The Bible uses the word mystery in a particular way, it allows us to use it in another way, and forbids us to use it in a third. So everybody be careful out there! For those keeping track, this is a follow-up on my post about mystery and contradiction.
First, how is mystery used? In Scripture, mystery refers to a purpose of God that was once latent and hidden, but is later manifested and revealed. The great Pauline mystery, with the word used in this sense, was the inclusion of the Gentiles into the people of God.
“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words . . . That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph. 3:3,6).
Another mystery revealed is the fact that this process of growing the church will culminate in the resurrection of the dead. What once was obscure is now plainly taught and revealed.
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51).
Of course, keep in mind the clarity of such statements will be made even more clear, marvelously clear, when the final reality pointed to by the statements comes to pass. The fact of the coming resurrection is plainly taught to us now — Paul says “I show you a mystery” — but the day is coming when God Himself will show us the mystery, and the graves will open.
The second use, the allowable use, would have to do with things that are simply beyond us. Here we are using the word mystery in a way similar to the way the Bible uses it, and merely extended by analogy. God will always be infinite, and we will always be finite. As we spend our everlasting days going further up and further in, after every bend in the road, we will always be confronted with another whoa moment. And it will never get old.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:33–36).
We would use the word mystery to describe what awaits us around the next corner. As we explore Heaven’s alleys, there will be many surprises, none of them bad.
“And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them . . . now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which ever chapter is better than the one before” (The Last Battle, pp. 183-184).
“And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:3–5).
This sense of mystery allows for things that will always be beyond our reach — the levels of calculus necessary for the maintenance of the crab nebulae, say. But they are beyond our reach because of the size of our brains, not because of the nature of them.
The prohibited use of mystery, the third use, is the “get out of jail free card” use of mystery. When teachers (who often make mistakes) say something contradictory, either with Scripture or with what they themselves said ten minutes prior, we cannot fix the problem with an appeal to mystery.
“Pastor Murphy, you said last Sunday that Jesus never went to Capernaum. But I was reading in Matthew 8:5 this morning, and it says that Jesus did go into Capernaum.”
“Well, we have to remember that the Scriptures contain many mysteries, my son. And in Deuteronomy 29:29, it says that the secret things belong to God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children.”
Right. But one of the things revealed is that Jesus went to Capernaum. Another thing revealed in Scripture is that teachers don’t like having to climb down.This is why not many should become teachers (Jas. 3:1), and the wisdom that is from above is willing to yield (Jas. 3:17).
One example of this in historical theology (not to pick on the Lutherans) is the Lutheran idea of the ubiquity of Christ’s body. I take this as a flat contradiction — a body is localized by definition — and I don’t think an appeal to mystery can fix it. An omnipresent body isn’t a body. In other words, however many bends on Heaven’s road we go around, we will never encounter A and not A standing in the same spot in the road. We wouldn’t know which one to shake hands with.
In short, mystery should never be used as an all-purpose repair kit for deficient or contradictory theological work.
Isn’t the ubiquity of Christ’s body a necessary consequence of His ascension? He has ascended to the right hand of the Father. The Father is not “localized”, but omnipresent. Therefore the body of Christ is present to all of creation via His proximity to the Father. Of course, we do not know how it is possible for created matter (the body of Christ) to be taken into uncreated reality (the Presence of God), but we know by revelation that it is so. Since we do not know “how”, but we do know “that”, I think the term “mystery” is quite… Read more »
Wouldn’t that be a four cornered triangle since A is a vertex and not a side? But then again any four cornered polygon must have four sides.
You could make a fourth point D in beteween A and C and call it a 180 degree corner.
Pastor Wilson,
It is the convention to label the vertices’s with the capital letters {A B C} and the edges with the lower case letters {a b c}; your sketch breaks that convention.
The vertices are the 3 pointy things.
The edges are the 3 longy things that connect the 3 pointy things.
God will always be infinite, and we will always be finite. As we spend our everlasting days going further up and further in, after every bend in the road, we will always be confronted with another whoa moment. And it will never get old.
totally cool.
Thx,
t
Doug, I listened to an interview that Jordan Cooper, a Lutheran, did with you here: http://justandsinner.blogspot.com/2013/06/interview-with-pastor-douglas-wilson.html In this interview, you explain (contra the Lutheran view on baptism) that in baptism, an elect person receives all of Christ’s benefits in baptism, including spiritual regeneration and Christ’s perseverance; but a non-elect person’s spirit cannot be regenerated in baptism because they will fall away, which would contradict perseverance (please correct me if I’m summarizing this inaccurately). But if we receive all of Christ’s benefits in baptism, why have I, as a baptized person (and hopefully elect!) not received Christ’s sinlessness? I mean, sinlessness… Read more »
Post a comment
Okay, Euclid and Jig, you have got me confused. In the drawing, A, B, and C are labeling the “pointy things.” Or were intended to. They are certainly closest to the corners . . .
My mistake.
Right, A is a corner. So if A counts twice, then the shape is actually a four cornered triangle, right? I see three sides (AB, AC, and BC) and four corners (A, B, C, and A).
Drew–you asked: Why must Perseverance be included for those whose spirits are regenerated? Why can’t a non-elect person’s spirit be regenerated without perseverance (Augustinian/Lutheran view)? Why must those whose spirits are regenerated in baptism also receive perseverance (Calvinist view)? From the confession: “Those whom God has accepted in the beloved, and has effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but they will certainly persevere in that state to the end and be eternally saved. This is because the gifts and calling… Read more »
On the other hand, maybe it’s all part of the mystery. The more ambiguous something is, the more profound it is. Or so I’ve been told.
Tim, I know this is an oft-quoted passage of Scripture used against the doctrine of Perseverance, but it needs to be quoted: For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Heb. 6:4-6) This passage clearly indicates that a person… Read more »
All folks, regardless, taste of the Spirit.
What’s sad about the ubiquity and trans-sub position both, is not so much it giving us too much, but too little.
Until we dine together and with Him up there, having something of Him here still leaves us longing.
Drew- Good question. The issue in Hebrews is centered on Jewish apostasy, and the incredible temptation to go back to the Temple and Judaism, and all their old friends and family. That’s why it is ‘impossible’ for someone who ultimately refuses Christ and goes back to Judaism—they’ve traded Christ for mere shadows and types, and they remain in those shadows. Warning passages function exactly how they should, in that they serve as one of the means by which God’s people are kept on the right path. There’s nothing in the passage that says that this spiritual reversal must be the… Read more »