Mysteries and secrets
In pagan religions, mysteries were secrets opened only to those who were introduced into their system of worship. These secrets supposedly gave them the power and ability to influence others, and they should not be revealed to anyone else. They certainly were not proclaimed. Such powerful knowledge was dangerous and had to be kept secret at all costs.
The opposite is the case with the gospel. In the Gospel, it is the great mystery of what God has done in and through human history, which is revealed to everyone clearly and freely, instead of being kept secret.
In our English vernacular, a mystery is part of a puzzle that must be found. In the Bible, however, a mystery is something that is true but that the human mind can not understand until God reveals it.
Paul describes all those things as mysteries that were vague in the time before Christ, but which were fully revealed in Christ – the mystery of faith. (1 Tim. 3,16), the mystery of Israel's hardening (Romans 11:25), the mystery of God's plan for humanity (1 Kor. 2,7), which is the same as the mystery of God's will (Eph. 1,9)...and the mystery of the resurrection (1 Kor. 15,51).
When Paul openly revealed the mystery, he did two things: First, he explained that what was hinted at in the Old Covenant became reality in the New Covenant. Secondly, he opposed the idea of a hidden mystery and said that the Christian mystery was a revealed mystery, publicized, proclaimed to all, and believed by the saints.
In Kolosser 1,21-26 He wrote: “And you, who once were alienated from him and hostile to him in your evil deeds, 1:22 he has now reconciled by his physical body through death to present you holy and blameless and unstained in his sight—1:23 if only you continue in the faith, established and steadfast, and do not waver from the hope of the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, have become his servant. 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 1:25 I have become your servant through the ministry God gave me to proclaim his word to you richly—1:26 the mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to his saints.”
God calls and orders us to work for him. Our task is to make the invisible kingdom of God visible through faithful Christian life and testimony. The gospel of Christ is the gospel of the kingdom of God, the good news of justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit through fellowship and discipleship with our living Lord and Savior. It should not be kept secret. It should be shared with all and proclaimed to all.
Paul continues: ...to whom God chose to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may perfect everyone in Christ. 1:29 For this I labor and strive with the strength of him who works powerfully in me. (Kol. 1,27-29).
The Gospel is a message about Christ's love and how he alone frees us from guilt and transforms us into the image of Christ. As Paul wrote to the church in Philippi: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (3:21), "who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself." (Phil. 3,20-21).
The gospel is indeed something to celebrate. Sin and death cannot separate us from God. We are to be transformed. Our glorified bodies will not decay, will no longer need food, will no longer grow old or wrinkled. We will be raised like Christ in powerful spiritual bodies. More than that is simply not yet known. As John wrote: Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 Joh. 3,2).
by Joseph Tkach
