"To him who is able to strengthen you, in accordance with my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, in accordance with the revelation of the mystery concealed for long ages, but now made manifest through the prophetic scriptures, in accordance with the command of the eternal God, made known for the obedience of faith for all the nations, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to him be glory for ever. Amen." (Romans 16.25-27)
"All we can say is that [this] doxology has summarized well some of the basic concerns of the letter. All begins and ends with God. His power alone is sufficient to sustain those who rely on him by faith. The gospel which made clear and with which Paul was entrusted, focused on Jesus Christ and contained the revelation of the mystery of the divine purpose for the salvation of humankind. That purpose was in full continuity with God's earlier revelation through the prophet and scripture.
But what had now been made clear, as God had always intended it should, was that God's saving purpose reached out to all the nations and that it was entered into through faith — a faith which was not different from nor opposed to the obedience God had always looked for in his people, but which in fact came to expression in the dependant submissiveness of the creature to its Creator. It is to this God, the one God, the God who is the source and measure of all real wisdom, now most fully understood and approached through Jesus Christ, that all the glory of the ages belongs. Amen and amen.
(Word Biblical Commentary. Romans. Vol.2, James D. G. Dunn. (Dallas: Word Books, 1988) page 917.
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All my vocational life, from being a student in the early 1970s till now, J. D. G. Dunn has been a trusted voice amongst New Testament scholars. His earlier works such as Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Spirit, Christology in the Making and Unity and Diversity in the New Testament were ground-breaking, provocative, and forced those who disagreed to do a lot of homework – myself included. His Romans volumes comprise one of the most valued commentaries on my shelves.
The final paragraph of Dunn's commentary are quoted above, a few days before Christmas. They are the culminating sentences of a huge effort of scholarship over some of the busiest years of his life – and as I read them they seem to presuppose Advent, and Easter, and beyond. Dunn is carefully summarising what he has argued throughout the commentary, that the central focus on Jesus Christ as the content of God's self-revelation is, in the person of Jesus, the final revelation of a mystery that has eternity in its planning. In Jesus Christ the very truth of God is revealed, seen and active in the salvation of humankind, a revelation that commands the obedience of faith.
"Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies…Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die." So Charles Wesley, (and later editors).
Or as the Apostle Paul put it to the Christians in Rome, the hub of the Empire and meeting point of the nations: "the revelation of the mystery concealed for long ages, but now made manifest through the prophetic scriptures, in accordance with the command of the eternal God, made known for the obedience of faith for all the nations…"
As Dunn argued consistently throughout his long sojourn with Romans, Paul's vision spanned the long sweep of history, included God's promise to all the nations, the gospel to be received and lived through faith in the incarnate, crucified and risen Jesus, and in the power of the Spirit forming communities of worship and witness to "the God who is the source and measure of all real wisdom, now most fully understood and approached through Jesus Christ, and to whom all the glory of the ages belongs."
More than once in these Advent Book Endings essays there has been a coming together of Advent, mission, and the challenge for us to discover in our own time what "the obedience of faith" requires of us in our own times. That will take some working out, and it will be costly and disruptive for each Christian community that seeks to worship and bear witness to Jesus Christ, embracing and engaging with the mystery of Bethlehem, Calvary, an empty tomb, and the long wait for the final realisation of God's kingdom.
Advent is about that long wait. Faith in Jesus Christ is ultimately faith in the eternal wisdom and final purposes of God for creation, humanity and this God-loved world. And as we wait, we hold closely to the words Paul wrote to those small Christian communities in Rome, struggling to survive the pressures of Empire, not always seeing eye to eye with each other about the meaning of the gospel, needing a focal point for their own worship, witness, and community life in Christ:
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Rom. 15.13)
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