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"I am glad, therefore, on account of you (in this matter of obedience) but yet I would
have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil" (Rom. 16: 19).
Here the word "simple" is akeraios and means literally "unmixed".
As Eph. 2: 2, 3 reveals, those who fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind, are
themselves the tools of the "Prince of the power of the air". So here, the Apostle turns
from the false teachers to the prime mover in all deception, Satan himself. He has
already spoken of the fall of man in Rom. 5:, and now he looks forward to the
fulfillment of the primeval promise: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's
head"--
"But the God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom. 16: 20).
It is a remarkable fact that the prophecy of Gen. 3: 15 is never specifically referred
to by any N.T. writer as being fulfilled by Christ at the cross. This is at first sight very
strange; and yet there must be a reason why no reference is made to it. The reason seems
to be that the "Seed" of the woman, while referring primarily to Christ Himself, must also
include all the true seed of promise. Hence the early promise of victory will not be truly
fulfilled until the time of the end, when all the redeemed shall stand with the Redeemer
Himself, triumphant because of His victory.
It is clear from verse 20 that, when Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans, he could
speak of the fulfillment of the promise of Gen. 3: 15 as taking place "shortly". The
same word is found in Rev. 1: 1 and 22: 6, showing that, at the time of writing, the
setting aside of Israel at Acts 28: and the intervention of the dispensation of the
Mystery were not known. The hope entertained was, as we have seen, the fulfillment of
Isaiah's promise in connection with the time when the lion and the kid should lie down
together. This synchronizes with the time when the disturber of the peace of Eden shall
be put under the feet of the true Seed. It is important to keep in mind that right up to the
last chapter of Romans, no hint is found of "the Mystery" revealed in Ephesians. We
make no comment here on Rom. 16: 25-27, but we should like to assure the reader that
this passage has not been forgotten.
After the benediction with which the Apostle usually concludes his epistles, he adds a
salutation from eight fellow-workers. The second in the list, Lucius, is probably Lucius
of Cyrene, who was a teacher at Antioch (Acts 13: 1). Jason, who immediately follows,
may be the same as the Jason mentioned in Acts 17: 5, while Sosipater may have come
from Berea (Acts 20: 4). All this, however, is uncertain and not of essential importance.
The introduction of the name of the amanuensis, Tertius, is particularly interesting.
His name suggests that he was a slave, and we know that slaves were trained to write in a
kind of shorthand, many specimens of which exist to-day. The fact that Tertius is
included among the believers here, while the names of the actual writers do not occur in
the other epistles, suggests possibly that the latter were employed in their capacity as
writers but were not believers in Christ. We can only hope that the glorious doctrine they
transcribed may have subsequently led them to the Christ about Whom they wrote.