The distribution of the Old Testament in Paul's letter to the Romans is informative. First of all, the huge volume of the Law and prophesy confirms Paul's words spoken many years later;And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Act 26:6-7
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not
disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus,
and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and
then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. Act 26:19-20
Having therefore obtained help of
God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none
other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That
Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that
should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the
Gentiles. Act
26:22-23
Twice in this Acts statement, Paul re-affirms it was still Jew first as
it was in Romans, but how can we escape the plain truth that Paul was saying
none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come?
This must include the mystery of Romans 16 which was written before this
statement.
The mystery of Romans 16 was kept secret, that is silent in the
Scriptures yet the Scriptures contained it; it was never hidden in God as the
Ephesians Mystery.
There is no doubt that certain things of the Old Testament scriptures
were made much clearer in the writings of the New and when we consider elements
of Paul's gospel, given him by direct instruction from the Lord, we see some
wonderful examples of this. Take this feature as a case in point. When Paul
wrote to the Galatians he mentioned this: And the scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the
gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful
Abraham. Gal
3:8-9
The Scripture which foresaw this is part of the original sevenfold
blessing given to Abraham when called to depart out of his country, namely
Gen. 12:1-3. It is not so evident that the great truth of justification by faith
through grace upon all people is contained in that blessing but the Lord knew it
was so and revealed that truth to Paul. Paul's use of the promised seed in
Gen. 15:5 expounded to mean Christ and those of faith is another example of
truths not so evident originally but which are more fully expounded by
revelation of God, see Gal. 3:16, 29; Roms. 4:13 & amp; 16. We thus realize that
Paul spoke the truth when he said, very late in Acts, that he was saying none other things
than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. So in what way does
the distribution of OT quotes through Romans help us determine the mystery of
chapter 16?
From Roms. 1:1 through to 4:22 there are 23 OT references.
From Roms. 4:22 through to 8:35 not one OT reference can be found.
From Roms. 8:36 to 16:27 another 47 OT references.
From Roms. 4:22 through to 8:35 not one OT reference can be found.
From Roms. 8:36 to 16:27 another 47 OT references.
It is difficult to accurately count the OT references as those who have
attempted to do so will know that Paul will combine snippets of prophesy.
Needless to say, the variance in those three sections is significant. But here
is the amazing thing, Roms. 4:22 through to 8:35 which is void of OT references
is about an OT character, Adam.
Adam is mentioned 18 times from Gen. 2:19 through to 5:5. He is next
mentioned in Deut. 32:8, Jos. 3:16, 1Chron. 1:1 and Job 31:33. These are the only
references to Adam in the Old Testament and not one of them expounds the
typology; the foreshadowing of Messiah contained in him. No wonder Paul cannot
refer to the OT in the matter of Adam in this
regard.
In the New Testament, Luke mentions Adam in the Lord's genealogy, 3:38,
Jude identifies Enoch as the 7th from Adam, 1:14, but Paul most of all writes
about Adam, Roms.5:14, 1Cor. 15:14, 22, 45, 1Tim. 2:13 and
14.
To Paul alone was given the truth that Adam was a figure of Him that was
to come. Paul alone writes that in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. It is Paul who writes that Adam was a living soul but in wonderful
contrast, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit or a life-giving
Spirit.
Returning to Roms. 16:25-27 we remember that the preaching of Jesus Christ
according to the revelation of the
mystery kept secret since the world began had a goal in view.
A. Roms.16:25-27 to Him, power to stablish, my gospel,
ESTABLISH
preaching of Jesus Christ acc'g to revelation of mystery,
kept secret (silenced) since the world began,
but now manifested and by Scriptures of prophets,
commandment of everlasting God,
all nations for obedience of faith, OBEDIENCE
preaching of Jesus Christ acc'g to revelation of mystery,
kept secret (silenced) since the world began,
but now manifested and by Scriptures of prophets,
commandment of everlasting God,
all nations for obedience of faith, OBEDIENCE
That goal was to stablish them and bring forth the obedience of the faith
of all nations and in the section void of OT references we find two great
contrasts, the disobedience of Adam and the OBEDIENCE of Christ and the
resulting consequences.
Rejoicing with you in the mystery of Ephesians and Colossians.
