μυστήριον

In English, when we say something is “a mystery,” we usually mean it is something we do not yet understand — a puzzle waiting to be solved, an unanswered question, a truth still hidden. A mystery novel is one whose answer we are working out as we read. A mystery in physics is something the equations have not yet explained. To call something mysterious, in modern English, is to say it remains opaque.

In the Greek New Testament, mystērion means something almost the opposite. A mystērion in Paul’s letters is something that was hidden — for long ages, in some passages — and that has now been openly revealed. The mystery is in its past tense. The revelation is in its present tense. What was secret is now declared from rooftops, preached to the nations, available to anyone with ears to hear.

This is the chapter on mystērion, and it sits at the hinge of Part IV. The previous three chapters — kerygma, homologeō, martyria — covered the Word-event of the gospel: proclaimed, confessed, witnessed. The next seven chapters move into the sacramental territory the church has historically treated as “mysteries”: baptism, regeneration, the Supper, the body and blood and bread, the communion they create. The bridge between the two is the New Testament’s mystērion — which names the gospel as previously-hidden-now-revealed, and which the Western church has historically used as the theological framework for what we now call sacraments.

The Word

μυστήριον (mystērion), pronounced moos-TAY-ree-on. A neuter noun, second declension. The root is the verb myō (μύω), “to close, to shut,” referring especially to the closing of the eyes or the lips. The related agent noun mystēs (μύστης) named an initiate in the ancient mystery religions — one whose lips were “closed” regarding the sacred secrets of the cult. From this root grew the entire family of mystery-words in Greek, which later passed into Latin (mysterium) and English (mystery, mystic, mystical).

The lexical background is the world of the Greco-Roman mystery religions, and it is worth knowing because the New Testament writers reach for mystērion with this background in plain view, and intentionally redefine it. The Eleusinian mysteries (centered on Demeter and Persephone), the Mithraic mysteries (centered on the god Mithras), the Isis cult, the Dionysian rites — these were religious associations centered on secret rites of initiation, accessible only to those who had been formally initiated, whose lips were sealed regarding what they had been shown, who possessed special hidden knowledge unavailable to the uninitiated. The cults often promised salvation, immortality, or favored standing with the gods in exchange for the proper initiation and the keeping of the sacred secret. Membership was elite. Knowledge was esoteric. The mystery was permanent.

The New Testament’s mystērion is built on this lexical foundation, and is then turned almost completely against it. Paul’s mystery is not the special knowledge of an elite cult. Paul’s mystery is the saving plan of God, previously hidden in the Old Testament shadows but now openly revealed in Christ — preached to anyone who will hear, available to anyone who believes, accessible without initiation rituals or secret rites. The New Testament’s mystērion is, in Paul’s hands, anti-elite. What was once hidden is now public. What initiated few could once approach, baptized many can now possess. The Christian gospel is, in its lexical heart, a gospel against mystery cults — and the irony is that Paul makes the case using the cults’ own word.

The Greek Old Testament (LXX) prepared the ground for this. In Daniel, mystērion translates the Aramaic raz — the “mystery” of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which the king cannot recall and which God reveals to Daniel (Dan 2:18–19, 27–30, 47). The pattern there is the pattern Paul will pick up: a mystery is something God has hidden and now reveals, to whom He chooses, for the comfort of His people and the spreading of His name. Daniel’s role is to receive the revelation and to declare it. Paul’s role is the same, on a vastly larger scale.

The Latin Vulgate (fourth century, by Jerome) translated mystērion sometimes as mysterium and sometimes as sacramentum — a Latin word originally meaning a soldier’s oath of allegiance, the sacred pledge by which one bound himself to service. This translation choice gave the Western church the lexical foundation for the word “sacrament.” Augustine developed sacramental theology on this base; the medieval church expanded it to seven sacraments; the Lutheran Reformation retained the term while reducing the count to two — baptism and the Lord’s Supper — those instituted directly by Christ with a visible element joined to the Word. Some Lutherans retain absolution as a third sacrament or a sacramental practice closely related. Either way, the underlying logic comes back to mystērion: Christ delivered through means He has appointed.

Range of Meaning

In its New Testament usage, mystērion covers:

• The gospel itself, especially in its previously-hidden-now-revealed character. The dominant Pauline use.
• Christ Himself as the mystery — the secret of God now openly disclosed in His Son.
• Specific aspects of God’s saving plan whose unfolding required revelation — the inclusion of Gentiles (Eph 3:3–6), the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:51), the consummation of all things (Eph 1:9–10), the relationship of Christ and the church (Eph 5:32).
• Symbolic representations requiring divine interpretation — the seven stars (Rev 1:20), the great prostitute (Rev 17:5, 7).
• The sacraments, in the later theological tradition derived through the Latin translation.

Context governs which sense is dominant in any given passage. In Paul’s letters, the first three senses cluster together — the mystery is the gospel, the gospel is Christ, the specific applications are the unfolding of the one mystery in particular doctrinal articles.

Where You’ll Meet It

“The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:26–27, ESV)

The keystone verse for Pauline mystery. The structure is explicit: hidden for ages and generations — now revealed. And the content of the mystery is named in the next clause: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The mystery is Christ. The hiding was real but is over. The revelation is open and is for the Gentiles too. Every element of Paul’s mystery-theology is in these two verses.

“…how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:3–6, ESV)

Paul’s fullest exposition of the mystery in compressed form. The mystery was made known to him by revelation. The mystery was not previously known as it has now been revealed. The content of the mystery includes the inclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God. The mystery is “of Christ,” in Him and from Him and for Him.

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16, ESV)

The earliest Christological hymn embedded in the New Testament. Paul calls Christology the mystery of godliness, and then summarizes it in six lines: incarnation, justification, angelic witness, evangelistic proclamation, faith reception, glorification. The mystery is Christ in His whole life-work. Notice the we confess — this connects directly to Chapter 26 on homologeō. The mystery is what the church confesses.

“To him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations…” (Romans 16:25–26, ESV)

Paul’s closing benediction in Romans. Again the structure: long ages of secrecy — now disclosed. The means of disclosure: the prophetic writings (the Old Testament, read Christologically) and the gospel preached. The scope of the disclosure: all nations. This is what makes the New Testament’s mystery anti-elite. The cult kept its secrets; Paul’s gospel announces them to everyone.

“And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.’” (Mark 4:11, ESV)

The synoptic use, distinct from Paul’s. The “secret” (mystērion) of the kingdom is what Jesus has been giving the disciples — what the parables both reveal and conceal. Jesus’s teaching is mystērion in the sense that the kingdom He announces is the surprising fulfillment of Old Testament expectation, given in the parables to those with ears to hear and hidden from those whose hearts are hardened. This is mystery as divine pedagogy: revealed to disciples, concealed from those who refuse to receive.

“This is what one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Corinthians 4:1, ESV)

Paul on the apostolic office. The apostles are stewards (oikonomoi) of the mysteries. They have been given the gospel and are charged to administer it faithfully. This text has been important in the development of Christian ministry — the minister as steward of the mystery, faithful in distributing what Christ has given.

“This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:32, ESV)

Paul on marriage and Christ-and-the-church. The “mystery” Paul cites from Genesis 2:24 — two becoming one flesh — he interprets as a typological pointer to the union of Christ and His church. This is the verse that gave medieval theology one of its strongest arguments for marriage as a sacrament. The Lutheran tradition has read it differently: marriage is honorable and instituted by God, but the “mystery” Paul names here is the union of Christ and the church, which the marriage analogy illuminates rather than constitutes.