Why is OUR gospel called "A MYSTERY?"

[Christine]

Why is OUR gospel called the MYSTERY?


1. Because it was KEPT SECRET.

Romans 16:25, ..."The Revelation of the MYSTERY, which was KEPT SECRET since the world began."

2. Because is it was Hid in God

Ephesians 3:9, "....THE MYSTERY which from the beginning of the world hath been HID IN GOD..."

3. Because it was HID from ages and generations

Colossians 1:26, "Even THE MYSTERY which hath been HID FROM AGES and FROM GENERATIONS..."

Ephesians 3:5, "Which in other AGES was NOT MADE KNOWN unto the sons of men..."

Here are THREE Biblical reasons why this revelation is called a MYSTERY.

1. It was kept secret
2. It was hid in God
3. and hid from ages and generations

[Christine]

We have been entrusted with the mystery doctrines, however, I find that many professing believers don't know what this means...Have you found this to be true as well?

[Obadiah]

Christine:

Where is our gospel called a mystery?

[Christine]

Christine:

Where is our gospel called a mystery?

Hey Obadiah...nice to see you here in our little corner of the world! 

The gospel of OUR salvation is no longer a mystery as it has been revealed. God DID have a SECRET, which has NOW been revealed. Would you agree?

 Pauls information to us is called IN the scriptures (Romans 16:25) "the preaching of Jesus Christ ACCORDING TO  the REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY."

Please read the information provided in the thread as it usually answers the questions clearly, and in the event you missed it, here it is once again:


Why is OUR gospel called the MYSTERY?  (as opposed to PROPHECY is the context here!)

1. Because it was KEPT SECRET.

Romans 16:25, ..."The Revelation of the MYSTERY, which was KEPT SECRET since the world began."

2. Because is it was Hid in God

Ephesians 3:9, "....THE MYSTERY which from the beginning of the world hath been HID IN GOD..."

3. Because it was HID from ages and generations

Colossians 1:26, "Even THE MYSTERY which hath been HID FROM AGES and FROM GENERATIONS..."

Ephesians 3:5, "Which in other AGES was NOT MADE KNOWN unto the sons of men..."

Here are THREE Biblical reasons why this revelation is called a MYSTERY.

1. It was kept secret
2. It was hid in God
3. it WAS  hid from ages and generations

This body of truth is STILL a mystery to most professing believers, but it HAS been revealed. I believe you are the resident greek expert on G.R.A.C.E forums...WELCOME.

This mystery has BEEN revealed...but it is still the issue as most do NOT see the distinction between what was promised in PROPHECY and what has been revealed by Paul thru the revelation of the MYSTERY which WAS hid and is now given us.

I, too, took greek in College and enjoy the study of it. If there is something you would like to share in reference to the word MYSTERY, as to it being a secret now revealed, please feel free to do so.

Thanks for posting and participating as we can all learn from one another.

1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Have fun!


 
 
 

[Christine]

Further information about this interesting word:



WHICH HAS BEEN HIDDEN FROM THE PAST AGES AND GENERATIONS: to apokekrummenon (RPPNSA) apo ton aionon kai apo ton geneon:

Hidden (613) (apokruphos from apo = from or away + krupto = hide, conceal by covering) means to be hidden away from the common gaze and thus kept as a secret. This Greek word gives us the English word apocrypha.

God called the nation of Israel to be His holy priesthood, giving them His Law and a glorious promised land filled with "milk and honey". He promised them a King who would one day establish a glorious kingdom and fulfill the many promises made to Abraham and David. The OT prophets wrote about the Messiah Who would suffer, and the Messiah Who would reign.

 Peter writes that "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow."  (see notes 1 Peter 1:11; 12). They did not understand that the Messiah first had to suffer before He could enter into glory (Lu 24:13-27).

Jesus Christ came to earth, was rejected by His people, and was crucified. He arose again and returned to heaven. Did this mean that God’s promised kingdom for Israel was now abandoned? No, because God had initiated a new program—His mystery —that was not understood even by the OT prophets.

BUT NOW HAS BEEN MANIFESTED TO HIS SAINTS:  nun de ephanerothe (3SAPI) tois hagiois autou: (1Cor 2:7-16 Ps 25:14 Mt 13:11 Lu 8:10 2Ti 1:10 ) :

Manifested (5319) (phaneroo) means to be (note the use of passive voice = action or effect comes from an external source) revealed in its true character, making visible that which was previously hidden or unknown.

Imagine! Christ the Creator and Sustainer of everything, dwelling in your body His Temple!  Dr. Robert Munger's great little booklet, "My Heart, Christ's Home," is a magnificent development of this statement. It is the mystery hidden from the foundation of the world, but now made known to His saints. In the Old Testament, those who feared God, knew the Messiah was coming, but they did not know that the Messiah would indwell the very physical bodies of His people and that those bodies would be the temple of the living God because it was not yet manifested. In addition the OT Jews may have understood the Messiah's relationship to Israel, but they did understood the relationship of the indwelling Messiah to the Gentiles, specifically the mystery of the church.

[Christine]

Christine:

Where is our gospel called a mystery?

Here are some places where the word musterion is used...both to describe the KINGDOM mysteries , and for the most part, Pauls message:

Here are the 27 NT uses of musterion...

Matthew 13:11 (Jesus responds to the disciples' request to explain the parables) And He answered and said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. (Who can understand the mysteries? cf the two other uses in the gospels)

Mark 4:11 (Jesus responds to the disciples' request to explain the parables)  And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables,

Luke 8:10 (Jesus responds to the disciples' request to explain the parables) And He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, in order that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Romans 11:25 (note) For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, (the temporary, partial hardening of Israel's heart) lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in

Romans 16:25 (note) Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (the truth that believing Jews and believing Gentiles are made fellow heirs, fellow members of the Body of Christ, and fellow partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel) which has been kept secret for long ages past,

1 Corinthians 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; (Comment: Here musterion refers to the truth God established before time and revealed in the gospel)

1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards (a servant who cares for the property of another) of the mysteries of God. (Comment: In this context musterion is used in its broadest sense as God’s full revealed truth in the NT which Paul had to oversee and dispense as God’s steward. All believers are in a very real sense "stewards" of God's mysteries, and we are responsible for handling these mysteries with reverence and integrity; e.g., see below Colossians 4:3)

1 Corinthians 13:2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 14:2 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. (Comment: In this context musterion refers to "mysteries" that were totally unlike the ones mentioned in the most of the other uses of Scripture. The "spirit" by which they spoke was not the Holy Spirit but their own human spirit or even worse, a demonic spirit! The the mysteries they spoke were like those associated with the "mystery religions" which only the initiated few were privileged to know and understand)

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed (Comment: Here the mystery is the rapture of the church, a truth never revealed in the Old Testament.)

Ephesians 1:9 (note) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

Ephesians 3:3 (note) that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. (Comment: Mystery = Jews and Gentiles in one body, the church.)

Ephesians 3:4 (note) And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, (Comment: Mystery = Jews and Gentiles in one body, the church.)

Ephesians 3:9 (note) and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; (Comment: Mystery = Jews and Gentiles in one body, the church.)

Ephesians 5:32 (note) This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. (Comment: The mystery is that God has called out a people to become the Body and Bride of His Son and the marriage relationship is optimally to portray a beautiful picture of the relation between Christ and His Bride, the church.)

Ephesians 6:19 (note) and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

Colossians 1:26 (note) that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints (observe how this "mystery" is now revealed in the next verse), 1:27 (note) to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Comment: The mystery now revealed is that the living Christ indwells believers).

Colossians 2:2 (note) that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself (Comment: Here the mystery revealed appears to be a reference to the Church as the spiritual body of Christ on earth and He as its Head in heaven.)

Colossians 4:3 (note) praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ (referring to the gospel), for which I have also been imprisoned;

2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (Comment by John MacArthur: This is the spirit of lawlessness already prevalent in society [cf. 1 John 3:4; 5:17], but still a mystery in that it is not fully revealed as it will be in the one who so blatantly opposes God that he blasphemously assumes the place of God on earth which God has reserved for Jesus Christ. The spirit of such a man is already in operation [cf. 1 John 2:18; 4:3], but the man who fully embodies that spirit has not come.) (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word or Logos)

1 Timothy 3:9 but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. (Comment: Here the "mystery" is "the faith" which is not the act of believing but the content of what is believed. In other words, many of the doctrines of Christianity were kept secret throughout the OT period but were then revealed by the apostles and prophets of the NT, especially in the gospel).

1 Timothy 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Beheld by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory. (Comment: The mystery here is of the previously unknown truth concerning the Person and work of the Lord Jesus, truths of salvation and righteousness in Him, which produce godliness in believers.)

Revelation 1:20 (note) "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. (Comment: Here the glorified Christ clearly states the meaning of this "mystery".)

Revelation 10:7 (note) but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

Revelation 17:5 (note) and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

Revelation 17:7 (note) And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

Barclay adds that musterion

"means something whose meaning is hidden from those who have not been initiated, but crystal clear to those who have. It would describe a ceremony carried out in some society whose meaning was quite clear to the members of the society, but unintelligible to the outsider...in other words "In Greek a musterion is not necessarily something abstruse; it is something quite unintelligible to the uninitiated but crystal clear to the initiated." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos)

In contrast to this use, the NT use of musterion refers to a previously hidden truth now divinely revealed. The secret counsels of God which remain hidden from the ungodly (to them they are a true "mystery" as the word is commonly used in English) but when these truths are revealed to the godly, they are understood by them. The mystery is not in the fact that the truths are difficult to interpret, but that they are impossible to interpret until their meaning is revealed at which time the truth becomes plain.

Jesus explained to His disciples that they had been initiated into these secret things declaring

To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables, in order that while seeing, they may see and not perceive; and while hearing, they may hear and not understand lest they return and be forgiven." (Mk 4:11-12)

When Jesus talks of the mystery of the Kingdom, it does not mean that the Kingdom is remote and hard to understand, but it does mean that this truth is quite unintelligible to the man or woman who has not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Musterion has its roots in the Old Testament and is found frequently in the second chapter of Daniel in the Greek translation (Septuagint) while the Hebrew equivalent occurs in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Gnostic teachers talked much of mysteries so Paul takes their "special" word and presents his special message regarding the Gentiles. Most people think of mystery as something eerie and unknown but this was not the way Paul uses the word (which he uses some 20x in the NT).

As used by Paul musterion denotes, not something "mysterious"  but that which, being beyond unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by divine revelation, and to those who are illumined by the Spirit.

Mysteries in the Scripture fall into two categories. Some have already been revealed, and among these are the incarnation of Christ and the salvation of sinners. Others are yet to be seen, such as the general resurrection, the coming Antichrist, and the evil of the last day. It is comforting to realize that all the mysteries which bear on our salvation are already revealed to readers of Scripture.

Musterion is a divine secret or truth which is unknowable apart from divine revelation and which has now been revealed in Christ and the surrounding context stresses the fact that the mystery was hidden from pre-cross times, but now has been manifested to the saints of the church age.

[Obadiah]

Christine:

Thanks for the warm welcome. And, yes, I am in fact the Obadiah on Grace Forum and several others.

Thanks also for the response.

What your response doesn't tell me, though, is how the gospel was a mystery. It tells me some wonderful things about a mystery that was first revealed to Paul, but nowhere do any of the referenced verses equate that mystery with "the gospel."

In contrast, Paul tells us in Romans 1 that his gospel was promised by God in the prophets. That seems to me to take the gospel outside the parameters of previously unrevealed mystery.

Further, if "the gospel" is the precious truth that Christ has died for our sins and risen again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), then it cannot have been a mystery concealed until the raising up of Paul. There's all sorts of Scripture in the prophets and the gospels that speaks of Christ's sacrifice. Granted, people didn't seem to get the drift of that material too well, but it was there, so it wasn't "kept silent."

[Christine]

Christine:

Thanks for the warm welcome. And, yes, I am in fact the Obadiah on Grace Forum and several others.

Thanks also for the response.

What your response doesn't tell me, though, is how the gospel was a mystery. It tells me some wonderful things about a mystery that was first revealed to Paul, but nowhere do any of the referenced verses equate that mystery with "the gospel."

Since we have already determined that there are many gospels in the Scriptures, we first must determine what makes Pauls gospel UNIQUE and indeed part of the body of truth given him by revelation from Christ RISEN.

Christ had a twofold ministry. One was to the Nation Israel for the re establishment of Gods rightful rule and reign on the EARTH, and ONE was to the NEW CREATION (ie:the Body of Christ which was NOT in existance BEFORE Paul) for the re establishing of Gods rightful rule and reign in the HEAVENLIES.

While the FACTS of Christs DEATH, burial and resurrection were certainly made available in the prophetic books...the CROSS was not preached until Paul, where the "hidden wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:) was revealed and the PURPOSE of the Cross to redeem all of mankind was made known.

The prophetic books had the INGREDIENTS, but ONLY Paul had the RECIPE and knew how to put it all together for the BIG PICTURE or FINISHED PRODUCT.

In contrast, Paul tells us in Romans 1 that his gospel was promised by God in the prophets. That seems to me to take the gospel outside the parameters of previously unrevealed mystery.

Pauls gospel was given by REVELATION and NOT found anywhere in the OT or prophets. It was UNSEARCHABLE, which means unTRACEABLE in the OT.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

This grace was revealed ONLY to Paul. HE was commissioned to bring THIS preaching of the Cross to all...Peter was not commissioned to preach the Cross.

I have an appointment this morning and cannot finish this until I return...but I leave you with this thought as well.

1 Corinthians 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

If what YOU say is true and the meaning of the DBR and the CROSS was already known and being preached, then why does it say that Satan and his minions DIDN'T understand it, and if they HAD, they would NEVER have crucified Him?

This was information HID IN GOD for the specific purpose of satan NOT knowing that the CROSS and the resurrection would be His downfall and NOT his victory at ALL!

All Satan had was the prophetic books. He knew that Christs death was for the sins of Israel, but He did NOT know what would be accomplished on that Cross for all mankind...that was NOT revealed until due time when JESUS CHRIST RISEN revealed it to Paul

The Gospel of the Kingdom preached the DBR of Christ as a MURDER ENDICTMENT and NOT as "good news!"

The Gospel of the GRACE of God preaches the CROSS as the good news that saves all mankind...this is the information that satan didn't have at his fingertips, elsewise he would NOT have crucified the Lord of GLORY.

Think on that for a bit...and get back to me. I have more 

[Roofdad]

Christine....... perhaps something to consider even more, is WHY, to 99% of professing Christians 20 centuries later, is this Gospel still a mystery, yes?