I hear a lot of talk about mystery in the Church but I don’t hear it carefully defined. When most Christians talk about mystery in relation to God they mean something like “that which ultimately cannot be known about God.” As a result, a dichotomy is set up between the mysterious experience of God and what can actually be known about God. Thus knowing God has little to do with doctrinal knowledge about Him and almost everything to do with one’s experience of Him. Unfortunately, such a view of mystery is unbiblical and ultimately, harmful to one’s faith.
Now, I’m no Greek scholar so I looked up the word in my Bible dictionary. I discovered that in classical Greek, the term mysterion means “anything hidden or secret.” In classical Greek, and it seems in common contemporary usage, mystery means a secret for which no answer can be found. However, this is not the meaning of the biblical usage of mysterion. In the New Testament, “mystery” is identified with a secret which is being, or has been, revealed by God through his Spirit. Biblically speaking, mysterion is a temporary secret which is revealed so that it can be known and understood. Notice how the Apostle Paul connects mystery and knowledge:
- “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 which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations...” (Romans 16:25–26).
- “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth...” (Ephesians 1:9–10).
- “...and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:9–10).
- “...that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 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” (Colossians 1:26–27).
- “...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, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2–3).
Here’s the main point: biblical mystery is not something divorced from knowledge. Rather, God reveals His mysteries to us so that we can know them and understand them. Thus knowledge, theology, and doctrine are inextricably bound up with mystery. My concern is with those who talk about the mystery of God in such a way as to undercut its biblical connection to knowledge.