Meaning of ‘mystery’

MYS'TERY, n. L. mysterium; Gr. a secret. This word in Greek is rendered also murium latibulum; but probably both senses are from that of hiding or shutting; Gr. to shut, to conceal.

1. A profound secret; something wholly unknown or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; such as the mystery of the man with the iron mask in France.

Source: Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English language

Scripturally, a mystery is not a puzzle which cannot be solved but rather a secret that was kept:

Deuteronomy 29:29 (KJV) The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Scripture shows God’s policy of progressive revelation

Scripture shows that rather than tell men everything at once, God has progressively provided additional information about himself and his work as history has progressed.

For example, we now know that this verse is about Christ, though neither Adam, Eve or the serpent knew this at the time:

Genesis 3:15 (KJV) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Other verses showing this policy of progressive revelation include:

Luke 24:27 (KJV) And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Galatians 3:23-25 (KJV) But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

The dispensation of the grace of God was a secret (mystery) until it was revealed to Paul

The new message given to Paul continues this policy of progressive revelation, as the dispensation of the grace of God (salvation by faith alone and irrespective of works) cannot be found in scripture before Acts 9, when Paul was saved and the revelation of it to him began.

Ephesians 3:1-5 (KJV) For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

Looking for the dispensation of grace in earlier scriptures, and believing it can be seen there, is the root of most doctrinal error in the church today.

The dispensation of grace is not God’s ‘Plan B’

It was always God’s plan that there would be this (secret) dispensation:

2 Timothy 1:9 (KJV) Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

By keeping it a secret until after the redemptive work of Christ in his death, burial and resurrection, God demonstrated his wisdom:

1 Corinthians 2:7-8 (KJV) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Distinguishing between the prophecy and mystery programmes

The distinction between the mystery programme and the prophecy programme can be seen in the fact that the prophecy programme had been spoken since the world began…

Acts 3:21 (KJV) Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

…whereas the mystery programme was kept secret since the world began:

Romans 16:25 (KJV) Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

Some aspects of the mystery

• Israel’s blindness:

Romans 11:25 (KJV) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

• The catching up:

1 Corinthians 15:51 (KJV) Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

• The gathering together of all things in Christ:

Ephesians 1:9-10 (KJV) Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

• The relationship between Christ and the church:

Ephesians 5:32 (KJV) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

• The indwelling of saints by Christ

Colossians 1:27 (KJV) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Paul’s special apostleship

Right division enables us to acknowledge the particular apostleship given to Paul.

Paul had equal standing with the apostles of the prophecy programme…

1 Corinthians 9:1 (KJV) Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

…but he was not part of that group.

Galatians 2:8 (KJV) (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)