193. THE "MYSTERY"The English word "mystery" is a transliteration of the Greek word musterion, [sup]1[/sup] which means a sacred secret. It occurs in the Septuagint Version (280 B.C.) nine times as the equivalent for the Chaldee raz in the Chaldee portion of "Daniel", which means to conceal; hence, something concealed that can be revealed, viz. in Daniel 2:18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47; and 4:9. It occurs frequently in the Apocryphal books; which, though of no use for establishing doctrine, are of great value in determining the meaning of Biblical usage of Greek words. In these books musterion always means the secret of friends, or of a king, etc. [sup]2[/sup] See Tobit 12:7,11. Judith 2:2. Wisdom 2:22. (transliterated "mysteries"); 14:23. Ecclesiastics 22:22; 27:16,17,21. 2Maccabees 13:21. (Revised Version). The passage in Judith is remarkable: for Nabuchodonsor calls his captains and great men together just before entering on a campaign, and "communicated with them his secret counsel", literally "the mystery of his will". This is exactly the same usage as in Ephesians 1:9, except that the Greek word for will or counsel is different.[sup]3[/sup] By the end of the second century A.D. it was used interchangeably with tupos (= type), sumbolon (= symbol), and parabole (= parable). When we find the Greek word musterion rendered sacramentum in Latin Vulgate of Ephesians 5:32, it is clear that it was used as meaning a secret sign or symbol, and not in the modern meaning put upon the word "Sacrament", i.e. "holy mysteries". It is evident to all that God has made known His will "at sundry times and in divers manners" (Hebrews 1:1,2). He also kept certain things secret, and revealed them from time to time according to His purpose and counsels. Hence the word musterion is connected with several concealed or secret things in the New Testament.
- 1. It was used of the secrets of the kingdom; which had been concealed, until the Lord revealed them to His disciples (not to the People) in Matthew 13:10,11. It had not before been known that the kingdom would be rejected, and that there would be a long interval between that rejection and its being set up in glory. This was concealed even from the prophets who foretold it (1Peter 1:10-12).
- 2. In Romans 11 it is used in connection with the duration of Israel's blindness. That blindness itself was not a secret, for it had been foretold in Isaiah 6:9,10. But the duration of the blindness was kept a "secret" from Isaiah and only revealed through Paul (Romans 11:25).
- 3. It was used of a fact connected with resurrection, which had never before been made known to the sons of men.The Lord had spoken of it to Martha (John 11:25,26), but though she believed it, she did not understand that to those who should be alive and remain to His Coming the Lord would be "the life", and they would "never die" (verse 26). The Thessalonians who "received the word" were not left in ignorance of it (1Thessalonians 4:13), for the Lord's words in John 11:25,26. were explained to them. But in 1Corinthians 15:51 the secret was fully and plainly shown; and it was that "we shall not all sleep". Up to that moment the universal belief had been that we must all die (compare Hebrews 9:27). Thenceforward it was revealed and made known for faith that all would not die, but that those who are alive and remain (literally; remain over) unto the Lord's Coming will not die at all (see note 1Thessalonians 4:15, and compare Philippians 3:14).
- 4. Side by side with these Divine secrets there was the secret of the [foretold] lawlessness (2Thessalonians 2:7 compare Daniel 12:4). It was already working during the dispensation covered by "Acts"; and had the nation repented at the call of those "other servants" of Matthew 22:4 (Acts 2:38; 3:12-26; etc.), those secret counsels of "the lawless one" and "the transgressors" would have "come to the full" (Daniel 8:23). But now they are postponed and in abeyance until the appointed time. 5. But "the great secret" which concerns us to-day was not revealed until after the close of that dispensation covered by "Acts". (See Acts 28:17-31 and Appendix 180 and 181.)