Question: Rom. 16:25-2725Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen. <<Written to the Romans from Corinthus, and sent by Phebe servant of the church at Cenchrea.>> (Romans 16:25‑27). Does this mean that the “mystery” in question had been already revealed in the prophets of the O. T., though only now understood? or that it was absolutely “hid in God” (Eph. 3:99And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)), not in the scriptures? It is all-important to have the truth clear.—INQUIRER.
Answer: There is no question of various readings for the critic, or of disputed grammar for the scholar. All are agreed on the text and the construction. Faith, with an eye single to Christ, and self-will judged before God, alone can decide what the apostle intended. It is clear that the apostle does not mean to unfold the “mystery” here, but looks to an only wise God to establish the saints according to his gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to revelation of a mystery, as to which silence had been kept in everlasting times. But now it was manifested, and by prophetic scriptures made known according, to the eternal God’s command, for obedience of faith unto all the Gentiles. It was written in due time by the apostle.
To gather the true sense, we have to take heed to a quite new phrase, never employed when “the prophets” are certainly referred to Next, he declares that “a mystery had been kept in silence,” σεσιγημένου. How can this last term bear the interpretation that it had been of old expressed in what God wrote through the prophets? If it had been then revealed in the scriptures, silence had not been kept about it, or as the A.V. has it “kept secret,” which is substantially right. God had never as yet spoken or written of it to man. So, as the query points out, the apostle affirms in Eph. 3 that it had been hidden in God, in evident contrast with being of old revealed in His word. Hence the stress laid, both to the Romans, to the Ephesians, and to the Colossians, that it was Now made manifest to His saints. Indeed Eph. 3 adds that through the church (which was part of it) was now made known to the principalities, &c. in the heavenlies the manifold wisdom of God.
There is therefore an insuperable contradiction in applying “prophetic scriptures” to the O.T. prophets; none at all in understanding it of such scriptures as the apostles and prophets were now to write. For they are the joint foundation; not prophets of the O. T. and apostles of the N. T., but “the apostles and prophets” of the N. T. On these are built those Jewish and Gentile saints who are brought into a union where their differences were abolished, as they were both reconciled to God in one body through the cross. This was a new thing counseled by God before the world’s foundation; wrought by Christ, Who died, rose, and ascended; and brought home by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, quite incompatible with all known relations in the O.T. times.
Accordingly there is no article with “prophetic scriptures,” as would be correct if “the prophets” had been meant; whereas the anarthrous form was requisite, if new scriptures were intended, written by those who had prophetic gift, whether by apostles who had that gift also or by such as Mark and Luke, who were prophets inspired to write though not apostles.
Deut. 29:2929The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29) is an interesting oracle and may help: “The secret things belong to Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” This was a great privilege and duty for the sons of Israel. The downfall of the favored Jews that returned from Babylon when they rejected their own Messiah gave occasion, in the interval before their restoration, for God to exalt the Lord Jesus in glory on high as Head over all things heavenly and earthly to the church, which is His body. It is a “secret” or “mystery,” and a great one, only now possible, and a fact divulged through “prophetic writings” to the divine glory for the edifying of the church as we find elsewhere; only now made known in accord with the eternal God’s command for faith-obedience unto all the nations.
What can be more according to Paul’s gospel, which treats alike the Jews and the Gentiles in sin and in salvation, than that fullness of grace which now unites the believers from both in the same known nearness to the God and Father of our Lord Who made both one? It is a unity which will not be in the millennial earth, any more than revealed by the O. T. prophets, blessedly associated as the nations will be with the then un-jealous Israel, in marked contrast with the ages and generations which preceded the cross. Hence the apostle speaks of himself emphatically (Col. 1:2626Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: (Colossians 1:26)), as minister according to the stewardship given to him for such Gentiles, “to fill up the word of God.” This hidden mystery fills the blank left for it in God’s wisdom unto the display (not of law but) of sovereign grace on earth, and for heavenly glory forever. A new revelation was hence necessary; yet it only enhances the Christian’s value for the Ο.T., whilst itself has its own distinctive character of the profoundest worth and interest. And great is the loss of all who fail to learn of God a truth most sanctifying. The unbelief that refuses the evidence which the word affords tends ever to earthly-mindedness and judaizing, as we see not only in Christendom generally but in many dear Christians, who least suspect it of themselves.
In 2 Peter 1 we read of τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον, the prophetic word, the known body of predictive truth, confirmed by the vision of God’s kingdom beheld on the holy mount of transfiguration. And the fact that both προφητεία and γραφῆς are anarthrous is strictly necessary in order to exclude every part of prophecy in God’s word from being its own solution. The article with either would have been anomalous. Peter was guided perfectly, even in this, by the Holy Spirit. Every part of that word forms part of the great scheme for revealing Christ’s future glory, which the Holy Spirit carries out in men speaking from God as He alone was able to make good.