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We must now return to those passages that are under review, to observe any particular
features that will help us in our attempt to place them in the outworking of the Divine
purpose.
First, we will give Weymouth's rendering of
Rom. 16: 25-27,
with our own
emphasis of each occurrence of aion and aionios.
"To Him Who has it in His power to make you strong, as declared in the Good News
which I am spreading, and the proclamation concerning Jesus Christ, in harmony with the
unveiling of the Truth which IN THE PERIOD OF PAST AGES remained unuttered, but
has now been brought fully to light, and by the command of THE GOD OF THE AGES
has been made known by the writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them
to obedience to the faith--to God, the only wise, through Jesus Christ, even to Him be
the glory THROUGH ALL THE AGES" (Rom. 16: 25-27. Weymouth).
The words chronois aioniois in Rom. 16: 25 are in the dative case. This case is used
to denote `a space of time', `for', as in Acts 13: 20; John 2: 20. (The A.V. use of the
word `since' is without precedent; this demands the preposition apo, or its equivalent.)
In the space of time known as the `age times', a truth had been `kept secret'. As the word
musterion and its derivations express the idea of something `secret', and as the word
translated `kept secret' in the original of Rom. 16: 25 is sigao `to keep silence' (see
I Cor. 14: 28, 34), the translation of the A.V. is misleading. The word does not indicate
that the truth in view was never made known at all, or at any time, but that during the
space of time known as the age-times it was `hushed', that period ending with the
revelation found in the epistle to the Romans, and referring, not to the Mystery of
Ephesians, but to the inner portion of Romans, namely Rom. 5: 12 - 8: 39, where
instead of the law of Moses and personal transgression being the dominant theme, Moses
retires into the background and Sinai is exchanged for `the law of sin and death'. Adam
now takes the place of Moses, and the ruin of the creature is stressed rather than personal
transgressions, `sin' rather than `sins'. Since the call of Abraham, and during the period
of Israel's discipline this inner teaching of Romans remained unemphasized, but with the
commission of the Apostle, the hour struck for its proclamation. A comparison of
Rom. 1: 1-7 with Rom. 16: 25-27, will reveal some thins in common, and some that
differ.
The structure of the epistle to the Romans is exceedingly complex, as we can well
believe of so mighty an epistle. Simplified to the extreme it appears somewhat like this:
A | 1: - 5: 11.
Sins, rather than sin.
(Outer)
Law of Sinai.
Abraham, Israel, Jew and Gentile.
B | 5: 12 - 8: 39. Sin, rather than sins.
Adam, not Abraham.
Law of sin and death.
A | 9: - 16: 24. Dispensational and Practical problems.
Abraham, Israel, Jew and Gentile.
B | 16: 25-27. The mystery that had been "hushed".
No doctrine of Adam outside of the epistles of Paul.