An excerpt from this writing about Romans 16:25-27:
"If any king ever had the right to display all his glory by stepping on the backs of a rebellious people, it is God. But what does he do? He displays his glory by making his people strong. “Now unto him who is able to strengthen you . . . be glory forevermore . . . .” God magnifies his glory by making you strong with his gospel. God feels no threat from your strength at all. In fact, the stronger you are in faith and hope and love through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the greater he appears. God does not secure his strength by keeping his people weak. He magnifies the glory of his strength by making his people strong. “Now unto him who is able to strengthen you . . . be glory.”
Therefore, when Paul makes the glory of God the ultimate goal of the gospel—when he closes his greatest of all letters by drawing attention to the supreme worth of the glory of God—this is not bad news for us. Unless we want to have that glory for ourselves. Why is this not bad news for us? Because our God draws attention to his glory by making his undeserving people strong. The greater the glory of God, the more resources for our strength. The more manifold and wonderful the glory of God, the more manifold and wonderful the source of our strength. “Now to him who is able to strengthen you . . . be glory for evermore.”
What kind of strength does Paul mean that God is able to give? Well, God can give whatever kind of strength he wants—“By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). But here he means the same kind of strength that he referred to in Romans 1:11-12, “I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen (stērikthēnai, the same word as in 16:25) you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.” The substance of this strength is faith in Jesus Christ. "
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