Paul begins to pray in verse 1, but then gets sidetracked and won’t get back to his prayer until verse 14. Paul has a habit of doing this (Romans 1:8 - “First,…” Where’s the “second”?). He is a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles, and he has received a revelation from God. This revelation has not been revealed to anyone else except for Paul in all of history. It is the mystery of Christ, which is the fact that Gentiles are now “fellow heirs and fellow members of the body.”

The promises were given to the Jews to carry from Abraham on, but now those Gentiles have been allowed to partake of them. How? Through the cross of Christ. That it is a mystery does not mean that we can’t understand it or it is something that is really hard to figure out. It simply means that it was previously undisclosed, but now is disclosed to us.

The power of this mystery is veiled to us because as Gentile Christians, we view our faith as mostly spiritual, rather than physical and eternal. A land, a kingdom, a king, and lots of descendent’s were all promised to Israel. These promises were to be fulfilled on earth, and on some far away place in heaven.

It is not comprehended by us because we lack an appreciation of the calling and choosing of God. God chose a people from the earth to invest Himself in. Do we understand how amazing that is? When we read Exodus 19, we get a little bit of an understanding of how difficult it is for God to relate with man. That He chose one nation is amazing enough. But now that He has included all peoples and nations in that choosing, this is extraordinary.