NOTES for Rom 16:17-24
As he concludes his letter, Paul asks the Roman Christians to avoid those who bring divisions into the community, reminding them that they need to be "wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil" (vv. 17-19). This appeal was entirely natural in the context of everything Paul had written to the church in Rome about Christ, about the Kingdom, and about spiritual life. Wisdom, understood as most biblical authors usually understand it, that is, as an art or practical skill, meant nothing less, when applied to goodness, than the art of righteous living and the skill of following the Torah. Such skill was necessary for those who wanted to walk the path of righteousness before Jesus Christ came into the world, but it was especially important for those who chose to follow Christ and live in the Kingdom. In the present age, the age of the Kingdom's confrontation with a world not yet fully transformed, the requirement to follow the Torah and walk the path of righteousness is, for those who have chosen the Kingdom, essentially a daily confirmation of the choice once made and the promises once given.
Yet choosing the Kingdom does not mean that the faithful reject the world: they will have to be witnesses to Christ and to the Kingdom precisely here, in our world, which is being transformed and yet still resists Christ and the Kingdom. They will have to face the evil in which the world lies every day and every hour. In such an encounter, simplicity, of course in the biblical sense of the word, becomes absolutely necessary. In the biblical and Gospel sense, simplicity has nothing to do with stupidity, naivete, or lack of knowledge. The corresponding Greek word means first of all that spiritual wholeness of the person without which righteousness is impossible in principle. Without such simplicity, it is impossible to follow Christ, impossible to receive the Kingdom, and impossible to live in it. The apostle understands this well, and at the end of his letter he once again reminds the Roman Christians of the main thing that forms the foundation of the spiritual life of everyone who walks the path of righteousness and seeks the Kingdom.