The mystery of the gospel?
The point of this post is to contradict the title.
Introduction
The perception problem is with the word ‘mystery’, as if the gospel is shrouded in a dense fog, and as if it is rather wonderful to be caught up in this fog, unsure of any boundaries, uncertain of what anything means.
And I must confess, I do like a fog. They are rare in Bristol, where I live, whereas in my youth, in Whitstable, Kent, the whole town would periodically disappear into a ‘pea-souper’ as thick mists rolled in off the North Sea and enveloped us all.
But the image of the word ‘mystery’ as used in the New Testament by St Paul is more akin to the context of a murder mystery. Until the final denouement, we are left with a diet of clues, hints, false trails, and suspicions. But then, in the final scene, all is revealed, as the murderer or murderers and their desperate motives are exposed and come to light.
the point of this post is to contradict the title
Perhaps an even clearer picture of the concept of mystery in the New Testament is the unveiling of a new building, sculpture, or the launching of a new ship. A dignitary is invited, and the ceremonial moment arrives; a cord is pulled, and curtains are drawn back to reveal a plaque commemorating the event.
The mystery (the plaque) that was hidden is now revealed.
The New Testament
The Greek word for the New Testament's twenty-two occurrences of ‘mystery’ is mysterion.
Once in the gospels (Mark 4v11); seventeen times by St Paul in his letters, and four times by St John in the Book of Revelation.
‘To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven’ Mark 4v11. The important word here in Jesus’ statement to the disciples is to ‘know’ i.e. not to be left floundering around in the dark or in some vague spiritual or philosophical fog.
In the Book of Revelation the clue is in the name ‘Revelation’ e.g. the curtains have been drawn back so that we can see clearly ‘The mystery of the seven stars…are the seven messengers of the seven churches’ Rev 1v20. Had these visions not been given to John, the mystery of heaven would have remained hidden, but they were revealed.
In Paul’s epistles, he uses the image of curtains being ceremoniously drawn back as the foundation of his understanding of the gospel:
‘…the mystery which had been hidden from ages and from generations has now been revealed to the His saints…amongst the gentiles…Christ in you, the hope of glory’ Col 1v26
‘He made known to me the mystery …which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to the 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’ Eph 3 v 3-6
‘…to make known the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ’ v9
‘…according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest…made known to all nations’ Rom 16v26
Imagine the shock to St Paul
The New Testament does not tell us the details of where, when, or how God revealed the mystery of the gospel of the kingdom to Paul…but I’d like to indulge in some speculation, some educated guessing perhaps, and put together some clues.
Paul’s timeline can be constructed with some accuracy as follows:
AD 5 born in Tarsus in present day Turkey
AD 20 graduates from theological studies under Gamaliel in Jerusalem as a Pharisee
AD 33 Official persecutor of the church
AD 34 Conversion on the Road to Damascus, taken to Damascus
AD 34-37 Three years in Arabia
AD 37 Returns to Damascus briefly but has to escape to Jerusalem and then on to Tarsus
AD 46 Fourteen years after his conversion Barnabus finds Paul in Tarsus and he begins his ‘apostleship’ and missionary journeys
AD 66 dies in Rome
Paul relates his account of the encounter with the risen Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus as follows:
‘At midday…I saw a great light from heaven…brighter than the sun…I heard a voice ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me…I am Jesus who you are persecuting but rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you to make you a minister and a witness to the things you have seen and things I will yet reveal to you…to the Gentiles to whom I now send you’ Acts 26v14-17
We might summarise it like this: on the road to Damascus God revealed Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah) to Paul, but at a later stage He revealed Christ in Paul, the hope of glory.
My hunch is that the ‘things I will yet reveal to you’ occurred in the three years of obscurity in Arabia.
Although Paul speaks elsewhere of the unsearchable riches in Christ, in the above verses two aspects of the revelation of the gospel to Paul appear to be emphasised:
1. Christ in you the hope of glory
2. Gentiles are fellow heirs
Both of these revelations – quite apart from the absolute shock in finding out that he had been persecuting Jesus the Messiah, the King of Israel, the son of David and that the stories of the resurrection were true not false – would have been shocking to Pharisee Paul.
Christ in you
Saul, the Pharisee, later called Paul, viewed his fellow Jews who had apparently been duped into believing ridiculous notions that Jesus was the Messiah and had risen from the dead, as a dangerous fifth column, a church, a called-out people, who should be exterminated, to rid Judaism of its latest virus. ‘Christians’ were viruses and should be either brought back into the Jewish fold, eliminated from society, or stoned to death.
He felt his murderous campaign to be righteous and pleasing to God.
But once he had discovered that Jesus was not only alive, but was the Messiah, he spent little time procrastinating before proclaiming his discovery to all and sundry:
‘Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached Jesus as the Messiah in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God’ Acts 9v19,20
we see in the New Testament a process of progressive revelation
At this stage, there is no hint that he had realised that Jesus the Messiah was in Him the hope of glory as he would later preach. At this stage God’s revelation to Paul was limited to revealing His Son to Paul but not in him.
He later wrote of this progressive revelation in the letter to the Galatians:
‘But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…’ Gal 1 v 15,16
This must have been a complete shock to Paul who, like all fellow Jews, had longed for the promised Messiah to Israel for generations. But no one had spoken of the Messiah being ‘in’ individuals.
We, I, could be sidetracked at this point from the purpose of this post, to understand that God has revealed the mystery of the gospel of the kingdom, it is no longer hidden, and explore this new identity of believers as ‘Christ-in-you’ individuals.
To the Gentiles, Christ in you the hope of glory
It is important to note, I think, at this point that all of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, John, and the others, had to grapple with the triplet concept that Jesus was the Messiah-raised-from-the-dead, and of the Messiah-in-them, and that the Messiah was equally available to the Gentiles.
Jesus had taught ‘I am the vine and you are the branches’ John 15 v 5. If you have seen a vine, you’ll know the vine is the branches and the branches are the vine. There is an intimate unity between the branches and the whole vine. The concept of the ‘Messiah, Christ, in you’ and ‘us in Him’ is made no clearer than with Jesus’ illustration of the vine.
When Jesus interrupted Saul on the way to Damascus he said: ‘Why are you persecuting Me?’ From Christ’s point of view, there is no distinction between Him and all in Him. If Saul stones Stephen, he is stoning Christ, the Messiah, if he arrests believers and puts them in prison, he is persecuting Christ.
On top of this Jesus-as-the-Messiah, Messiah-in-you identity, God then reveals to Paul that the gospel (good news) is for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews, for Israel.
It is difficult for us Gentiles with 2000+ years of Christendom, largely held in Gentile hands, to appreciate just how unpalatable this must have been for Paul – as it had been for Peter and the other apostles.
Jesus had tried to explain this before his ascension: ‘you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth’ Acts 1 v 8 but it seems that the early apostles interpreted that to mean they would be sent to the Jewish diaspora dispersed around the known world.
In the intriguing run of events as recorded in Acts 10 with Peter’s vision on the roof being commanded to eat forbidden foods and then being taken to a small gathering of Gentiles to preach the gospel, we read of a real-time, albeit slow motion, revelation to Peter ‘I perceive that God shows no partiality. In every nation whoever fears Him…’and ‘while Peter was still speaking…the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word…’ and so the gospel had suddenly escaped from its Jewish confines and made its way around the whole world in accordance to Jesus’ words ‘to the ends of the earth’.
Conclusion
If we see in the New Testament a process of progressive revelation for the apostles we should not be surprised if the same process in us, twenty-one centuries later, may not be completed in the moments of our conversion. It wasn’t for Paul or for Peter.
Here’s the three-step revelation to Paul (and Paul)
1. Jesus as the Messiah, Christ, raised to life after three days – Christ revealed to you. His true identity.
2. Christ in you the hope of glory – Christ revealed as our life, in us, in union with us, as us, vine and branches, ‘why are you persecuting Me?’ Our true identity: Christ in me.
3. Christ to Gentiles and Jews who believe – the revelation of our fellowship in the gospel
In the New Testament, the ‘mystery’ of the gospel is a mystery that was hidden for ages past but has now been revealed; the fog has cleared, and the curtain pulled back. One of the aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is to open our eyes, to remove the veil, so we can see what has been revealed ‘nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom’ 2 Cor 3 v16,17
Lastly, God took Paul to Arabia and interrupted Peter praying on a rooftop. In a similar way, I am sure, He will choose His moments with us.
‘When it pleased God…to reveal His son in me’ Gal 1 v 15,16