Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
The gospel of Jesus Christ is made manifest and made known “by the scriptures of the prophets.” If we had no scriptures of the prophets, we would have no gospel.
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
The gospel was promised by God’s prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Without these Holy Scriptures, how we know we had the gospel? It is by these scriptures of the prophets that the gospel is preached. The very gospel or glad tidings is that the promise God made to the fathers has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Paul pointed this out in his sermon in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia.
Acts 13:32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Notice that Paul cites the promise made unto the fathers by quoting the “scriptures of the prophets.” Here is an example of the gospel being made known “by the scriptures of the prophets.” It is by comparing the scriptures of the prophets to the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ that the gospel is preached. One sees this again and again in the gospel sermons recorded in the book of Acts.
Now the fascinating thing that I want to point out to you from Romans 16:25-26, is that this gospel that is made known by the scriptures of the prophets is “made known to all nations.” Now the only way this can happen is if those scriptures of the prophets are translated into the languages of those nations. This argues that other nations of other languages can, and indeed do, have the scriptures of the prophets. Otherwise, how could the gospel, which is preached by the scriptures of the prophets. be made known to them? The scriptures of the prophets are not limited to the language in which they were originally written. They can be translated and still be the scriptures of the prophets. If they are not the scriptures of the prophets, then the gospel can not be made known by them. And observe that this has happened according to the commandment of the everlasting God. It is the express commandment of God that His word be translated into other languages rather than being kept confined to the original languages in which it was first recorded.
That the same word of God can be communicated in different languages was proved on the day of Pentecost by the gift of tongues (Acts 2:4-11). Every man present that day heard the same message proclaimed “in his own language.” Now we no longer have this special gift of tongues as they did then. But this incident proves that the pure words of God can be communicated in different languages. God the Holy Spirit is not limited to any language in giving forth the word of God. He was involved in the original giving of the words of God by the prophets in the language in which they wrote. And He is involved in the translation of those words of God. So when you read the Old Testament in the A.V. 1611, you are reading the very scriptures of the prophets by which the gospel is made known. You do not need to resort to the original languages to have the scriptures of the prophets. You can know what David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets wrote just by reading your English Bible. And seeing those prophecies fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, you behold the glad tidings, the very gospel of God. Blessed be His holy name! God willing, we shall have more to say about this next time.
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Someone may find this excerpt helpful
From The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
Recognizing & Escaping Spiritual Manipulation & False Spiritual Authority
Within the church
By—David Johnson & Jeff Van Vonderen
Chapter 5 excerpts
…The truth is never the problem
Look now at the truth about spiritually abusive religious systems
1) Power-Posturing
The first characteristic of an abusive religious system is what we call power-posturing. Power-posturing simply means that leaders spend a lot of time focused on their own authority & reminding others of it, as well. (sermons on “Authority of the Pastor”...heading letters with “To those whom I oversee in the Lord…”) This is necessary because the spiritual authority isn’t real-...-it is postured.
2) Performance Preoccupation
In abusive spiritual systems, power is postured & authority is legislated. Therefore, these systems are preoccupied w/ the performance of their members.
Obedience & Submission are two important words used often.
3) Unspoken Rules
In abusive spiritual systems, people’s lives are controlled from the outside in by rules, spoken & unspoken.
Unspoken rules are those that govern unhealthy churches or families but are not said out loud. Because they are not said out loud, you don’t find out that they’re there until you break them.
For instance, no one at a church gathering would ever say out loud, “You know we must never disagree with the pastor on his sermons—and if you do you will never be trusted…” In this case, the unspoken rule is: Do not disagree with the church
authorities—especially the pastor—or your loyalty will be suspect. Rules like this
remain unspoken because examining them in the light of mature dialogue would
instantly reveal how illogical, unhealthy & anti-Christian they are. So SILENCE
becomes the fortress wall of protection, shielding the pastor’s power position from scrutiny or challenge.
….The “Can’t Talk” Rule
The most powerful of all unspoken rules in the abusive system is what we have already termed the “can’t-talk” rule.
(has your pastor ever told you not to discuss an issue with others....when you have been searching as issue, has he ever told you to keep it to yourself, as if it would be sinful to discuss your questions with others?)
The “can’t-talk” rule has this thinking behind it: “The real problem cannot be exposed because then it would have to be dealt with & things would have to change; so it must be protected behind walls of silence (neglect) or by assault (legalistic attack).
If you speak about the problem out loud, you are the problem. …The truth is, when people talk about problems out loud they don’t cause them, they simply expose them.
In abusive spiritual systems, there exists a “pretend peace” - what Jeremiah decried, saying “The prophets say “peace, peace when there is none.” If what unites us is our pretending to agree, even though we don’t agree, then we have nothing more than pretend peace & unity, with undercurrents of tension & backbiting.
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