The Mystery

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by Mike Ratliff

28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:28-32 (NASB) 

In our 21st Century languages, the word “mystery” is used as a series of clues to be figured out. However, the Apostle Paul used the Greek word μυστήριον (mustērion) six times in the book of Ephesians, twice in Romans, once in 1 Corinthians, four times in Colossians, and once in 1 Timothy. It is found nowhere else in the New Testament. His usage was not as a series of clues to be figured out, but of a grand word that points to mystery as a heretofore-unrevealed truth that has been made clear. Its usage in the Greek text preserves the sense that the revealed truth has such awesome implications that it continues to amaze and humble those who accept it. Many of you are familiar with the term describing the current day Evangelical Church as being a million miles wide and one inch deep. That sad fact is due to its losing its grasp of this Mystery and its implications all tied to the Sovereignty of God, the Deity of Christ, and the fact that Salvation is the result of Justification by Faith alone by the Grace of God alone not by the efforts of man. This loss has resulted in a focus on self rather than God. In return, God has caused His judgment to fall on these people so that they no longer hunger for God’s truth, but only hunger for what is new, cool, and culturally relevant. They seek it, but are never fulfilled by it while the very thing that would fulfill their hunger, God’s truth according to His grace, is available, but they look everywhere but there. 

4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, Ephesians 3:4-6 (NASB) 

When the unsearchable riches of Christ are preached among the Gentiles, one result is an understanding of the fact that Gentiles become fellow heirs or partakers of the “fellowship of the mystery.” Read the passage I placed at the top of this post. Do you see that when believers come to Christ that it far more than simply becoming religious? They become one with Him. As Paul says, “This mystery is great.” Paul then asks the Ephesians for boldness to proclaim this mystery.

17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:17-20 (NASB) 

Paul asks that he would be able to “boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel…” The Gospel is not mysterious because it is hard to understand. It is mysterious because it is unexpected, unmerited, and free. Perhaps the best summary of this “mystery” would be, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

In any case my brethren, let us not be surprised when large numbers of professing Christians look at this “mystery” with the 21st Century English take on that word then live out their so-called “Christian” walk within the parameters of self-focused religiosity that could best be described as “moralistic, therapeutic, deism.” When my father died in 2010, I found many of my grandfather’s old books as we cleaned out his house. He was a Baptist preacher from the late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s. In any case, he was not well educated, but his ministry was centered on God’s Word being God’s Truth. He preached it and God used him. Within these books, I found letters from others in which the focus was his dedication to God’s Word being the source of God’s Truth. I would love to get his take on what these jokers who call themselves Christian leaders in our day are doing. From what I have heard of him, he would have made mincemeat of them. Oh, we need some to stand in the gap like that in our time!

Soli Deo Gloria!