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The Outer Section.
The Inner Section.
(Rom. 1: 1-17).
(Rom. 16: 25-27).
The Gospel of God.
My Gospel.
Concerning His Son Jesus Christ.
The preaching of Jesus Christ.
Promised afore.
Kept silence in age times, now manifested.
Prophets in the holy Scriptures.
Prophetic writings.
Unto obedience of faith among all nations.
For obedience of faith to all nations.
Grace from God our Father.
Praise to the aionian God, and to the only
wise God.
To the end ye may be established.
To Him Who is able to establish you.
The power of God unto salvation.
To Him Who is of power.
Righteousness revealed . . . as it is written. Revelation of mystery . . . scriptures, the
prophets.
It is evident that there is an intended contrast between these two passages. From the
days of Abraham onward the gospel was no secret.
"The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham" (Gal. 3: 8).
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad"
(John 8: 56).
Here however in Rom. 16: 25-27 is a mystery, and that mystery something that had
been silenced. It cannot therefore possibly be the same thing as the gospel preached in
Rom. 1:
It is not stated, however, in Rom. 1: 1, 2, or in any of the passages that link the gospel
with the O.T. Scriptures, that the gospel was fully made known before the coming of
Christ. Take for example Rom. 1: 17:
"For therein (i.e. the gospel of Christ, 1: 16) is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, according as it had been written (in Hab. 2: 4) `The just shall live by
faith'."
Without the fuller light of the gospel of Christ, it would not be evident from the
passage in Habakkuk that the power of the gospel of Christ resided in the provision of a
righteousness by faith. This will be evident if we quote the passage:
"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie;
though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul
which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2: 3-4).
But this provision is now "revealed" and in the hands of an inspired apostle can be
confirmed by such passages as Hab. 2: 4, although the teaching does not lie on the
surface. Again, having quoted many passages from the O.T. Scriptures, the Apostle says:
"But now" (in contrast to the period "then") "the righteousness of God, apart from
law, has been manifested" (perfect tense) "being borne witness to" (present tense) "by the
law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ"
(Rom. 3: 21, 22).