Therefore, this verse refers to the churches. The churches exist in various localities that all the saints may live the church life and have the practice of the church in the locality where they are.

The church in Prisca and Aquila's house must have been the church in Rome. When they were living in Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19), the church in Ephesus was in their house (1 Cor. 16:19). Wherever they were, they were willing to bear the burden of the practice of the church by opening their home.

Showing that the early saints met primarily in their houses. Such a practice corresponds with Acts 2:46 (see note Acts 2:46^3d) and Acts 5:42.

Lit., approved by testing.

According to the structure and the tone of these expressions, those of the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus could not be members of the families of the two men; they were most likely the slaves of the two men, respectively. According to the ancient custom, slaves were considered the property of their buyers. It is unlikely that the two masters, Aristobulus and Narcissus, were believers, because they were not greeted here. At that time a number of those who had been sold as slaves and had lost their freedom believed in Christ and became saints, but the masters who bought them were not yet believers.

See note Rom. 16:10².

Rufus was a brother in Rome, and his mother also was in Rome. Paul's referring to her as his own mother was a sign of respect and intimacy.

The churches are not the personal possession or private work of anyone. They are the churches of Christ.

Referring to being stumbled and leaving the church life. This must be the result of different opinions and teachings.

In Rom. 14 Paul was liberal and gracious regarding the receiving of those who differ in doctrine or practice. Here, however, he is unyielding and resolute in saying that we must turn away from those who are dissenting, who make divisions, and who make causes of stumbling. The purpose in both cases is the preserving of the oneness of the Body of Christ that we may have the normal church life.

Lit., serve as slaves.

The Greek word is a derivative of the word meaning hollow. It refers to the stomach or to the entire abdominal cavity.

Or, unsuspecting, innocent.

Here God promises that He will crush Satan under the feet of those who live the church life, showing that the crushing of Satan is related to the church life. Dealing with Satan is a Body matter, not an individual matter. It is only when we have a proper local church as the practical expression of the Body that Satan is crushed under our feet.

The church life enables us not only to crush Satan under our feet and to experience the God of peace but also to enjoy the rich grace of the Lord.

Some ancient MSS add v. 24, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

See note 1 Pet. 5:10^7g. In Rom. 16 our need is no longer to be saved or to be sanctified but to be established. Since everything has been accomplished, we need only to be established. This establishing is according to the pure and full gospel of God, that is, the proclaiming and ministering of the all-inclusive Christ, and according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept in silence in the times of the ages. Only the pure gospel, the living Christ, and God's revealed mystery can establish us and keep us in oneness for the church life.

I.e., the full gospel, including the teaching concerning Christ and the church and consummating in the local churches, as fully disclosed in this book. See note Rom. 1:1⁹.

The mystery of God, which has been kept in silence in the times of the ages, is mainly of two aspects: the mystery of God, which is Christ (Col. 2:2), who is in the believers (Col. 1:26-27) as their life and their everything that they may become the members of His Body; and the mystery of Christ, which is the church as His Body (Eph. 3:4-6) to express His fullness (Eph. 1:22-23). Therefore, Christ and the church are the great mystery (Eph. 5:32).

Referring to the time since the beginning of the world.

In Rom. 15 and Rom. 16 God is called "the God of endurance and encouragement" (15:5), "the God of hope" (Rom. 15:13), "the God of peace" (v. 20), "the eternal God" (v. 26), and "the only wise God" (v. 27). Our God is rich in all these aspects, and the gospel in this book is the gospel of such a rich God. This gospel consummates in the practical church life.

See note Rom. 11:33^2c. In its conclusion this book, which gives a general discussion concerning the Christian life and the church life, gives glory to the wise God. This unveils that all the matters discussed in this book, such as how God selects us, how He saves us from sin and death, how He redeems us and justifies us, how He makes us, sinners who were dead through and through, His divine sons, how He transfers us out of Adam into Christ, how He sanctifies and transforms us in Christ, how He makes us the members of Christ for the constituting of the Body of Christ, and how He causes us to be the local churches appearing in different localities as the expressions of the Body of Christ on the earth in this age — all these matters are planned, managed, and accomplished by God's wisdom, in order that He, the unlimitedly rich Triune God, may be glorified, that is, that His incomparable glory may be completely and fully expressed through us who have been perfected eternally by Him and who have become His Body and have been joined to Him as one. The focus of God's wisdom is the working of His Divine Trinity into the three parts — spirit, soul, and body — of our redeemed being that in His redemption, sanctification, and transformation we may have a full union in the divine life with Him, that His desire for the mingling of divinity and humanity, the joining of humanity to divinity, may be fulfilled for eternity. This truly is worthy of our appreciation and worship! How blessed and how glorious it is that we can participate in this! This is worthy of our unceasing singing and praise for eternity! Both our Christian life and our church life should have this as our center and goal. May God bless in this way everyone who has been chosen and perfected by Him.

Through God's divine dispensing in us and His divine union with us, we can experience and enjoy the saving in Christ's life in God's full salvation (see note Rom. 5:10²), as conveyed to us in this book, in the following aspects:
1) By the abundance of grace (God Himself) and of the gift of righteousness (Christ Himself) which we received, we are able to reign in Christ's divine life (Rom. 5:17) over sin, death, the old man, the flesh, Satan, the world, and all persons, matters, and things that do not submit to God.
2) God's holy nature sanctifies our worldly disposition (Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16). God sanctifies us dispositionally out of His divine life and unto His divine life that we may enjoy more of His divine life.
3) The indwelling law of the Spirit of life, that is, the automatic and spontaneous working of the Triune God as life in us, frees us from the law of sin and of death, the slavery and bondage of sin (Rom. 8:2, 11). The operation of this law comes out of God's divine life, and it also causes the increase of the divine life in us.
4) The Divine Trinity's divine dispensing in our spirit, soul, and body causes these three parts to be saturated with the processed divine life (Rom. 8:5-11), with the result that our entire being is completely united with the processed Triune God and mingled with Him as one.
5) The renewing of our mind by the Spirit results in the transformation of our soul, which saves us from being conformed to the modern style of the world (Rom. 12:2) and issues in all the virtues and the overcoming, mentioned in chs. 12—16, as our daily life, a life of the highest standard, and as our church life, a life that is all-overcoming.
6) By the renewing of our mind and the transformation of our soul, we become members one of another with all believers in the Body of Christ and are built up together as the Body of Christ and thereby have the service of the Body (Rom. 12:1, 3-8). This is the crystallization of our experience of the saving in Christ's life.
7) Based on the revelation and teaching in chs. 14—16 of this book, we live the life of the local church in different localities as the appearance of the Body of Christ, the universal church, in different localities.
8) By becoming the built-up church, a church against which the gates of Hades cannot prevail, in different localities, we afford God the opportunity to crush Satan under our feet that we may enjoy Christ as our rich grace and the God of peace as our surpassing peace (Rom. 16:20).
9) In our experience of the various aspects of the saving in the divine life, as mentioned above, we are being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:28-29) through the "all things" arranged under God's sovereignty, so that we have His divine attributes and His human virtues and thereby express the glory and beauty of Him, the God-man.
10) In the process of our experience of the saving in the divine life, the splendor of the divine life gradually saturates us until it saturates our body, issuing in the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23), that our spirit, soul, and body may all enter into the glory of God (17, Rom. 8:30). This glorification is the peak attained in us by the saving in the divine life, and it is the climax of God's full salvation.