
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.
2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workersin Christ Jesus.
4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
8 Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
10 Greet Apelles, tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus
11 Greet Herodion, my relative. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.
14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers with them.
15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.
22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mysteryhidden for long ages past,
26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him–
27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
I/ Introduction:
Let’s continue to study Romans 16, the last chapter containing the greetings of Paul and his co-workers to some special persons and the church; Paul’s advice to the church that they ought to be careful with those who cause devision and put obstacles in their way that are contrary to the teaching they have learned.
II/ New words and expressions
– To commend: giới thiệu, gởi gắm.(v1)
– To include: bao gồm (v2)
– To be a great help to: giúp đở nhiều cho …(v2)
– To risk one’s life: hy sinh mạng sống (v4).
– To be grateful to : biết ơn ai ( v3).
– To greet: chào thăm; greetings: lời chào thăm.
– The first convert: Trái đầu mùa,(v5).
– To be in prison: ở tù (v7).
– Outstanding (a) nổi bật; được tôn trọng ( 7).
– To be tested and approved in Christ: được trải nghiệm và đầy ơn trong Đấng Christ (10).
– To choose, chose, chosen ; lựa chọn .
– To be chosen : được chọn lưa ( v13).
– Hard (adv) : chăm chỉ; tích cực(v12).
– To urge : hối thúc; khuyên giục(17).
– To watch out: Canh chừng.
– To cause devision: gây chia rẻ ( 17).
– To put obstacles: Gây vấp phạm (17)
– To be contrary to :trái, nghịch với (17).
– Appetite (n) sự ăn ngon miệng ; thèm ăn (v18).
– Flattery (n) : lời đua nịnh.
– Naive ( a) thật thà (18).
– To be full of joy over (v1) rất vui về…
– To be wise about: khôn ngoan về …(19).
– Innocent (a) vô tội, thanh sạch( 19).
– To crush: Đạp nát ( 20).
– To reveal : bày tỏ; mặc khải.
– Revelation (n) : sự mặc khải, Khải thị.
– Public works (n) công trình công cọng.(v24)
– Prophetic writings: bút tích của tiên tri; văn tự do tiên tri viết ( sách tiên tri) (v26).
– Only (a) : duy nhất (26).
– Only ( adv) : chỉ
III/ Difficult sentences:
1/” Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord.” ( v8)
” whom” is non- restrictive relative pronoun ( đại từ liên hệ không giới hạn), direct object of the finite verb ” love”
( Xin chào Am-li- a, người mà tôi
yêu mến trong Chúa).
2/ “I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.” (v19)
-“you” is direct object of ” want”
– ” to be wise” is infinitive phrase ( ngữ nguyên mẫu), objective complement of the finite verb ” want”.
– ” what is good” and ” what is evil” are noun clauses, object of preposition ” about”.
3/ The sentence indicating a wish or a prayer:
a/ “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
” be” is present subjunctive tense ( thì hiện tại bàng thái )
We can rewrite like this:
” May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
b/ ” To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ.”
This sentence is in inversion ( đảo từ) to emphasize with the adverb phrase ” to the only wise God” placed ạt the beginning of the sentence.
This sentence can be rewritten normally like this:
” May glory forever through Jesus Christ be to the only wise God.”
According to the gammartical structure the close meaning is:
( theo cấu trúc ngữ pháp sát nghĩa là;)
” Nguyền xin sự vinh hiển đời đời bởi Chúa Jesus Christ thuộc về Đức Chúa Trời khôn ngoan duy nhất.”
“Nguyện Đức Chúa Trời khôn ngoan duy nhất, qua Đức Chúa Jesus Christ, được vinh hiển đời đời vô cùng .” (BD 2011)
4/ ” Timothy, my fellow-worker, send his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relative.” ( v21).
We can rewrite this sentence without inversion like this;
” Timothy, my fellow-worker, send his greetings to you, Lucius, Jacson and Sosipater, my relative, do, too.
5/ V25 and v26 make up a complete compound- complex sentence .( câu phức ghép) with a co-ordinate conjunction “but”( liên từ nối) and a subordinate conjunction “so that” ( liên từ phụ thuộc).
“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mysteryhidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him.”
– ” hidden for long ages past”
– ” revealed and made known though prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God”
are participle phrases ( ngữ phân từ)
– ” so that all nations might believe and obey him.” is adverb clause of purpose ( mệnh đề trạng ngữ chỉ mục đích).
In order to understand more easily we can rewrite this sentence like this:
” Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was hidden for long ages past, but now which has been revealed and ( has been) made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him” .
Now it is more clear for you to understand and you might have a good translation of yourselves.
“Chúc tụng Đấng có quyền làm vững mạnh anh chị em theo Tin Mừng tôi rao giảng , tức sự rao giảng về Đức Chúa Jesus Christ, theo sự mặc Khải về huyền nhiệm vốn được giử kín từ ngàn xưa, nhưng bây giờ được tỏ ra và qua bút tích của các vị tiên tri theo lệnh của Đức Chúa Trời hằng sống , để tất cả các dân ngoại được biết mà tôn thờ Chúa và vâng phục Ngài.” ( BD 2011).
May God bless us, who are studying His words and obey Him.
Ephesians 1:17 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
( prepared by Pastor JosephNa).
Ban Biên Tập.