Mystery

Dr. Couch, is the "mystery" of 1 Corinthians 2:7 the same as the "mystery" of Ephesians 3:1-7? ANSWER:  No, it does not seem to be the same. The "mystery" (musterion) of Ephesians 3 is about the fact that the Gentiles will be blessed by the gospel. Paul says this mystery was specifically made know to him alone. It was "the mystery of Christ which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, but now 'specifically' it is that the Gentiles are [now] fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (vv. 5-6). It is the "mystery according to the gift of God's grace which was given (or revealed) to me according to the working of His power" (v. 7).    The mystery of 1 Corinthians 2:7 seems to be specifically about the gospel not just about God's working with the church. Here, the mystery is God's hidden wisdom "which God predestined before the ages to our glory" (v. 7). The Bible Knowledge Commentary says: "The message which Paul proclaimed was God's revelation (Matt. 11:25). At the heart of this wisdom is the plan of salvation intended for our glory, determined before time began (Eph. 1:4)."    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)

"Mystery" by Amillennialists

Dr. Couch, I really appreciate your work in the biblical languages. Few Bible teachers online today, are doing language studies. Thank you for your insights. Also, on the word "mystery." Many Amillennialists seem to be confused on the word. Did some of the old Amil writers and theologians get it straight? ANSWER:  Yes, they did. In my Hermeneutic textbook I have a whole chapter on the dispensations of Charles Hodge. He lists the dispensations almost in the same fashion as dispensationalists do today except he leaves out the dispensation of the Kingdom reign of Christ. Paul's point in Ephesians 3 is that the church was not revealed by any means or in any form in the OT. In his commentary on Ephesians, Hodge says what present-day dispensationalists do about the word "mystery." Present-day allegorists would be shocked to know what he writes.    He says on Ephesians 3: "The thing made known by Paul was a 'mystery'; i.e. a secret, something undiscoverable by human reason, the knowledge of which could only be attained by revelation. … The mystery of which he here speaks is that of which the preceding chapters (in Ephesians) treat, viz. the union of the Gentiles with the Jews. … The mystery made known to the apostles and prophets of the new dispensation (the church dispensation), that the Gentiles are, in point of right and fact, fellow-heirs of the same body, and partakers of this promise. … It seems never to have entered into any human mind until the day of Pentecost, that the theocracy itself was to be abolished, and a new form of 'religion' was to be introduced, designed and adapted equally for all mankind, under which the distinction between Jew and Gentile was to be done away with. … Neither is the Gentile in the church by courtesy of the Jews, nor the Jew by courtesy of the Gentiles. They are one body."    With these thoughts Hodge says what dispensationalists do today!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch