When Social Limitations Become Useful

We can learn a lot by examining the social limitations of the people Paul addressed in Romans 16.

 

This handful of politically powerless and theologically divided Christ followers would grow into a launch point for forces formulating what we describe as Western culture.

 

Understanding society and points of influence is crucial in spreading the gospel. The world of the Roman believers shook out in three dimensions, the polis, the oikonomia or extended oikos, and closer relationships expressed as koinonia.

 

Rome was a city-state within the larger frame of the empire. The Greek descriptive term for this “polis” gives us our word politics. For us, this is the body we meet when pulling a building permit, etc. Like many today, those early believers didn’t expect much other than restrictions from the government; they would certainly not have expected to influence it.

 

Then there was the household community or the oikonomia. The idea extended to stewardship or oversight and comes to us in terms of economy and economics. An oikos is an extended family or household. The term oikonomia adds the concept of management to that of a household.

 

Members of a household, such as that of Aristobulus or Narcissus, included enslaved people, freedmen, families and perhaps tradespeople. They may have lived in nearby tenements. This was a social unit where the wealthy householder held life-or-death power over his subjects. On a more positive note, the unit provided security regarding a roof over one’s head and food for survival. Socially it provided identity in the way that an employee of a popular restaurant or a big tech company might gather identity from their work.

 

The smaller circles within the oikonomia formed the word oikos. Oikos includes the concept of a person’s extended circle of friends and family. This would approximate an online gamer’s group, a regular golfing foursome or folks who hang out in the same bar each night after work.

 

The Roman believers would have enjoyed koinonia or close fellowship in Christ. Not to say that this didn’t, or doesn’t exist outside of Christ, but it is the expected outfall of a healthy church.

 

Koinonia tends toward egalitarianism. Ethnic boundaries dim. A position on the socio-economic ladder carries less meaning. Today, military officers associate with non-coms in church fellowship. Racial and economic boundaries get softened. Love defeats barriers.

 

Koinonia met deeper emotional needs in the lives of ordinary Romans.

 

Living under a less-than-friendly political system forced the gospel’s spread into the oikonomia (oikos) via koinonia or personal relationships. Believers mainly spread the word in the nooks and crannies of their world.

 

Politically divided, mostly gospel-hostile, America is calling us away from splashy events to the healthy grind of friendmaking, resulting in disciplemaking.

 

Koinonia exists in various oikos or identity groups. Our goal in everyday missionary work is to develop koinonia relationships in the “outside of Christ” oikos where we live, work, study and play. Paul describes this in action as he brings greetings to the church at Philippi from the believers in Caesar’s household (oikos, not oikonomia).

 

Separation of church and state long ago morphed into the state being separated from the church. Freedom of speech often means freedom from God-speech in the marketplace.

 

The only force capable of penetrating many barriers is love empowered by the Spirit. Things may be easier for us than those Roman believers, but lessons from their lives can help us prevail.

 

In one sense, our koinonia prevents us from effectively reaching into those nearby oikos groups. The church too quickly functions as a “Christian ghetto” where all ministry aims toward each other with little interface with the people groups around—those same groups where our members live, work, study and play.

 

Getting out of ourselves and into our neighbor’s lives is paramount.

 

Crossing lines is a fine goal. I love the second-century attack on believers launched by a Roman philosopher named Celsius. He wrote, “…other mystery religions invite the pure and righteous. Christians invite crooks and simpletons. Yes, and women and children, the very low of the low. And the very teachers are woodworkers and cobblers and laundry workers.”

 

The guy thought he was slamming the church. I take his words as high praise. I hope you do, also. His verbal attack underscored the nature of love and acceptance. Forces that would eventually reshape political and social mores.

 

People today worship at the altars of technology, entertainment and democracy. High regard for tolerance is becoming part of that pantheon. Those values stem from the faith and deeds of those early believers. When Paul to the Philippians from prison, he hadn’t yet lost his head, and the believers didn’t yet face violent persecution. Eventually, they would, and we might.

 

Best to get a move on while the opportunities abound—the fields are still white unto harvest.

 

Note: You can watch a parallel video of this at https://youtu.be/u2AJUkYYvv8