Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus’ household.
Romans stands in its last, exhortatory part with this verse, in a closing chapter that sends greetings to many individuals by name to be remembered, as one of its numerous salutations, with greetings making up two-thirds of the chapter and naming men and women impartially. It belongs to the epistle written in A.D. 58 from Corinth and sent by Phebe from Cenchrea to the Christians at Rome, then the metropolis of the world, written because Paul was prevented from visiting in order to instruct converts in the great truths of the gospel, strengthen their faith already well known throughout the world, correct misapprehensions, show all rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law abrogated and salvation open equally to Jew and Gentile, and closing with earnest exhortations to a pure, separate, fruit-bearing life and to personal and social kindness and forbearance. The church at Rome was made up of heathen who had embraced the gospel and Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah with many prejudices unremoved, and Christianity was most probably first introduced there by strangers, Jews and proselytes from Jerusalem converted on the Day of Pentecost, who proclaimed salvation on returning to Rome, with others added afterward.
The verse belongs to a full and careful roll of personal greetings to individual believers in Rome that names each member by name and leaves out no leading believer, and the number of salutations reflects the makeup and history of the Roman church, with many of those greeted having met Paul on his travels. The greeting shows the largeness and heartiness of Paul's sympathy and the special care of the Holy Spirit for each individual member of the household of faith by singling them out by name. It is part of Paul's personal greetings to people in Rome, a list so complete that Paul would have mentioned Peter if Peter had been living there, which proves Peter was not in Rome when Romans was written. If Peter ever went to Rome, he went only afterward, long after the church there was established and flourishing, for Paul knew Peter well, having shared his hospitality in Jerusalem for fifteen days, so he certainly would not have omitted the chief person in the Roman church if Peter had been there, and the absence of Peter's name therefore settles that neither the church of Christ nor the church of Rome was founded upon Peter.
The verse is included in Paul's greetings to people in the church at Rome and in his final chapter naming people who helped him, including women among those helpers, without giving any specific explanation of Apelles or Aristobulus' household themselves. The chapter names women who served and labored in the church, including Phebe, Priscilla, Mary, Junia, Tryphena and Tryphosa, along with the beloved Persis and the mother of Rufus and Julia and the sister of Nereus, who labored with Paul in the gospel by helping the apostles, laboring in the Lord, and bearing testimony to Christ. These forms of gospel ministry by women accord with the gifts of the Spirit and do not require women to hold offices governing the church's business, proving that Paul believed in the labor of women and in women speaking and did not forbid all speaking by women.
Romans stands in its last, exhortatory part with this verse, in a closing chapter that sends greetings to many individuals by name to be remembered, as one of its numerous salutations, with greetings making up two-thirds of the chapter and naming men and women impartially. It belongs to the epistle written in A.D. 58 from Corinth and sent by Phebe from Cenchrea to the Christians at Rome, then the metropolis of the world, written because Paul was prevented from visiting in order to instruct converts in the great truths of the gospel, strengthen their faith already well known throughout the world, correct misapprehensions, show all rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law abrogated and salvation open equally to Jew and Gentile, and closing with earnest exhortations to a pure, separate, fruit-bearing life and to personal and social kindness and forbearance. The church at Rome was made up of heathen who had embraced the gospel and Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah with many prejudices unremoved, and Christianity was most probably first introduced there by strangers, Jews and proselytes from Jerusalem converted on the Day of Pentecost, who proclaimed salvation on returning to Rome, with others added afterward.
The verse belongs to a full and careful roll of personal greetings to individual believers in Rome that names each member by name and leaves out no leading believer, and the number of salutations reflects the makeup and history of the Roman church, with many of those greeted having met Paul on his travels. The greeting shows the largeness and heartiness of Paul's sympathy and the special care of the Holy Spirit for each individual member of the household of faith by singling them out by name. It is part of Paul's personal greetings to people in Rome, a list so complete that Paul would have mentioned Peter if Peter had been living there, which proves Peter was not in Rome when Romans was written. If Peter ever went to Rome, he went only afterward, long after the church there was established and flourishing, for Paul knew Peter well, having shared his hospitality in Jerusalem for fifteen days, so he certainly would not have omitted the chief person in the Roman church if Peter had been there, and the absence of Peter's name therefore settles that neither the church of Christ nor the church of Rome was founded upon Peter.
The verse is included in Paul's greetings to people in the church at Rome and in his final chapter naming people who helped him, including women among those helpers, without giving any specific explanation of Apelles or Aristobulus' household themselves. The chapter names women who served and labored in the church, including Phebe, Priscilla, Mary, Junia, Tryphena and Tryphosa, along with the beloved Persis and the mother of Rufus and Julia and the sister of Nereus, who labored with Paul in the gospel by helping the apostles, laboring in the Lord, and bearing testimony to Christ. These forms of gospel ministry by women accord with the gifts of the Spirit and do not require women to hold offices governing the church's business, proving that Paul believed in the labor of women and in women speaking and did not forbid all speaking by women.