Talk about brief! The epistle reading from the Advent lectionary is short and sweet. It is also contested. What I mean by that is many ancient copies of the letter to the Romans from Paul do not have verses 25, 26, or 27. Even fewer have verse 24, but ancient witnesses put 24 after 27. If you have a good study Bible, footnotes should explode under these verses. The editors of the Greek New Testament (led by the great Bruce Metzger) have included these lines in a bracket, which means they are pretty sure it should be included, but not completely confident.
This is the last one for this year, but I am currently translation John so, I might have some more materials to share here in the springtime.
With that covered, below is a translation of the epistle reading for the fourth Sunday of Advent 2023, Romans 16:25-27 followed by brief notes about the translation, and then some commentary.
Romans 16:25-27
25. Now, to him who is able to uphold you according to my gospel, the message* about Messiah Jesus, quietly preserved in eternal time but now is a mystery revealed
26. ** by the prophetic scriptures and the command of eternal God, the obedience of faith has been revealed and been made known to all peoples. ***
27. To the wise God, who is one, be glory through Messiah Jesus forever. Amen.
*Careful students of the New Testament will recognize this word – kerygma – which is sometimes connected to preaching but carries the connotation of the gospel message the first preachers all proclaimed. As such it is linked with the basic elements of Jesus’ place as the son of God, the messiah, his death, resurrection, and the need to repent and follow him. It is in this way that I always have a message — the kergyma — but I may not have a sermon or a lesson. I always have a message.
**There is another ‘now’ here, but I omit because it is repetitive.
*** both verses 25 and 26 contain synonym verbs for ‘reveal, made known’ that seem to mean the same things and keep getting repeated in the front end and back end and which connect the two verses as one thought. If we didn’t have verse demarcations, then a better rendering would be “Now, to him who is able to uphold you according to my gospel, which is the message about Messiah Jesus and the obedience of faith, both quietly preserved in eternal time but now is a mystery unfolded and made known to all peoples.’
Throughout Romans, Paul emphasizes the obedience of faith as he responsibility of the believer. Sadly, it is not a phrase we use very often. We tend to lose the obedience and just talk about faith. Paul would argue faith without obedience to the teachings of Jesus is not faith at all. Our faith in Jesus should bring us into obedience, conformity, and eventual transformation into his image.
The part of these lines that are fun to think about, though, is the idea of the mystery hidden throughout the ages. Paul is using very heady language here to tell us the gospel has been there all the while, but it was ‘hidden’ like a mystery that has clues. Those clues might be found in the Torah, or in Pharaoh’s plagues, or maybe in twinkling stars at night. Clues to a mystery that has eluded us but now the mystery has been solved, so to speak. The clues are explained. The gospel has been fully revealed.
Think about the universal application of this idea on Christmas Eve when songs are sung about a baby in a manger and a shepherds and Herod and stars. If Paul knew about the nativity stories he didn’t really concern himself with them very much. What mattered to him was the person of Christ Jesus and the demand his mysterious revelation makes upon our faith commitments.