Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Romans 16:3-16, Greet the church in their house
Paul greets more than two dozen believers in Rome by name, from Prisca and Aquila and the church in their house to the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, and tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss.
Romans 16:3-16, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul sends greetings to more than two dozen people by name, starting with Prisca and Aquila, who once risked their lives for him and host a church in their home. Many on the list are women, and Andronicus and Junia are described in a phrase that may mean they were prominent apostles or that the apostles held them in high regard. The list shows a network of households and gatherings across the city, and Paul asks them all to exchange a holy kiss.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/house-churches\/","n":"House churches","s":"For their first three centuries Christians met in homes, the way some Jewish groups and private clubs did. A host with a large house gave the church its room, its table and often its protection.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/diaspora-jews\/","n":"Jews of the dispersion","s":"Most Jews of the first century lived outside the land, in cities from Parthia to Rome. They kept the law and their own synagogues, spoke Greek or Aramaic, and came up to Jerusalem for the feasts when they could.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/slavery\/","n":"Slavery and slave managers","s":"Slaves were everywhere in the Roman world, from field hands to stewards who ran whole estates and handled their master's money. A master away and slaves left in charge was a familiar story.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/women-who-followed\/","n":"Women who followed","s":"Women traveled with Jesus, paid for his movement, and stayed at the cross and the tomb when the men had gone.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/family-first\/","n":"The family's name","s":"Families lived, worked and stood together. Walking out of the family business or putting kin second was a public offense.","r":""}
Priscilla and Aquila, expelled under Claudius (Acts 18:2), had come back after his death in AD 54 ended the edict (Keener and his notes), and the cultural backgrounds article Rome says even the leaders of the old disputes could return; Carson, Moo and Morris suggest many of those greeted were exiles Paul had met on his travels. Synagogues and associations often met in homes, most people in Rome lived in apartments, and Rome allowed Jews no assembly larger than the local synagogue, a limit that could keep the house churches apart (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). The household of Narcissus probably means the slaves and freedmen of Claudius's powerful freedman, and Aristobulus may be Herod the Great's grandson, who lived in Rome (Keener and his notes). Nearly 40 percent of those named are women (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). Junia is read two ways. Keener, the cultural backgrounds notes and Wright take her as a woman and an apostle; the ESV Study Bible agrees she was a woman but reads well known to the apostles, and the CSB Study Bible allows either.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Romans 16:3-16, 16:3, 16:5, 16:7, 16:8-9, 16:10 and 16:11, and article Rome
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Romans 16:3-16, 16:3, 16:5, 16:7, 16:8-9, 16:10 and 16:11
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Romans 16:3 and 16:7
- CSB Study Bible, note on Romans 16:7
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part Two, comment on Romans 16:1-16
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 8, Romans, Integrity, Literary History, and Text
