Romans 1:2

Romans 1:2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

This verse is a parenthetical verse to Romans 1:1, so please read the One Verse at a Time Post for Romans 1:3 for the continuation of Romans 1:1.  Then return to understand Romans 1:2.

In Romans 1:1 we are introduced to the Apostle Paul, his work, and his apostleship.  We are also introduced to the title of the Gospel of God, which we consider in the Romans 1:3 post.  However, this verse tells us something about the timing of the Gospel of God.  The Gospel of God is not something new, in fact Paul tells us that it is something God had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures.  I am going to assume you have read the Romans 1:3 post before reading this post, so you should have a basis of understanding before you begin to read this post.

Let us begin with the fact that the Gospel of God is concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  The Gospel of God was promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures.  Many have issue with this because Paul preached an unprophesied gospel which was never heard, preached, thought of, nor revealed by or to anyone in scripture.  How can Paul preach an unprophesied gospel, when he was separated unto the Gospel of God which had been promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures?  Simple.  The Gospel of God is concerning his Son Jesus Christ. 

Was Jesus Christ prophesied about by prophets in the holy scriptures?  Yes.
Was Jesus Christ the seed of David according to prophets in the holy scriptures?  Yes.
Was Jesus Christ prophecied to be the Son of God with power by prophets in the holy scriptures?  Yes.
Was Jesus Christ prophecied to be raised from the dead by prophets in the holy scriptures?  Yes.

Now, the idea we need to grasp here is; Does Paul say that he preaced the Gospel of God as the mystery?  No.  Or simply that he was separated unto the Gospel of God?  Yes.  What normally trips up the grace believer is that Paul preaches a gospel here that was promised before by the prophets in the holy scriptures and they struggle to mesh that with the gospel Paul preaches which is a mystery.  They become flustered to the point of not reconciling the two gospels he preaches.  Is the gospel of God different from that mystery gospel revealed to Paul from Christ?  Yes.

Many have struggled with the truth of progressive revelation.  We will deal with issue at length.