Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. – Romans 16:5b

Today's Scripture Reading (May 1, 2024):  Romans 16

One of my grandchildren, James, likes to play opposite-word games. So, he calls me dumb and a lousy hugger, which I am supposed to take to mean the opposite. And I reply similarly, and then he laughs. He was playing the game the other night, and I began to think back at my own use of language. I think I play the opposite game a lot without realizing it. If I give you a hard time, it likely means I like you. It is a behavior trait that has caused some of my friends to become a little scared when I am nice to them; they wonder what they have done wrong.

I heard a story about a pastor of a church who only did hospital visitation when a person wasn't expected to live. One day, he received word that an elderly member of his congregation was in the hospital, and the prognosis wasn't good, so he made his way to the hospital. After he visited with the elderly member, he remembered that a friend of his was in the hospital recovering from a fairly routine surgery, so the pastor thought he would stop in and see him before he went back to the office. His friend knew when the pastor made his hospital visits, so as soon as the pastor walked through the door, his exclamation was, "I didn't know it was so serious. Am I going to die?" My friends tend to react in a similar way when I am nice to them.

Paul didn't play around with opposites when he wrote his letters, probably because he knew the letters would likely be passed around to other churches who wouldn't understand any inside jokes or familiar references. However, one of the phrases Paul used only for people he considered good friends was "well-beloved," translated here as "dear friend." The use of the phrase to describe Epenetus is evidence that Epenetus was very special to Paul.

We don't know much about Epenetus, except that he was the first convert to Christianity in the province of Asia. We aren't even sure if Epenetus was a convert of Paul's; some believe Epenetus was the fruit of the ministry of Priscilla and Aquila. But even so, he had become a dear friend to Paul and someone that Paul liked to be around and acknowledged with the words "well-beloved."

As was common in the first century, early converts often grew into leadership roles in the early church, which appears true of Epenetus. He is mentioned right after the evangelists Priscilla and Aquila, indicating that he had taken on some authority in the young church that Paul hoped to visit soon in Rome. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 1