Romans 16:25-27

Final ascription of praise to GOD through Jesus Christ, summing up the fundamental thought of the Epistle.

25–27. It appears from Romans 16:22 that the whole letter was written by Tertius from dictation up to this point. We may conclude that S. Paul wrote these last verses in his own hand, by way of signature; cf. Galatians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:17.

The doxology forms a conclusion, unique in S. Paul’s Epistles, the only parallels in Epp. are 2 Peter 3:18 b; Jude 1:24-25. For other doxologies in S. Paul, concluding and summarising a section, cf. Ephesians 3:20-21; 1 Timothy 1:17; cf. also 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 13:21; supra Romans 11:33-36. This doxology sums up, tersely but completely, the main conception of the Epistle, and reproduces its most significant language. In particular, it is so closely related to Romans 1:1-17 that it takes the place of a categorical statement that the description there given of S. Paul’s mission has been justified by the detailed arguments of the Epistle. The comparison is drawn out below.