Romans: The Story of God Bible Commentary

images/img-37-1.jpg LISTEN to the Story

³³Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”

³⁵“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”

³⁶For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Listening to the texts in the story: Job 41:11; Isaiah 40:13.

We see here, according to Wagner, that “the drama of redemption is for Paul the grand cosmic display of the mercy of God, lavished on Jew and Gentile alike.”¹ These mercies lead Paul into a theocentric hymn of praise celebrating the wisdom of God in working his way of salvation for all people. It is the longest of the Pauline doxologies (see Rom 16:27; Gal 1:5; Eph 3:21; Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 1:17; 2 Tim 4:18) and is distinguished by its connection to Jewish wisdom traditions about the ineffable mystery of the divine will (see, e.g., “But who, O Lord, my Lord, will comprehend your judgment? Or who will search out the profoundness of your way? Or who will think out the weight of Thy path?” [2 Bar 14.8 – 9]), and to Stoic traditions pertaining to God’s immanence within the universe (see e.g., “from you are all things, in you are all things, for you are all things” [Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.23]).

The emphasis is not so much on divine hiddenness but on the way in which the hidden wisdom of God has been partially revealed.² As such, the connection of the hymn to the preceding context in Romans 9 – 11 concerning the relationship between the gospel of God and God’s faithfulness to Israel should not be forgotten. God’s hidden wisdom is manifested in the word of the gospel. According to Wright, the placement of the doxology at this point in the letter entails: “What is revealed in the gospel of Jesus is not something other than the wisdom that ancient Jewish sages sought and celebrated, but the same thing made known for the salvation of the world.”³

To live out this story, it will help to remember that when contemporary audiences read and ponder the doxology, we are joining with patriarchs like Job and prophets like Isaiah in marveling at the mysterious and manifold wisdom of God. The biblical story is filled with people who never lost their sense of awe at God, and this doxology reminds us to be like those people. In outline the doxology runs: (1) a celebration of God’s inscrutable wisdom (v. 33); (2) two biblical citations (one from Isaiah and the other from Job) about the absolute otherness of divine wisdom compared to human advice (vv. 34 – 35); and (3) a celebration of God’s role as Creator and sustainer of all things.

“God is vindicated! Paul becomes a poet,” says Hultgren.⁴ That’s a good preface to reading Paul’s opening words in his hymn of praise: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (v. 33). The interjection “Oh” instantly shows us that Paul is embarking on an expressive acclamation of divine qualities. Paul’s initial words describe the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge like a Hobbit describing the vault of a castle filled with gold and gemstones.⁵

No wonder, since across the letter Paul has drawn the intersection between God’s wrath and mercy, his faithfulness and truthfulness, his impartiality and justice, and sternness and kindness. These attributes of God are revealed in the mystery of the gospel, where God makes Jews and Gentiles co-heirs with the Messiah. It is more than God’s ways are higher than our ways (see Isa 55:9). Paul is saying that God’s purposes are unequaled in their extravagance (riches), are unsurpassed in effectiveness (wisdom), and are unmatched in their overarching coherence (knowledge). God’s judgments in all these matters cannot be adequately comprehended by the human mind.

Paul pulls in Scripture to explain what he means by the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge, namely, that God is so beyond human reasoning that no human can presume to counsel him on any matter: “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” The words from Isaiah 40:13 appear near the beginning of a lengthy series of songs about God’s power to rescue Israel from exile and to usher in his saving reign all over the world. Just like Romans 10:14 – 17, Paul again sees himself like the Isaianic herald declaring the good news of God’s reign, God’s power, and God’s wisdom.

The second citation, “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” comes from Job 41:11, where God asks Job over sixty questions that emphasize God’s sovereignty over the created order and the impossibility of mortal minds querying the operation of God’s power or the wisdom of God’s workings. The citations both pose a question and the implied answer is “no one,” because God has no advisors and no creditors. He acts in his own wisdom and is obligated to no person. God is entirely “other.”

Paul closes his doxology with a climactic praise to God as the beginning and end point of all that exists: “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (v. 36). Paul elsewhere uses similar language in direct relation to God the Father and the Lord Jesus (see 1 Cor 8:6; 15:28; Col 1:15 – 20). God is the source of all things as Creator (“from him”), God is the agent by which all things are created and sustained (“through him”), and God is himself the ultimate end for which he made all things, namely, to bring glory to himself (“for him”). This God, who created heaven and earth, was meant to be prized and glorified by humanity, but humanity failed and instead glorified lesser creatures (1:18) to the point that they fell short of God’s own glory (3:23). The reversal started with Abraham, who gave glory to God (4:20); Christ was raised through the glory of God, so that those for whom he died and rose might share in God’s glory (Rom 5:2; 8:17, 30).

Doug Moo asks: “What should be our response to our contemplation of God’s supremacy in all the universe? Like Paul’s doxology.”⁶ Taking my cue from Moo, Romans 11:33 – 36 reminds us about the vital importance of worship as part of our response to God for his glorious salvation. What is more, if 11:33 – 36 is a kind of abbreviated template for worship, worship of this order should be God-centered and trinitarian, and it should celebrate the manifold wisdom of God. To praise the God whom Paul celebrates here is to acclaim the God who is rich without limit, wise without peer, entirely self-sufficient, and altogether glorious⁷ — a God who is truly worthy of our worship.

Worship like this is not a show but an event where the Spirit quickens our hearts and where Jesus leads us into the praise of heaven to God the Father. The most synchronized and sublime of liturgies can be lackluster and lethargic if divorced from a sense of joyous acclaim. Liturgy without a deep affection for God risks becoming an empty ritual and as spiritually dry as the Gobi desert. On the flip side, I am all for contemporary music styles and multimedia; technology is a tool to be used. Even so, the risk is that contemporary worship can be filled with so many distractions that it becomes more focused on the pyrotechnics than on cultivating genuine piety. I remember once hearing a pastor from a big church lament that he wished the people in his church loved God as much as they love to worship God. What he meant was that some of his parishioners were more exhilarated by the experience of worship than with marveling at the God who is there to be worshiped. The problem was that they enjoyed the medium more than the message, and they were more entranced with worship entertainment than with authentic and heartfelt worship.

We need to remember that, to echo Matt Redman’s chorus, “When the music fades” all we have left is God. Worship leaders come and go. Data projectors break down. Hymns and choruses go in and out of fashion. But God is the one thing that matters in our life and should matter in our worship. He is our rock and our fortress. It’s not about the presentation as much as it is the direction of our worship. To worship is to capture a God-centered vision of the world, to offer up a Godward prayer, and to make God-glorifying thanksgiving. Worship is not for the sensory elation or emotional release it gives us; rather, it is to prize and enjoy the God who loves us. I’m not saying worship should be dull; far from it, it should be austere and awesome all at once. Yet worship must be Godward and God-soaked; otherwise, it’s just religious noise for consumers.

Viewing worship this way will mean that we no longer ask what this service or that hymn did for me or how it made me feel. If it is a buzz you want, then lick your finger, and insert it into an electric socket. If it is emotional highs and lows that you relish, rent a DVD of Downton Abbey or read a Jane Austen novel. Worship inspired by Romans 11:33 – 36 will lead you to magnify God. We should pursue the type of worship that would make the angels of heaven green with envy that they are not in our choir. You are not to try to make a tiny God look big, but to enable a puny you to appreciate the immense majesty and indescribable beauty of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The task of worship, taken along this trajectory, is simply to know and enjoy the trinitarian God of the gospel.

5. It is possible that “riches” (ploutos) defines the nature of God’s “wisdom” and “knowledge” (e.g., “depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God” [NIV]). Alternatively, the genitive in v. 33 could be coordinate (e.g., “the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” [NET; Porter, Idioms, 85]).

7. Cf. the in-depth study by Andrew D. Naselli, From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34 – 35 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012).