Learning from the Church in Rome | Romans 16:1–16

Scripture: Romans 16:1-16 Key Takeaways: + The Church was an intimate family in Jesus. 1 Timothy 5:1-2 (ESV) + The Church included and dignified women. "Amidst contemporary denunciations of Christianity as patriarchal and sexist, it is easily forgotten that the early church was especially attractive to women… Christianity was unusually appealing because within the Christian subculture women enjoyed far higher status than did the women in the Greco-Roman world at large." – Rodney Stark Philippians 4:2–3 (ESV) "…we see an early example of women serving as deacons in the correspondence between Pliny the younger and the emperor Trajan (AD 98–117). In a fascinating conversation, Pliny asks Trajan for advice about what he should do as the legate to the province in Bithynia with Christians. We want to think about one small piece of the conversation. Pliny refers to two Christian women, who were called ministrae in Latin. In English we can translate this word as "ministers," and that is a good translation into Latin of the Greek word diakonos, which means "servant" or "minister." We thus have an early example—in the second decade of the second century—of women serving as deacons. Obviously, such an example doesn't prove women should serve as deacons, but it suggests women functioned as deacons in the early church." – Thomas Schreiner + Whatever we see women doing in the Bible, we want to see them doing it in our Church. + Fully Engage in the Church