Speaking God's Wisdom In A Mystery

by TERRELL, J. D. | Category: Opened Secrets | Jan 2005

Much of what we read in the New Testament about the 'mysteries' which are the subject of this series of articles, is written by Paul the apostle. These 'mysteries', well summed up in our general series title as 'Opened Secrets', are of great importance for our understanding of God's purposes for His people today. The early chapters of 1 Corinthians deal at some length with the contrast between divine wisdom and human wisdom, and the term mystery is joined to the matter of the wisdom of God in chapter 2 verse 7 � 'we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery'. Underlining the importance of the subject, Paul declares in chapter 4 verse 1, 'Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ... Moreover', he goes on, 'it is required in stewards that one be found faithful�.

So it is clear that the stewardship committed to the apostles, the sphere and scope of their ministry, embraced 'the mysteries of God'. This is emphasized in order that we might grasp the great importance of the content of these mysteries as a vehicle of divine revelation for our day and time, and dissuade any from passing over them because they are mysteries. As this series of articles unfolds this year, God willing, this will become clear, and we shall see how wide a range of Bible truths is expounded in all its richness because so much of it finds its focus in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why then the designation 'mystery' as the Greek word 'musterion' is translated in English?

In every day parlance we use the word mystery to denote something we cannot fully understand; perhaps a saying or an action that leaves unanswered questions in our minds. These questions might or might not at some point be elucidated as when an author's story line leads to a climax or denoument. But it is important to understand how the Greek word 'musterion' is used in the New Testament Scriptures. When God speaks in the person of the Lord Jesus Himself, or through His apostles, about 'mysteries' He is dealing with truths once withheld from human understanding, but now revealed in God's good time and way. Perhaps the clearest and most concise definition in the Scriptures of 'musterion' is in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 4 and 5, a passage which will be dealt with at greater length by a later contributor to this series. Paul speaks of '�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'. This then is the substantial meaning of the mysteries we shall be considering; it concerns nothing less than vital divine revelation to men and women in this era, or 'dispensation' of grace in which we live in expectation of the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His church. The teaching concerning that church, which is His body (Eph.1:22-23) constitutes one of the most glorious and profound of the mysteries, as we shall see in subsequent articles.

It would be very helpful if readers of Needed Truth took time at this starting point of the 2005 series on mysteries to read Paul's words to the Corinthians in his first epistle to that church, particularly chapter 2 verses 6-16. In the early chapters of this epistle the apostle has much to say about God's wisdom in contrast to human wisdom. He disclaims the latter when he says, 'I � did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God' (1 Cor.2:1). He went on to further dismiss human wisdom in favour of the vastly superior 'demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God' (1 Cor.2:4-5).

We should remember that mystery religions were very prevalent in the world into which the gospel of Christ was penetrating in those early days of the apostles; and their intriguing appeal to the human mind, unenlightened by the Spirit of God, was powerful - and still is in various forms to this day. These heretical doctrines of demons were closely linked to idolatry and Paul warned the Corinthians in this same epistle (10:14) to 'flee from idolatry'. Hidden things have always presented a fascination for the human mind and Satan is never slow to feed this with falsehood and wrong doctrine. But certain glorious truths that had been concealed in earlier ages by God were now being revealed, through the work of the Holy Spirit to men and women of faith through God's holy apostles and prophets. The 'rulers of this age' (1 Cor.2:8) would never have crucified the Lord of glory had they appreciated the wisdom and purposes of God. Their fault was that of sinful human nature, the 'natural man', from the beginning, namely unbelief which is incompatible with receiving divine wisdom. But Paul declared, 'we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery'. He had already laid down in the first chapter that Christ is 'the power of God and the wisdom of God' (v.24) to those who are called of God in the gospel. God's revelation had come to the apostles through the work of the Holy Spirit about 'the things which God has prepared for those who love Him' (1 Cor.2:9).

As our series of articles on the mysteries unfolds in the pages of this magazine there will be spread before us the wonderful range and glory of these things, reaching right into the end times when all things will be summed up in Christ. It was the same Spirit of God who revealed these things to the apostles endowing them with 'the mind of Christ' (1 Cor.2:16) about them and causing them to record the related truths in Holy Scripture for our instruction. So we see that thinking God's thoughts about the mysteries is immediately relevant to the vital matter of the divine inspiration of the Scriptures.

The Lord Jesus Himself first spoke to His disciples about the 'mysteries of the kingdom of heaven'. He declared that it was given to them to know these, while to others He spoke in parables (Mat.13:11-13). Again the sin of unbelief had produced darkness and hardness of heart as Isaiah had prophesied in the quotation referred to by the Lord (Is.6:9-10). But the fuller enlightenment was to be through the apostles. The Lord's final word in the Matthew 13 passage reminds us too that 'many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it' (v.17).

Is there not an echo of this in 1 Peter 1:9-12? The ancient prophets of Israel 'inquired and searched carefully' concerning 'the grace that would come to you'. It was indeed the Spirit of Christ Himself who testified through them 'the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow � the things which now have been reported to you � by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven - things which angels desire to look into'. Should it not stir our hearts to be, like the apostles, the custodians of such revelation, and indeed stewards of the mysteries of God?

TERRELL, J. D. | Jan 2005
Opened Secrets