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Romans 16 · a question people ask

Why does Romans end with so many names?

In the text

The letter doesn't say why. It shows what it says of them. From 16:3 to 16:15 it asks the readers to greet people by name, and in 16:21-23 others send their greetings. Of many it says something: Prisca and Aquila "risked their own necks for my life" (16:4); Mary "labored much for us" (16:6); Apelles is "the approved in Christ" (16:10); Persis "labored much in the Lord" (16:12). These notes add nothing about any of them beyond what the verses say.

The verses

“Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives. I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus, the brother.”
Romans 16:21-23 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Romans 16

Romans 16: Greet one another

In the Greek, Romans has its verb for greet 21 times, and every one is in its last chapter, beside people it calls beloved, fellow workers, and those who labored much in the Lord. And it opens with one person, Phoebe, who "has been a helper of many, and of my own self" (16:2).

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions