Page 105 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

Romans 11:33-36

33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his
judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
35“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Paul followed his exposition of the wonder of our salvation in Christ (Romans 1-8) with the example of
Israel as God’s chosen people as a test case from which he answered clarifying questions about that
salvation (Romans 9-11). At the end of chapter eleven Paul is done with his exposition. He has laid the
theological foundation that he needed to lay to be able to address their problems with wisdom and
integrity. However, before he changed the tone of the letter from exposition to directives about proper
behavior, again he injected into his letter a short but profound declaration of praise for the character of
God.

One of the questions that often arises as people ponder this interlude of praise is “Does this reflect Paul’s
thoughts on just the example of Israel or on all that he has said in the first 11 chapters of this letter?” I
believe that this doxological conclusion actually serves both of those purposes at the same time. The
salvation that God provides in Christ is revealed to us through His Word and it shows us the very character
of God shining through the things that He did through His Son to bring His plan for saving His creation
from sin to completion. It is that truth that Paul drew to the attention of the Roman believers as he wrote
these words. His point is that God’s resources, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, etc. are categorically
different from ours. Everything belongs to Him because He made everything. We are his because He made
us for His purposes. We must remember that He graciously allows us to know Him truly, but He never
gives up His place as God. We never will come to know everything that He knows about Himself and His
created order. All of that speaks to the wonder of His salvation which shows us the glory of His being.
God’s glory is displayed by the inscrutability of His wisdom, knowledge, character and actions.

May God’s joy, peace and hope be sealed to your heart by the Holy Spirit as you accept one another in
spite of your differences.

Romans 15:13

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the
Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

At the beginning of Romans 12 the exposition of salvation driven by questions is set aside and commands
about how to live out that salvation become the dominant form of communication. The foundational
command concerning doing so was given in Romans 12:1-2 and then 65 more commands follow in the
next three and a half chapters (12:3-15:12) that gave insight how to follow that foundational command in
specific settings of life. They covered a variety of contexts of life that built to a climax as commands were
spoken concerning how to deal with differences among brothers and sisters in Christ in the local churches.
After doing so as he finished the main body of his letter, Paul broke into another doxological conclusion
that came in the form of a benediction (see verse above).

Paul has just finished speaking to these Roman believers about difficult things. He has challenged them to
think honestly and carefully about the impact of their treatment of one another on their ability to
proclaim Christ’s gospel with integrity to their surrounding culture. He has commanded them to change
their attitudes to conform with what they confess about the wonder of their salvation in Christ. Now he
let them know the depth of his love for them by pronouncing in a blessing the content of his prayers for
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