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As Paul leads us out the back door of Romans, this king of the epistles, he is determined to give God all the glory for His great mystery of the gospel revealed to sinful men and women. When Martin Luther came to understand from Romans 1:16-17 that God gives the gift of righteousness through His Son by grace alone and that justification was by faith alone, he said, “I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise through open gates.” Luther also said about Romans, “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.”
What towering truths have we learned in our study over the last 20 months and approximately 67 sermons? Romans has taken us…
- From the wrath of God to peace with God through Christ alone.
- From the degeneration of the human race to the regeneration of God’s people.
- From condemnation to justification.
- From death in Adam to eternal life in Christ.
- From the misery of human wickedness to the mercy of divine sovereignty.
- From those degrading passions and practices of men in their rebellion against God to presenting your body a living and holy sacrifice.
- From sin (1-3) to salvation (3-5) to sanctification (6-8) to sovereignty (9-11) to service (12-16).
How does Paul conclude his letter to those Romans? He had sent greetings to God’s trophies of grace in Romans 16:1-16. Then he warned us in Romans 16:17-20 about wolves who will try to deceive God’s people with all kinds of twisted and false teachings. Now Paul is going to conclude by focusing our hearts on worship to the eternal and only wise God who has revealed for us the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But first Paul sends greetings from those who are with him in Corinth.
THE BLESSING OF A FAITHFUL TEAM
Romans 16:21-24, Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother. 24 [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.]
Paul loved and deeply appreciated his Christian friends and fellow workers. We know Paul wrote this book of Romans from Corinth, and here he recognizes the men around him who were a huge blessing to him. There is nothing like trustworthiness and confidence in a team or band of brothers when serving the Lord, and these men were the closest to Paul.
We’re not surprised that Paul begins with Timothy, Paul’s fellow worker. We’ll learn more about Timothy in our coming study of 2 Timothy but listen to Paul’s comment about Timothy’s character in Philippians 2.
Philippians 2:22, But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
Next, we have Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, men God led to serve with Paul. You’ll find Jason in Acts 17 in Thessalonica when jealous Jews attacked his house because he had welcomed Paul as he was preaching the gospel.
Acts 17:5-7, But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. 6 When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also; 7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Four more were Tertius, Gaius, Erastus, and Quartus. Tertius was Paul’s faithful amanuensis or secretary who took dictation from Paul as God led Paul with these great truths of Romans. Gaius was probably a nobleman with a spacious home that he used to bless Paul and others, perhaps gathering there for worship. Gaius was one of the few Corinthian believers Paul baptized in 1 Corinthians 1:14, “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius.”
Erastus was a public person, a city treasurer. Christians may hold offices even under heathen governments. So, God may have some of you men to run for public office. And then there was Quartus, the brother. Theologian James Montgomery Boice suggests he may have been over in the corner and said, “Tell them I said ‘Hi!’”
Paul loved and appreciated each one of these men; he considered them faithful. Thank you to each of our elders and deacons and many others who faithfully serve right here in our church. You are all greatly appreciated. Then notice verse 24 is bracketed in your Bible. It is identical with verse 20. Most of the oldest manuscripts don’t include it. One thing for sure, you can’t get too much of Christ’s grace.
Now we come to Paul’s final doxology (a statement of praise to God), and what a God-exalting doxology it is. Paul wants to leave us with a high view of God, the gospel, and Jesus Christ. He wants to be sure we know that God gets all the glory, forever – verse 27b. Let’s relish every thought Paul expresses here as He exalts God as powerful, eternal, and infinitely wise as revealed in the gospel.
THE GOSPEL OF THE POWERFUL GOD
Romans 16:25, 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,
God is able to establish you. He has the power to ground us unmovable in the faith of Christ. I love that word “establish.” It’s a big, strong word, like fixing, determining, resolving, strengthening. When the world is beating down Christians, God is powerfully at work through His Spirit and His Word to cause you to stand firm and strong.
How does God strengthen you? By knowing Paul’s gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Remember Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel?” What is the gospel? It is the full-blown message we hear in the preaching of Jesus Christ; it is everything about Jesus Christ.
Preaching Jesus Christ is an authoritative message. It isn’t a suggestion. It isn’t an opinion. God doesn’t strengthen you through cute syrupy stories or skyscraper sermons, one story after another, or bubblegum, ear tickling, feel good sermons. The preaching of Jesus is an announcement and application of that announcement. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, preach the word!” That word is all about Jesus Christ.
You’ll never hear enough of Jesus Christ. You’ll never fully grasp the truth of the incarnation, of the second person of the Godhead, God the Son united with humanity through the virgin conception, the God-Man, the theanthropic Person, two natures united in one person, that amazing hypostatic union of God and man. And Jesus Christ isn’t one of several saviors – He is the exclusive message of true Christianity. You are strengthened as you hear and receive these truths and let them sink deeply in your heart until they become convictions for which you are willing to give your life, like so many in church history have done.
Notice, this gospel, this good news, is the revealing of a mystery! This is where this doxology really becomes breath-taking. A mystery in the Bible is something we would never know if God hadn’t revealed it to us. The word “mystery” is used 20 times in the epistles, sometimes the mystery of Christ in you, the mystery of Jews and Gentiles in one body, the mystery of Christ and the church. Here it’s the mystery that “has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested.” No man would ever conceive of the great story of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul put it like this in 1 Corinthians 2:7.
1 Corinthians 2:7, but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
This mystery was silent for long ages past. What does this mean? This mystery, silent for long ages, is more than that which was promised in the Old Testament. God’s great plan of redemption was planned from all eternity past. Before there was a sun, moon or stars, before the galaxies swirled in the vast darkness of space, before those first six days of creation, before Genesis 1:1, in the silence, in the depths of the eternal, infinite, omnipotent deity, hidden in the heart of the eternal triune God, was this amazing plan of the gospel.
THE GOSPEL OF THE ETERNAL GOD
Romans 16:26, 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…
There was never a moment in God’s eternal existence that this mystery, this plan of redemption through Jesus Christ, wasn’t embedded in the heart of God. This was God’s great purpose as He created the universe and decreed man’s fall into sin and His Son’s coming to save sinners and bring them into a future eternity, a vast number of these sinners saved through His Son, to glorify and honor Him forever and ever. Think about that! Eternity stepped into time when Christ became a man!
Now this mystery has been revealed. The Old Testament prophets wrote of Christ, but they didn’t understand clearly what they were writing. First Peter 1:11 says they were trying to figure out these sufferings and the glory to follow. But then in the fullness of time God pulled the curtain back and here came the angels to those shepherds in the field, and Gabriel to Mary announcing the virgin conception, the mystery of the incarnation, the life and work and miracles of Christ, then His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension. What an unveiling of God’s eternal mystery in His Son. Propitiation – God’s wrath satisfied! Redemption – sinners purchased from their sin. Reconciliation – sinners brought into a loving and eternal relationship with Almighty God! Destruction of the works of the devil, as Christ paid for sin and rose again! Justification by faith alone, deliverance from sin’s penalty and power, free forgiveness! And included in that eternal mystery were all those God chose to be His people. In eternity past, before the sun blazed and the moon reflected and the planets circled that sun, He chose us! He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
Who could have devised a plan like this for world history? A plan conceived in the eternal divine council, partially revealed through the prophets and then in full, blazing reality the incarnation, the God-Man – all preplanned, predestined, every minute of it. Who could do this? The most brilliant human mind shrinks to nothing before this revealed mystery. And now it is for all the nations, from the eternal God to your heart! God is faithfully, infallibly fulfilling His predestined plan. Nothing by chance here. Not a sliver of chance. People of every nation will come to faith in Christ and the fruit of that faith will be obedience or submission to Christ as Lord and Savior.
Do we grasp God as the eternal God – without beginning but always the same, unchanging, infinite, able to speak this universe in which we live into existence and then to sustain it for thousands of years? Don’t buy the nonsense that we’re going to save the planet. God didn’t create an earth that we could destroy. That’s about the height of human arrogance.
THE GOSPEL OF THE ONLY WISE GOD
Romans 16:27, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.
The powerful God in verse 25, the eternal God in verse 26, and now the only wise God through Jesus Christ in verse 27. Paul wants God to have every bit of glory. He is the one and only God who is infinitely wise. Do you realize how awesome, awesome, awesome this eternal and infinitely wise God really is? God is genius! Think of the wisdom of the only wise God reflected everywhere in the physical creation. From our heads to our toes God’s glorious wisdom is seen. Calvin said all creation is a dazzling theater of God’s glory. All His works praise Him.
Psalms 104:24, O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.
But the only wise God’s wisdom is seen no greater than in the gospel, His redemptive plan through Jesus Christ! Colossians 2:2-3 says in Christ all the treasures of God’s wisdom is found. Who would have dreamt of a virgin conception bringing a child of the line of David, qualified to rule on David’s throne, who was also God the Son? And that He would live a perfect life for sinners so that His righteousness could be imputed to the account of those sinners He would save. And when you think His plan has surely failed as they send Jesus through the kangaroo court and up that hill to be cruelly crucified, who would guess what looked like a great failure was actually God’s wisdom making the world’s wisdom foolishness. This was God’s plan!
Acts 4:27-28, For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
SO WHAT?
This doxology takes you up into the heights of glory to see that God’s grand and glorious purpose in creating the world was to glorify and honor His Son by His redeeming work of saving all those He purposed to save. It is so big and grand and glorious! Amen, so be it. Paul captures it all in one verse.
1 Timothy 1:17, Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious,
The Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious,
Thy great name we praise!
Take these great truths of Romans into your heart and give thanks and praise to God. Above all, have you responded to the gospel message that is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes? Think about it. For those who bow their hearts in faith alone, this eternal, wise, and glorious God is your Father forever through His Son. That’s huge. That’s infinitely greater than landing a man on the moon. Have you received Him? Have you welcomed Him into your heart, your life, as your Lord and Savior?