Romans 16:25

Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all nations unto obedience of faith: to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever. Amen.

My gospel ... must not be understood as anything different from the gospel taught by the other apostles of Christ, with special reference to the great body of truth upon which Christianity is founded; nevertheless, as John Locke noted:

St. Paul cannot be supposed to have used such an expression as this, unless he knew that what he preached had something in it that distinguished it from what was preached by others; which was plainly the MYSTERY, as he everywhere calls it, of God's purpose of taking in the Gentiles to be his people, under the Messiah, and that without subjecting them to circumcision or the law of Moses.[40]

Mystery ... in the scriptural frame of reference means a great truth, hidden and unknown for a long while, and at last revealed. Locke's identification of the mystery with God's calling the Gentiles and their acceptance without such things as law and circumcision is correct, but too limited in scope. The great mystery comprehends many lesser ones such as the calling of Gentiles, the hardening of Israel, the incarnation, the mystery of Christ and his church, and many others. The translation of those who remain alive at the second coming of Christ is part of the mystery. A work such as this does not permit the full exploration of the Great Mystery, which in its totality embraces the whole purpose of God in the scheme of human redemption. That the mystery was hidden before times eternal, as stated here, shows that all of the details of God's great plan were clearly defined in God's eternal purpose before the world itself was created. To sum it up in Paul's own precise word:

Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16)!

Through times eternal ... cannot mean merely "through history" or "through the ages"; as Wuest declared:

The expression refers to the eternal ages before creation.[41]

But is now manifested ... means that the mystery has been revealed, at least to a far more comprehensive degree than formerly; but it would doubtless be a mistake to conclude that the revelation of it is total, even now. Paul himself said of this mystery that it

in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles, etc. (Ephesians 3:5).

Paul's statement there merely affirms that present knowledge far surpasses former knowledge, the words "as it hath now been revealed" meaning "to the extent that it has now been revealed," and being in no sense a declaration that "all" is known about it, even now. Supporting this are the words of the apostle John:

In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets (Revelation 10:7).

These thoughts are not presented as any disparagement of God's great revelation already received, but are merely to point out that the mystery witl be finished at a time future.

By the scriptures of the prophets ... shows that the mystery was embryonically revealed in the prophetic messages of the Old Testament (as, for example, in the matter of the calling of the Gentiles); but the complete understanding of those oracles did not arrive until the Saviour appeared upon earth. Paul, it seems, was the very first to realize and comprehend fully the totally new nature of the church and the abrogation that fell automatically upon the entire old institution; and yet that truth was surely there, embedded in the Old Testament through long centuries, despite the fact that the Jews seemed never to have had the slightest suspicion of it.

The commandment of the eternal God ... is Paul's appeal to the authority of God himself, as the complete justification of his opening the doors of salvation to the entire Gentile world.

Unto all the nations ... refers especially to Gentile nations, but also means "all" in the total sense of that word, no exclusion of any kind of Jews or of anyone else, being in it. Of the greatest significance is the placement of these words in the text in such a manner as to serve as Paul's own definition of what the mystery is. These words show that the mystery included preeminently the preaching of salvation to all nations.

Unto obedience of faith ... The mystery was definitely not a brand new way to be saved by faith only, as some think; but, by Paul's definition here, it included the preaching "unto obedience of faith." This expression, "the obedience of faith," standing here at the close of the epistle, is the same as that with which Paul opened this magnificent treatise (Romans 1:5). Together, these two dramatically placed enunciations, like great arches at opposite ends of a boulevard, make it impossible to misunderstand Paul's many references to salvation "by faith." It is invariably and always of an obedient faith that he spoke. Without a single exception, in all of the great passages where the apostle spoke of "faith apart from works," or "faith without the works of the law of Moses," or "faith without circumcision," etc., the purpose of his words was not to question if obedience was required, but to determine what obedience was required. Paul made this principle:

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH

to be an underlying foundation of everything taught in this epistle; and Paul did so by the double placement of these words, like the two mighty pillars, the Jachin and Boaz, in the porch of the temple of Solomon, so that all who enter the study of Romans might more readily discern what is taught.

"To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

[40] John Locke, Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul (Boston, Mass., 1832), p. 384.

[41] Kenneth S. Wuest, op. cit., p. 266.