Co-Working

Today’s reading: Romans 15:23-33, 16:1-9

“Greet Priscilla and Aquila. They have been co-workers in my ministry for Christ Jesus...and Urbanas, our co-worker in Christ...” - Romans 16:3, 9 NLT

Paul will use this word “co-worker” three times in this last chapter of Romans. The third time is in reference to Timothy (in tomorrow’s reading, 16:21). It is the Greek word “synergos,” which is where we derive the word synergy. It can also be translated as “accomplice” or “one who works together with sometime else.”

Paul had an army of co-workers. He didn’t do anything alone but was always relying on others to help him plant and sustain churches across the Mediterranean.

We should appreciate these name-lists at the end of his letters. In them, we see the personalization of a man who otherwise can be glorified into something he wasn’t. Paul met so many people on his three missionary journeys, and he had the ability to unify them all onto his “ministry for Christ Jesus.”

Who are your “co-workers” in the role God’s asked you to play in His kingdom? If your answer is “no one,” you may need to reconsider how you’re living your Christian life. It has the potential to be so much better (and more fruitful) than it is to fly solo.