THE MYSTERY REVEALED (Romans 16:25-27)
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we come to the closing verses of Romans, a beautiful doxology that praises God for what He has done through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. These three closing verses are very similar to the first eleven verses of Romans 1. We will look at these similarities as we go through this passage.
This doxology is not something new to Scripture, God’s Word is filled with them. Often a writer is so overwhelmed by what he is writing that he breaks out in praise to God. We have already seen this in this book, in chapter 11 after speaking of the mercy and grace of God that is available to all, Jew and Gentile, Paul erupts in praise to God saying, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36, NASB95)[1] Paul is not the only writer to erupt in praise to God, we find doxologies in the end of Hebrews and the end of Jude which I often use as benedictions to our services.
Doxologies are not just confined to the New Testament, we also find them in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Psalms. Psalms was the hymn book of the nation of Israel, and it is divided into fives parts which are called books. At the end of each book there is a doxology of praise to God. Book one ends with the words of Psalm 41:13, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.” (Psalm 41:13, NASB95)[2] Book two ends with a footnote that the prayers of David are ended, but right before that footnote is the doxology in verses18-19 of Psalm 72 which says, “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.” (Psalm 72:18–19, NASB95)[3] Book three ends in Psalm 89:52 with the doxology, “Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.” (Psalm 89:52, NASB95)[4] Book four ends with a doxology in Psalm 106:48 which says, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 106:48, NASB95)[5] Book five ends with Psalm 150 and the whole psalm is a doxology of praise to God, “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150, NASB95)[6]
Paul’s closing doxology in the book of Romans is unique in that while Paul praises the Lord God he repeats and sums up the major themes of this letter. He focuses in on the Gospel that establishes men, the Gospel that proclaims its theme, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel that reveals the mystery of God’s redemption for all mankind. Let’s pray and then worship as we listen to Paul’s doxology.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles, once more for this series, to the book of Romans, the last chapter. Romans 16:25-27 our passage for this morning. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 16:25-27,
“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:25–27, NASB95)[7]
THE GOSPEL THAT ESTABLISHES (Romans 16:25a)
Paul begins his praise to God by praising Him that He is able to establish men by the Gospel. In the first chapter Paul had spoken of the Gospel of God in verse one, here in verse 25 he speaks of his Gospel. Here he speaks of God who is able to establish you and in chapter one, verse 11 he talks of his readers being established, so we begin to see some similarity between chapter one and Paul’s closing praise to God.
Paul in praising God is saying that God is able, in other words, God has sufficient power to establish those who trust in Him according to the true Gospel preached by Paul or by any apostle of any true preacher or teacher. When we believe in God by what is contained in the Gospel we are established by God. This word translated “establish” is a word in Greek that means to make firm, or make more firm, to make stable. When used as it is here it means to be mentally settled, in other words you are firmly rooted in the truth of the Gospel, you are planted there by God.
No unbeliever can be established this way, they cannot be mentally settled because they do not know God, they may believe that they know about Him or know about His Word but until they come to faith in Jesus Christ they cannot know for certain because then by God’s power they are established, they have assurance by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit that what they believe is true. Paul writes in this verse that it is through the Gospel that God is able to establish the believer. God uses the truth of the Gospel to settle us, ground us, to make us firm in our belief of Him. Through the Gospel we have assurance and we can be certain about God, we can be certain of His Word and the truth contained within its pages, we can be certain of our righteousness that it meets up to His standard of righteousness through the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us, we know and understand and can be certain about God’s love for us and His care for us, and we know and can be certain that we will spend eternity with Him. Only one who has truly believed the message of the Gospel can be firmly settled in these truths. Then with Paul we can say as he wrote in 2 Timothy 1:12, “… for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12, NASB95)[8]
In this first verse of our passage this morning Paul refers to the Gospel through which God is able to establish us as “my Gospel.” Now it is important to understand that when Paul says this, He is not saying that he has a different Gospel then the other apostles, he is not saying that this is his specific bent or opinion of the Gospel. Paul’s Gospel was the same as Peter’s Gospel, the same as John’s Gospel, the same as all the apostles’ Gospel. He calls it “my Gospel” because it was given to him by God through divine revelation, he did not learn it from the other apostles, but just as they learned it from the Lord, Paul also had it revealed to Him from the Lord. He told the Galatians in Galatians 1:11-12, “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11–12, NASB95)[9] Having received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ, Paul made it his Gospel.
Wherever and whenever this Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, God can and does use it to change a vile sinner into a child of God, and in that moment of faith God establishes that child of his forever in His truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the only life that can having meaning, the only life that can satisfy and bring joy and peace into a world of chaos. Apart from Christ there is no purpose, there is no hope, there is no joy, no meaning, no satisfaction. Apart from Christ there is only sin, disappointment, and judgment. If you remember that was the theme of the first three chapters of this letter, that man had suppressed the truth about God even though it was evident within them because God had made the truth about Himself evident to them. Because they suppressed the truth about God, He gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity and we see the effects of this in our society today. It is only the Gospel that can change man, as Paul stated in chapter 1, verse 16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16, NASB95)[10] It is in this Gospel that God is able to establish you and as Jude reminds us in his doxology in Jude 24 that God, “… is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,” (Jude 24b, NASB95)[11]
THE GOSPEL’S THEME (Romans 16:25b)
There is only one Gospel that God is able to use to establish men and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the theme of the Gospel, just as He is the theme of the entire Word of God. As the theme of the Gospel, Paul’s mission, his calling was the preaching of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen. The preaching of Jesus Christ consumed him so much so that he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16, NASB95)[12] Paul also told the Corinthians that his chief commitment in life was to preach Jesus Christ. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:23–24, NASB95)[13] He had said earlier in this letter in chapter 10, verse 17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17, NASB95)[14]
From the end of chapter 3 through chapter 8 of Romans Paul describes almost every blessing that comes to those who have received the preaching of Jesus Christ and have come to Him in faith and been established by Him. Listen to some of the blessings mentioned by Paul in the second part of Romans. We have a righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ (3:22); we are justified as a gift of His grace through the redemption we have in Christ Jesus (3:24); we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ (5:1); and chapter 8 ends by telling us that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:39). This is just a sampling of what Paul taught in these chapters concerning Jesus Christ who he preached to anyone who would listen. Jesus Christ is not only the theme of the Gospel, but He is also the theme of all Scripture, and He was the theme of Paul’s life, so much so that he wrote in Philippians 3:7-11, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7–11, NASB95)[15]
THE GOSPEL THAT REVEALS (Romans 16:25c-27)
The Gospel by which we are established by God, and which proclaims its theme, Jesus Christ, is the same Gospel, Paul writes, that reveals the mystery of God which has been kept secret for long ages past. Remember that when we come across the word mystery in Scripture we must look at from the biblical perspective and not from the human perspective. In English this word mystery refers to something that must be solved, you must find clues to come to an explanation of the mystery. In the New Testament when a mystery is spoken of it refers to something that was hidden in former times but is now made known. In other words, it refers to a part of God’s truth that was not revealed or only partially revealed in the Old Testament.
The New Testament reveals many mysteries but by far the most common mystery that is spoken of in the New Testament is the one that Paul refers to here in his doxology, a mystery that was revealed to him by a revelation from God. The mystery that the Gospel reveals is God’s provision of salvation for Gentiles as well as Jews. Paul spoke of this truth being revealed to him as an apostle in our Scripture reading this morning from Ephesians 3. Paul wrote in verses 3-6, “that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” (Ephesians 3:3–6, NASB95)[16] What Paul is saying is that from the beginning, God’s plan of redemption has always included the Gentiles in every way as much as it included the Jews, God’s chosen people under the Old Covenant. In other words, Gentiles through Jesus Christ are as fully saved, as fully the children of God, and as fully citizens of God’s Kingdom as are believing Jews.
Paul writes in Romans 16 that the mystery that, “…now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;” (Romans 16:26, NASB95)[17] Through the writings of the Old Testament prophets God had promised first through Isaiah that, “… the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11b, NASB95)[18] Then through the prophet Jeremiah God said, “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…’I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’” (Jeremiah 31:31b, 33b, NASB95)[19] Jews always thought these promises and predictions by the prophets whatever they may have fully meant applied to them alone, God’s chosen people. Peter spoke of this misunderstanding of salvation in 1 Peter 1:10-11, “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” (1 Peter 1:10–11, NASB95)[20] Not even God’s inspired prophets under the Old Covenant could understand the full meaning of their prophecies, they were a mystery to them.
When God made His covenant with Abraham, the father of God’s chosen people Israel, even at the very first He made mention that His offering of grace would be for the whole world. He said in Genesis 12:3, “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3b, NASB95)[21] God spoke to Israel through Isaiah and said in Isaiah 42:6, “I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,” (Isaiah 42:6, NASB95)[22] Speaking of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, God said again through Isaiah in Isaiah 49:6, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6, NASB95)[23] Paul and Barnabas quoted this verse to a crowd of Gentiles and Jews in Antioch (Acts 13:46-47).
This truth that salvation is for all, Jew and Gentile was the subject of Paul’s third part of Romans, chapters 9-16. Paul gave examples from the Old Testament prophets that spoke of God’s salvation going to those beyond the borders of Israel, to the Gentiles. In chapter 11speaking of this mystery, Paul wrote in verse 25, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;” (Romans 11:25, NASB95)[24] In other words, until the Gentiles have had full opportunity to hear and receive the Gospel.
Paul having established that salvation is for all, both Jew and Gentile, Paul begins instructing Christians how to act, how to strive to live righteously. Beginning in chapter 12 he commands all believers, again Jews and Gentiles, to minister and serve each other with the spiritual gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit. In chapter 13 he focuses on the responsibility of all believers, Jews, Gentiles, Americans, Canadians, European, all Christians to respect and be subject (obey) the governmental authorities and to behave properly before the world, especially to those around you. In chapter 14 he speaks of the believer’s responsibility not to offend one another’s conscience and in chapter 15 he again reiterates that God’s saving grace is for all, Jew and Gentile, and in chapter 16 Paul greets Jews and Gentiles alike which shows us that his personal conviction was that they were one in Jesus Christ.
Paul ends his doxology and this letter with praise “to the only wise God…” (Romans 16:27a, NASB95)[25] The God of the Jews and the Gentiles, the God of all creation. Why did Paul choose in this last verse to focus on God’s wisdom? Why not His power, or His grace, or His mercy? He has spoken of those attributes and many others in this letter and in his other letters, but I believe that here he calls attention to God’s wisdom so that he might emphasize that only an infinitely wise mind, the mind of the only wise God could have designed and accomplished such a plan of redemption. This plan that was formed in the mind of the only wise God before the foundations of the world were set in place, that God would come to earth in human flesh and die for the sins of the world, becoming the perfect and only substitute for sinful mankind making it possible for man, Jew or Gentile, to have his sins forgiven, be reconciled to God, and be justified before God by being made righteous in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, to become a child of God’s own family and to inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul wrote of this wisdom of God in Ephesians 3:8-11, the verses following our Scripture reading this morning, saying, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Ephesians 3:8–11, NASB95)[26]
Paul gives praise to the Lord Jesus Christ through whom God not only revealed His great grace in His plan of redemption but also revealed His great wisdom. “…to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27, NASB95)[27]
CONCLUSION:
Thus, we come to the end of the book of Romans, a book that has become the bedrock of New Testament Theology. The overarching theme of this book is the righteousness that comes from God through Jesus Christ; the glorious truth that God justifies guilty, condemned sinners by grace alone through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. With that overarching theme no wonder Paul closed with a doxology of praise to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever. Amen. Martin Luther wrote concerning the book of Romans that was so important to him. He wrote, “This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.”[28] My prayer and my hope is that I have only whetted your appetite for this book and you return to it again and again learning like Martin Luther that it can never be read or pondered too much and that the more time you spend reading and pondering the more precious it will become and the better it will taste. “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:25–27, NASB95)[29]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[18]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[19]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[20]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[21]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[22]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[23]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[24]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[25]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[26]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (emphasis mine)
[27]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[28]Luther, Martin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. A new abridged translation by J. Theodore Mueller. Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan Publishing House, 1954.
[29]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.