Let’s begin this morning by learning a new vocabulary word. This is one that I first heard when I was in Bible school, and I’m not sure that I’ve heard it more than a dozen times outside of Bible expositions, and yet it’s a perfectly good word, which could be used in several contexts. I’m thinking of the word “amanuenses.” It comes from Latin and literally means – “a slave at handwriting.” It refers to someone who is employed at taking dictation or who transcribes a manuscript. Tertius was an “amanuenses.” – a scribe, a stenographer – in the employment of the Apostle Paul.
There have been master painters, and more recently movie-makers, who placed themselves in their work. They either painted their face on one of the on-lookers watching the central character in the painting. Or they became one the extra’s in the movie, getting out of the taxi just before the hero got in. This is the sort of thing which Tertius did for us here. We never hear another word anywhere in the pages of God’s Word directly from this man – or about him. But that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have his hand upon several other epistles from Paul.
We might appropriately ask why the Apostle Paul employed an amanuenses? There could be several reasons for this: This is NOT one of them – Right now I am reading a story which has one of the strangest and imaginative plots I’ve ever seen. But without trying to be too critical, this author is not as skilled in his descriptions and narrative as many other writers that I’ve read. I think that this story could be more effective if he had employed a “ghost writer” to put into words the plot that the author created. Without a doubt it would be heresy to suggest that Tertius was a “ghost writer,” and that he reworded Paul’s thoughts. It would destroy the principles behind the inspiration of the Word of God. More likely, however, Paul could have been led of the Holy Spirit to speak, while Tertius wrote down what he was saying. And another way that this amanuenses could have worked was to re-write in beautiful penmanship, what Paul hastily wrote in illegible scrawl. Did Paul know that Tertius added this particular verse to the Epistle to the Romans? Not only did he know, but I think that he probably encouraged him to write it. This verse was as much given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as John 3:16 or Romans 8:28. And this is one reason that we are looking at it this morning – it is here for a reason. Because it is Bible, you and I don’t have an excuse not to consider what it says – we are obligated.
But more specifically, why did Paul use an amanuenses? We can’t be absolutely sure, but it is quite probable that Paul’s eye-sight was so bad that it made writing very difficult – or at least the reading of that writing. If you will remember, when Paul became a Christian, he was blinded by a brilliant light from heaven. For three days he couldn’t see a thing, but then the Lord miraculously restored his sight. It might be thought that the Lord would have given him 20/20 eyesight, but that is not necessarily true. In II Corinthians when he speaks about a “thorn in the flesh,” given to him “lest he should be exalted above measure” – there are many who think that this thorn was his very poor eyesight. And Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians might reinforce this idea – “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus…. For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” Later in that same letter he wrote – “Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.” Galatians is not a long letter, but the original language suggests not the size of the letter but the size of the letters. Paul appears to have written that epistle himself, and it was very difficult to read because it had been very difficult to write. He may not have had an amanuenses available at that time.
And that brings up one more thing before we get to the lessons of Tertius himself. Most of the rest of Paul’s letters were penned by one amanuenses or another. At times it may have been Timothy, but it could have been Tertius or someone else. This letter to the Romans was carried to that city by Phebe, and she may have authenticated it. But several other letters of Paul, were authenticated by Paul’s awful scribble. This to the words from I Corinthians 16 – “All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” Colossians 4 – “When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you.” II Thessalonians 3 – “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Did the early churches know when they received a letter ascribed to Paul that he was actually the author? I don’t think that there was any doubt, even if most of the handwriting was uncharacteristically perfect.
Now let’s make a couple of brief comments on this amanuenses, Tertius.
But he did not think of himself in that way. In fact, he may have thought about what he was doing as important as Paul himself. Granted if it wasn’t Tertius, it might have been Timothy, or Titus, Luke or someone else. But the fact was, the work that he was doing really was important. He might have thought – “If it was not for me, you wouldn’t have this letter, or if you did, you might not be able to read it.”
Can I make the following statement without the taint of sin in it? Listen and you be the judge. Tertius did his work with pride. By that I mean that he considered it important enough for him to put his whole heart into it. I don’t think, when he wrote verse 22 – “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord” that there was actual pride involved. He most certainly knew that Paul was writing in the Holy Spirit, and that he was only writing in his skill. And as he transcribed, I don’t doubt that he was learning things, just as we all have learned things in studying this letter. There was no pride contained in this verse, nevertheless Tertius did his work with pride and exacting detail.
And here is the point: In God’s work, there is nothing great and nothing small in the overall perspective of the Lord. “The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.”
“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”
Many of you have had the privilege to hear a great orchestra playing Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Mozart. There may be a hundred members in the orchestra, most of whom never get to play a solo. And that piece may take 30 minutes to play in its entirety. Each player may have 200,000 notes to play or perhaps a quarter of a million. In itself a single note might be missed or mis-played by the fourth chair viola, and few of us would know the difference. But the truth is, that conductor, has all 20 million notes written before him, and he has an ear so well trained that he will know when a note is wrong, even when it is hidden behind a hundred other notes. Jehovah might be likened to that conductor, or more accurately, to the composer who is also conducting that great orchestra. To Him, there is no insignificant member of that orchestra. And He has not written a single note which He considers to be unimportant.
Do you think that YOU are unimportant in the work of the Lord. If that it is true, it’s only because you are making it true. It might be that you have been asked to work in the nursery one Sunday morning. And in being able to take a two-year-old away from her mother for thirty minutes, you give that lady an opportunity to hear a gospel message that she might otherwise miss. And then perhaps that two-year-old, with the blessing of his mother, might one day become a missionary, leading hundreds of people to Christ. Or maybe you are able to sing a gospel hymn which especially blesses some sin-sick, or grieving, heart. Perhaps it is your small tithe, given regularly, which eventually reaches Irkustk, Siberia and furthers the work of the Lord there. Maybe you have persistently invited someone to the House of God, and ultimately that person is blessed by the Holy Spirit. Or you are writing to a pen-pal in a far-away place, and because of you she is encouraged to follow Christ. There is not a Christian anywhere in the world, who is actively striving to serve the Lord, who might not look at himself as important as Tertius.
That is one lesson that this man teaches us.
Even though most of the people of Rome had never met, nor even heard of Tertius, since they were children of God and he was a child of the King, they were brethren. “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.” He extended his brotherly hand in fellowship and spiritual union – “in the Lord.”
I saw an illustration somewhere, which you may or may not like, but I’m going to borrow it and expand it. Here we are in our little church – a church which we may think is the best in this community. We have built a little fence around it and engraved each board with the Biblical doctrines which we think are important. Inside that fence we have sown our little garden full of the very finest of vegetables, and we have our yard of carefully manicured grass. There are flowers here and there, and we come together several times a week, enjoying what the Lord has done, and what we have done. But sometimes it wouldn’t hurt us to look over the fence and realize that there are other people out there who are much like us. There are genuine Christians in yards & gardens which are not nearly as beautiful and Biblical as ours. And there are Christians who aren’t in gardens at all, but who are searching for a nice place to rest. There are also non-Christians who might come into our garden if we’d be kind enough to invite them and open the gate for them. Probably Tertius considered the church in Rome to be one of the Lord’s “ecclesias.” And without knowing specifics, he looked upon her members as men and woman who were “in Christ.” He looked over his fence into the yard of another church and addressed the people there as Christians. But of course, the key and heart of the matter was that they were both “in the Lord.”
And that is the third lesson taught to us by Tertius – Are you “in Christ?” As we have said in the past, someone who is in Christ, has been saved by the grace of God. In one sense he was in Christ from before the foundation of the world, but he was in these last days, born again – regenerated – made spiritually alive in the Lord. Are you “in Christ? Have you humbled yourself before the cross, acknowledging that Jesus bore your sins in His body on that tree? Have you ever repented of your sin and sins against God? Is your faith and hope for deliverance squarely on Christ and Christ alone? Tertius would have said that his was. He would have said that he had an abiding love in his Saviour. He assumed that the people in Rome, whom Paul was addressing, did as well.