Conclusion - 4 The Mystery

... according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested.... (Romans 16:25-26)

Part of the ways listed here by which God is going to settle me into the truth about Him is by the revelation of the mystery. To talk about the mystery is almost problematic to start with, for to explain a mystery is to assume that one already understands the mystery themselves. That is a very tricky proposition in my opinion.

On the other hand, Paul in various places makes it quite clear that he believed he understood what this mystery was as had devoted his life to sharing it with anyone who would listen. He said that this mystery had been personally revealed to him by God and therefore by implication he was capable of unveiling it for others.

I do not doubt that Paul had a good grasp of what was contained in the mystery that he refers to in a number of his letters. He talks the most about it in the letter to the Ephesians and also some in Colossians. I have spent some time studying Ephesians with other people at times that were very intense and tremendously enlightening. And what I learned in those times of revelation and amazement was that the mystery is far deeper and bigger than anyone usually ever imagines. As a result I have great suspicion about those who flippantly attempt to toss out simplistic ideas as to what this mystery is that Paul refers to in this passage.

But I believe that one reason this good news is such a mystery to us is not because God is trying to hide it from us but because of the preconditions in our own thinking that preclude us from believing many of the things necessary to comprehend this mystery. This verse says that this mystery has been kept secret for long ages past. But it does not say that God hid it through long ages past. I don't believe that God deliberately hides truth from people who are willing to be open to receiving it. Jesus stated that He Himself was the truth and He spent His whole life trying to get people to know Him and by extension to really know the Father.

The truth about the mystery of God is revealed more and more as we come to accept the real truth as it is revealed in the attitudes and actions of Jesus who came to reveal how God really feels about us. The greatest obstacle to absorbing the content of this mystery is not its unavailability but is a spirit of unbelief. I have observed this more and more over the past few years, both in others and in my own heart. I am becoming more aware and convicted that it is my resistance to believing what God reveals to me about Himself that is the greatest hindrance preventing me from entering into the mystery and experiencing the awe and joy of that mystery. This resistance is what the Bible calls unbelief. I see it in myself and I see it displayed in the attitudes of most people around me.

Paul here declares that though this mystery has indeed been kept secret for long ages past for whatever reasons, it is now manifested. So there is no excuse not to find out for ourselves what this mystery is if we truly desire to know it. But it will take far more than just an intellectual curiosity to be able to know what this mystery contains. I am convinced that until the heart is warmed by the Spirit of God and the soul becomes intensely hungry to know the real truth about God, the mind will be incapable of coming up with a valid explanation of what constitutes the real essence of this mystery.

As I keep looking at this passage to see clues as to how to know more about this mystery, I notice that the mystery is manifested partly through the other elements listed in this text.

• The mystery will be perceived by listening to the gospel as Paul understood it.
• The mystery will be heard in authentic preaching of Jesus Christ.
• The mystery will be found in an honest search of the Scriptures and by paying attention to the prophets. And I believe that this is not necessarily restricted to prophets published only in the Old Testament.
• And finally in this list, the mystery is manifested because the eternal God has commanded it to be manifested so that it will be made known to all the nations on earth.

The purpose for the revelation of this mystery is made clear at the end of verse 26. It says here that the result of the manifestation of this mystery leads to obedience of faith. That implies that there might be some other kind of obedience that is not of faith. Of course that is something of an oxymoron, for the Bible declares that whatever is not of faith is sin. But there is a pseudo-obedience that many people believe is real obedience that is not of faith but from self-effort. And it is likely the prevalence of this confusion about obedience based on false assumptions that has kept the truth in this mystery veiled for so many long ages.

So, just what is this mystery that Paul declares here has been manifested?

I am not going to attempt a detailed explanation of what is in this mystery, for to do so would be to assume that I understand it well which I am not ready to claim. But I do believe that God has been in the process of slowly revealing it more and more to me over the past few years as my heart has been more open to receive from Him. And all of these elements listed in this passage have had a part in revealing to my heart and mind the true nature of what is likely contained in this mystery.

• My increasing awareness of the truly positive nature of what is called the good news, the gospel.
• The reception of occasional but refreshing authentic presentations by others of the real truths about Jesus Christ.
• A more intense and deliberate and careful personal examination of the Bible which contains far more than I ever dreamed possible most of my life.
• And most importantly, personal revelations by the Spirit to my heart and mind as I allow all of these influences to affect and transform my perceptions about God. Through the will of God – His commandment – the revelation of this mystery is slowly becoming a reality in my own life as I let go of more and more of my resistance and unbelief.

As I did a search on this word mystery with my Bible software, I found it interesting that the only reference to the word mystery in the Old Testament is in the book of Daniel. But then I also noticed that the first reference to this word in the New Testament is the words of Jesus to His disciples telling them that He was revealing this mystery to them because they were His followers. (Mark 4:11)

From the texts that I observed in this short research, the most clear and concise explanations as to the content of this mystery are two places found in Colossians. The first one comes from a passage that very closely parallels this one in Romans. But I will only quote the final punch line, so to speak.

...God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

The second text reinforces the truth found in this first one.

...that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself. (Colossians 2:2)

Father, fill my mind and heart with a fresh infusion of the reality of Your mystery. Encourage my heart, knit my heart together with Yours and with the hearts of Your children in love. Cause me to attain to and make use of all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding so that I may experience the result of knowing Your mystery – Christ Himself. Thank-you for knowing my heart, for accepting my prayers and for revealing more about Your mystery to me this morning.

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Conclusion - 3 Preaching

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, (Romans 16:25)

Yesterday I started to unpack this verse but actually overlooked the first word. From the context it appears that Paul is signaling that he is beginning the conclusion of his letter, which is indeed what this is. In fact, it appears to me that this is the sum of everything that he has written condensed into one long sentence. That this is his concluding statement is signaled in this word now.

The object of this long sentence interestingly appears both at the beginning and at the end of it. This sentence goes from here all the way through verse 27. Here at the beginning the object of the sentence, which is later identified as God the Father, is presented as the one who is able. The word in Greek is very compelling much more than in English. It is very similar to the word from which we get our word dynamite. It denotes power as well as possibility. Following is the reason or target for this potential power which is identified as being us and our settling into a saving relationship with Him. This is contained in the root word for establish.

Everything after this until verse 27 are descriptors of how God goes about doing this in our lives. So everything we look at in the next couple verses reveals how God intends to settle us into the truth about Him and about reality. And the very first thing listed is that God intends to settle us into the truth according to the gospel as Paul viewed it.

For me this is very significant maybe more than for others. For I grew up with very confusing ideas about what the gospel was and I still struggle to unwrap just what it really refers to, though I have drastically updated much of what I used to assume. I can remember many times when a teacher would say that the word gospel meant “good news”, and in my mind I would wonder what was so good about anything I was hearing about God.

But in the past few years I have been led by the Spirit of God to challenge much of what I was taught growing up and to let go of many of the false assumptions about God I collected along the way. This was done by allowing myself to take a fresh look at the Word of God for myself using new “glasses” so to speak. Over and over God impressed me with new insights of what He was really like and how He felt about me. As my conceptions begin to align more closely with what I was being taught directly by the Spirit of God, the more alive and congruent and attractive the messages and instructions from inspired sources became for me.

What I see Paul saying here is that as I learn the real truth about God which is contained in the real gospel, I will experience the power of God drawing me deeper into that truth about Himself. And this leads me to the next point that he makes which is the preaching of Jesus Christ. For it is the revelation of God through the life and death of Jesus that reveals much more plainly how the Father feels about me than anything else. And it is through the sharing of the story of Jesus that humans become attracted to God in a way that nothing else can accomplish.

This is where I need to face yet another trigger word in my own experience. This word preaching for me has far too much unwanted baggage from a lifetime of dry, Christless sermons and hours of just filling up time to fulfill the demands of tradition in formal religious services. Most religions have long histories of assumed traditions of how to do worship and unfortunately, when the truth is finally exposed, it has to be admitted that we have actually come to value and even worship our routines more than we value God Himself. Of course we cannot admit such a thing openly as that would sound blasphemous; but the same problem existed in Jesus' day and indeed has been a problem all down through much of the history of the world.

Thus it is that preaching itself has taken on a mantle of “holiness” in the sense of the common assumptions of what that word means. Most churches today would be horrified and scandalized at the thought of not having a formal sermon each week. They would think that we had abandoned our devotion to God and there would be an outcry to restore the old traditions and re-institute the traditions of our fathers by placing the sermon at the center of our church service. Just think about this realistically for a little while yourself and ponder if what I am saying is true or not.

What has come to exist is that our routine, and particularly the exercise of preaching a sermon, has almost become the most important and hallowed exercise in all of Christianity. And yet if one carefully examines the record of the New Testament it is not preaching that is at the center of the gospel message. There is almost no record at all of Jesus preaching, especially in the sense that we think of it today. And even the sermons of Paul were quite likely not delivered in the way that preaching has become for most of us today. In fact, Paul himself referred to preaching as something he called foolishness. Does that not give us reason to pause and rethink our fierce defensive attitudes about how we conduct our own worship services?

And yet God continues to work with us where we are in the midst of our prejudices and traditions. But that does not mean that He endorses them or desires us to remain stuck in habits that lend themselves to keeping us at a distance from Him. Please don't misunderstand me here. I am not claiming that we should eliminate preaching altogether or ban it from our churches. But what I am saying is that we are so reluctant to expose this practice to the true light of the gospel, the real truth about God, that we tend to often enshrine preaching itself in place of cherishing God in our religious performances.

Having said all that, I will note here that Paul states in this verse that part of the way God settles us into the truth is through the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery.... Far from being something to be sidelined, the activity of preaching needs to be reinvented and reinvigorated by infusing it with the passion of God Himself. Preaching should be a means of unveiling the mystery about God that it too often obscures instead. Too much of our preaching leaves the listeners wondering just what it was that they learned that day or maybe leaves them feeling good about themselves with wonderful new suggestions as to how to get along with others. But how much preaching centers around the revelation of God by explaining how Jesus reveals the mystery about Him that has keep Him hidden from our hearts for so many years?

I am hungry for preaching, teaching and any other activities that will focus on uncovering the light of God's glory to believers and unbelievers alike.

I am starved for preaching that challenges my heart while at the same time fills me with hope and faith and love.

I crave to hear preaching that will fan the fire in my bones with the passion of Christ and to unmask the dark lies about God by revealing the real truths about His beauty, compassion and perfect love for all of us.

I want to experience preaching that actually follows the formula laid out by Paul in these verses so that anyone listening can never be the same again once they have been confronted by the real gospel.

I want to see our preaching center every presentation around the truth as it is revealed in Jesus.

God, send us bold and passionate people to preach the truth about You as revealed in the life of Jesus. Expose our silly exercises of filling up time to satisfy our mindless demands for routine and formalism. Heal us of our fear of breaking with traditions and cause us to see the living power of the gospel that You are waiting to share with us when we let go of our devotion to tradition. Send us real preachers of the gospel who are not afraid of us because they are so focused on You and Your glory. Lord, send us preachers of the real gospel.

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Conclusion - 2 Repentance

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)

In my last post I arranged this text in an outline form to present one option of how it might fit together. I feel that there are possibly many ways that the various pieces may compliment and enforce each other and I would like to possibly look at several. At the same time I also want to start unpacking what some of the words and phrases mean as well as how the context influences that.

Now to Him is an interesting phrase that confused me somewhat when I looked it up in the Greek. I could not find any reference to the to Him part of this phrase. But when I contacted a theology professor who taught Greek he assured me that it was inherent in the language nuances of the original Greek words. I have to take his word for this since I have no training in Greek myself.

What does seem more evident to me is that Paul begins to apply a long list of qualifiers to this first subject and does not return to “finishing the sentence” until the very end of the last verse where he then identifies who the him is. Paul is known for some of his rather lengthy and sometimes convoluted language structures which at times evidently even caused some of the other apostles to scratch their heads trying to figure out just what he was trying to get across. (see 2 Peter 3:15, 16)

But in the end, the him referred to is interestingly God the Father. I find this very helpful and informative given that very often Christians tend to put so much focus on Jesus that they create a rift in the minds of many between Jesus and the Father and cause many to think that Jesus and God are somehow different in their attitudes and feelings towards us. But in this passage Paul makes it very clear that everything we learn about God is expressed from the Father through Jesus. But now I am referring to the end of this text instead of starting at the beginning as I intended.

What does become more clear at the beginning of this passage is that it is the Father God who is the one causing us to be established using all the following ways listed of accomplishing this goal. I find this very compelling and even comforting. For too many years I, like many others, lived in secret fear of God the Father while Jesus seemed much more likable and approachable. I was taught externally that Jesus and God were supposed to be the same, but the implications of much of the religious teachings that I absorbed growing up often implied something quite different than this. So I lived with the assumption that Jesus was somehow sent to this earth to run interference between me and God and to satisfy His hunger for vengeance, to exhaust His wrath against me and to protect me from the fierce punishments that the Father seemed eager to dish out on anyone not thus shielded.

I am very glad to be in the process of coming free of these terrible lies about the Father. It still makes me very upset when I hear people teaching and promoting such concepts, but I have to remember to be patient with them as well, just as God has been patient with me for so many years while I changed my opinions about Him. Now I am coming to realize the glorious truth that God the Father Himself is just as eager and willing to draw me into His grace and peace and love as anything I have ever learned about Jesus. This verse tells me that it is the Father who is the one who is able to establish me through the various ways that are spelled out in these two verses.

I looked up the Greek word for this establish and found it helpful in enhancing my understanding of what God wants to do for me. Here is the explanation of what this word means from Strong's definition.

to set fast, i.e. (literally) to turn resolutely in a certain direction, or (figuratively) to confirm:--fix, (e-)stablish, steadfastly set, strengthen.

One thing that I really like to remind myself of when thinking about this definition is that it is God, yes even God the Father, who is the one who causes me to turn resolutely in a certain direction, which is toward knowing Him and drawing close to Him. This reminds me of the text that reveals one of the real truths about repentance which is what this seems to be likely referring to.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:30-31)

Repentance is a gift that must be received from God before anyone can use it or implement it in their salvation. Too often we think that we can just repent any time we feel like it and turn our life around when we get around to it. But this is not the truth as taught in the Word of God. Repentance is a change of mind and direction inwardly that can only happen in us when we choose to accept this work in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit sent to us by Jesus. The changing of direction in our hearts is only accomplished through the power of God, not by our own willpower. The part we have in this is to accept the spirit of repentance when it is offered to us, take possession of it by choosing to own it and then exercise it immediately in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit, which then gives the Spirit permission to implement it effectively into our experience.

As I accept this gift of repentance and experience the transformative changes that it brings into my life, I will also become established, steadfastly set, settled and strengthened in the truth, the truth about reality and my relationship with God and how He thinks about me. And the really good news (which is what the gospel is all about) is that it is God the Father along with His Son and His Spirit that are all eager and ready to do this in my life personally. They want me to be set in my ways and unmovable as I settle into the real truth about God and come to know and love Him more and more.

I choose to accept this invitation by the Father to have Him grant me repentance and settle me into the truth about Him. I accept the truth in this verse that He is able to do this in my life and I ask Him to do it right now.

Next time I want to explore more of just how this is to take place – through the gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ, through the unveiling of the great mystery that is waiting to glow with transforming light deep within my soul.

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Conclusion - 1

I have come to the final passage in my study through the book of Romans that has taken me somewhere around two years. And as I meditate on these last few verses I am once again a bit overwhelmed trying to unpack the way Paul sometimes expresses himself. Paul is known for writing extremely long sentences at times and this is one of those that spans several verses.

Long sentence structure can present a real challenge as to how to understand just how all the pieces within it relate to each other. I have been looking at this passage for several days, exploring various ways of viewing it and even seeking advice from a professor who taught Hebrew and Greek in a seminary. I can see that this is going to be one of those times when I will have to spend more effort in trying to understand and listen to what God has compressed in this part of His Word.

The more I read these verses and ponder various ways of putting the pieces together, the more I sense that there may be a number of correct ways of viewing this, not just one and only one right interpretation. I am sure there are those who would differ with that conclusion but right now it seems to fit what I have been seeing here.

There is so much condensed into these last few verses that I suspect they may actually be a summary of most everything else that Paul presented in this letter to the Romans. If so, the only way to really decompress it effectively would be to review everything else covered previously. That would certainly take a great deal of time and I'm not sure how much of that I will do. But I do know that it will take much more than one day to explore what is contained here to my satisfaction.

Here are the verses I am currently trying to unravel.

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)

For this time I am going to just lay out one possibility of how these various words and phrases might fit together and how they relate to each other. What I am seeing here is a chiastic structure in the language, but trying to figure out just which parts fit where is what is confusing. As I said previously, I think there may be several potential realistic possibilities that may all be viable.

Here is the first option that I want to consider of how this may be put together.

Now to Him

.....able to establish you

..........according to my gospel

..........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

..........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.

(Evidently there is a problem publishing tabs here. I will have to work on figuring out how to show this structure graphically in HTML like I am able to do more easily in a normal word processor. If anyone knows how to insert tabs in HTML I would appreciate some help here.)

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