NOTES for Rom 16:1-24
The final passage, which concludes the reading of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, may seem somewhat “technical.” From the depths of theology, the apostle turns to many specific people, mainly sending them greetings. But as in the biblical genealogies, there is an important meaning in this list of greetings.
When Christian doctrine is presented systematically in a textbook of dogmatic theology, it looks rather ponderous and carries a strong air of abstraction. This is, of course, a problem with textbooks rather than doctrine, but still... The list of greetings at the end of the letter to the Romans immediately brings all the apostle’s theological thought into the context of the real Church. Everything he said earlier ceases to be a stream of profound ideas and becomes something practical, passed from one person to others so that they may live by it.
Moreover, practically all the people mentioned by the apostle are united by one thing: they belong to the Church. Each in a different way, they serve to build it up. This service is no less important than Paul’s theological discourse, which without it would indeed risk becoming an abstraction.