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Praising God for the Mystery

Should we?

Posted Sunday, October 08, 2006 by Charlie Trimm

Someone asked me at church today if I thought we should praise God for the mystery of who he is. As I pondered, I didn't come up with a quick answer. I do think that there are parts of the being of God we do not understand. I do think that we should praise God for things that he does which we do not understand (Job, Isaiah 40ff). But is there biblical precedent for praising God for the mystery of who he is or who Christ is? Shoud we praise God for this mystery? I'm a little nervous about it, but I am not sure why.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:20 AM

Brian wrote: Mysterious

It seems a bit like Gnosticism to me - delighting in hidden knowldge.

 

Thursday, October 12, 2006 9:56 AM

Brian wrote: Mysteries are for Solving

Charlie,

The idea of preaching the mystery of Christ is found in 1 Tim 3:9, “They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” As well as Eph. 6:19, “[pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.”

But the purpose of proclaiming the mystery of Christ is not to keep it mysterious, but to encourage people to think about it. Consider Paul's doxology in Romans 16

25 Now 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 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith

When Paul wrote this, the mystery had been revealed. The mystery that Paul preached was the prophetic writings –that Jesus had been anticipated. No one knew how God would fulfill his promises to Eve, Abraham, David, and others, but “the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” (1 Peter 1:10-11).

The purpose of a mystery needs to be recognized. A mystery is designed to provoke someone to discover the truth. Consider two sayings in Scripture:

For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.
    – Jesus (Mark 4:22-23).

It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
    –Solomon   (Proverbs 25:2).

The idea of mystery is neglected in our preaching and thinking. We try to make things as clear and simple as we can. People cannot be expected to think through a matter, but this reflects a misunderstanding of human nature. We devour mystery novels, mystery movies, and mystery TV shows. People are enticed by the concealed truth that will be discovered in the last chapter or after the last commercial. We should tap into this motivation in our preaching and teaching. Does the best education come from laying out everything that is already known or from teaching people how to learn?

Bringing this back around to your…parishioner. Recognizing that there is a mystery in who God is, we shouldn’t sit back say, “that is a good mystery” and leave it at that. We should be seeking to uncover more of this mystery.

Friday, October 13, 2006 8:21 AM

Charlie wrote:  Thanks for the comments, Brian. I had forgotten how mystery is used in the Bible versus how we use it today. Mysteries in the Bible are supposed to be revealed and gloried in. I think most every place where mystery is used in the NT the mystery has already been revealed: it was a mystery, but now it is not.

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