The doctrine of the mystery

1. The word musthrion is derived from an Attic Greek word musthj which was a person being initiated into a Greek fraternity in the ancient world. There is a verb that goes with it, also from the Attic Greek, muew, which means to initiate or to instruct in the basic doctrines of the fraternity. Therefore the doctrines or the secrets of the fraternity are known only to those who have been initiated and not to the outsiders. Jesus used this meaning with the disciples in Matthew 13:11; Mark 4:10,11.

2. In the epistles of the New Testament the word “mystery” refers to some aspect of Church Age doctrine — Ephesians 3:2-6.

3. Mystery doctrine of the Church Age was not revealed in the Old Testament — Romans 16:25,26; Colossians 1:26,27.

4. Part of the mystery doctrine, including the blindness or hardness of Israel during the Church Age, is also a part of the fifth cycle of discipline — Romans 11:25.

5. The mystery as Church Age doctrine was a part of the divine decrees in eternity past — 1 Corinthians 2:7.

6. The pastor or minister is responsible for communicating Church Age doctrine. This is called the stewardship of the mysteries — 1 Corinthians 4:1.

7. The Rapture of the Church is a part of the mystery doctrine — 1 Corinthians 15:51. This means that the Rapture of the Church was not revealed in Old Testament times.

8. Mystery doctrine is always related to the dispensation of the Church and only to the Church Age — Ephesians 1:9; 3:2.

9. Mystery doctrine is understood through the function of GAP — Colossians 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:9.