“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
Romans 16:24 NKJV
“Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him. All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.”
Romans 16:25-27 NLT
In Romans 15:33 we read what looked like a final greeting at the end of the letter, but then Paul continued to write about his friends and fellow workers in chapter 16. Some manuscripts then include another “final greeting” in Romans 16:24. Perhaps the letter was assembled at different times, and Paul was reluctant to say it was finished. He could have been anxious to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, but in the process he sent a double blessing to the Roman believers, God’s peace and the Lord Jesus Christ’s grace.
Paul concludes his letter with a reference to the “Good News”, which was where he started in Romans 1, and he reminded the believers in Rome that the Good News would give them strength. Paul continued by reminding them of something else, and that was the revelation that the Good News was finally made public, a secret no more, and because it included the Gentiles, who had a significant presence in the Romans Church. So the Good News was a revelation of God’s secret plan to make God’s grace universally available to all peoples and nations. There were no exclusions, except for those who rejected God.
In Romans 1:1 we read, “This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News”. That was his mandate. And Paul ends his letter giving glory to God. He knew it wasn’t about him. He knew he was a man with a mission limited by his humanity, but his passion was to do what he could in his time in which he lived, to share God’s heart with anyone who would listen. His theological and oratorical skills convinced many, and offended even more, but he was a driven man, aware of limited time to share God’s grace. We have read the end of the story, and we know that God’s patience will not last for ever. There will be a time when a Heavenly “enough!” will cry out over this world, and God’s Son, Jesus will appear for a second time. God’s glory will fill the heavens, and usher in a new dawn.
Paul gave glory to God with all he was and all he said. We pilgrims must also. We have in our hands Paul’s baton, running the race for the pilgrim team. The race course is before us. And the people we meet on our journeys need to know all about God’s Good News. For every person who joins the race with us we give God all the glory. It is all about Him and His plan for mankind, a plan so gracious and loving we can only wonder and worship the only One who really matters.
Father God, as we conclude our journey through the Book of Romans, I pray that all who read it will be richly blessed. In Jesus’ name. Amen.