Download The Life of Persis Romans 16:12 `My greetings to my dear friend

The Life of Persis
Romans 16:12 ‘My greetings to my dear friend Persis who has done so much for the Lord.’
These words introduce us to a lady in the congregation at Rome named Persis, whom Paul greets as a dear friend.
We know nothing about her apart from what Paul tells us here. He focuses on her Christian service and says that
she has done so much work for the Lord. Persis, I believe, stands for and personifies so many people, chiefly
women, who give humble and quiet service but whose names do not appear in the pages of Christian history or in
Christian literature or in church magazines. Yet to Paul she was important as a friend and worthy of commendation.
When we look at this brief reference to her we see that certain things about her stand out:
I. She promoted Christian friendship
Paul refers to her as ‘my dear friend’. It seems that she had a warm friendly personality, reminding us that our
relationship with Christ and with each other is based on love rather than on law. We do not know what led Paul to
write as he did but we do know that he valued this lady as a dear friend. In the life of our congregation and in other
spheres of Christian work, we should do our best to promote Christian friendship. I dare say we can all think on
people who are never happier than when they hear of disaffection in a congregation and gladly fan the flames of
contention. We can counter this promoting Christian friendship. If we hear of people who are at variance with each
other let us say nothing about it to anyone but pray for the people concerned. If we know of someone who is going
through a difficult time let us speak a kindly word or send a text or email. If we hear of someone who has
experienced blessing let us offer them our congratulation. If we know of someone who has succumbed to
temptation let us assure them that forgiveness and a new beginning are still possible. Let us do all we can to
promote Christian friendship.
2. She pointed others to Jesus
When Paul thought on this lady his attention was directed to Christ. The work she had done was not so much for the
church as an institution but for the church’s Lord. Persis was clearly a committed Christian who served Jesus and
so pointed others to him. So for ourselves. When we join the church we promise that we will serve the Lord and
walk in his ways all the days of our lives. All true Christian service is done for Jesus and in response to his
goodness to us through his life, death and resurrection. Paul regarded himself as the bondslave of Jesus and was
willing to lose everything for him (Philippians 3:8-9).
3. She received the praise that she rightly deserved
Paul does not engage in flattery here, but in well-deserved praise. His words of commendation were not out of
place. If, under God, we have the opportunity of speaking a word of well-deserved praise let us take it. The
Christian life, of course does not always bring us the praise we may deserve. During Holy Week, Jesus was
anointed in Bethany by an unnamed woman and her action called out not praise but fury from those who saw it
(Mark 14:3-9). It was necessary for Jesus to intervene on the woman’s part. We are, however, given the assurance
that if we serve Christ faithfully then the day will come when he will commend us. ‘Be faithful to me, even if it means
death, he says, and I will give you life as your prize of victory’ (Revelation 2:10).
Rev. Billy McMillan
This meditation was written by the Reverend Billy McMillan and was published in Life and Work, the magazine of the Church of Scotland. We are grateful to Mr McMillan and
Life & Work for granting us permission to post them on the HTC website.