St. Paul and Mystery

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1.24-27

One of the new spiritual buzzwords that one sees flying around a lot these days is "mystery." I understand the appeal of the term, mostly because this life, especially the older I get, seems completely mysterious to me. When I was 20 I had the world--God included--quite figured out. It was all so simple. Age has humbled me and made people who once seemed sellouts, or apathetic, or materialistic seem wise to me instead.

 

But I feel as if this word mystery slips all too easily into indeterminacy, particularly when it comes to theological matters. In other words, the word is too open-ended, used to signify genuine mystery but more often used to avoid the direct (and often harsh) statement of doctrine. There are some theological concepts that are a deep mystery to me--the Trinity comes most readily to mind--but the point of revelation is to acquire knowledge, to dispel mystery. Scripture is intentionally mysterious about the nature of the Trinity; it is not mysterious about the nature and means of salvation. This is why the Bible is so central to Christianity. We can know God through creation in very real ways. Theologians are nearly unanimous on this score. But this knowledge does not lead to Christ, a figure revealed to the apostles and other followers in the flesh and to us through their testimony.

 

This is why Paul is so clear in the passage I just excerpted on the fact of revelation. What was hidden for thousands of years was made manifest through the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God. There were things that would elude even Paul's understanding, but the central fact of history--that God so loved the world that he sent his only son--and the central figure of history--that Son--were revealed to us and no longer hidden from our understanding.