Romans 16:25

rom16.25.001The World sees God and faith as something those who are ‘weak’ need to have as a crutch. Here’s a ‘pop’ quote on faith:

“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” – Richard Dawkins

So, according to Mr. Dawkins, faith is all about copping-out, excusingevading and lacking evidence. Faith is ignorance in other words. Put another way, faith is contrary to truth. Faith is seeing the evidence and determining to make-believe the opposite.

First off, Mr. Dawkins demonstrates he possesses great faith. The very evidence he states which is supposedly contrary to faith, is the very evidence that proves him wrong!

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1

It seems that Mr. Dawkins has failed to see this evidence and despite the evidence, has determined to believe the opposite. What faith! I guess he’s right, his faith is an excuse and cop-out.

What does the Scripture say about those who choose to believe there is no God?

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1a

It’s true, to the world God is foolishness. But Romans 16:25  is such a comfort to the believer.

To Him who is able to establish you – the word establish means ‘to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix’.  Every person who has personally believed the Gospel (good news) has prior to that gone through a change of mind. They realized that they were sinners and they were trusting in a false hope and something made up rather than the truth. The evidence was overwhelming, yet they continued to believe the lie!  In many cases prior to understanding sin, people are measuring their standard of right/wrong in a horizontal way. They put themselves up against the worst person they know and think, ‘I’m really not so bad’.

The Gospel becomes good news when we realize the truth of sin evidenced of in our lives and hear that God our maker has made a way to make it right. Is the sin we have committed, the bondage it places us in not evidence enough of a need for salvation from God?

The question then becomes, how does God establish us?

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.1 Peter 5:10

God, who is able, has established us through the Gospel. He called us through the Gospel, we heard it, we believed it, He established us on a firm, unmovable rock.

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. Psalm 40:2

That rock is true and firm. Something we can bank on – greater than ourselves – sustained by the creator of the universe – upheld in his very hands.
Today, we stand established as children of God, heirs according to the promise, blessed with every spiritual blessing, seated in the heavens with Christ, loved of God, co-labourers with Christ, benefactors of His grace.

Believer, are you walking in the richness of His goodness?

If you have not yet trusted by faith in Jesus Christ, God will establish any who come to Him in faith, trusting that Christ died for their sins and rose again. This gift is available to anyone! Stop trusting the lies and come to the Truth.
Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Romans 16:26 – Obedience which is Faith

rom16.26.002I would like to take a moment to look at the phrase obedience of faith.

Before we look at what it means, and since Paul mentions this phrase at the beginning and at the end of the Epistle to the Romans, we should look at his purpose for writing:

So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Romans 1:15

Obedience is a noun not a verb. This is a term or definition,  a title or description. It could describe the action or what results from the action.

But now‘ making a distinction to that what was previous not known (v.25), kept a secret for ages past.

Is manifested‘ refers back to the Gospel (the person and work of Jesus Christ) (v.25). We could paraphrase the verse (taking the liberty) ‘but now [the gospel] is manifested to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith’.

Let’s look to Scripture to help us interpret this. We know that Paul’s purpose of writing Romans is to communicate the Gospel. How are obedience, faith and the Gospel connected?

We see in the beginning of the church that many of the priests were becoming obedient:

The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. Acts 6:7

Those who are obedient, are given the Holy Spirit:

And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:32

We also see that there are those who do not obey the Gospel:

dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 1:8

So, we arrive at the question, how is is that one is obedient or disobedient in regards to the Gospel?  The Gospel of John may shed some light:

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36

Clearly salvation is not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). So salvation is not on the basis of doing or performing. Those who don’t believe are considered disobedient however.

obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:9

Peter uses it again in the same chapter to show how believers are title or identification of  ‘obedient children‘:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 1 Peter 1:14

Obedience of faith could also be stated, ‘obedience which is faith’ when faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).

God has gifted to every person the possibility to exercise faith.  After hearing the message of the Gospel, they must trust, rest, believe it!

They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31

Paul (as an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles) desired that the preaching of the Gospel might be responded to by faith thereby bringing about the declaration of them being obedient.
Those who have been declared obedient, those who have trusted in what Christ did for them – dying for our sins and rising again, are to walk now by faith in their identity of obedient children.


If you have not made the decision to trust Christ personally – that he saved you from the penalty of your sin, you are considered disobedient before God and He will have to punish you. Trust Him by faith and find forgiveness of your sins today!