More greetings
Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
As indicated earlier, these verses were very likely written in Paul’s own handwriting. They are his signature, if you will. This signature certified the genuineness of the letter. Although he doesn’t say so here, one is reminded of the apostle’s closing comment to the Thessalonians: “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write” (2 Thessalonians 3:17).
Not only is the handwriting Paul’s, but the theology as well. Actually, this doxology reflects virtually everything Paul said in the letter. Recall how the body of the letter began with Paul’s bold assertion, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (1:16). Paul closes the letter by focusing once more on that same gospel and power of God.
Paul tells the Romans, “[God] is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” When Paul says “my gospel,” he is not contrasting it to the gospel his coworkers are preaching. Rather, Paul’s gospel is the message that was uniquely given him when Christ personally confronted him on the road to Damascus and totally changed his life—from persecutor of Christ to witness for Christ.
The meaning of “my gospel” is further defined by the expression Paul sets next to it: “and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” Considering two grammatical points may help us better understand the relationship between these two expressions. First of all, the word translated as “and” does not work as a connective here, joining “gospel” and “proclamation” as if they were two different things. Rather, the word introduces an appositive, a second expression that restates or explains what is previous to it. Hence instead of translating the word as and, one might more correctly use namely or that is.
The second point to be noted concerns the phrase “the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” The word of would have been better translated as about. The proclamation is not something that Christ possesses or does; it is the proclamation about Christ. Hence Paul is confidently asserting that God is able to establish the Romans by the gospel given to Paul, namely, the proclamation about Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the heart of Paul’s message. Christ is the key, the revelation that unlocks “the mystery hidden for long ages past.” God’s gracious plan of salvation has been in effect ever since Adam and Eve—yes, even from eternity. But for a long time it looked like the personal possession of the Jewish nation.
All of that changed, however, when Christ came to earth, completed his saving work, and commissioned his followers to proclaim that salvation to all the world. Thus the “mystery” of God’s grace—disclosed to Paul and proclaimed in his gospel—is that by faith in Christ, God’s salvation is for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike. Or as Paul says, God’s grace has been “revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him.”
Paul had experienced the power of God in the gospel not only in the spiritual rebirth it brought into his own life but also in seeing that miracle repeated in hundreds and thousands of lives in connection to the work the Lord had privileged him to do. His gospel had brought the power of God into the hearts of both Jews and Gentiles, setting up centers of Christian worship all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum.
Hence Paul is confident that this Word will now also “establish” the Romans, both through the written message he is sending them and through the spoken Word when he comes to visit them. So confident is Paul that he could say, “I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ” (15:29).
But this gospel also gives Paul confidence for the establishment of future congregations. He has invited the Romans to be partners with him in the proposed outreach work to Spain, so that he may have “a harvest . . . among the other Gentiles” there also (1:13). Paul can be confident of that because the gospel is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (1:16).
Paul’s confidence, of course, was not misplaced. For almost two thousand years now, that Word has advanced, particularly to the west—to Spain and beyond—to the point of also having reached us and won our hearts. Moved by that gospel in general, and in particular by Paul’s exposition of it in his magnificent epistle to the Romans, we too join with the apostle in saying, “To him who is able to establish [us] by [the] gospel . . . to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.