Romans 16:27

To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ,.... This may be understood of God the Father, who is the only wise God, originally, essentially, and infinitely; though not to the exclusion of the

To God only wise, [be] glory - `to the only wise God.' Through Jesus Christ - `to whom [be]'-q.d., 'To Him, I say, be the glory' Forever. Amen.

The second attribute in the description of God, is his wisdom; he is said to be wise, and only wise. See the like, . So he is said to be only true, , and to be the only Potentate, , and only to have immortality, . And this doth not exclude the wisdom of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, but the wisdom of the creatures. He is said to be only wise, because none is as wise as he, and all the wisdom of others is from him; the wisdom of men and angels is but a ray from his light. Again, he is said to be only wise, because he is originally wise; his wisdom is of himself; yea, his wisdom is himself. Be glory through Jesus Christ for ever: here he ascribes eternal glory to God. You had the same before, . Only here is added, through Jesus Christ, to show that our praise and thanksgiving is accepted of God through him: see ,21. Amen: this word is six times before used in this Epistle; 11:36 15:33 16:20,24. It is a Hebrew word, but retained in all languages. It cannot be translated without losing much of its weight. It may be taken three ways: 1. As a name, and so it is a name of Christ, . 2. As an adverb: so it is used in the beginning of speech, and signifies verily; or in the end of speech, and so it notes assent. Therefore it was used of old by the Jews, not only at prayer, but at all the sermons and expositions of their rabbins, to testify that they assented and agreed to all that they taught: see . 3. As a verb; and so it is as much as: So be it, having the nature of a prayer: hence Jeremiah said Amen to the prophecy of Hananiah, though false, concerning the sudden return from the Babylonish captivity, to show how earnestly he desired it might be so, . Written to the Romans from Corinthus, (and sent) by Phebe servant of the church at Cenchrea. This was not added by the apostle Paul, nor by Tertius his amanuensis, but by a later and unknown hand; yet there is nothing in the Epistle itself, nor in any ancient or modern writer, that may induce us to question the verity thereof.

27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen. Written to the Romans from Corinthus, and sent by Phebe servant of the church at Cenchrea. Ver. 27. To God only wise, &c.] So say I for these few notes thus finished. All that I shall now add is this distich, - " Pars superat coepti, pars est exacta laboris: Hic teneat nostras anchora iacta rates."

(27) To God.—Our English translation has evaded the difficulty of this verse by leaving out two words. The Greek stands literally thus, “To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever.” “To whom,” if it refers to God, as it is decidedly more probable that it was intended to refer, is ungrammatical. If it is inserted, the words “To him that is able . . . to God, the only wise,” are left without government. This might, indeed, under ordinary circumstances be got over, as such broken constructions are frequent with St. Paul, but it is somewhat different in the last solemn words of an Epistle, and would be especially so if this doxology were composed by itself separately from the rest of the Epistle. There would not then be the usual excuse of haste; and for so short a passage it may be doubted whether the Apostle would even employ an amanuensis. The difficulty is heightened when we ask what is meant by the phrase, “through Jesus Christ.” Separated, as it would then be, from the ascription of glory, and joined to “the only wise God,” it would seem to be impossible to get any really satisfactory sense out of it. “To God, who through Christ has shown Himself as the alone wise,” is maintained, but is surely very forced. Our conclusion then, prior to the evidence, would be that there was a mistake in the reading, and that the words “to whom” had slipped in without warrant. And now we find that a single uncial MS., but that precisely the oldest and best of all the uncials, the Codex Vaticanus, with two cursives, omits these words. The suspicion would indeed naturally arise that they had been left out specially on account of their difficulty. But this is a suspicion from which on the whole, the Vatican MS. is peculiarly free. And, on the other hand, it is just as natural to assume that another common cause of corruption has been at work. Doxologies so frequently begin with the relative, “To whom be glory,” &c., that the copyist would be liable to fall into the phrase, even in places where it was not originally written. The probabilities of corruption may therefore be taken to balance each other, and it will seem, perhaps, on the whole, the most probable solution that the relative has really slipped in at a very early date, and that the English version as it stands is substantially right. There are some exceptions to the rule that “the more difficult reading is to be preferred,” and this is perhaps one. The subscription in its present form hardly dates back beyond the ninth century. The earliest form of subscription up to the sixth century was simply “To the Romans.”

Verse 27. To God only wise] This comes in with great propriety. He alone who is the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, had all this mystery in himself; and he alone who knew the times, places, persons, and circumstances, could reveal the whole; and he has revealed all in such a way as not only to manifest his unsearchable wisdom, but also his infinite goodness: therefore, to him be glory for his wisdom in devising this most admirable plan; and his goodness in sending Christ Jesus to execute it; to Him, through Christ Jesus, be glory for ever! Because this plan is to last for ever; and is to have no issue but in eternal glory. Written to the Romans from Corinthus, c.] That this epistle was written from Corinth is almost universally believed. That Phoebe was a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea, we have seen in the first verse of this chapter and that the epistle might have been sent by her to Rome is possible; but that she should have been the writer of the epistle, as this subscription states, εγραφηδιαΦοιβης, is false, for Romans 16:22 shows that Tertius was the writer, though by inserting the words and sent, we represent her rather as the carrier than the writer. This subscription, however, stands on very questionable grounds. It is wanting in almost all the ancient MSS.; and even of those which are more modern, few have it entirely, as in our common editions. It has already been noted that the subscriptions to the sacred books are of little or no authority, all having been added in latter times, and frequently by injudicious hands. The most ancient have simply To the Romans, or the Epistle to the Romans is finished. The word Amen was seldom added by the inspired writers, and here it is wanting in almost all the ancient MSS. As this was a word in frequent use in religious services, pious people would naturally employ it in finishing the reading or copying of this epistle, as they would thereby express their conviction of the truth of its contents, and their desire that the promises contained in it might be fulfilled to them and to the Church at large; and in this sense the word is not only harmless but useful. May the fulness of the Gentiles be brought in, and may all Israel be saved! This is treated of at large in this epistle; and to this prayer let every pious reader say AMEN! Often this word seems to be used as we use the word finis, i.e. the end. See the observations on this word at the end of the Gospel of John. BEFORE I conclude this work, I shall beg leave to add several important observations, chiefly extracted from Dr. Taylor.

27. to God only wise] So certainly; though the Gr. equally allows the rendering to the only wise God. But the assertion of His glory as the Only (absolutely) Wise Being is far more in harmony with the height and fulness of the language here, than the assertion that among all Divinities, real or supposed, He only is wise.—The eternal Wisdom is here emphasized because the Gospel is its supreme expression. See especially the profound words of Eph 3:10, and 1 Timothy 1:17 (with its connexion). Cp. also “Christ … the wisdom of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:24.—In Jude 25, the word “wise” is probably to be omitted.be glory, &c.] The lit. order and rendering of the remaining words is—through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever. Amen. Here the construction becomes involved by the use of the relative, “to whom;” and this is equally so whether the relative refers to God or to Christ. That it refers to God seems to be proved, (1) by the opening words of Rom 16:25, which lead us to expect, through the whole passage, an ascription of praise to the Father; (2) by the name of Christ occurring in a phrase (see next note) which indicates His mediatorial work, as the Channel through which praise rises to the Father.through Jesus Christ] Meyer connects these words closely with the phrase “to God only wise,” and explains them to mean that the absolute Wisdom of God acts and is revealed through Jesus Christ. But this, though in itself eternally true, involves a grammatical construction sufficiently peculiar to recommend the more obvious one which takes the words “through Jesus Christ” to refer to the Son of God as our Channel of thanks and praise. Cp. ch. Romans 1:8.—We now explain the abrupt construction (see last note) as if St Paul had fully written, “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you, &c., we give thanks; even to God Only Wise, through Jesus Christ; to whom (i.e. to God) be the glory for ever.”The construction of this Doxology is remarkable not only in itself, but in the fact that it was evidently left unaltered by St Paul and his friends. No various reading of the least importance occurs throughout it.for ever. Amen] See on Romans 1:25, and on Romans 11:33, &c. Justly does the great Epistle end with the highest of all thoughts, the Glory of God everlastingly manifested and confessed. Amen, so be it.The SubscriptionWritten to the Romans, &c.] Lit. To the Romans [i.e. The Epistle to the Romans] was written from Corinth, by means of Phœbe the servant of the Cenchrean church. This ancient “Subscription” is no doubt true to fact. In this it differs from those appended to 1 Cor., Galat., 1 Tim., which are contradictory to the contents of the respective Epistles; and from those appended to Thess. and Titus, which are difficult to be reconciled with the contents.These “Subscriptions” (to St Paul’s Epistles) are said to be the work of Euthalius, a Bishop of the fifth century.

To God only wise - The apostle here resumes the doxology which had been interrupted by the parenthesis.

27. Glory—Our translators smoothly glide over one Greek word, consisting, indeed, of a single letter, which is a thorn to all close commentators.