To Bring about the Obedience of Faith, Romans 16:1-27

How does Saint Paul, as apostle and missionary bishop, warn the Christians in Rome (where he has never visited) to only follow teachers who proclaim “the doctrine which you have been taught” and to avoid those “in opposition to” this apostolic tradition? This needs tender care because, though he knows personally faithful leaders in Rome, he has only heard rumors about the bad teachers. To name these people “who create dissensions and difficulties”, he would have to depend upon second-hand rumors. So, as a wise bishop, he first gives a long list of faithful Christian leaders they can trust, then warns them generally to avoid those who teach otherwise. All of this—all of the book of Romans—has been to “bring about the obedience of faith.”