BULLINGER’S ‘IDEA’ ON ROMANS 16
REGARDING THE MYSTERY
BULLINGER’S ‘IDEA’ THAT
ROMANS 16:25, 26 ON THE MYSTERY,
MAY HAVE BEEN ADDED AFTER
PAUL’S ARRIVAL AT ROME
JAN LILLEBY
The reason I want to touch in on this topic, is that the known ‘theory’ raised by E. W. Bullinger, - …a possibility that Paul may have added Rom. 16:25, 26 to this epistle, after his arrival at Rome, is often used to ‘down-grade’ Bullinger’s works. And so trying to explain why Paul is pointing to the Mystery – that in Rom. 16:25, 26 – is the same Mystery told in Eph. 3:1-3.
But it is very clear that the Mystery in Rom. 16:25, 26 is NOT the Mystery told in Eph. 3.
To clarify this, I have clipped in an excerpt from my book “Paul’s Revelation of the Church”. (You can have the book emailed to you freely, just send me an inquiry).
We shall easily see that Bullinger’s theory on Rom. 16 and the Mystery, was nothing but a theory. He did not hold on to it later on. At that time he was still fresh in the Acts-28 beliefs, and things went a little askew at times. Thanks to Charles Welch he made corrections regarding details in his interpretation of Scripture. Most Acts-28 believers know that. At one of these moments when Bullinger was corrected by Welch’s interpretation in certain issues, he replied: “Well, we do want to know the truth, don’t we?”
PAUL’S MENTION OF A MYSTERY IN ROM. 16
It may seem as a contradiction when reading Rom. 16:25, 26, NASB, (written by Paul in Ephesus 57 CE) -
“25 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,
26 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;”
We have to notice the referred time-aspect here. It clearly says revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past.
In Eph. 3:9 – written in 63-64 CE, it points to having been kept hidden in God, since before He created the world, NASB,
“…and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;”
The expression for ages means for the entire length of time before God created anything.
In AMP net version it says,
“…and to make plain [to everyone] the plan of the mystery [regarding the uniting of believing Jews and Gentiles into one body] which [until now] was kept hidden through the ages in [the mind of] God who created all things.”
Let me also add to this, that in my Norwegian Bible of 1988 it says, in Norwegian language, Rom. 16:25, 26,
«25 Men ham som er mektig til å styrke dere etter mitt evangelium og forkynnelsen av Jesus Kristus, etter åpenbaringen av det mysteriet* som det har vært tiet om i evige tider,
26 men som nå er kommet for lyset og etter den evige Guds befaling ved profetiske skrifter er blitt kunngjort for alle folk for å virke troens lydighet –«
Verse 25, Red text: “Kept silent in eternal times (eternal= aionos).”
Verse 26, Red text: “Brought into the light according to the eternal God’s commandment by prophetic Scriptures –“
The ‘Mystery’ in Romans 16 is NOT the same as with Paul’s revelation in Eph. 3. The one in Romans 16 was a type of mystery which had been hidden (kept difficult to learn) inside prophetic Scriptures. It was already revealed to or through the prophets who had written these Scriptures mentioned by Paul. It had been kept silent and hidden inside Scriptures, since aionos times, which refers to earlier dispensations, for instance the dispensation of the Law of Moses. But the revelation given Paul in Eph. 3:3 was a Mystery hidden in God since before the start of times or dispensations, actually before God had created anything.
But also we need to have Paul’s expression ‘Until now’ as the ‘ice-breaker’ into this, for it excludes any possibility of that Mystery to ever have been revealed to anyone before Paul had it. The Mystery was hidden in God, until the moment (as Paul wrote this, in jail) NOW, which was around 63-64 CE according to most scholars.
MYSTERY REVELATION WAS ATTACHED
TO CHRIST HAVING ABOLISHED THE LAW
Also, let me point to another important Bible truth which must be in place in order to make the epistle a ‘Post-Acts’ writing, namely the fact of Christ having abolished the Law of Moses, in order to create the ‘One new Man’ – the Church for which Christ is the Head.
In Romans we find that there is absolutely no word on the Law having been abolished by Christ. On the contrary, we find that the Acts-believers did actually uphold the Law and observing it, Rom. 3:31, AMP,
“Do we then nullify the Law by this faith [making the Law of no effect, overthrowing it]? Certainly not! On the contrary, we confirm and establish and uphold the Law [since it convicts us all of sin, pointing to the need for salvation].”
NASB says,
“Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”
The Mystery revelation in Eph. 2:14-16; 3:1-9, Col. 1:25, 26; 2:13-17, has the clear mention of not only the Mystery revealed, but that Christ had abolished the Law with all its ordinances.
Inside the ‘Acts-28 Community’ in the world today, there are fractions which hold that not only Ephesians and Colossians are Mystery epistles – Church epistles if you prefer – so they say that Philippians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus are Mystery epistles as well.
I have to disagree on that. For the simple reason that neither the word ‘Mystery’ nor the word/passage ‘abolished the Law’ can be found in any of these, except Ephesians and Colossians.
In addition to that, these epistles (Philippians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) differ a lot regarding the doctrinal contents.
So, for an epistle to really be a true Church epistle for the ‘One new Man’ – they have to teach the Mystery revelation alongside the revelation that Christ abolished the Law of Moses.
This Bible truth made me a ‘Two Books Preacher’ if you understand. I cannot find any other epistles in NT than Ephesians and Colossians which tells of Mystery & Abolishment of the Law all together.
In Col. 2:13-17 Paul made a specific list so to wipe away any doubts in the matter, NASB,
“13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
Notice the merry mindset and joyfulness of Paul in verse 15 – compared to his earlier teachings on the Second Advent of Christ, as He should come down from heaven with His angels and with fire and doom…..it had now turned to Christ’s incredible and irresistible all-conquering work which He accomplished on the cross! Christ thus greatly triumphed over all the evil powers and rulers and actually ‘hanged’ them out to dry – for all the mankind to observe in awe.
And here, in our time, we find multitudes of confused Christian believers hoping for the Second Advent of Christ to occur, an advent which is NOT for the Church at all, - it is for Israel only. They are greatly mistaken, for they have not learnt how it is with Paul’s revelation of the Church according to the Mystery. We cannot lean on the four Gospels and Acts and the hope which was preached in those times. It was all for Israel only, including their proselytes.
The hope of the Church is the epiouranos heaven, the ‘super-heaven’ where Christ now resides with His Father. And Paul is our Chief Tutor – the Dean on the Campus. We do not have Jesus as our teacher. Jesus sent us Paul and no other.
A Dean is not the President of the respective university. He is traditionally one who, - quote,
“Deans are academic leaders who have academic, programmatic, managerial, and fiscal responsibilities for a school. Deans verify the adequacy of instruction, monitor academic integrity, confer degrees, and are responsible for student recruitment, admission, and academic progress.”
Now, if Paul is our Dean, then Jesus is the President. He is ranked of course way above Paul regarding authority. I will suggest then that God is the owner of the university, in this imagined, but however so real constellation.
The revelation of the Church dispensation given to Paul for us, includes that NEW and better hope compared to the Acts-Body’s hope, which was the Kingdom on earth for Israel (Acts 3:19-21).
Gracepano.com
