What is a…
kinsman

Hebrew: goel, from root meaning to redeem

Old Testament use of kinsman

The goel among the Hebrews was the nearest male blood relation alive. Certain important obligations devolved upon him toward his next of kin.

1. If any one from poverty was unable to redeem his inheritance, it was the duty of the kinsman to redeem it (Leviticus 25:25, 28; Ruth 3:9, 12). He was also required to redeem his relation who had sold himself into (Leviticus 25:48-49slavery).

   God is the Goel of his people because he redeems them (Exodus 6:6; Isaiah 43:1; 41:14; 44:6, 22; 48:20; Psalm 103:4; Job 19:25, etc.).

2. The goel also was the avenger of blood (Numbers 35:21) in the case of the murder of the next of kin.

3. What is a “kinsman” in the context of Romans 16?

   Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. —Romans 16:21

   In Romans 16, the term appears selectively. Paul does not apply it to every Jewish believer mentioned (e.g., not to Aquila and Priscilla, who were Jews). Commentators debate whether it means:

   • Blood relatives (actual family members or cousins from Paul's tribe of Benjamin)—possible, given the rarity of the designation and Paul's known relatives (e.g., his nephew in Acts 23:16).

   • Fellow Jews (ethnic “countrymen”)—the more common scholarly view, drawing on the Romans 9:3 parallel and Jewish usage of the term for national solidarity. It highlights shared heritage amid a diverse Roman church. Most modern scholars favor this view, noting that blood-relative claims would require more evidence and that Paul uses the term broadly in Romans 9.

   The context of Romans 16 (a long list of greetings in a cosmopolitan church) favors a sense of ethnic kinship that also carries spiritual warmth, but the primary force is shared Jewish identity.