In Scripture, mysterion does not mean something permanently unknowable — it means a divine secret formerly hidden, now revealed through God's own disclosure. Paul uses the word 21 times in his letters. The central mysterion is the gospel itself: that Gentiles are fellow heirs with Israel (Eph 3:6), that Christ dwells in believers (Col 1:27), and that God's entire redemptive plan — hidden in ages past — is now unveiled in the incarnate, crucified, and risen Son. The mystery is not esoteric knowledge for an elite; it is the open secret that God has made known to all in Christ Jesus. Revelation's seven mysteries (churches, stars, Babylon, God's will, the woman, the beast, lawlessness) extend this theme into eschatology.
MYSTERY, n. [L. mysterium; Gr. from to initiate in mysteries, from to shut, because the initiated were bound to silence, or from their secret rites.]
1. A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder.
2. In theology, something in the Christian religion above the comprehension of human reason.
3. Something artfully made difficult, as the mysteries of a trade or profession; secret arts. The mystery of lawlessness. 2 Thess 2:7.
4. An enigma; anything artfully made obscure. The mystery of Babylon the Great.
Today "mystery" has been reduced to a puzzle, a thriller genre, or an unsolvable riddle. Worse, it has been borrowed by New Age and occult movements to suggest hidden knowledge available only to the spiritually elite — the very opposite of Paul's meaning. The Gnostics made mystery elitist; Paul made it evangelistic. When the Church treats the gospel as a mystery to be kept rather than to be proclaimed, it betrays the apostolic commission. The mystery has been revealed — the scandal is that it is too available, not too hidden.
• Ephesians 3:3–6 — "The mystery made known to me by revelation…that the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel."
• Colossians 1:26–27 — "The mystery hidden for ages…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
• Romans 16:25–26 — "My gospel…the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed."
• 1 Corinthians 2:7 — "We speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom God destined for our glory before time began."
• Revelation 10:7 — "The mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."
Greek: μυστήριον (mystērion, G3466)
→ from mýstēs (initiated person)
→ from myeō (to initiate, to shut — G3453)
→ connected to myō (to close, to be silent)
Aramaic parallel: רָז (rāz) — secret, hidden decree
Used in Daniel 2:18–19, 27–30, 47 (Daniel's revelation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream)
→ God reveals secrets (rāz) to those who seek Him
NT Usage: 21 occurrences in Paul (Ephesians leads with 6)
Key compound: μυστήριον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου — "mystery of the gospel" (Eph 6:19)
• "The mysterion of God is not a puzzle to be cracked by the intellect but a gift to be received by faith — it is God's open secret, proclaimed from every pulpit."
• "Paul did not guard the mystery — he broadcast it. The apostolic calling is the opposite of mystical secrecy."
• "When the Reformers insisted sola scriptura, they were saying: the mystery has been fully revealed. There is no hidden magisterium, no secret tradition — only the published Word of God."