Romans 16:27

The dative τῷ δυναμένῳ, to Him that is able, in Romans 16:25, has not yet found the verb on which it depends. It is evidently this same dative which, after the long developments contained in Romans 16:25-26, reappears in the words: to God only wise. The idea of God's power in Romans 16:25 was naturally connected with that of stablishing; and so the idea of the divine wisdom is joined here with the notion of the divine plan and its accomplishment, expounded in Romans 16:25-26. But on what does this dative of Romans 16:27, as well as that of Romans 16:25 which it takes up again, depend? Some answer: on the proposition following: “To Him is (or be) the glory!” But why in this case introduce the relative pronoun ᾧ, to whom? Why not say simply αὐτῷ, to Him? (Ephesians 4:20-21). To make this construction admissible, all that would be necessary would be to reject this pronoun, as is done by the Vatic. and some Mnn. But these authorities are insufficient. And the reason of the omission is so easy to understand! Must it then be held, as Meyer and many others do, that we have here, exactly in the last sentence of the Epistle, an inaccuracy? It is supposed that Paul, carried away by the great thoughts expressed in Romans 16:25-26, forgot the dative with which he had begun the sentence in Romans 16:25, and continues as if the preceding proposition were finished. But this remote dative, which Paul is thought to have forgotten, is evidently reproduced in this one: to God only wise! He has it therefore still present to his mind. Tholuck, Philippi, and others refer the relative pronoun ᾧ, to whom, not to God, but to Jesus Christ; they hold that, according to the apostle's intention, the doxology was originally meant to apply to God, the author of the plan of salvation, but that Paul, on reaching the close of the period, applied it to Christ, who executes the plan: “To God powerful...and wise [be glory], by Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever.” This explanation would certainly be more tolerable than Meyer's. But we doubt whether the apostle's real meaning is thereby obtained. In fact, when he began his period with the words: To Him that is of power to stablish you, his intention was certainly not to terminate with this idea: To Him be glory! We glorify Him who has done the work; but as concerning Him who is able to do it, we look to Him to do it; we ask His succor; we express our confidence in Him and in His strength. Such was the inward direction of the apostle's heart when he began Romans 16:25 by saying: “To Him that is of power”..., exactly as when he closed his discourse to the elders of Ephesus, Acts 20:32, by saying: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, to Him that is of power (τῷ δυναμένῳ) to build you up and give you the inheritance”...The idea understood, on which the dative of Romans 16:25 depends, is therefore that of commendation and confidence: “My eye, in closing, turns to Him who is able, and from whom I expect everything.” This impulse God ward, in which he desires his readers to join him, is so lively within his soul that he does not even feel the need of expressing it; he includes it in this reduplicated dative τῷ δυναμένῳ and μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ). And hence the proposition may be regarded as complete, and as terminating without any real inaccuracy in the doxological formula which closes the period and the whole Epistle: “whose is the glory”...The full form would be: “I look with you all to Him who can stablish you...to God only wise, through Jesus Christ whose is [or be] the glory!”

The clause: through Jesus Christ, is connected by Meyer with the word wise: “to God whose wisdom is manifested in Jesus Christ, in His person and work.” But the expression: only wise through Christ, would not signify: who has shown himself wise through Christ, but: who is really wise through Christ. And that is an idea which Paul could not enunciate. The words: through Jesus Christ, must therefore be referred to the understood thought which forms the basis of the whole preceding sentence: “I look to God, I wait on Him, for all that concerns you, through Jesus Christ.” It is through Jesus Christ that the apostle sends up his supplication, as it is through Jesus Christ that there will come down on the Romans the help of God only strong and only wise.

If it is so, the relative pronoun to whom refers rather to Jesus Christ than to God. But it must be added that in his view the author and executor of the plan of salvation are so closely united, that it is difficult in this final homage to separate God to whom He looks, from Jesus Christ in whose name he looks. In the passage Romans 1:7, the two substantives: God and Jesus Christ, are placed under the government of one and the same preposition; they may therefore be embraced here in one and the same pronoun.

The verb to be understood in the last proposition would certainly be ἔστω, let it be, if Paul had used the word δόξα, glory, without article. But with the article (“ the glory”) the verb ἐστί, is, must be preferred: “whose is the glory.” It belongs to Him wholly throughout all eternity. For He has done everything in that work of salvation just expounded in the writing now closed.