| RPM, Volume 14, Number 6, February 5 to February 11, 2012 |
Romans 16:25-27
The passage before us is a case in point, though we admit it is rather an exceptional one, occurring as it does in what many regard as the profoundest epistle in the New Testament. We wonder how many of our readers, even after a careful reading and rereading of our present passage, will obtain any clear-cut and intelligent concept of the scope and subject of this prayer. We wonder how many of them could supply satisfactory answers to the following questions: (1) Why is the Deity here addressed as "him that is of power to establish you"? (2) What is the force of "according to my gospel"? (3) what is signified by "the preaching of Jesus Christ"? (4) what is this "mystery" which "was kept secret since the world began"? (5) How does one harmonize "kept secret" with "but now is made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets"? (6) Why is it "according to the commandment of the everlasting God"? (7) What is the special force of "to God only wise"? Is there not real need here for a teacher?
When one honestly faces and carefully ponders these questions, he is at once conscious of his dire need of wisdom from above. The central subject of these verses is something especially profound; this seems very obvious. Reader and writer alike should sense that they contain truth of the deepest importance. But if their meaning is not apparent from a cursory perusal, neither can it be conveyed to others through a hurriedly prepared article. Prayer and study, study and prayer, are called for; and they demand the exercise of faith and patience?graces in which the present generation of Christians are sadly deficient. While it has pleased God to grant us some insight into the contents of this portion of the Word of God, we doubt we shall ever plumb the depths in this life.
This is not only a sublime prayer but one of the greatest doctrinal passages contained in Holy Writ. On the one hand it rises to unsurpassed heights of devotion; on the other it conducts us to the profoundest subject of divine revelation. Our passage speaks not only of a "mystery" but of "the mystery" which includes and is the sum of all others. The principal theme of the epistle is here epitomized as affording the special ground for the praise now offered to God. In Romans the gospel is expounded (see Romans 1:1, 9, 16) in a more formal and systematic form than elsewhere in the Word. In the body of the epistle we are shown the blessings the gospel conveys to those who believe it; in their doxology we are taught how the gospel originated.
The Greek word translated "stablish" (sterizo) is rendered "set steadfastly" in Luke 9:51 and "strengthen" in Luke 22:32 and Revelation 3:2. It means "to thoroughly establish," "to make rooted and grounded in the faith" (Col. 1:27) both in heart (1 Thess. 3:12) and in walk (2 Thess. 2:17). This is a duty incumbent upon us, for we are expressly bidden, "Stablish your hearts" (James 5:8). But because we are not sufficient for such a task, God has graciously made the promise: "But the Lord is faithful [though we are unfaithful], who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thess. 3:3).
Though it be our privilege and obligation to study the Word, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, yet so strongly are our hearts influenced by sin, so dull is our understanding and so feeble is our love, that the working of God?s power is required to preserve us. Not only were we unable to bring ourselves into the faith but we cannot continue in it without divine strength. Because of our proneness to apostatize, the subtlety and strength of our spiritual enemies, the evil of the world in which we live, God?s power alone can keep us (cf. Jude 24).
"According to my gospel." First, this is to be regarded as a discriminative expression because the gospel is that which Paul has proclaimed in contradistinction to the false gospel of the Judaizers. None of the other apostles made any reference to a spurious gospel, but Paul particularly warned the Corinthians against "another gospel" (2 Cor. 11:4); and to the Galatians he wrote, "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8). Paul was referring to his gospel, then, in opposition to all counterfeits, for none other can avail for the salvation of the soul. Second, the gospel was Paul?s because he was the preeminent expounder of it, his first epistle being devoted to an unfolding of its grand contents. The term "gospel" occurs scores of times in Paul?s writings, yet except for 1 Peter it is found nowhere else in the epistles. Third, Paul used the expression "my" because a special dispensation of the gospel was committed to him for the Gentiles (Gal. 2:7; Ephesians 3:2). Finally, this expression accords with the special fervor which marked Paul: "My God shall . . ." (Phil. 4:9), "Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil. 3:8).
"And the preaching of Jesus Christ." This clause is joined to the former in order to tell us the substance and contents of the gospel. Jesus Christ is the grand Object and Theme of all true evangelical ministry. The "preaching of Jesus Christ" is much more than making frequent use of His name in our discourses, or even telling of His wondrous love and work for sinners. The "preaching of Jesus Christ" is first and foremost the magnifying of His unique Person, the making known of who He is?the God-man. Second, it is the opening up of His mediatorial office in which He serves as Prophet, Priest, and Potentate. Third, it is the proclamation of His wondrous redemption. Fourth, it is the enforcing of His claims and the holding up of the perfect example He left us.
"According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began." This is both an explanation and an amplification of the foregoing. The glorious gospel of Christ is no invention of human wit; it is the wondrous product of the consummate wisdom of God. As J. Evans well said of the gospel: "It has in it an inconceivable height and such an unfathomable depth as passes knowledge. It is a mystery which the angels desire to look into and cannot find the bottom of. And yet, blessed be God, there is as much of this mystery made plain as will suffice to bring us to heaven if we do not willfully neglect so great salvation." The gospel infinitely surpasses man?s skill to originate. He was able to have no knowledge whatever of it until God was pleased to publish the same. Nor was the gospel any provision of His, devised in time, to meet some unforeseen calamity, no mere imposed remedy for sin; it was that which engaged the divine mind before heaven and earth were created.
According to the usage of the word in the New Testament a mystery is a concealed truth over which a veil is cast. It concerns something which transcends the powers of man to conceive, and is therefore beyond his ability to invent. It relates to something which is undiscoverable by the human mind, beyond human knowledge until divinely revealed.
In recent years those known as dispensationalists have substituted the term "secret," but we think it is a faulty alternative. True, these "mysteries" were secrets impenetrable by finite sagacity until brought to light by God, but they were still designated "mysteries" after their revelation! Even now that they are made known to us there remains a mysterious element that is beyond our ken. "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep" (1 Cor. 15:51; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17). Before the Holy Spirit made such disclosures, who ever imagined a whole generation of God?s people would enter heaven without passing through the portals of death! "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). Yet now that the miracle of the virgin birth has been recorded, there remains about the Divine incarnation that which passes our understanding. The divine mysteries, therefore, are addressed to faith and not to reason.
This grand mystery of the gospel was, we believe, what is designated in other passages "the everlasting covenant" (Heb. 13:20), which concerned the divine plan of redemption, or the amazing scheme whereby lost and depraved sinners might be everlastingly saved to the glory of God. This seems clear not only from the other passages referred to above but more especially from the whole of 1 Corinthians 2. There Paul affirmed that his paramount concern was to preach "Jesus Christ and him crucified." Yet Paul spoke the, "wisdom of God in a mystery"?a message so unworldly, so incredible, so exacting that none but the Holy Spirit could open human hearts to receive it to the salvation of their souls.
The parallels between Romans 16:25-27 and 1 Corinthians 2 are more or less obvious. In the one Paul adored "him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." In the other he averred that he had determined not to know anything among the Corinthians save Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). In Romans 16 Paul affirmed his preaching had been "according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began." And in 1 Corinthians 2 he affirmed, "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory" (1 Cor. 2:2). In the former he announced the mystery "now is made manifest, by the scriptures of the prophets." In the latter he quoted one of the prophets and added, "But God hath revealed them [the inconceivable things mentioned in the previous verse] unto us by his Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:10). In the doxology Paul ascribed glory unto "God only wise"; in the doctrinal passage he expressly mentioned the wisdom of God. Thus one passage serves to interpret the other.
Perhaps nothing more strikingly portrays the contrast between the two dispensations in connection with the manifestation of the divine excellency than placing side by side what is recorded in Exodus 33 and a statement made in 2 Corinthians 4. In the former we find Moses making request of Jehovah: "I beseech thee, show me thy glory" (Ex. 33:18). Let the reader look up Exodus 33:19-22 and then ponder the Lord?s response, "Thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen" (Ex. 33:23). How well may a person be known by a passing glance of his "back parts"! That was characteristic and emblematic of the Old Testament economy. Now set over against that this most precious passage: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18)?revealed Him, made Him known, fully told Him forth.
But there is another sense in which the mystery is now made manifest as it was not previously, namely, in the more extensive promulgation of it. Under the former economy the Psalmist declared, "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them" (Ps. 147:19-20). For more than half the span of present human history the heathen world was left in darkness, for from the tower of Babel (Gen. 11) onward God "suffered all nations to walk in their own ways" (Acts 14:16) so that they were deprived of even the outward means of grace. But after His resurrection the Savior bade His ambassadors, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). In accordance with this He gave a special commission unto Saul of Tarsus to bear His name "before the Gentiles" (Acts 9:15), and by and by through the gospel which Paul proclaimed the contents of the grand mystery were heralded far and wide.
That to which reference has been made receives express mention in all of the leading passages where this mystery is in view. In our present one it is specifically declared that the mystery is "made known to all nations" (Rom. 16:26). In 2 Corinthians we learn that in the past the mystery was that which "none of the princes of this world knew" (v. 8) but which God had revealed to the Corinthian saints (v. 10). In Ephesians 3:8 the apostle averred it had been given him to "preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," which in the light of verses 2-5 signifies that therein was contained the very substance of the mystery.
In Colossians 1:25-27 Paul alluded again to the special dispensation God had given him to the Gentiles in connection with the mystery which he here speaks of as "Christ in you [or ?among you?] the hope of glory." While in what may perhaps be termed the classic passage of 1 Timothy 3:16, one of the items comprising the mystery is that it should be preached unto the Gentiles.
We shall not turn aside to refute this error, but would simply call attention to the fact that Old Testament prophecy clearly foretold that Christ should be a "light of the Gentiles" (Isa. 42:6-7; 49:6). The Savior Himself announced, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,... and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (John 10:16). Caiaphas prophesied that Christ would "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:52). Not the simple purpose to call Gentiles into the Church nor to make them "joint-heirs" with the Jews, but rather the whole plan of redemption made that possible. The mystery is concerned with that.
"And by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith" (Rom. 16:26). We will consider the subordinate clause first. This commandment respects the three things mentioned in the previous verse: it was by divine appointment that this gospel, this preaching of Jesus Christ, this revealed mystery, should be made known. The word rendered "commandment" may mean "decree," and then the reference is to Psalm 2:7 and those passages where the decree is declared, such as "all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God" (Ps. 98:3). It may mean "law" or "statute," in which case the reference is to the words of our Lord: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19). That was indeed the commandment of the everlasting God, both as the Father spake in Him and as He was and is, "over all God, blessed for ever" (Rom. 9:5). The reason for and the special propriety of here styling Deity "the everlasting God" lies in the dominant subject of this passage, namely, "the mystery" or "the everlasting covenant" in which was centralized His eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11), which concerned the salvation of His elect (2 Tim. 1:9). This salvation God "promised [to Christ] before the world began" (Titus 1:2).
We regard the clause "and by the scriptures of the prophets" (Rom. 16:26) first, as looking back to the mystery of the previous verse; second, as being linked to "and now is made manifest"; and third, as connected with the final clause of this verse.
The mystery, or everlasting covenant, was the subject of Old Testament revelation (2 Sam. 23:5; Psalm 89:34; Isaiah 55:3), yet for the most part its wondrous contents were couched in obscure figures and mysterious prophecies. By means of the antitypes of those figures and the fulfillment of those prophecies, much light has been cast upon what was so heavily veiled throughout the old economy. The parable they contained has been explained and their symbols interpreted so that what was for many generations dark is "now made manifest." Israel?s prophets announced the grace that should come to us and "searched diligently" (1 Pet. 1:10) in connection therewith. Yet Peter himself needed a special vision to convince him that salvation was designed for the Gentiles (Acts 10). Thus the Old Testament credits the New, and the New Testament illuminates the Old. What was latent in the one is not patent in the other.
"To God only wise, be glory" (Rom. 16:27). The reason why the apostle here adores the Deity in this way leads to a wide and wondrous subject which we trust will grip the reader as much as it has the writer. Though we propose to devote the balance of this chapter to a consideration of this verse, we shall not now attempt a complete outline of it. It is in the grand mystery to which the apostle had alluded in the previous verses, in the constitution and outworking of the everlasting covenant that the consummate wisdom of God is so illustriously and preeminently displayed and which drew out of the apostle?s heart to give praise for this divine excellence. O that wisdom may be given us to hold up to view this perfection of Him whose "understanding is infinite" (Ps. 147:5).
"To God only wise." He is the only wise Being essentially, superlatively, eternally (cf. 1 Timothy 1:17; Jude 25). God is wise not by communication from another but originally and independently; whereas the wisdom of the creature is but a ray from the "Father of lights" (James 1:17). The wisdom of God is seen in all His ways and works, yet in some it appears more conspicuously than in others. "O LORD, how manifold are all thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches" (Ps. 104:24). The reference here is to His works in creation. The same adoring exclamation may be made of His works in providence, wherein He regulates all the complicated affairs of the universe and governs this world so that all things are made to redound unto His glory and work together for the good of His people. But it is the marvelous plan of redemption which may well be called the masterpiece of His wisdom. That is indeed the "wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory," containing as it does "the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:7, 10). So many were the problems of redemption to be solved (humanly speaking), so many the ways and means required, so great the variety of its exercise, that it is designated "the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3:10).
In contemplating the possibility of redemption the very attributes of God seem to be divided against it. Mercy was inclined to save, whereas justice demanded the death of the transgressor. The majesty of God seemed to render it unworthy of His exalted greatness that He should treat with defiled dust. The veracity of God required the infliction of the penalty which He had denounced against obedience; the honor of His truth must be preserved. The holiness of God appeared to preclude utterly any advance toward depraved creatures. Yet the love of God was set upon them. But how could it flow forth without compromising His other perfections? What finite intelligence could have found a solution to such a problem? Suppose this problem had been submitted to the angels and after due deliberation they had recognized that a mediator was necessary to heal the breach which sin had made, to reconcile God to sinners and sinners to God. Where was a suitable mediator to be found? Consider the qualifications he must possess.
Admire then and adore the amazing wisdom of God in ordaining a Mediator fully qualified to reconcile God to men and men to God. Marvel at such exercise of omniscience that devised the virgin birth whereby the Son became partaker of our nature without contracting the least iota of defilement, whereby He was Immanuel both by nature and by office, whereby He was a fit Daysman (Job 9:33) to lay His hand on each of the estranged parties, whereby He had both zeal for God and compassion for men, and whereby He might serve as a substitute on behalf of the guilty and make full satisfaction to the divine justice in their stead. Moreover, divine wisdom resolved this difficulty in such a way that, far from the glory of the Son being tarnished by the incarnation, it has been enhanced thereby, for He receives throughout the endless ages of eternity such a revenue of praise from His redeemed which the holy angels are incapable of rendering Him, while they themselves have been afforded additional grounds for adoring Him.
Bates, in The Harmony of the Divine Attributes, said, "The wisdom of God appears in ordaining such contemptible and, in appearance, opposite means, to accomplish such glorious effects. The way is as wonderful as the work. That Christ by dying on the cross [as] a reputed malefactor should be made our everlasting righteousness; that descending to the grave, He should bring up a lost world to life and immortality, is so incredible to our narrow understandings that He saves us and astonishes us at once. In nothing is it more visible that the thoughts of God are far above our thoughts and His ways above our ways as heaven is above the earth (Isa. 55:8). It is a secret in physic to compound the most noble remedies of things destructible to nature, and thereby make one death victorious over another: but that eternal life should spring from death, glory from ignominy, blessedness from a curse, is so repugnant to human sense that to render the belief of it easy, it was foretold by many prophets, that when it came to pass it might be looked on as the effect of God?s eternal counsels."
"To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen" (Rom. 16:27). The Greek is somewhat complex and the Revised Version states more literally, "To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Amen." As each translation is equally legitimate, we adopt them both, for each is in perfect harmony with other passages. The thought conveyed by the Authorized Version is this: Our adoration of God is possible only through the mediation of Jesus Christ. The concept expressed by the Revised Version is this: It is in and through Jesus Christ that God is superlatively manifested as both infinite in might and omniscient in knowledge. "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24). In and by the person and work of Christ are these divine perfections supremely displayed. He is the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15), "the brightness [or outshining] of his glory" (Heb. 1:3). The Object of this doxology is the omnipotent and omniscient God: the subject which gives rise to it is the mystery, or everlasting covenant; the substance of it is "glory for ever"; the Medium of it is Jesus Christ.
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