{"id":4337,"date":"2016-07-30T12:57:56","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T18:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4337"},"modified":"2024-02-12T07:53:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T13:53:03","slug":"the-mysteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4337","title":{"rendered":"The Mysteries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the New Testament, the word \u201cmystery\u201d almost always refers to information that had been previously unknown. A mystery was a revelation from God that had been revealed to the author of that book of Scripture but hidden from everyone up until that time. There isn\u2019t anything mysterious about the mystery, it\u2019s more of a secret \u2014 God\u2019s secret, until He chose to tell it.<\/h3>\n

Paul defines the term when he used it in Colossians 1:26<\/span><\/a>: The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s look at some of the mysteries that were revealed to Paul.<\/h3>\n

Romans 11:25<\/span><\/a> \u2014 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.<\/span><\/em> \u2014 The Jews \u2014 Israel \u2014 are God\u2019s chosen people. He blessed them and set them apart and gave them His protection and His ceremonial laws by which they could demonstrate their faith (Romans 9:4-5<\/span><\/a>). He sent the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, through them and to them so that all the world, Jews and<\/em> Gentiles, could be saved (through Israel). But Israel rejected the Father in the Old Testament, the Son at Calvary, and the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts. As a result, God has brought blindness upon the nation and offered salvation to all \u2014 until the time God has chosen to remove the Body of Christ from the earth and restore Israel to their promised blessings. That blindness \u2014 the period of time when Israel would be set aside \u2014 was a mystery.<\/h3>\n

Romans 16:25-26<\/span><\/a> \u2014 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 kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith. <\/span><\/em>\u2014 Here Paul is referring to \u201cmy gospel\u201d \u2014 the message given to Him that: For He<\/span><\/em> [God] made Him<\/span><\/em> [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/em> This is a truth preached nowhere in Scripture prior to this time.<\/h3>\n

1 Corinthians 15:51-52<\/span><\/a> \u2014 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed\u2014 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.<\/span><\/em> \u2014 The Lord is working on earth through the Body of Christ \u2014 those who have trusted Him for salvation. In order for the promises to Israel to be fulfilled, the Body of Christ has to be removed. Jesus Christ will return and meet believers in the air \u2014 first those who have died and then, immediately after, those who are still alive \u2014 to take us to heaven where we will be glorified. This is the \u201cRapture\u201d although that term doesn\u2019t appear in Scripture. The Body of Christ is a mystery (as we will shortly see), so it isn\u2019t surprising that the Rapture is a mystery. This is often misunderstood by those who claim that there will be no Rapture because Christ never mentioned it during His earthly ministry.<\/h3>\n

Ephesians 1:9-10<\/span><\/a> \u2014 Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth \u2014 in Him.<\/span><\/em> \u2014 The \u201cfullness of times\u201d means \u201cthe completion of the ages.\u201d It\u2019s referring to the future, after the Millennial Kingdom, when God will wrap everything together in Jesus Christ. Note that there is still a distinction between things in heaven (the inheritance of the Body of Christ) and things on earth (Israel\u2019s promised home for eternity). What is missing is \u201cthings under the earth\u201d (see Philippians 2:9-11<\/span><\/a>), those who have died without trusting Christ.<\/h3>\n

Ephesians 3:3-6<\/span><\/a> \u2014 How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel. <\/span><\/em>\u2014 Only to Paul was it revealed that Gentiles could be saved into the same body as the Jews and partakers of the same spiritual promises. Yes, God did first reveal to Peter, through his visit to Cornelius, that Gentiles could be saved\u2014so that Peter and the other apostles wouldn\u2019t interfere with Paul\u2019s ministry. But it was only to Paul that the Holy Spirit revealed the depth and scope of that salvation \u2014 and that, going forward, saved Jews and Gentiles would be part of the same body.<\/h3>\n

Ephesians 5:30-32<\/span><\/a> \u2014 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. \u201cFor this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.\u201d This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. <\/span><\/em>\u2014 Paul is using a simile here to explain the Body of Christ. The marriage relationship between a man and a woman isn\u2019t a mystery \u2014 God revealed that back in Genesis. But here Paul uses the marriage relationship to illustrate something that is a mystery \u2014 the relationship between Christ and the church. (While we\u2019re on the subject \u2026 Paul is not teaching that the church is the bride of Christ. Scripture refers to believing Israel at Christ\u2019s second coming as the Bride of the Lamb, but that terminology is NEVER used by Paul and NEVER in reference to the Body of Christ.)<\/h3>\n

Colossians 1:24-27<\/span><\/a> \u2014 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.<\/span><\/em> \u2014 Here Paul calls the church (the Body of Christ) a mystery and then reveals a characteristic of the Body of Christ which is also a mystery \u2014 \u201cChrist in you, the hope of glory.\u201d The truth that Christ dwells in the believer (Romans 8:10<\/span><\/a>; 2 Corinthians 13:5<\/span><\/a>) is new information given to Paul. The fact of Christ\u2019s presence in the believer gives us hope (faith in the future) that we will someday be with Him in glory.<\/h3>\n

1 Timothy 3:16<\/span><\/a> \u2014 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.<\/em> \u2014 There is some disagreement among commentaries on what, exactly, the mystery refers to in this verse. It\u2019s most likely that it refers to the Body of Christ again. Let\u2019s break it down phrase by phrase to see if it fits.<\/h3>\n