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Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my countrymen, greet you.<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Every ministry needs faithful helpers.<\/p>\n \u201cFellow worker<\/span>\u201d is from sunergon<\/em><\/span>, which we have seen a couple of times in this chapter. It refers to someone who works together with someone else.<\/p>\n The word \u201ccountrymen<\/span>,\u201d which we also have seen a couple of times in this chapter, is translated from sungen\u0113s<\/em><\/span>. This word can be used to imply a family member (a relative) or someone with the same ethnic roots. In this case it probably means that Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater were fellow Jews with Paul.<\/p>\n A few verses back we went through a series of greetings that Paul extended to various people at the church in Rome. Now, before he closes this letter with an extended benediction, Paul allows several of the people currently working with him to send their greetings to the Christians at Rome as well. As with the earlier greetings, we know very little for sure about any of these people; however, we can make some educated guesses based on other scriptures.<\/p>\n The first one to offer greetings is Timothy. It is very reasonable to assume that this is the same Timothy to whom Paul later wrote two letters (1Timothy and 2Timothy). In his second letter to the Christians at Corinth, Paul includes Timothy as a fellow writer (2Corinthians 1:1<\/span><\/strong>). And he told the Christians at Philippi that he was going to send Timothy to help them out until Paul could get there himself. Paul spoke so highly of Timothy to the Philippians that he appears to have been one of Paul\u2019s strongest helpers (Philippians 2:19-24<\/span><\/strong>). Paul refers to Timothy as his \u201cson in the Lord<\/span>\u201d in his first letter to the church at Corinth (1Corinthians 4:17<\/span><\/strong>) and in 1Timothy and 2Timothy refers to him as \u201ca true son in the faith<\/span>,\u201d \u201cson Timothy<\/span>,\u201d \u201cand a beloved son<\/span>.\u201d Clearly, there was a close bond between the apostle and Timothy.<\/p>\n About the other three mentioned here we have fewer facts to go on. We do know that all three of them were fellow Jews. Some scholars believe that they were also of the tribe of Benjamin and perhaps even close relatives to Paul. All three of these names are listed among the seventy disciples sent out by Christ and later became church Bishops (senior pastors).<\/p>\n The first of the three is Lucius. There are some who believe that he is one and the same with Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke. That is unlikely, however, since the full Greek form of his name is Lucanus, not Lucius. It is more likely that this is the prophet mentioned in Acts 13:1<\/span><\/strong> as Lucius of Cyrene.<\/p>\n Jason is most likely the one mentioned in Acts 17:1-9<\/span><\/strong> who protected Paul and Silas from the hostile Jews. Rather than reveal where they were, Jason suffered a beating from the mob and was even willing to pay a security deposit for their protection. Sosipater is likely the same as Sopater of Berea, mentioned in Acts 20:4<\/span><\/strong> as one of Paul\u2019s traveling companions.<\/p>\n We are finding out just how many people assisted the Apostle Paul in his ministry. Though he is the one we most often hear about and talk about, he couldn\u2019t have done his work for God without many faithful helpers. This is true of every church ministry. God uses a few leaders and a lot of faithful helpers.<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\nTruth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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