17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
20 The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole Church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.
25 Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith - 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
In his final greeting at the end of Romans, Paul exhorts and appeals to his readers to beware of those who cause divisions and create obstacles to the faith. He is looking back over all he has taught them, and his warning is clear: We are to stay away from the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Throughout this letter Paul has gone to great lengths to correct the Roman Church’s understanding of the Gospel where necessary, and it is no coincidence that throughout Romans he has quoted from the Scriptures. The lesson to us is this: Allow the Bible to speak for itself. The best defence of the Word of God is the Word of God. What did Jesus do when tempted in Matthew 4 and Luke 4? He quoted Scripture.
Who are these people we are to avoid? Paul tells us in verse 17. “Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” The key phrase in this verse is “contrary to the doctrine you have been taught.”
Allow the Bible to speak for itself. It contains all we need to live lives which are pleasing to God, and as we’ve seen throughout this series, He is the one who empowers us by His Spirit to live to His glory. Remember that the Word of God is not a checklist. The Christian life is not about what we are to do, but rather holding on to what God has done for us in Christ. Jesus has done it for us, and it is He who transforms our lives.
Paul wrote in Titus 2:11-15, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
God brings His grace, He brings salvation to those who believe in Christ, He trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, He enables us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. And while all this is happening, we wait for our blessed hope: the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
When we hold onto Jesus and His truth, He will guard us against the false teachers and false doctrines that continue to pollute His Church, and threaten to destroy our faith.
You might remember a quote I used from the Bible teacher Justin Peters some time ago. He said that one of the most dangerous places for a Christian to be is in a Christian bookstore.
The next time you happen to be browsing through one of those shops, have a look at the kind of books they promote and the people that write them. Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland are among the worst, but there are many others. Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church, Todd White of Lifestyle Christianity and Steven Furtick of Elevation Church (I use the word Church here in the broadest possible sense). They all teach a man-centred, Word of Faith, name it and claim it, false gospel. They do not teach the true Gospel as presented in the Bible.
In 2002 Rick Warren’s international best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life” was published. The first 4 words in chapter one are, “It’s not about you.” He then spends 40 chapters waxing lyrical about how it very much is about you. He and his ilk are worse than wolves in sheep’s clothing. These people are wolves in shepherds’ clothing, because as Paul says in verse 17, they “cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.”
And this is not just an American problem. At Boshoff is the celebrity pastor of CRC (Christian Revival Church) in South Africa. Last week I watched 2 of his sermons on YouTube. One was recorded on the 4th of October 2020, and the other was from last Sunday. In 90 minutes he used the word sin twice, and Gospel once. The words repent, repentance, cross, blood, atonement and sacrifice were not mentioned at all. He is not a preacher of the Word of God.
Regardless of the title of Osteen’s best seller, Christianity is not about living your best life now. Nor is it about bringing God’s kingdom to earth as Bethel Church and the other New Apostolic Reformation heretics teach. You won’t hear these people teaching about sin, repentance, substitutionary atonement and justification by grace.
And the reason is that these things are offensive to the ears of the sinner. Biblical doctrine is offensive, because it points us to God, while at the same time it exposes our sin, and unregenerate and unrepentant sinners don’t want to hear that.
As a result, the Gospel has been watered down so badly that many of these Churches are not feeding the sheep anymore. Instead, they are entertaining the goats by telling them what their itching ears want to hear. Their message is about being a champion and being a better you.
They have abandoned the true Gospel, and you will never hear these people proclaiming Romans 1:16-17. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Paul wrote in Romans 16:18, “Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.”
How do we guard against being among the naive? By studying and applying Biblical truths in our lives. Don’t allow your heart to be deceived. Don’t listen to the smooth talk and flattering words of these wolves. Stay away from them. They are nothing more than motivational speakers and life coaches with enough Christianese thrown in to make them sound super spiritual.
As Paul says in the following verse, “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil,” and the only way we can do that is by getting into the Word and allowing the Spirit of God to guide us into all truth.
I know I’ve used this illustration before, but it is so appropriate here. The Bible teacher Stuart Briscoe started his working life in a bank, and one of the first tasks he was given was to spot counterfeit money. For months though, he only handled genuine notes. When he asked his supervisor when he and his fellow trainees would be given counterfeit notes to compare, he was told it wasn’t necessary. “You’ve spent so long handling the real thing, that as soon as you touch the counterfeit, you’ll spot it instinctively.”
The same principle applies to the life of a Bible-believing Christian: When we know what is good, it is easier to stay away from what is evil.
As we move into the final part of the book of Romans, Paul closes what is sometimes called the magnum opus, the greatest work of Christian doctrine in the Bible, with a doxology, a song of praise. How else could he end the greatest story ever told? He has taken us on a meticulous journey through God’s eternal plan of salvation for lost sinners, so as he signs off after his final greeting, only a doxology will do.
Depending on which translation of the Bible you are using, you may notice that verse 24 is missing. It was not part of the original manuscript, but it is a repetition of verse 20, so as we close off our study of Romans, we will look at three key words in this doxology from the New American Standard Bible (The NASB includes verse 24).
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:24-27)
The three words we will be taking a closer look at are grace, Gospel and glory.
The Greek word for grace is charis. Strong’s Lexicon defines charis as “the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon)
A more concise definition of grace is the unmerited love and favour that a Holy God gives to sinners. In verse 24 Paul says, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” It is a sovereign grace, the grace of God, which he speaks about.
Saving grace is something that begins and ends with God. Man does not seek God, but God seeks us. Romans 3:10-11 says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” We do not initiate salvation. Left to our own devices, we would never seek Him out, but because of His divine grace to us, God seeks us. Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus said in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Why did Jesus come into this world? To save lost sinners. He came into this world to go to the cross and shed His blood to save us. He died so that when we repent and turn to Him, we will live. The innocent came to die for the guilty so that the guilty are made righteous.
Grace though, not only saves us, but we are kept secure in and through the grace of God. God provides for all of our needs by His grace. His grace strengthens us through the struggles we face, and His grace sustains and keeps us in the faith.
Then we move on to the word Gospel in verse 25.
The word Gospel means the good news of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 gives us a clear definition of what the Gospel is. “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
He writes in verse 25, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.” The Gospel message is a message about Jesus, who He is, and what He did for sinners. The message of the Gospel is the death of Jesus on the cross for sinners and His victorious resurrection from the dead. The Gospel is a message of God’s love for all sinners. It is a message of hope, of peace and of power, and this is the message we have for the world.
Look at the example of the early Church. Acts 17:1-3, speaking of Paul and Silas says, “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”
Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead was the central message of the early Church, and it must be same in the modern Church. Why is it so necessary to preach Jesus? Because His is the only name that can save the lost. The Church is not a place for motivational pep talks. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. That is our message to the world.
In verse 25 Paul talks of Jesus as the one who will “establish” us through the preaching of the Gospel. When the Gospel is believed and a lost soul is saved, that new Christian is given stability and a firm footing on which to stand. When God justifies you, you are secure and established in Him. Jude, in his doxology at the end of his short epistle writes, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.”
As we are saved by the grace of God, we are brought out of a place of uncertainty and are established in the truth of God by the power of His Gospel. The Gospel gives us hope and security as we face life, death and eternity. David wrote in Psalm 40:1-4, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!”
Paul continues in verses 25 and 26 by talking about “the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested.”
There is a mysterious side to the Gospel. Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we have been fighting and losing the battle with sin. We know instinctively that something is wrong. We look at the pain and misery we see in this beautiful world, and we just know that things are not meant to be like this, but we have no idea how to make it better.
Throughout the Old Testament though, we are given glimpses into the mystery of how God would save us. Right at the beginning in Genesis chapter 3 we are told that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That cryptic verse, without knowing how the full story would unfold would have been a mystery to Adam and Eve. With the benefit of being on this side of history of the Cross of Calvary, we are able to understand the mystery of God commanding that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac.
The Israelites were instructed to put the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of their homes in order to be spared from the angel of death in Egypt. And what about the countless millions of animals slaughtered in the Jewish sacrificial system? How can the blood of an innocent animal atone for the sins of the guilty? All of these things, and many more were a mystery for those who were there, but we can see the hand of God as we trace the story of redemption in the Scriptures.
At last, the mystery was revealed when Jesus went to the cross and died for the sins of all who believe in Him. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:7-12, “Of this Gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.”
Now, the entire plan of salvation has been revealed to us. How can we be saved? The answer is plain: Through Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ alone, and this message is proclaimed through the Church, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:10.
Sadly, the Gospel remains a mystery to many, because as 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us, satan “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.” This is why we need to faithfully and accurately proclaim the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, not the twisted false gospel of the wolves in sheep’s clothing we looked at earlier. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what holds the entire Bible together.
Thirdly, in Paul’s doxology at the end of Romans, he points us to the glory of God. This is the purpose of your life - to bring glory to God. If you have ever asked the question, why am I here, the glory of God is the answer, but the only way you can live to His glory is through a saved life - saved by God through Jesus Christ.
Strong’s Lexicon defines the glory of God as, “Praise, honour, splendour, brightness, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace, majesty, a thing belonging to God, the kingly majesty which belongs to Him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity, a thing belonging to Christ, the kingly majesty of the Messiah, the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ.” (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon)
And those mere human words fall woefully short of adequately capturing the glory and majesty of God. Maybe eternity itself will not be long enough for us to fully understand this word glory.
God has redeemed a people for Himself and for His glory. The theologian Michael Horton said that we are saved by God, from God, for God. When we consider what He has saved us from, and what He has saved us for, how can we not give Him the glory which is due to Him alone?
And then finally, as we wrap up this series, we go back to the opening 7 verses of the book of Romans. You can just sense Paul’s pastoral heart for the Church in his opening greeting.
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:1-7)
Homegroup Study Notes
Read Romans 16:17-20
Not for the first time, Paul warns against a) those who cause division in the Church and b), those who bring false doctrine and teaching into the Church.
Why is it becoming increasingly important to protect ourselves in our day?
What does it mean to “know what you believe, and why you believe it?”
Why is this so important?
Read Romans 16:24-27
This is one of the longest doxologies in the New Testament.
Discuss the rich theology we find in these verses.
What is the “mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed?”
On our long journey through the book of Romans, what has challenged you most?
How has your faith and understanding of the Bible changed?