the7ones.comFellowship: Added notes on Romans 16:17-18
An important word in Romans 16:17 is “avoid,” which is a translation of the Greek ekklino. This word is used only three times in the New Testament. The general meaning of the word is “keep away from, turn away from,” according to The Analytical Lexicon of the New Testament.
One usage in in 1 Peter 3:11, where Peter writes, “Let him ?turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. Notice the meaning in context of one who is practicing at thing being admonished to do a different thing, or to turn away from a thing in preference of another thing.
Another usage is in Romans 3:12. Paul here quotes the Old Testament, writing, “They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” The people here have turned away from a path that they were on.
The third usage is, of course, in Romans 16:17. Some have suggested that the people the Roman Christians were to avoid were false teachers already outside their fellowship, or traveling preachers who come into their area, and not people that were present among them.
Comments are currently closed.