Note 1 at Rom. 16:21: The name "Lucius" meant "illuminative." This name is used twice in scripture (here and Acts 13:1). He is referred to as a kinsman of the apostle Paul (see note 9 at Rom. 16:7, p. 849), or possibly Tertius (see note 4 at this verse).

It is unclear whether this is the same Lucius that was mentioned in Acts 13:1. If so, Lucius would have been a long-time associate of Paul and would either be a prophet or a teacher.

Some people suspect that this Lucius is the Luke who traveled with the apostle Paul (see note 2 at Acts 16:10, p. 668) and wrote the books of Luke and Acts (see About the Author in Introduction to the Acts of the Apostles, p. 570).

Note 2 at Rom. 16:21: The name "Jason" meant "healing." Jason was a kinsman (see note 9 at Rom. 16:7, p. 849) of the apostle Paul or possibly Tertius (see note 4 at this verse).

The name Jason is used five times in scripture. Four of these times are from an account in Acts 17 (Acts 17:5,6,7,9). It is not certain that the Jason mentioned here is the same as the Jason mentioned in Acts 17, but it probably is.

If this is the same Jason as the Jason of Acts 17, then this Jason had been an acquaintance of Paul since Paul first came to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1). This would make it hard to understand Jason as being a kinsman of Paul in the sense of a blood relative. This must be referring to these men as being brothers in the Lord, or possibly, these men were Tertius' relatives (see note 4 at this verse).

Jason apparently took Paul and his companions into his household. Because of this, the unbelieving Jews assaulted the house of Jason, and when they didn't find Paul they took Jason into custody.

Note 3 at Rom. 16:21: The name "Sosipater" meant "savior of his father." He is called a kinsman of Paul or possibly it was Tertius who referred to him as a kinsman (see note 4 at this verse).

Most scholars believe that Sosipater is the same man as Sopater of Acts 20:4. If so, this would mean that Sosipater was from Berea and was probably a convert of Paul's missionary work there (see note 3 at Acts 20:4, p. 694).

Note 4 at Rom. 16:21: In note 9 at Romans 16:7, page 849, the word "kinsman has been defined and its normal usage discussed. However, this verse seems to present a problem with the word "kinsman" denoting either a blood relative or a fellow countryman.

There are quite a few scriptures where Paul writes of Timotheus, and nowhere else is it implied that Timothy is related to Paul (see note 1 at Acts 16:1, p. 665). Therefore, most scholars exclude Timothy and believe that Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater are the ones being referred to as kinsmen.

However, if these men were the same men as mentioned in Acts (see notes 1-3 at this verse), then it would appear that they were converts of the apostle Paul during his second missionary journey. This would make it doubtful that they were blood relatives as the primary usage of the word "kinsman" would imply.

This could mean that these men were kinsman in the sense of fellow countrymen. This would mean that these men were of Jewish descent, living in these Gentile cities. There is also the possibility that Paul was referring to them as kinsmen in the sense that they were brothers in Christ.

There is also the possibility that Paul had ceased his comments in the previous verse and that Tertius, the writer of Romans was speaking of these men as his kinsmen.

Note 5 at Rom. 16:21: Whether these men were Paul's kinsmen or Tertius' kinsmen, they were definitely Paul's converts and companions in the ministry. This gives us some insight into Paul's methods.

If these men were the same men as listed in the book of Acts, then they were born again during Paul's second missionary journey (see note 1 at Acts 18:22, p. 683). This means that these men were converted around A.D. 52 and Paul is writing this letter to the Romans around A.D. 57-58 (see Date and Place of Writing in Introduction to the Book of Romans, p. 738).

That means Paul had been discipling these men for approximately five years. Therefore, we have an example of how long it took for Timothy to progress into a position of leadership. Paul is the one who wrote that a novice should not be given a position of authority (1 Tim. 3:6). Timothy was to be left in charge of the church at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3) in just a very short time from the writing of this letter as Paul traveled towards Jerusalem. Some scholars speculate that the church at Ephesus could have had as many as 100,000 members.