Be Still And Know

Romans 16.3-5 NLT 'Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.' This final chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans contains greetings to a number of specific people, and this gives us a fascinating window on the early church. We find that the Roman church was incredibly diverse in terms of race, social rank and gender. We can see in the following verses that it was composed of people from a Jewish and Gentile background. Some of the people have names that were common amongst slaves but alongside them we meet people like Aristobulus who, many scholars suggest, was the grandson of Herod the Great and friend of the Emperor Claudius. Particularly notable is the fact that of the 26 people named, nine of them were women. It’s also interesting to note that six of these women are described in terms of t