Daily Bible Nugget #341, Romans 16:26

The Nugget:

Rom 16:26 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:

My Comment:

God has the attribute or quality of being eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27) or everlasting (Romans 16:26).

An interesting and instructive study is to discover what else or who else in the Bible is said to be eternal or everlasting. There are several ways to study this out from the Bible. You could use a concordance (an alphabetical word index to the Bible: many Bibles have a short concordance at the back of the Bible; a more complete concordance like Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible will get you much further). You could use a topical Bible. You could use the cross references in the center or side column of a reference Bible, or more completely from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge which is still available and in print or the more complete New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or its sequel, Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible, both of which are no longer in print, though available on Amazon used or new at prices far above the former retail price when they were in print.

You could also study who or what is said to be eternal by using the search or concordance feature of a software program like the e-Sword program, a free Bible software program available at www.e-Sword.net, a program I use every day which allows you to search either the English word or the underlying Greek or Hebrew word identified according to its Strong Number from Strong’s Concordance.

I find it most interesting that God is called everlasting at Romans 16:26 using the same word that is translated both “eternal” and “everlasting” at Matthew 25:46, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Should the question be asked, “How long does suffering in hell last?” the answer clearly is forever. It lasts as long as the righteous will enjoy eternal life. It lasts as long as God will last, which is forever, for the same word is used in Romans 16:26 to describe the eternal existence of God Himself. Don’t let false teachers deceive you with clever arguments in their effort to convince you otherwise. The evidence about the issue I have presented in this paragraph alone is conclusive and irrefutable. So, in answer to the question, “What else is eternal?” the answer is eternal punishment of the wicked or unsaved, and the eternal life of those who are saved.

As for the question, “Who else is eternal?” the answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is spoken of at Revelation 22:13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” It happens that the attribute of being eternal is what is called an “incommunicable attribute.” That means that God has this attribute, but even He cannot give this attribute to anyone else. God cannot create a creature or person who is also eternal. Only God can possess the attribute of being eternal. This being the case, our Lord Jesus Christ must also be God. This is one of the evidences for the deity of Christ, and a very strong evidence it is. This is also one of the underlying evidences in support of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Perhaps you can begin to see how a study of the attributes of God ties in to more truth than you might have first suspected. And there is more to come.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1301 for Romans 16:26.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1322 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Romans 16:26.

(3) Consult the cross references given in the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 116 for Romans 16:26.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those three resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Romans 16:26. now is made manifest. Ro 3:21. *Dt 29:29. +*Dt 30:11. Jb 11:6. Is 48:6. 52:15. Da 2:22. Mt 13:35. Jn 15:15. 1 Cor 2:7. Ep 1:9. 3:9. Col 1:26. 4:4. *2 Tim 1:10. 4:17. *Titus 1:2, 3. 1 P 1:20. 1 J 1:2. Re 1:1. and by. +*Ro 1:2. 3:21. +*Ro 15:4. *Ac 3:18. *Ac 8:32-35. +*Ac 10:43. *Ac 26:22, 23. *Ga 3:8. Ep 2:20. *2 P 1:19. Re 19:10. the scriptures of the prophets. or, prophetic writings. Gr. graphē prophētikos (S#1124g; S#4397g). Mt 5:17. +*Lk 24:27, 44. +*Jn 5:39. +*Ac 17:11. +**2 Tim 3:15-17. +**1 P 1:11. 2 P 1:19g. 2 P 3:15, 16. according. +*Mt 28:19, 20. *Mk 16:15. *Lk 24:44-47. *Ac 13:46, 47. +*Ac 26:17, 18. 1 Cor 7:6. 2 Cor 8:8. the commandment. Gr. epitagē (S#2003g), an injunction or decree; by implication authoritativeness (Strong). Ro 1:9. Dt 26:18. 1 Cor 7:6g, 1 Cor 7:25g. 2 Cor 8:8g. 1 Tim 1:1g. Titus 1:3g. Titus 2:15g (authority). everlasting. Gr. aionios, +Mt 18:8. God the Father is eternal. *Ro 1:20. *Ge 21:33. Dt 32:40. +*Dt 33:27. Ps 90:2. 93:2. +*Is 9:6. **Is 40:28. 41:4. Je 10:10. +*Mic 5:2. **Mt 25:46g. +**Mt 28:19n. **Ep 4:6. *1 Tim 1:17. **He 9:14. **He 13:8. 2 P 3:8. *1 J 5:20. **Re 1:8-11, 17. 10:6. God. +*1 Cor 8:6. *Ep 4:6. made known. Ro 9:22, 23. 10:14. Lk 2:15. Jn 17:20. +*1 Tim 2:6. to all nations. or, Gentiles. T#1031. ver. Ro 16:4. +Ro 1:5. 10:12, 13. Ps 18:43. 22:27. Is 42:4. *Is 66:18. Mt 13:38. 24:14. Ac 10:11. 22:21. *Col 1:6, +*Col 1:23, 26. 1 Tim 2:7. 3:16. obedience of faith. See on Ro 1:5. 6:17. 10:16. 15:18. +*Dt 26:16, 18. +*Je 7:23. Ezk 11:20. Zec 6:15. Mk 1:15. Ac 6:7. 2 Cor 9:13. *2 Cor 10:5. *Ga 5:6, 7. Col 1:6. 1 Th 1:3. 2 Th 1:8. 1 P 1:2.

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