Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Sixteen
THE MYSTERY NOW DECLARED

Scripture Reading: verses 25-27

Romans 16:25-27 is important to the Lord’s people of every age. As we saw in the last treatise, here Paul calls it “my gospel,” and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since before the world began, but now is made manifest. Let us briefly analyze Paul’s statements. He calls it his Gospel. He also calls it “the preaching of Jesus Christ.” In other words, the entire range of truth which Paul ministered had the Lord Jesus Christ as the central Figure. The entire scheme of blessing which God had devised for mankind was concentered in Christ. In that sense the Lord Jesus is the center of God’s universe. Paul says this was according to the revelation of the mystery “as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages but which has now been made manifest.” To what is Paul referring?

In order to understand and enlarge on this we must go to some of Paul’s other Epistles.

Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of time; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; in whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will. (Eph. 1:9)

Here is the first part of this mystery of which Paul speaks. It is something which was hidden from eternity. We will not find it in any of the inspired writings until we come to Paul’s ministry. There are brief hints of it but they are sketchy and incomplete. It is neither developed nor administered until Paul is entrusted with it. According to the counsel of His own will, God has devised a vast universe of eternal blessing in which the Lord Jesus is the Center. It is much like the solar system in which we have the sun in the heavens, stars and planets rotating around it and lighted by its glorious light. The Lord Jesus is the Center of God’s universe, and God, in Christ, has destined to gather into one all things – both in heaven and on earth.

In other words, all the moral beauties on display, either in heaven or on earth, in the various personalities God has used down through the ages to reveal Himself, are gathered together in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom every moral beauty shines in perfection. For instance, in Adam God displayed headship, perfect administration toward the lower creation. Adam failed, but headship is now displayed in the Lord Jesus who will never fail. He gives direction to the whole universe according to love and righteousness. In Moses, leadership was displayed but failure entered there; the same leadership is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the beginner and completer of faith. In Abraham God’s sovereignty was set forth, but Abraham died; whereas the sovereign favor of God shines in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and He is one who will never die. In Isaac resurrection was declared, and the Lord Jesus is the One who is alive from among the dead and the power of an endless life shines in Him. Thus we may continue on, down through the ages, and we will find all these various moral and spiritual attributes shining forth in various personalities, but in the Lord Jesus Christ they are all gathered together into one.

Here is the first part of the mystery: the Lord Jesus is the Center of everything in the universe of God.

Then we go to Ephesians 3:8, where Paul says,

To me, less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God, in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavens might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God.

Going back to the fifth verse of that same Ephesians 3, Paul speaks of

the mystery of the Christ which in other generations has not been made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit that [they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of [His] promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings.

That is what Paul refers to in Romans 16 – that Jews and Gentiles might be united into one in the Body of Christ, that they who are of the Gentile nations should be brought into the riches of God’s matchless grace in the Church. It is God’s masterpiece of accomplishment.

It is depicted in the Epistle to the Ephesians as “one full grown man.” The Lord Jesus Christ in heaven is the Head of that mystical body; on earth we are members of that body – the Holy Spirit indwelling the members in order to bring spiritually into commensuration, or into proper proportion with the fullness of the One who is our head. That is the mystery which was hid throughout all generations, which has now been made manifest, and Paul is the one who administers it in the New Testament. If we did not have Paul’s ministry we would know little or nothing about it. That is Paul’s Gospel and that is what he refers to in this beautiful benediction.

Now we go to Colossians 1:26:

The mystery which [has been] hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been made manifest to His saints; To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.

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