Greet Herodion, my countryman. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
Truth to Learn
Some Christians put their lives in danger when they get saved.
Behind the Words
The word “countryman,” which we saw in verse seven, is translated from sungenēs, meaning “same offspring, same family, or same nation.” This word can be used to imply a family member (a relative) or someone with the same ethnic roots.
“In the Lord” is an expression used almost exclusively by the Apostle Paul. Luke uses it once in Acts 14:3 and John uses it once in Revelation 14:13. The other forty or so uses of this expression are all by Paul. In this case it refers to people who are Christians, in the body of Christ our Lord.
Meaning Explained
In the past ten verses the Apostle Paul has been sending greetings to people in Rome who are connected with the church there. He now sends greetings to Herodian who, although having a distinctly Greek name, is referred to as one of Paul’s countrymen. In verse seven we met Andronicus and Junia, whom we speculated were relatives of Paul’s. In the case of Herodian, he may simply be a fellow Jew, perhaps a slave of the family of Aristobulus (see verse ten). It is possible that he was of the tribe of Benjamin as Paul was. What we do know is that there was a man by this name who, like Apelles, was among the seventy disciples sent out by our Lord (Luke 10:1). This Herodian became the bishop of the church in Tarsus.
Next, Paul greets those who are of Narcissus. In the previous verse we talked about the fact that the word “household” does not appear in the Greek text; but, being members of his household seems to be the real sense of Paul’s comments. Unlike the previous verse, however, Paul refers to these as “in the Lord.” This is a Pauline expression indicating that these people are Christians. Since all the people to whom Paul is sending greetings are Christians there must be a reason why he specifically refers to this group of people thus. It is likely that Narcissus was not a Christian, so Paul is specifically sending greetings to those of his family, servants, and slaves who are Christians.
From other historical documents we do know that there was a man by the name of Narcissus who was the secretary to Claudius Caesar and was highly favored of him. This man became very wealthy and powerful in the service of Caesar, even though he had a reputation for being an exceedingly wicked man. He was eventually put to death by Claudius’ wife Agrippina. If this is the same Narcissus, it is a testament to the fact that even in the household of politically powerful people who exhibit extremely anti-Christian behavior, there can be those who willingly submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, thus putting their very lives in peril.
Application
In most Western countries it is not a hazard to life and liberty when someone proclaims himself or herself to be a Christian; however, there are places in the world even today where becoming a Christian puts life and safety in jeopardy. These people must be completely committed to their Lord. For the rest of us, salvation is sometimes seen as convenient, and we may not have as acute a sense of how precious our salvation really is. How precious is your salvation to you?
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved
