In his sermon 'Many Greetings from a Tender-Hearted Brother,' Jason Dohm explores Paul's heartfelt greetings to many individuals in Rome, a city he had never visited. Despite this, Paul knew many believers there due to his extensive missionary travels and the connectivity facilitated by Roman infrastructure. The sermon emphasizes the significant role of Priscilla and Aquila, a married couple who worked alongside Paul in the ministry, risking their lives and hosting churches in their home. Jason Dohm highlights several themes from Romans 16, such as the diversity of the early church, the importance of love and affection among believers, and the value of exhausting labor for the gospel. The sermon also discusses the cultural and spiritual significance of the 'holy kiss' as an expression of genuine affection in Christian fellowship. Overall, the sermon underscores the importance of strong Christian marriages, friendships, and collective labor in advancing the gospel.

The title of the sermon this morning is many greetings from a tender-hearted brother. The brother is Paul. He's a tender-hearted one. And he has a lot of greetings for a lot of people. We got a slow start last week with all of Paul's personal greetings.

We eased into it just looking at verse 1 and 2. And it was actually not a greetings but an introduction of someone that he knew that would be going to Rome, this sister in the Lord, Phoebe. And this week we're covering verses three through 16, which contains greetings to 24 individuals and members of two households and some brethren who are with some other brethren who Paul names. So Paul names some brethrens and says, and the other brethren who are with you. So it's a lot of people.

It's a lot of greetings. Now How in the world could Paul know so many believers in a city he had never been to? He's always wanted to go to Rome. He's never had the opportunity to go to Rome. And even so, he knows all these people in Rome.

How can that be? The Expositors Bible Commentary makes this comment, which I think is very helpful and hits the nail on the head. The Expositors Bible Commentary says, It has seemed strange to some Pauline scholars that the apostle would know so many people in the Imperial City seeing that he had never been there. Clearly, if they are in Rome, he must have met them or at least heard of them elsewhere. Travel, however, was facilitated by peaceful conditions in the Empire, by the fine network of Roman roads connecting the principal centers, and by available shipping and sailing season.

As F.F. Bruce has noted, Rome was the capital of the world. All roads led to Rome and it is not surprising that many people whom Paul had come to know in other places should in the meantime have made their way to Rome. So Paul has been a missionary for 30 some years and he's been getting to know people in different regions, different population centers all during that time And it would be like at the end of 30 years, some of the people you had met over the course of your lifetime, if you had traveled extensively ending up in Washington DC. It's the capital, all roads lead to Washington DC or all roads lead to Rome.

So I think that is a good explanation of how he knows so many people in Rome even though he's never been to Rome personally. So we come to this text. Let's ask God to help us. God, we believe what your word says about itself, that you breathed out it all, that it's all inspired by you and that it's profitable for us, even lists of names. Thank you for this list of names of people who have gone before us, who have labored in the gospel for the gospel, have been friends, have been beloved, and have been an encouragement to many.

We owe them such a debt in many ways. Pray that you would use this to encourage and inspire us to walk closely with you. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen. We're going to subdivide this morning starting with verse 3 into the first part of verse 5. So I'm gonna cut verse 5 in half.

So you see on the handout says verse 3 through 5A. That's because I'm stopping in the middle of verse five in this first subdivision. Follow along as I reread Romans 16, 3 into verse five. Paul writes, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risk their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house." Here in these two and a half verses are greetings to Priscilla and Aquila.

If you're filling in blanks on the handouts, you're taking notes that way. Priscilla and Aquila fill in the blanks. These Two people, a husband and wife, are mentioned in six New Testament verses, so they don't only appear here, they appear elsewhere. There are six New Testament verses that hold their names. They're always together.

It's never Aquila without Priscilla. It's never Priscilla without Aquila. They're always mentioned together and three times Aquila is named first and three times Priscilla is listed first. It's even Stephen. You never know who Paul is going to list first when he talks about this married couple.

What do we learn from that? Well, at least this, neither is an afterthought. You have this married couple, They're mentioned multiple times in the New Testament, and neither one of them is an afterthought. In verse one, Paul calls them, plural, both of them his fellow workers. Yes, Aquila, the husband, was his fellow worker, but also Priscilla the wife was his fellow worker in the gospel.

And the testimony of Acts 18 bears that out. Acts 18 is where we encounter Aquila and Priscilla. Although they're also mentioned in the greetings from two other of Paul's letters, really the meat of it is in Acts 18. So please turn to Acts 18. This is where we first encounter them, and this is really the meat of the things that are said about them in the New Testament.

Acts 18. I'm gonna skip around to focus on Aquila and Priscilla. I'll tell you where I'm going when I go there. I'm going to begin with Acts 18 verses 1 through 3. Paul writes, after these things, Luke writes, Luke wrote Acts, after these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.

And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome and he came to them so because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked for by occupation. They were tent makers. Here we're introduced. Aquila is a Jew. I presume Priscilla was a Jew also, but that's not explicitly said.

Aquila was born in Pontus, which is in modern day Turkey. So we find him having come from Rome to Corinth but he wasn't born in either he was born in modern-day Turkey They're in Corinth because the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, though now according to our text they're back in Rome. So in our text in Romans 16 he's greeting them being back in Rome. So they lived in Rome. The emperor expelled them.

We are introduced to them for the first time in the New Testament in Corinth. But now as we close Romans, we find them back in Rome again. Since Paul was a tent maker when he came to Corinth, he found other tent makers, Aquila and Priscilla. He was a tent maker, they are tent makers, and so Paul stays with them in Corinth for a week, no, for a month, no, for a year, no, for a year and a half, I presume he was staying with them, working with them, and staying with them the whole time. It certainly reads like that.

He was living with them and working with them for a year and a half. Verse 11 says that Paul continued in Corinth for a year and a half. Now let's pick up in verse 18. So now we're in Acts chapter 18 verse 18. So Paul still remained a good while.

Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Sincria for he had taken a vow. So Sincria was a town that we encountered last week in verses 1 and 2 in our text. That was where Phoebe was from. And at the time I said it's a port city right outside of Corinth.

So he's sailing away from Corinth. He goes to the port city of Sincrea and he's sailing to Syria. He doesn't go alone. He goes with Aquila and Priscilla. So he's worked with them and lived with them for a year and a half.

Now he's sailing away from Corinth and they go with him. They sail to Ephesus. Paul doesn't stay long in Ephesus, but they stay. Aquila and Priscilla stay in Ephesus while Paul moves on. Now look at verses 24 through the end of the chapter, through 28, verses 24 through 28.

Now, a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him.

And When he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. Here's a man, Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures, a preacher, and an accurate preacher. That's what the text says. But Aquila and Priscilla had been with Paul for a year and a half and that clearly they've not only been working with him they've also been hearing him being instructed by him So they understand a lot more than this mighty preacher understands and they take him aside and they instruct him together.

The text is so clear they instruct him together. So Aquila and Priscilla explain the way of God more accurately. He had been preaching accurately, but now they explain to him the way of God more accurately and they make Apollos more helpful to the people of God. When he moves on to Achaia, We find him being more helpful than he's ever been able to be because he was instructed by this married couple who had been instructed by the apostle Paul in Corinth. They both teach him.

Priscilla is participating in the teaching of Apollo's in private, not in public, at the elbow of her husband Aquila. So this is completely appropriate. That could go without saying, but it's not going without saying. I'm saying it. What we find here in this text is completely appropriate.

Don't let it make you nervous. This is not Joyce Meyer and public preaching ministry. This is a woman helping to instruct because she understands more theologically than he understands. She's doing it not publicly but privately at the elbow of her husband and it's completely appropriate. This is not a public preaching ministry.

So this is Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18, Paul's fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Both of them as a married couple, fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Now, back to our text. Back to Romans 16. In verse four, Paul writes that Priscilla and Aquila risked their own necks for my life.

That's what he says. They put their own necks on the chopping block in order to save his life. We don't know from New Testament accounts where when or what we don't know where it was that they risked their necks for his life or When they risked his necks for his life or what they did in risking their necks for his life But Paul says that they'd laid their lives on the line for his life. So there was nothing casual about their connection to Paul. If you have a casual connection, you don't put your neck on the line for a person that you're casually connected to.

Aquila and Priscilla were deeply committed to following the Lord and they were deeply committed to Paul and his mission. Paul gives thanks for Priscilla and Aquila and Paul says all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks for Priscilla and Aquila. Two quick things to say about that. One, We know Aquila and Priscilla spent specific time in churches in Corinth. We just covered that in Acts 18.

In Ephesus, it says that in Acts 18 and in Rome. We know they came from Rome and they returned to Rome. Paul is greeting them in our text. So they were definitely known in the Gentile churches. They're very well known in Corinth, they're very well known in Ephesus, they're very well known in Rome.

Two, Priscilla and Aquila labored alongside the Apostle to the Gentiles. They were his co-laborers, his fellow laborers, and they risked their necks to keep him alive and laboring. All the Gentile churches have much to give thanks for. If you were a saved Gentiles wouldn't you give thanks for Aquila and Priscilla who had put their lives on the line to keep him alive and working to bring Gentiles to the faith? There's much to give thanks for and the Gentile churches did give thanks for this couple who were Paul's fellow laborers in the Lord.

Finally, Paul greets the church that is in their house. They had a church in their house. Aquila and Priscilla have a house in Rome and a church meets there. Clearly there is more than one church in Rome. That shouldn't surprise us.

Rome's a massive city and Paul is writing to the believers in Rome and he greets the church that meets in their house, but it's clear that he's everyone that he greets doesn't fit that description. So clearly there's more than one church in Rome. Paul is greeting them, greeting one of those churches here, the church that meets in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. Now listen to this from 1st Corinthians 16 verse 19. This is what Paul writes in 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 19 which was written to the Corinthians from Ephesus.

So it's clear in 1st Corinthians that Paul writes this letter to the Corinthians while he's in Ephesus. In 1st Corinthians 16, He actually says that. So he's writing from Ephesus and he says, the churches of Asia greet you, Corinthians, Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. So they also had a church that met in their house when they were in Ephesus and now sometime later we don't know how long it was but they're back in Rome and what condition do we find them in? With a church meeting in their house.

Aquila and Priscilla hosted a church in their home in Ephesus and again they hosted a church in their home in Rome homeowners God gave you your house God owns your house. If you're His, then your house is His. And the resources that God puts in our hands, houses and otherwise belong to him and should be employed for his glory and for the good of his people. Does that mean we all have to house a church? No, of course it doesn't mean that, but it does mean that our resources are his And you have an example here, a wonderful example of a couple who put their necks on the line, put all of their resources on the line for the glory of God and for the good of his people.

We should be like them. Homeowners should be like them. All right, back to our text. All right, I'm also going to attempt the names. I'm going to reread what Jim read.

Hopefully you won't remember the ones that we say differently. I'm starting at the halfway point in verse 5 and reading through 15. This is our second subdivision. So Romans 16 verse 5b and following. Paul continues, greet my beloved Epinatus who was the first fruits in Achaia to Christ.

Greet Mary who labored much for us. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplius, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stacus, my beloved. Greet Appellus, approved in Christ.

Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodian, my countrymen. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. Greet Trifena and Trifossa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Pursus who labored much in the Lord, greet Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother in mind, greet Asincratus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobus, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them, greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympus and all the saints who are with them.

So in these verses we simply have many other greetings. Now we come to these many other greetings to people who are totally unknown in the rest of the New Testament. There might be an exception or two, but you can't prove it definitively. Chances are that almost all or all of them are totally unknown in the rest of the New Testament. So I can't take you to like an Act 17 to introduce you to Aquila and Priscilla.

There is no such chapter to take you to for these other names. Let me give you my four main observations having worked on this list this week. I'm not going to go name by name. I'm going to give you the four main observations. There are themes that emerge if you stare at this list long enough, and I think these are four themes that emerge I'll give you my four main observations number one This list is Like heaven will be Listen to Revelation 5 verses 8 through 10.

Revelation 5 verses 8 through 10. It's a vision of heaven. Now when he, the lamb, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they the saints and the elders and the living creatures sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God. And we shall reign on the earth." What does this mean? That means that heaven is going to be filled with people who were in a desperate condition, whose sins God was holding against them, who were living their lives in rebellion against God.

And God didn't leave them in that condition He he sent a lamb to be slain and he he made it so that the blood of that lamb would wash away the sins of those people from every tribe tongue people and nation and he took them from sinners who were rebels against God and made them kings and priests to God. That's what heaven is going to be. That's what this list is like. Paul's list has men and women. About a third of the people greeted in this chapter are women.

He greets a lot of women. It has both men and women. It has Jews and Gentiles, Jewish names and Gentile names. It has different nationalities. He already introduced Phoebe to them.

We have Persis, which is a female name, just meaning literally, woman from Persia. There are common slave names on the list. There are names on this list that you can find historical documents of a listing of household slaves, and There are common slave names on the list. There are names on this list that you can find historical documents of a listing of household slaves and there are common slave names on this list. There are different churches listed here.

This list is like heaven will be. There are slaves and masters, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, people of every nation, people from different churches. The point is this, the gospel of Jesus Christ is for the human race. There's no part of the human race that The gospel of Jesus Christ is for the human race. There's no part of the human race that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not for.

Anyone born in this world is born of Adam, is born in a race in rebellion to God. And God hasn't been content to leave the human race that way, but he's reached into every tribe telling people a nation and saved people to himself and claimed them for this day when we'll sing this song in heaven. God, you made us kings and priests to you. We were this, but you've made us kings and priests through eternity. Praise God for that.

There's no part of the human race that this doesn't apply to. It applies to men and women, Jews and Gentiles, slaves and masters, people from every nation, people from all kinds of churches. Number two. The language of love permeates these greetings. The language of love is everywhere in these greetings.

Greet my beloved epinatus verse 5. Greet Amplius my beloved in the Lord verse 8. Greet the beloved Persis this lady of Persia verse 12. Love is the mark of the disciples of Jesus. Paul was not just a gospel bot.

Jesus died for sinners. Jesus died for sinners. He was a preacher of the gospel, but he loved people, and especially the people of God. Paul was marked by the mark of the disciples of Jesus. Paul was a disciple of Jesus in the truest sense.

He loved people and especially the people of God. The disciples of Jesus should love each other. So we shouldn't be backwards about the language of love permeating our hellos and goodbyes. Are you with me? The language of love belongs in our hellos and our goodbyes.

We shouldn't be backward about that. We shouldn't be ashamed of that. My best friend from high school used to make me so uncomfortable. He would tell me he loved me. We're guys you can't say that.

No, no, no, we were Christian men and we shouldn't be backward about saying that there was Nothing inappropriate about the way he said it the way he intended it. It was right to say it. And so I adopted it You never know. I might tell you I love you. It's right for the language of love to permeate our hellos and our goodbyes.

It permeates this list. Number three. Faithful exhausting labor is honored in these greetings faithful exhausting work labor is honored in these greetings greet Mary who labored for us verse 6 greet Trifina and Trifosa who have labored in the Lord verse 12 by the way all the commentators say these were sisters. Their names literally mean delicate and dainty. That's what the names mean delicate and dainty.

Trifina and Trifosa. These sisters. A lot of commentators say they were twin sisters we don't know greet the beloved purses who labored much in the Lord also in verse 12 the Greek word that Paul uses means to grow weary tired exhausted with toil or burdens or grief. To labor with wearisome effort. To toil.

Okay so the Translators have skinned that down to labored Okay, but but it means to exhaust yourself with wearisome to toil away Listen to John Calvin The testimonies which he brings here in favor of some individuals were partly intended for this end. That by honoring those who were faithful and worthy, Faithfulness itself might be honored. What's Calvin saying? He's saying There's something behind the honoring of the people It's it's the honoring really of the characteristic They wore themselves out for me They wore themselves out for god. They were spending and being spent for the gospel they were willing to grow weary to grow tired to be exhausted with toil or burdens or grief, to labor with wearisome effort, to toil.

They were willing to toil for the gospel. Their moms and dads might have named them delicate and dainty, Trifina and Trifosa, but their lives proved them not delicate and dainty. Their lives proved them willing to wear themselves out to labor for the honor of God in the world. And in the honoring of these people, the labor, the toil is honored. We should acknowledge faithful exhausting labor and one of the reasons we should do that is so that faithful Exhausting labor is honored and others aspire to it When you honor it others aspire to it We typically get more of what we honor.

Isn't that true? You honor it, you get more of it. People aspire to it. Honor stimulates it. Now Is there a bad kind of man pleasing there?

Yes, there is. But is that all there is? No, no, no. We ought to honor things that are honorable, that God loves, that God commands. Working hard in the kingdom of God is something that God commands.

We do want to honor it. We do want to stimulate it by honoring it so that people aspire to it. We should aspire to this. Like Gary said, what do you want to be known for? That you paste yourself to the end so you wouldn't run out of energy?

Charles Spurgeon said, I want to flame out. You know what? Charles Spurgeon did flame out. He worked himself to exhaustion. But I know this, he's heard these words, well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.

Number four, there are some breathtakingly pagan names. Take your breath away. That's so pagan. There are names that are directly, directly, directly associated with worshiping false gods right here in this list. Oh change your name!

What is wrong with you? Hermes verse 14 is a pagan false god. Somebody named their baby after this pagan false god, Hermes, and God saved them and they kept that name. Olympus, verse 15, was the mythical dwelling place of the Greek false gods. Rather than renouncing these names, These brethren kept their names and serve as trophies of God's goodness, power, and grace.

Oh God, now you're just showing off. How good is God? So good that he saves Hermes. How powerful is God? So powerful that he can break into a place where the Gospel was never known, into a family where they named their babies Olympus and claim, like, you're mine.

You don't belong to Hermes. You don't belong to Olympus. You belong to me. How full of grace is God this full of grace? He takes people who worshiped false gods, named their children accordingly, and would not allow that to be the end of the story because he wants to show that he is a God of compassion.

Now, here are a few more interesting things to notice. Those I think were the four main themes at least that I noticed. A few more interesting things. There were first believers in entire regions. Verse 5, greet my beloved Epinatus who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ.

So Corinth is the main population center in this region called Achaia And when Paul, when Saul of Tarsus was Christless, this whole region was Christless. But Jesus didn't leave Saul of Tarsus alone. And one of his purposes in that was he wasn't leaving this region alone or this population center alone. And the gospel came there and there was a convert number one. We grew up here.

We have no concept of this. We have no concept of a convert number one on the North American continent, on American soil. But this is who Epinatus was. He was the first fruits of Achaia to Christ, a whole region with a massive population center in it That was totally Christless, but God wasn't content to leave it that way. So the gospel came there and there was a convert number one and number two and number 1, 000.

Another one. Paul was an early convert. Paul was converted something like a year after Jesus' resurrection, and it has been something like 30 years since Paul's conversion. But there were converts before Paul, and a couple of them were in Rome. Look at verse 7.

Verse 7. Great Andronicus and Junia, My countrymen, so fellow Jews, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." Andronicus and Junia were in Christ before Paul was, And Paul was about a year after Jesus' resurrection. So probably in Jerusalem, you were speculating at this point, but we're talking early disciples, overwhelmingly the early disciples were there. And they were known among the apostles. They were appreciated and respected.

They were of note among the apostles. Amazing. Probably right there in Jerusalem. Early converts, but earlier even than Paul, and a couple of them made it to Rome. Another one.

Rufus, who is greeted in verse 13, very well might be the son of the man who carried Jesus' cross. Listen to Mark 15 verse 21. Mark 15 verse 21. Then they compelled a certain man, Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear Jesus's cross." Now, does it have to be the same Rufus? No, it doesn't have to be the same Rufus.

I'm sure there was more than one Rufus in the world then and now. But Why did Mark include that in his gospel? It's not quoting Jesus. Why did he include this man who carried Jesus' cross, who his sons were, unless they were also known in the churches in the New Testament? It makes sense if they were also in the New Testament and I don't know the reason if it doesn't.

So I'm guessing this is the son of Simon the Cyrenian. But I don't insist on it because it doesn't say that directly. Another one. Paul puts a spiritual mother on the list. Give verse 13 back to Rufus and his mother.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. I don't believe for a second that Rufus was Paul's genealogical brother. I think he had a genealogical mother, Rufus did, and that this woman was Paul's spiritual mother. For all of Romans, Paul's been speaking in family terms. It's spiritual brethren, spiritual fathers, spiritual mothers, and I think it's reappearing here.

This makes me think of Grand Mary. Who knows Grand Mary? We have a lot of people who know. My mentor's mother is just a wonderful Christian mother. She's a spiritual mother to so many of us.

Just a great encouragement in the Lord. I think this woman was much this way to Paul. He doesn't elaborate on that but I think we have a spiritual mother here. Okay, to our final verse, verse 16. Paul concludes this section, greet one another with a holy kiss.

The churches of Christ greet you. He speaks of greeting one another. One verse, two phrases. In the first verse, The believers in Rome are exhorted to greet one another with a holy kiss. That's what he exhorts them to do.

Paul wanted to make sure that the affection among the brethren was genuine and evident. So you brethren, you ought to have affection. It should be genuine affection. It should be evident affection, no fake affection. It has to be genuine and affection not hidden in the heart but never with any outward expressions of it.

This was not just simply a kiss. Make sure you kiss each other. It is a holy kiss, a consecrated kiss, God's kiss so to speak, a set apart kiss. This is not just something culturally normal, This is something that God has consecrated to himself for his people. A family kiss, so to speak.

Thankfully we have two data points from the life of Jesus. In Luke 7 45, Jesus says to Simon the Pharisee who had invited Jesus to his house for a meal you gave me no kiss you remember Jesus saying that here's what precipitated that Gary read a parallel passage of this earlier. This woman who was a sinner in this house is weeping and kissing Jesus' feet and wiping his feet with her hair. And Jesus says to Simon the Pharisee, you're nothing like her. You look down on this woman because she's a sinner, But at least she gave me a kiss.

Simon, there's no love in your heart, so there's no kiss on your lips. There's no manifest evidence, displayed evidence of love in your heart because there is no love in your heart for me Here I am you invited me to your house I came to your house and you gave me no kiss but this woman who you look down on as a sinner Hasn't stopped kissing my feet is weeping and and washing my feet in her tears. You didn't wash my feet, she's washing my feet. You didn't give me a kiss, she's kissing my feet. In Luke 22 48 Jesus says, Judas are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?

What's happening there? Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's been praying. The mob comes to get him with torches and clubs and it's dark and Judas is the betrayer and so they set up a signal. You'll know it's Jesus because he's the one I kissed.

What's notable about that? It can't be something strange. It's not a strange thing. It would be something expected. So Judas isn't tipping his hand by doing this.

He would normally greet this way, Jesus this way. But it's a hypocritical. It's a fake. It's fake. Jesus is condemning it.

Judas, you're betraying me with a kiss? This is not the only New Testament exhortation to greet one another this way. Second Corinthians 13 12 greet one another with a holy kiss. So it writes the same thing to the Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 13 12.

In 1st Thessalonians 5 26, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 1st Thessalonians 5 26, greet all the brethren this way with the holy kiss. Peter says it too. 1st Peter 5 14 greet one another with a kiss of love. Instead of calling it a holy kiss, Peter calls it the kiss of love.

The outward manifestation, there's love in the heart and it expresses itself in this physical, physically expressed affection. So our love for each other is to be genuine, not fake. Oh, we don't, you don't, you betray me with a kiss, not fake. But genuine and evident. It's not to be hidden in the heart.

Does that mean we bring back the Holy Kiss? You decide. Rob Ventura says that in our culture a friendly hug or firm handshake might do. John Murray isn't so sure that goes far enough. One final note on the Holy Kiss from John MacArthur.

I think this is really important and precious. John MacArthur says, it became it, the holy kiss. It became especially precious to new believers who were often outcast from their own families because of their faith, because of the spiritual kinship it signified. So John MacArthur says, think of it as a replacement for all you lost relationally when you converted to Christ. Now we know very little of the cost of that because most of us grew up in a culture where it was advantageous to be associated with Christ.

But it wasn't that way for the people in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Rome, in Thessalonica. They were losing everything often when they confessed Christ and allowed themselves to be baptized. And MacArthur says that was compensation for all that they lost. They got a new family. So they got a family kiss to go with the new family and that would have been especially precious to you if you lost mother and father brother and sister friends old friends because You aligned with Christ you received Christ In the second phrase the first phrase is greet one another with a holy kiss.

In the second phrase, Paul greets the believers in Rome from the churches of Christ. So I'm not, I am greeting you from me but also from the churches in Christ. Here's what Rob Ventura says about that. The churches of Christ greet you. This is language most likely a reference to all the local churches in and around Corinth where Paul wrote this letter.

This greeting would have helped to remind the Romans that they were part of something big, even the universal church, the body of Christ. It's good to be reminded that it's so far beyond us within these four walls. There are people in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Blantyre, La Longue, that are part of us. Okay, they're not here with us this morning. They're thousands of miles away from us, but we are part of one another.

We are members of one another. And so bringing the greetings to the Romans from the churches in Christ lets them know it's not just you Christ is for everyone Christ is in every land and the churches are part of you and you are part of the churches applications I'll give you two one in our in our Christian marriages so I'm speaking to Christians who are married to one another, in our Christian marriages, let's grow strong together. Let's grow strong together. Let's grow strong together. No weak husbands and fathers with strong mothers and wives.

Mothers and wives. No weak wives and mothers with strong husbands and fathers. But strong husbands and wives, Strong fathers and mothers growing strong together. Husbands, don't you dare leave your wives behind spiritually. Wives, do whatever you can to bring your husband along.

We need to be people in our marriages who have grown in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and are growing in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and will be growing. We were growing and are growing and will be growing in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Together. It's what I love about Aquila and Priscilla. It's a strong husband with a strong wife.

Maybe a strong father we don't know if they had children. That's what I want to hear. Strong fathers and mothers. Number two. May Christian friendship and co-laboring abound and flourish.

These greetings are a testament and homage to Christian friendship and co-laboring. We should go wide and we should go deep. Meaning Paul had lots of names. He went wide. He didn't have one or two Christian friends, one or two co-labors.

He had hundreds of Christian friends and hundreds of co-labors. And he went deep. They were dear to him. He knew them well enough to love them. God I do Thank you for the list.

Thank you for profitable things that could be mined out of these lists of names. All the things that you have for us to learn there. Pray that we would learn them well. Pray that you would give us Christian friendship and co-laboring here deep and wide. May it be so in Jesus' name, amen.