“Now to him who is able to strengthen you  according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to him be the glory forever! Amen.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

This has been quite a journey. As I sit early writing this little opener, I’m not sure yet when I’ll actually write the rest of this post, but I think it’ll wind up being sometime in January. That’ll make just over a year that we have been walking together through Paul’s letter to the Roman believers. We have covered a lot of ground—a lot of good ground. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. I’m looking forward to our next. Here at the end, Paul offers a final benediction. Let’s wrap up our journey by walking through the rich theology he lays out for us here.

I feel like there are multiple sermons that could be preached on each concept that we come across in this closing section, but we don’t want to get bogged down like that. Still, let’s talk about each one briefly in turn.

Right out of the gate we are reminded that our strength comes from God. What strength? Well, physical strength, yes, because He made our bodies. What else? Our strength of character comes from Him. We certainly don’t produce that on our own. We are reflections of our environments, and those are usually broken in some way which means that brokenness is getting worked into us which will eventually mean being worked out through us. The only way we can really rise above that is with the hope and help of our God in Christ and with the Spirit’s power. He is our strength.

In Christ we find our spiritual strength. In Him we find the strength to endure the attacks of the world in whatever form they happen to take. We find the strength of hope when circumstances seem bleak. We find the fortitude in Christ to lean into joy in the face of what should be despair according to the world. He is our strength. He is able to strengthen us.

Yet look at how this strength comes to us. He is able to strengthen us according to the Gospel and the proclamation about Jesus. God’s strength is delivered to us through Jesus and Jesus alone, of course, but Jesus mediates this strength to us through the Gospel, through the good news of His identity and actions. As we lean into the truth of the Gospel and as we share this truth with others, His strength will come to us.

But that’s not the only way this strength comes to us. Sometimes the greatest strength we can acquire is knowledge. Well, Paul points to that here. This strength that God gives us comes “according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures.” It is the knowledge of this Gospel that is how God gives us this strength. When we know what God has planned, not just in general, but for us, we are able to bear up under a great deal more than we otherwise can.

I spoke with someone once who said he only ever watches his favorite sports team play after he has recorded the game and knows the outcome. Then, if they lose, he doesn’t have to watch a game that is only going to end in frustration and disappointment. And if they win—especially if the game is a nail biter—he doesn’t have to go through any of the blood pressure gymnastics from the back and forth of it all. There is no stress in watching a close game when you know the outcome. You simply get to enjoy seeing how your team achieved the victory you already know is coming.

The same thing is true of our lives in Christ. When we already know the outcome of the story, no matter what kinds of ups and downs we might face along the way, we can go through them with confidence and peace and hope and even joy. The revelation of the mystery of God’s plans for our salvation gives us incredible strength to persevere in even the hardest situations.

And knowledge comes to us by the “prophetic Scriptures.” In other words, God revealed this incredible knowledge in such a way that every generation has been able to come by it. This strength is available to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Of course, Paul was referencing only what we think of as the Old Testament here, and not the full counsel of Scripture. The revelation we have today is even greater and more complete than what Paul knew. He was part of completing it!

There’s one more source of this strength our God provides to us. It comes “according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.” This strength comes at God’s command. He has commanded for you to have this strength. You still have to receive it. He won’t force it. But He has commanded its availability to you as you walk in the obedience of faith. In fact, He has commanded it to be available to all the world. That’s the idea of “among all the Gentiles” here. This strength was to go out from its originating source among the Jewish people to whom it was first revealed to all the rest of the world. This itself was a fulfillment of His promise to Abraham to use the great patriarch’s descendant (which we talked about way back in chapter 4) to bless the whole rest of the world. And now, when you receive this good news, revealed through the Scriptures and delivered by the proclamation of another one of His followers, and respond by walking in the obedience of faith, this strength—God’s strength—can indeed be yours.

This is all according to the wisdom of God revealed and delivered through Jesus Christ. It is all for His glory. That’s where Paul lands all of this: “to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to him be the glory forever! Amen.” And amen indeed.

If you have walked with me on this journey, you have now heard the whole Gospel. You’ve heard God’s plans for you to be a part of His kingdom. You’ve heard what you need to do in light of this Gospel and some specific ways you can live it out in the context of the community of faith—the church. The only thing that’s left is for you to decide if you are indeed going to receive it and walk in it. That part is up to you. You can walk in this newness of life—eternal life that begins now and continues until the day of Christ’s return and forever beyond. Or, you can choose to stick to your own path that will eventually end in death that will be equally permanent. The one may leave you a comfortable life now, but that comfort will eventually come to an abrupt and total end. The other may lead to more challenges now than you currently face, but those challenges will give way to glory, and you won’t ever face them alone. You’ll have all the strength of God, ministered and mediated through the Gospel by the proclamation of the Scriptures experienced in the context of the body of Christ. May you receive this strength and life and know for sure the life that is truly life. Amen.