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Romans 16 — Greek text and reception

Saints Translation: Romans 1–16 [V2]

Each card preserves the Greek reading and its textual and reception notes. This source provides a Greek study edition; Hebrew counterparts and Hebrew–Greek classifications are not supplied.

Chapter 16

Commendation, greetings, and concluding blessing

Verse 16:1

Greek–English Saints Priority

And I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is also a deacon of the Church in Cenchreae,

Textual & Reception Notes

Διάκονος is rendered deacon in its explicit connection to a local church; servant or minister expresses the word’s broader range. Phoebe is female, and the term itself does not define every feature of a later institutional office. Cenchreae is the place named.

Verse 16:2

Greek–English Saints Priority

so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and stand by her in whatever matter she may need from you; for she herself has been a patroness of many, and of me myself.

Textual & Reception Notes

Προστάτις is patroness, benefactress, or protectress. The draft retains Phoebe’s substantial supporting role rather than reducing it to an unspecified minor favor.

Verse 16:3

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

Textual & Reception Notes

The source names Prisca, not the expanded form Priscilla. She and Aquila are both Paul’s fellow workers.

Verse 16:4

Greek–English Saints Priority

who risked their own neck for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles;

Textual & Reception Notes

The Greek idiom is literally placing their own neck underneath; risked their own neck expresses the danger to life without inventing a specific incident.

Verse 16:5

Greek–English Saints Priority

and greet the Church in their house. Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the firstfruits of Asia for Christ.

Textual & Reception Notes

The source reads Asia, not Achaia. The household church and the firstfruits designation are separately retained.

Verse 16:6

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Mary, who labored much for you.

Textual & Reception Notes

The source form is Μαριάμ, rendered by the familiar English name Mary, and the labor is ‘for you,’ not ‘for us.’

Verse 16:7

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners, who are distinguished among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

Textual & Reception Notes

The source accents the name as Ἰουνίαν, Junia. ‘Distinguished among the apostles’ adopts an inclusive reading of ἐπίσημοι ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις; ‘well known to the apostles’ is another construal. The term apostles is not automatically restricted to the Twelve. Kinsmen can denote relatives or fellow Jews; their imprisonment and being in Christ before Paul are explicit. Reception: John Chrysostom, Homily 31 on Romans, on 16:7, explicitly calls Junia a woman and praises her being counted worthy of the designation apostle, reading the commendation as distinction among apostles. This records his reading without claiming a patristic consensus. [CHR-ROM31]

Verse 16:8

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:9

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:10

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those of Aristobulus’s household.

Textual & Reception Notes

Household supplies the implicit group in ‘those of Aristobulus.’ The greeting does not state that Aristobulus himself belonged to the church.

Verse 16:11

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Herodion my kinsman. Greet those of Narcissus’s household who are in the Lord.

Textual & Reception Notes

The qualifying ‘who are in the Lord’ concerns the greeted members of Narcissus’s household, without asserting that every member or the household head believed.

Verse 16:12

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.

Textual & Reception Notes

Tryphaena and Tryphosa are described with present labor; Persis with past much labor. Both distinctions are retained.

Verse 16:13

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

Textual & Reception Notes

‘His mother and mine’ retains Paul’s shared maternal language without asserting that Rufus was his biological brother.

Verse 16:14

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them.

Textual & Reception Notes

The source order is Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas after Asyncritus and Phlegon. The two similar names are not conflated.

Verse 16:15

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them.

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:16

Greek–English Saints Priority

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the Churches of Christ greet you.

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:17

Greek–English Saints Priority

And I urge you, brothers, to watch those who cause divisions and snares contrary to the teaching you learned, and turn away from them;

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:18

Greek–English Saints Priority

for such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and through smooth speech and flattery they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

Textual & Reception Notes

The source says our Lord Christ, without Jesus here. The belly image concerns self-serving appetite; the two deceptive speech terms remain distinct.

Verse 16:19

Greek–English Saints Priority

For your obedience has reached everyone; therefore I rejoice over you, but I wish you to be wise toward good and innocent toward evil.

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:20

Greek–English Saints Priority

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet soon. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Textual & Reception Notes

‘Soon’ renders ἐν τάχει, also expressible as swiftly. The source includes Christ in the blessing and has no Amen at the end of this verse.

NA28: τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ without Χριστοῦ (SBLGNT adds Χριστοῦ with Tregelles and RP); the rendering above follows SBLGNT; NA28 would read "our Lord Jesus".

Verse 16:21

Greek–English Saints Priority

Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

Textual & Reception Notes

Verse 16:22

Greek–English Saints Priority

I, Tertius, who wrote the letter, greet you in the Lord.

Textual & Reception Notes

Tertius speaks in the first person as the one who wrote the letter. ‘In the Lord’ is attached to the greeting; the verse is not used to silently replace Paul as the letter’s author.

Verse 16:23

Greek–English Saints Priority

Gaius, my host and host of the whole Church, greets you. Erastus the city steward greets you, and Quartus the brother.

Textual & Reception Notes

Οἰκονόμος τῆς πόλεως is a city steward or administrator, often understood as treasurer. The draft does not identify him with an unverified inscription or another person of the same name.

Verse 16:24

Greek–English Saints Priority

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Textual & Reception Notes

End of the SBLGNT main text. The official text and XML agree, and the licensed Greek presentation records the longer doxology only in its edition-comparison note. The supplemental rows that follow are separately sourced and are not counted among this edition’s 430 main-text units. [SBL-ROM; SBL-ROM-XML; SBL-ROM-END]

NA28: omits verse 24 and prints the doxology as 16:25–27 (SBLGNT prints 24 with RP and ends there); the rendering above follows SBLGNT; NA28 would have no verse 24 here.

Supplemental doxology • conventional Romans 16:25–27

Verse 16:25

Greek–English Saints Priority

Now to the One able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of a mystery kept in silence for age-long times,

Textual & Reception Notes

Supplemental doxology, conventional 16:25–27: independently translated from the actual Greek comparison reading printed at SBLGNT 16:24 on Bible Gateway and attributed there to WH, Treg, NIV. This is outside the SBLGNT main text; no manuscript collation is claimed. The genitive proclamation of Jesus Christ is retained. [SBL-ROM-END]

Verse 16:26

Greek–English Saints Priority

but now manifested, and through prophetic writings, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all the nations for the obedience of faith,

Textual & Reception Notes

Supplemental Greek comparison reading, not SBLGNT main text. Manifestation and making known continue the mystery clause. [SBL-ROM-END]

Verse 16:27

Greek–English Saints Priority

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory unto the ages. Amen.

Textual & Reception Notes

Supplemental Greek comparison reading, not SBLGNT main text. The relative to whom and the interrupted doxological syntax are retained. [SBL-ROM-END]