Unlimited: The Revelation of the Mystery
Jan 29, 2024 310
in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God (Romans 16:25b–26a)
Paul here refers to the Gospel, his message about Jesus Christ (v.25a), as a mystery. When Paul uses the word mystery, he means something that God had kept hidden in the past, but which has now been revealed. So, in this sense, the “mystery” is no longer a mystery.
The mystery is the Gospel: how God had planned to save the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Revelation is progressive. This plan was hidden in the past because it was so astoundingly incredible that it was impossible that it could have been understood before it happened. Even though the prophetic writings pointed forward to Jesus and what he would do, those writings could not be fully understood. But now, Paul tells us, the mystery has been revealed! Christ has come and accomplished his great work!
But now the mystery has been revealed!
The Gospel has now been revealed “by the command of the eternal God.” While this is true at a universal, cosmic level, there is also a vital personal application. The Gospel cannot be grasped by mere human intelligence. If that were the case then all intelligent people would be believers. Instead, the Gospel can only be understood when it is revealed by God to the needy and searching heart. I have found this to be resoundingly true in my own life.
Spiritual Application
Most Christians will say that they know what the Gospel is. But do you know it merely intellectually, or do you know it properly through God’s revelation to your heart?
Ketchakah
Jan 30, 2024
Christians place way too much stock on the opinions of Paul. Much if not all of Paul's teachings are his personal opinions and interpretations of the Gospel. They were intended to be used in such a way as to be examples to early church leadership. We know that The Bible was not even available to the populace as a whole until much, much later and was illegal for the common believer to even posses. As such, these letters were NOT intended for us. Modern Christians look at his letters as instructions for them, but the fact is, these letters were not written to us. Yes, we can gain some insight from them just as we gain insight from the words of other people from history, but to think these letters and instructions are directly intended for us is a very slippery slope. We can never know the extent of Paul's relationship with the person whom these letters were intended and to eavesdrop on his personal correspondence with them and think they are meant for us is a huge error. We have the Gospels to read. We need to study those and look to what Gods Spirit teaches us and not the opinions and interpretations of other children no matter how they have been made into idols.
Kelly Smith
Feb 15, 2024
First of all, the "opinions" of Paul were given to him by Jesus Himself. Read the book of Acts. Second, stop jumping from the first century to medieval times.Third, the letters were written to the churches named; which means the congregations. They were to be circulated between church congregations. Fourth, if Paul's letters are so private; what makes you think the Gospels are so public?