— By Michael A. Graham
From God’s Gospel to My Gospel: The Preached Word and the Revealed Mystery
— By Michael A. Graham
Introduction
Someone recently pressed me with a question about how modern preaching differs from what Paul means by “preaching.” I didn’t take up the challenge at the time. But as I’ve been working through Romans 16:21–27, the challenge found me.
Romans begins in chapter 1 with Paul calling it “the gospel of God” (1:1). By the end, in 16:25, he calls it “my gospel.” That change in words is worth noticing, especially because Romans 1 and Romans 16 share several themes in common. Both sections speak of the power of God, the revelation of what was hidden, and the obedience of faith. The beginning and the end act like bookends that frame everything in between.
As I studied this final passage, two words came into focus: κήρυγμα (preached message) and μυστήριον (mystery revealed). Together, they show why Paul can speak of the gospel as both God’s and his own. It is God’s gospel because it originates in Him and reveals His righteousness. It is Paul’s gospel because it has so entered his life and work that he preaches it, lives by it, and watches it bear fruit.
This is also where Jack Miller’s insight helps. He used to say the gospel is not only facts, love, and power — it is a preached message. A herald’s announcement. A word spoken with the authority of God, heard in faith, and passed along again. That insight comes right to the surface in Romans 16.
So this essay is my attempt to trace how Paul’s letter begins with “God’s gospel” and ends with “my gospel,” and how the preached message and the revealed mystery tie the book together.
I. God’s Gospel in Romans 1:1–17
Paul begins his letter by calling the message he proclaims “the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1). From the very beginning, he anchors it in God Himself. This is not Paul’s invention, nor a human philosophy, but God’s own good news revealed through His Son.
Three themes introduced here shape the rest of Romans and appear again in the closing doxology:
1. The power of God (Romans 1:16).
Paul declares that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” The word power (δύναμις) speaks of God’s active strength. The gospel is not only words on a page but God’s living action to rescue, deliver, and transform. When the gospel is spoken and believed, God is at work with His power.
2. The righteousness of God revealed (Romans 1:17).
Paul explains that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” This righteousness is God’s gift, not something achieved by human effort. It comes to us through faith, and faith continues to carry it forward. The righteous live by faith because they depend on God’s revealed righteousness in Christ.
3. The obedience of faith (Romans 1:5).
Paul says his calling as an apostle is “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations.” Faith is not passive. It is active trust in God’s word. To believe the gospel is to obey God’s summons, and that obedience is the beginning of a new life lived in loyalty to Christ.
These three themes — God’s power, God’s righteousness revealed, and the obedience of faith — form the framework of Romans. They set the stage at the beginning of the letter, and they appear again at the end (Romans 16:25–27). Together they show that the gospel begins with God, reveals God’s righteousness, empowers God’s people, and produces faithful obedience among the nations.
II. The Word κήρυγμα (Preached Message)
2.1 Definition & Lexical Family
The word Paul uses in Romans 16:25 is κήρυγμα. At its core it means a proclamation — the content of an announcement made publicly. It comes from the verb κηρύσσω, “to herald” or “to announce.” A related noun, κῆρυξ, means “herald,” the person sent to deliver the message.
This family of words carries two important ideas. First, the message is public. A κήρυγμα is not whispered in private; it is spoken aloud for others to hear. Second, the message is authoritative. A herald does not speak his own words. He announces what has been entrusted to him. His authority is derivative — it comes from the sender.
When Paul speaks of the gospel as a κήρυγμα, he is reminding us that the gospel is not private reflection or human opinion. It is God’s announcement, made through His heralds, spoken with His authority, and meant to be heard.
2.2 Classical Greek Context
In classical Greek, the word κήρυγμα was most often used in civic and military life. A herald stood at the city gate or in the public square to make an announcement on behalf of the king or the city. These announcements could include decrees, the terms of a treaty, or the declaration of war or peace.
The herald’s role was not to argue or to explain but to announce. He carried a word that was binding because of the authority of the one who sent him. To receive the herald’s message was to receive the king’s command. To reject it was to reject the king himself.
This background helps us see that when Paul calls the gospel a κήρυγμα, he is thinking in the same categories. The gospel is not less than explanation, but it is more. It is heralding — the public, authoritative declaration of what God has done in Christ.
2.3 LXX / Hebrew Backdrop
When the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses κήρυγμα and its related words, it often translates the Hebrew verb qārā’, meaning “to call out” or “to proclaim.” This word shows up in contexts where God’s word or command must be spoken publicly and heard by the whole community.
For example, in Joel 2:15, the prophet is told to “blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly.” The Greek version uses κηρύσσω to describe this proclamation. The call is not private advice but a summons from God to His people.
Another example is Jonah 3:2, where God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh and “proclaim” the message He gives him. In the Septuagint, Jonah is told to κήρυξον — to herald God’s word to the city. Jonah’s task was not to offer dialogue or suggestion but to announce God’s word with authority.
In Theodotion’s version of Daniel, the word κῆρυξ (herald) is used for the king’s officials who announce royal decrees to the people (e.g., Daniel 3:4). Here again, the emphasis is on the herald’s borrowed authority: the message he delivers binds the hearers, not because of his own power but because of the authority of the one who sent him.
This background shows that in the Bible, as in classical Greek, preaching carries the weight of God’s own authority. It is His word, publicly spoken, and to hear it is to be summoned by Him.
2.4 NT Usage (Survey)
In the New Testament, κήρυγμα and its related forms keep the same note of public, authoritative proclamation, but the content becomes sharper: it is now the announcement of Jesus Christ and His kingdom.
When Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee, Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:14–15 describe Him proclaiming: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is κηρύσσω — Jesus heralding the arrival of God’s reign. His preaching is not abstract teaching but a declaration that demands a response.
For Paul, κήρυγμα often functions as shorthand for the heart of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1:21–23, he says, “It pleased God through the folly of what we preach (τοῦ κηρύγματος) to save those who believe… we preach Christ crucified.” Here κήρυγμα is not a general message but the specific announcement of the cross as God’s saving act.
Romans 10:14–17 makes the same connection. Paul asks, “How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching (κηρύσσοντος)?” He concludes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith is born through the heralded word — the κήρυγμα.
Later, in 2 Timothy 4:17, Paul looks back and says, “The Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message (τὸ κήρυγμα) might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.” The word he uses — κήρυγμα — again emphasizes proclamation. His mission has been to announce the gospel across nations.
Finally, in Romans 16:25, Paul brings κήρυγμα into his doxology: “Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching (κήρυγμα) of Jesus Christ…” This verse ties proclamation directly to God’s power to establish believers. The preached word is the channel of divine strength.
Across the New Testament, then, κήρυγμα consistently refers to the public heralding of Christ’s saving work. It is not dialogue, speculation, or private reflection. It is the announced word of God, spoken into the world with His authority.
2.5 Theological Load in Romans
Paul uses κήρυγμα at key moments in Romans to frame the whole letter.
In Romans 1:15–17, Paul declares his eagerness to preach the gospel in Rome. He says the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” and that in it “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” From the very beginning, κήρυγμα carries weight: it is the proclaimed gospel that brings God’s power and reveals His righteousness.
In Romans 10:14–17, Paul presses the necessity of proclamation. He asks how anyone can believe without hearing, and how they can hear without a preacher. Faith comes from hearing (ἀκοή), and that hearing is tied to obedience (ὑπακοή). Preaching is the bridge: the herald speaks, people hear, faith is born, and obedience of faith follows. Without κήρυγμα, there is no faith.
Finally, in Romans 16:25–26, Paul ties proclamation to mystery and command. He speaks of “my gospel and the preaching (κήρυγμα) of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery… now made known through the prophetic writings, according to the command (ἐπιταγή) of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations.” Here κήρυγμα is not only proclamation, but proclamation backed by God’s eternal command. It reveals the mystery, it reaches the nations, and it produces the obedience of faith.
So within Romans, κήρυγμα carries a threefold load:
- Power and revelation (ch. 1).
- Faith and obedience born through hearing (ch. 10).
- Mystery revealed and commanded for the nations (ch. 16).
This makes preaching central to Paul’s vision of how the gospel moves — from God, through the herald, into the hearts of people, and out into the world.
2.6 Jack Miller’s Fourth Insight
Jack Miller often described the gospel in four parts: it is a message with clear content, it is a promise of God’s personal love, it has power to change both our standing before God and our inner life, and finally, it is a preached message. That last part — the gospel as a preached message — was something Jack came to emphasize more and more over the years.
For Jack, preaching was not based on style or self-assertion. It was speaking a word of grace with persuasion, gentleness, and what he called the authority of faith. That authority did not come from the preacher’s personality or skill, but from the conviction that God Himself stands behind the gospel word. Boldness in preaching meant humble faith in action, joined with what Jack once called “extraordinary indifference to human opinion.”
This kind of preaching by faith, he observed, always bears fruit. Paul said in Colossians 1:6 that the gospel is “bearing fruit and growing in all the world.” Jack believed that fruitfulness flowed from gospel proclamation done in dependence on God, not from technique or charisma.
Jack also connected this insight deeply to Romans 10:17: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” He would often ask, “How can I grow in faith so that I may declare it with unshakable convictions to others?” His answer was simple but searching: “I must preach to myself the gospel… for faith comes from hearing.”
In other words, the gospel is not only something we proclaim outwardly to others. It is also something we must proclaim inwardly to ourselves, day by day. Preaching it to ourselves and others —Christian and non-Christian —strengthens our own faith even as it creates faith in those who hear.
2.7 Pastoral Hooks
κῆρυγμα shows me that the gospel is always living speech. It is God’s message announced into the world with His own authority.
It also shows me that preaching is not my invention. It is borrowed authority, because the message belongs to God and not to me. When I speak it, I speak as one entrusted with another’s word.
And preaching is always a word I must hear myself. Each time I declare the gospel, I am also listening again. Faith grows through hearing — first in my own heart, and then in those who listen.
Stepping back, the gospel has content, love, and power — but it also has a voice. It is meant to be proclaimed, heard, and believed. That is why Paul can speak of “my gospel.” It had entered his ears, taken root in his heart, and gone out through his lips until it defined his whole life.
III. The Word μυστήριον (Mystery Revealed)
3.1 What “Mystery” Meant
In the ancient world, μυστήριον pointed to secret rites or guarded knowledge in cults. Access was controlled, and only the initiated could know.
Scripture uses the same word but fills it with a different meaning.
In Daniel, the Aramaic word raz (“secret”) is translated as μυστήριον. Daniel did not solve a puzzle; God revealed what no one else could know (Dan. 2:18–19).
That is the pattern: a biblical mystery belongs first to God’s counsel and comes into view when God chooses to make it known.
So when Paul speaks of the gospel as μυστήριον, he means a divine purpose hidden in God, once concealed but now revealed in Christ.
3.2 The Gospel Always Present
To say the gospel was a mystery does not mean it was absent. God announced it from the beginning.
In Genesis 3:15, He promised a seed who would crush the serpent’s head. Paul says, “The Scripture… preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham” (Gal. 3:8). Revelation describes Jesus as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
Romans confirms this. The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” because in it “the righteousness of God is revealed” (Rom. 1:16–17). In Romans 4, Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (4:3). Abraham did not invent righteousness; God revealed it, and he received it by faith.
The gospel was always present. What makes it a mystery is that it had to be disclosed by God and is received by faith.
3.3 The Blinding Nature of Sin
Paul adds another layer in Romans 10:3: “Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”
The problem is not only God’s timing in revelation. The problem is human blindness. Pride makes us try to build our own righteousness. That pursuit darkens our eyes. We cannot see God’s righteousness when it is right in front of us.
Isaiah saw it long before: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isa. 5:20). Romans 1:21–25 describes the same spiral. In our pride, we exchange God’s glory for lies. We call light darkness and darkness light.
So the mystery is twofold: God reveals in His time, and we blind ourselves in our pride. Both are true, and both leave us dependent on God’s mercy to see.
3.4 Wisdom and Innocence Restored
This explains Paul’s words in Romans 16:19: “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”
That command takes us back to Eden. Before the fall, Adam walked with God and could receive wisdom from Him directly. Innocence meant no mixture with evil. But when the serpent promised, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5), the result was blindness, not wisdom. Humanity tried to define good and evil apart from God, and the mixture corrupted everything.
In Christ, God restores what was lost. He teaches His people again what is truly good. He calls us to turn away from evil instead of trying to define it for ourselves.
The gospel unmasks our blindness and renews wisdom and innocence under God’s word.
3.5 Faith as Restored Sight
Paul keeps tying this restoration to faith.
“The righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17; Hab. 2:4).
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
Faith is the way God restores sight to the blind. Faith is “hearing under” (ὑπακοή), a posture of trust that submits to what God reveals.
Faith reverses the fall’s rebellion and brings us back under God’s word. And this has always been the way: Abel, Abraham, Habakkuk, Paul.
The just live by faith because faith is how God’s righteousness is revealed and received.
3.6 The Mystery Now Revealed
That is why Paul ends with doxology in Romans 16:25–26:
“The revelation of the mystery that was kept silent for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations… to bring about the obedience of faith.”
The silence was not God’s indifference. It was both His wise timing and our inability to hear.
Now in Christ, the mystery is open. The prophetic writings shine with it. The nations hear it. The obedience of faith responds.
Summary of Section 3
Mystery in Scripture is not gnostic secrecy or mystical haze. It is God’s gospel, always present yet unseen until God reveals and faith receives.
From Eden’s promise to Abraham’s faith to Paul’s proclamation, the same gospel runs through.
Human pride blinds us, God’s timing discloses, and faith restores sight. In Christ, wisdom about good and innocence toward evil are renewed. And the mystery once hidden is now revealed among all nations, bringing the obedience of faith.
IV. Bookend Themes in Romans
When you step back from Romans and look at the beginning and the end together, you can see how Paul has framed the whole letter.
The doxology in Romans 16 is not a random flourish. It is the echo and completion of what he set out to say in chapter 1.
The letter begins with God’s gospel, power, revelation, proclamation, and the obedience of faith.
It ends with the same themes in slightly different language, circling us back so that the whole is enclosed, bracketed, and sealed.
4.0 A Note on the Ending of Romans
Before we look at the bookends in Romans 1 and 16, it is worth noting that the final verses of Romans (16:25–27) come with some textual questions.
Some manuscripts include verse 24 (“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen”), while others do not. In addition, the entire doxology (vv. 25–27) is absent or placed differently in a few ancient copies. Most modern translations and critical editions retain it, and rightly so, because the evidence overwhelmingly supports its authenticity.
The words themselves in Romans 16 bear the clear marks of Paul’s thought and fit perfectly with the rest of the letter.
Far from shaking our confidence in God’s Word, the very existence of these discussions shows the care with which the church has preserved the text and the confidence we can have that we are reading Paul’s conclusion as he intended it.
4.1 From God’s Gospel to My Gospel
Romans opens with Paul saying he was “set apart for the gospel of God” (1:1). By the end, he praises God “according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ” (16:25).
The gospel belongs to God, and it is God’s initiative. Yet through hearing, believing, and heralding, Paul can also call it “my gospel.” This does not mean it originates in him, but that it has so taken hold of him that he has become personally bound to it.
The arc from Romans 1 to Romans 16 is not a change in substance but a change in possession: God’s gospel has now become Paul’s gospel too, because he has staked his life on it and has given it away to others.
4.2 From Proclaiming to Proclaiming
Romans 1:15 shows Paul’s eagerness: “I am eager to preach (κήρυγμα) the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
Romans 16:25 returns to the same theme: God strengthens believers “according to my gospel and the preaching (κήρυγμα) of Jesus Christ.”
The gospel begins with proclamation, and it ends with proclamation.
Paul does not treat it as private reflection or personal spirituality. It is a message announced, heralded, spoken aloud with God’s own authority.
That is why Romans 10 insists, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (10:14).
Faith requires proclamation. And at the end, Paul attributes God’s strengthening work to this very κήρυγμα — the preached message of Jesus Christ.
From start to finish, Romans assumes that the gospel advances by being proclaimed.
4.3 From Power to Strengthening
In Romans 1:16, the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
In Romans 16:25, Paul speaks of the God “who is able to strengthen you.”
The same word and the same power that saves us also secures, stabilizes, and strengthens us.
God not only brings us in by the gospel; He keeps us standing in it the gospel.
The letter begins with power to save and ends with power to sustain.
4.4 From Righteousness Revealed to Mystery Revealed
Romans 1:17 says that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.”
Romans 16:25–26 celebrates “the revelation of the mystery… now disclosed.”
The gospel has always contained God’s righteousness, but sin blinded us to it.
In Christ, the mystery is revealed, the veil is lifted, and God’s righteousness stands open to all nations.
What Romans 1 names as God’s righteousness revealed, Romans 16 names as God’s mystery revealed.
Both uses of “revealed” describe the same reality: God discloses His saving purpose in His own time, and faith receives it.
4.5 From the Obedience of Faith to the Obedience of Faith
Paul begins with his apostolic mission “to bring about the obedience of faith” among the nations (1:5).
He ends with the same purpose: the revealed mystery is made known “to bring about the obedience of faith” (16:26).
This is no afterthought. From beginning to end, Paul’s concern is that people would hear God’s gospel, believe it, and live under it.
The frame is the same: obedience that consists of faith, a faith itself that is a gift of God’s sovereign grace. The letter opens with it, closes with it, and everything in between drives toward it.
4.6 Framing the Whole Letter
Taken together, these bookends show deliberate design. Romans is not a collection of disconnected arguments. It is one coherent announcement: the gospel is God’s, revealed in Christ, proclaimed to the nations, producing faith, bringing righteousness, creating obedience, and holding believers firm.
The doxology at the end circles us back to the beginning and leaves us worshiping the only wise God who authored it all.
4.7 Summary: Confidence in God’s Word
The same letter that begins with God’s gospel ends with Paul’s gospel, yet the two are one and the same.
The same letter that begins with proclamation ends with proclamation.
The same gospel that reveals God’s righteousness now reveals the mystery of God’s righteousness — that is ours through faith alone in Christ alone by God’s grace alone for God’s glory alone as revealed in God’s Word alone.
The same purpose that begins with the obedience of faith ends with the obedience of faith.
And the same power that saves us also strengthens us and holds us all the way to the end, because God’s gospel is the power of salvation for everyone who believes and keeps on believing.
V. Why “My Gospel?”
When Paul closes Romans by speaking of “my gospel” (16:25), he speaks from deep possession.
The gospel belongs to God. It begins in Him, it comes from Him, and it always remains His.
Yet Paul can say “my gospel” because it has so taken hold of him that his whole life is bound to it. Through hearing, believing, and proclaiming the message, Paul has been shaped and carried by it.
This kind of possession grows through a lived rhythm: hearing the gospel proclaimed, receiving it by faith, and then heralding it to others.
Each step drives the gospel deeper into a person’s heart. Paul preached and in the act of preaching he heard it again himself. As he gave the gospel away, he experienced it afresh and became more deeply anchored in it.
The gospel becomes personal as it is spoken and shared.
Jack Miller summarized the gospel in four essentials: it declares the facts of Christ, it offers the assurance of God’s love, it carries the power to change both standing and heart, and it comes as a spoken word.
This fourth insight grew more important for him over time. The gospel is a heralded message, a living word with divine authority.
To preach the gospel is to speak it with persuasion, with gentleness, and with what Jack called “the authority of faith.”
The authority of faith rests not in the speaker’s personality but in God’s own promise. This is why gospel proclamation carries both humble boldness and extraordinary confidence.
Romans 10 gives the frame: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (10:17). The gospel itself produces faith. This is true for the unbeliever who hears it for the first time and for the believer who needs to hear it again each day.
Paul longed to proclaim the gospel even to those already in Rome (1:15) because believers continue to live and grow under the voice of the gospel.
The obedience of faith is not only a single act at conversion but also a way of life formed by constant hearing.
For Paul, this made “my gospel” the most fitting phrase. He had lived under the gospel’s voice. He had spoken it to others and seen its fruit across the nations. He had experienced its power to sustain him in weakness and to bring worship out of suffering.
From “God’s gospel” at the beginning to “my gospel” at the end, Romans bears witness to the way the gospel moves from the God who reveals it to the one who believes and proclaims it with joy.
VI. Modern Preaching and the Problem
Paul’s word for gospel proclamation, κήρυγμα, carries the weight of a herald’s announcement — a royal message with God’s own authority.
When Paul says in Romans 16:26 that the mystery is revealed “according to the command (ἐπιταγή) of the eternal God,” he places gospel proclamation in the category of divine orders.
Gospel proclamation is not a suggestion to weigh, but a summons to receive and believe.
In our own time, preaching often takes different forms. It can sound like an academic lecture, focused on information. It can take the form of moral exhortation, focused on behavior. It can resemble therapy, focused on comfort.
Each of these can offer something valuable in its place. Yet when they stand alone, they lack the herald’s note.
Preaching in Paul’s sense is a Spirit-charged announcement — God’s own word breaking in with power, promise, and authority.
This is where ἐπιταγή matters. The gospel comes as a command from the eternal God.
Commands carry the authority of the one who gives them. In a military community, this is easy to understand. Orders are binding because they come from the commander. So too with the gospel: the command to believe and live comes from God Himself. And unlike human orders, this one creates what it requires.
The call to faith brings faith into being, because the gospel is the power of God for salvation.
This restores boldness and clarity to preaching. To herald the gospel is to announce God’s own word, trusting that it will do its work.
The authority does not come from the preacher’s skill or personality but from the One who speaks through the message.
This is what Paul meant by the κήρυγμα of Christ: a message that carries the command of God, opens the mystery, and calls forth the obedience of faith among the nations.
VII. Why This Matters Personally
The gospel is never an abstract idea. Paul calls it “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). That power does not float in the air. It comes through a proclaimed word.
The gospel has content — who Jesus is, what He has done, and why it matters — but it always comes to us as an announced message. It is heard, believed, and trusted.
That is why preaching is never just for others. To preach the gospel is also to hear it again yourself.
This is why every Christian needs to learn the habit of preaching the gospel to themselves and to one another as fellow Christians in view of sharing it with not-yet-Christians.
When we tell ourselves the truth about Christ’s cross and resurrection, we are not only reminding our minds; we are placing ourselves again under the word that creates faith.
Jack Miller often asked: “How can I grow in faith so that I may declare it with unshakable convictions to others?”
His answer was simple but profound: “I must preach the gospel to myself.” Faith grows by hearing, and the gospel is the word we most need to hear.
Paul says in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
That is as true for the seasoned Christian as it is for the first-time believer.
Renewal in the church flows from the same source: hearing the gospel, believing it again, and seeing it bear fruit.
Paul describes this in Colossians 1:6: the gospel is “bearing fruit and growing in the whole world” — and it continues to do so wherever it is proclaimed and heard.
So the personal takeaway is this: to preach the gospel is also to hear it. To declare it is also to live by it. And every fresh hearing of the gospel is God’s way of renewing faith, both in me and in the church.
Conclusion
When you step back and take Romans as a whole, you can see the arc: from God’s gospel at the beginning (1:1) to Paul calling it “my gospel” at the end (16:25).
That shift does not mean the gospel changed. It means the gospel, heard, believed, and proclaimed with the authority of faith, had so taken hold of Paul that he could speak of it personally.
What began as “God’s gospel” has become “my gospel” through the rhythm of hearing and heralding.
Two words stand at the center of this arc. The first is κήρυγμα: the gospel as a proclaimed word. It is not a private thought, a hidden insight, or advice to consider. It is an announcement from God Himself, heralded with His authority.
The second is μυστήριον: the gospel once hidden, now revealed. It was always present in God’s plan, spoken from the beginning, but blindness and self-righteousness kept it veiled. In Christ, the veil is lifted, the righteousness of God is revealed, and all nations are summoned into the obedience of faith.
Taken together, these show us that preaching is never just explanation. It is God’s own royal summons, creating faith where there was none, sustaining faith where it has grown weary, and gathering people into obedience that flows from trust in Him.
That is why Paul does not end with one more argument, but with praise.
The gospel proclaimed, revealed, and believed leads to worship — glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever.
As we watch God’s gospel become Paul’s gospel, as we join the angels who never tire of gazing into this gospel, the response of faith rises from our lips:
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36)
