#DailyDevotion All Glory, Praise & Honor To Father, Son & Holy Spirit
Romans 1133How deep are God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge; how impossible it is to find out His decisions and trace His ways! 34“Who has found out how the Lord thinks? Or who has become His adviser?” 35 Or who has first given Him something for which he must be paid back? 36 Everything isfrom Him, by Him, and for Him. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
According to some there is a bit of a doxology, a praise to the Holy Trinity in this doxology. While no particular person is singled out verse thirty-three is part one with a trinity of riches, wisdom and knowledge. Verses 34 and 35 has trinity of “who.” The third trinity has from, by and for him. The last phrase brings them all together as one. We are not sure if Paul is quoting some well known hymn at the time or quoting something from the rabbis of the time and readjusting it to the praise of the Trinity. But we do have a well thought out praise of God.
This doxology is proclaimed as a culmination of everything Paul has written up to this point in Romans. Indeed the whole of Romans up to this point has been one big doxology of praise of how the LORD God has saved the human race through Jesus Christ our Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing this salvation to us.
Finishing up Romans with the God’s election of Gentiles and Jews, the mystery of Christ wherein both Jew and Gentile are made one people in Jesus really brings out the proclamation in verse 33 and the questions of verse 33 and 34. Looking at how Paul describes our condition as all condemned by the Law, both Jew and Greek, seeing how we are all declared righteous though faith in Christ’s work, and seeing how we are all joined together as one people in Christ through baptism shows us how deep are God’s riches, wisdom and knowledge. We may indeed wonder why he has decided to these things these ways yet we end up with Paul saying, “how impossible it is to find out His decisions and trace His ways!
34“Who has found out how the Lord thinks? Or who has become His adviser? 35 Or who has first given Him something for which he must be paid back?” Is this not our LORD Jesus Christ. He alone has had council with his Father in heaven before creation as the Word of God, the Son of God. What we know about God the Father, his thinking, his plans, his will for us, has not Jesus been the one to reveal these things to us? In John 15 Jesus tells us, “But I’ve called you friends because I’ve told you everything I heard from My Father.”
We are humbled by the closing Trinitarian phrase, “Everything isfrom Him, by Him, and for Him.” We may be the apple of God’s eye and the center of his universe but we must remember everything thing is from God. We didn’t make anything in this universe. Only the Lord made everything. We weren’t his agents in creation. Jesus was the agent of creation as the Word of God. Everything is for him. We are the recipients of everything God has made but we were made for him. To the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be glory forever for their great work of creation and redemption and salvation of their work.
Heavenly Father, apart from your son Jesus Christ we would not be able to plumb the depths of your riches, wisdom and knowledge. Continually give us your Holy Spirit that we may believe all you have revealed to us so we may rightly praise you and give you all honor and glory, through Jesus Christ our LORD, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever, Amen.