Romans 16:14 – Church Building Idolatry?
Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them.
Truth to Learn
God wants a relationship, not brick and mortar.
Behind the Words
“Asyncritus” is the name of a slave who was made a freeman by Caesar Augustus. The name is made up of the negative particle a and sunkrinō, meaning “to judge together” or “to compare.” Thus, this name means “incomparable.”
“Hermas” is probably a variation of Hermes, the fleet footed messenger of the Greek gods.
“Patrobas” is probably made up of the Greek patēr, meaning “father” and the Aramaic abba, also meaning “father.” It was not uncommon for Hellenistic Jews to have both a Jewish name and a Greek name. Possibly, Patrobas combined the two.
Meaning Explained
Paul now greets five people together, along with the brothers who are with them. In the next verse he will greet five more people along with the saints who are with them. It is possible that each of these was the core of a house church that had been set-up to reach out to the Roman people living around them.
All of the first group of five have familiar slave names, and these may all be former and current slaves who have banded together in their faith. The two names Asyncritus and Phlegon are listed among those who were Christian martyrs in Rome and were described as being disciples of Paul. These two, along with Hermas and Patrobas, are listed among the seventy disciples sent out by our Lord as described in Luke 10:1. Several of these men became bishops (senior pastors) of various churches. Asyncritus was said to be bishop of Hyrcanis, Phlegon was said to be bishop of Marathon, Hermas, bishop of Philippi, and Patrobas was the bishop of Puteoli.
A man by the name of Hermas was the author of a book called Pastor or The Shepherd of Hermas, which was cited by several of the post-apostolic church fathers, including Irenaeus. Copies of this book are still in existence today.
Once again, we have to say that these associations are speculative, partly because these names were all fairly common and because we have no direct evidence to substantiate these notions. What we do know is that the five men mentioned in today’s verse were part of a fellowship group along with other Christian believers. Such house churches were fairly common in the first to the third centuries. There may have been a couple of reasons for this. We know that there was much persecution of the early Christians and meeting in a house attracted less attention than a formal building. Also, some larger churches (like the church at Rome) conducted separate smaller meetings in the homes of members during the week to encourage and strengthen each other.
Application
Some Christians get hung-up on the architecture, style, and furnishings of their church building. At some point, it becomes a matter of pride and the building actually takes on the form of an idol for them. Our faith and our walk with the Lord do not depend on the building we meet in or even the denomination we belong to. God is more interested in our relationship with Him than He is with the formalities of our church.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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