令人惊奇的结尾
保罗写罗马书是给那些活在罗马统治者恺撒的阴影之下的人们，但保罗没有一次提到他的名字。恺撒把自己称作是罗马帝国的“神和主”，这被刻在罗马的大部分货币上。但在整卷罗马书中，保罗指出耶稣基督才是真正的万王之王，万主之主，借此保罗破除了这些偶像崇拜的宣告。
在这个月早些时候，我们提到保罗是在罗马的监狱写腓立比书的。祂之所以在监狱，是因为他作为一个宣教士，被诬陷干了坏事。而因为他是罗马公民，他上诉说他的案件要让恺撒审判，所以他就去了罗马。
现在，在这封信的结尾，腓立比教会听见了一件令人欣喜的事：在问候他们的罗马基督徒中，有一些是恺撒家里的人。
什么？在恺撒的眼皮底下，耶稣也有属于祂的百姓！是的！
使徒约翰曾这么写道：“那在你们里面的比那在世上的更大。”（约翰一书 4:4）很少有经文比腓立比书结尾这个微小的细节更传神地表达出这个真理了。纵然恺撒宣称自己是全能的，但他没有能力阻挡我们的主耶稣前进的脚步，即使是在自己的家里。赞美主！
主耶稣，为着祢那没有止境的能力和统治的扩展，我们感谢赞美祢。阿们！
腓立比书 4:21-22
21 请问在基督耶稣里的各位圣徒安。在我这里的众弟兄都问你们安。
22 众圣徒都问你们安。在恺撒家里的人特特地问你们安。
Surprise Ending
"All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household." — Philippians 4:22
Paul wrote the letter of Romans to people living in the shadow of the Roman leader, Caesar, without once mentioning his name. Caesar, of course, fancied himself as the “God and Lord” of the Roman Empire. It said so on most Roman coins. Yet throughout Romans, Paul undercut those idolatrous claims by pointing to the real Lord of lords and King of kings, Jesus Christ!
As we noted earlier this month, Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote this letter to the Philippians. He was in prison because he had been accused falsely of wrongdoing as a missionary. And because he was a Roman citizen, he had appealed that his case be judged by Caesar, so off to Rome he went. (See Acts 21-28.)
Now, at the end of this letter, how delightful it is to hear that among the people who had become Christians in Rome and were sending their greetings to Philippi, some were part of “Caesar’s household.”
What? Jesus had some of his own people living right under Caesar’s nose?! Yes he did.
“The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world,” the apostle John once wrote (1 John 4:4). Few verses bring that point home more vividly than this tiny detail near the end of Philippians. Though he claimed to be all-powerful, Caesar had no power over the advance of our Lord Jesus, not even in his own house! Praise God!
For the boundless power and reach of your rule, Lord Jesus, we give you thanks and praise forever! Amen.
诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳
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