“Now 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, but 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: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” Romans 16:25-27
Consider the message of the apostle Paul’s doxology. It summarizes the working of the eternal and only-wise God. And to God be glory through Jesus Christ forever!
It is God who establishes and keeps us in the faith through the preaching of the Gospel. The apostle Paul says: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17). He also says: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
Through the preaching of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ – “according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but 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” – we are established and preserved in the faith by the gracious working of God the Holy Spirit.
This mystery which was kept secret from the beginning of the world and only partially disclosed through the Scriptures of the prophets (cf. Gen. 3:15; 22:18; 2 Sam. 7:16; Ps. 130:7-8; Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7; 53:1ff.) now has been fully revealed in the Gospel (cf. Luke 1-2; Matthew 1:18ff.; John 1:1-5, 14-18,29). Now, according to the commandment of God, Christ and salvation through faith in His name have been preached to all nations and peoples (cf. Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47). And, through the preaching of Christ Jesus as the One sent by God to atone for all sin and to be the Savior of the world, God has brought us and people from all nations to “the obedience of faith.”
Instead of trusting in our own works and obedience under the law of God, we have been brought to “the obedience of faith,” acknowledging our sinfulness and shortcoming before God and taking hold of God’s righteousness which is of faith and imputed to us when we trust in Christ Jesus as our Savior (cf. Rom. 3:19-26).
This is not quite the same as “obedience to the faith” (v. 26 in NKJV), for we are not speaking of obedience to a creedal statement or a specific formula of doctrine but rather to “obedience of the faith” – believing the Gospel and placing our faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for our pardon and eternal salvation.
And, what a comfort it is to know that it is God who establishes us in the true and saving faith, according to the gospel preached by Paul and the apostles! As he wrote to the Philippians, we are “confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). We are brought to faith and saved entirely of God’s gracious working through the Gospel (Eph. 2:8-9); and, through the preaching of the Gospel, God will continue His gracious working in us until we are with him forever in heaven (cf. Rom. 8:29-30; cf. 2 Tim. 4:18).
Thus, we can also join the apostle in praising God and saying: “Now 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, but 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: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible