2. - Romans 16:25-27
"25Glory be to God who has strengthened you, through my gospel and proclamation about Jesus Christ, through his [God's] revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages, 26now disclosed and made known through the prophetic writings at the command of the eternal God that all nations might obey through faith27to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ. Amen." [Various, ED]
...The "mystery," a secret kept by God for long ages, recurs several times in the Pauline corpus (cf. Col. 1:26 and 2:2, Eph. 3:5, Titus 1:3, etc.)..
1. Silences in passage/challenge to a historical Jesus:
Jesus was revealed through his appearance and teachings on earth.
2. Relevancy within context:
The above passage doesn't actually say what the mystery was. The context doesn't reveal the answer. Was it Jesus himself, as Doherty suggests? The above passage seems redundant if the mystery was that of Christ himself, since he had just mentioned Christ. In addition, since Paul believed this mystery had been revealed to him (he refers to it as "my gospel") and he KNEW that Jesus hadn't approached him while on earth to tell him this mystery, we also should not expect Paul to include an incarnated Jesus in Romans 16 as the source of this revelation. Instead of concluding that the passage "leaves no room in the picture for an historical Jesus", I suggest that the passage has no need to mention a historical Jesus. However, it is too unclear to say for certain what the mystery is. Beyond this the immediate context isn't helpful, since it is the benediction.
Therefore, one might look at the contents of the letter itself to unlock the mystery. Is it the plan of salvation as Doherty says scholars claim, and not the revealing of the Christ himself? Let's take a look.
The bulk of the letter to the Romans was about God's plan for salvation--a plan that he clearly spells out as being for Jews and Gentiles alike. That is Paul's focus throughout Romans (Rome was a Gentile city). Of course Christ made the salvation possible, so that too is a component. A major theme, however appears to be that of Gentile salvation through faith in Christ:
Rom 1:5 "5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake "
Rom 1:16-17 "16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "but the righteous man shall live by faith." "
Rom 11:25 "25For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in "
This is the only other reference in Romans to a mystery. Here, the mystery is that Israel won't be saved until Gentiles are also saved.
It appears from these passages that the revelation and mystery for which Paul says he was called was that of the salvation of ALL men, including Gentiles through faith in Christ. It does not appear to be that of Christ's appearance or identification. The wording of the passage and the context of the entire letter point to the mystery as that of Gentile salvation through faith in Jesus.
3. Related information in other early writings:
Since Doherty has written extensively about the mystery in terms of a revelation previously hidden through scriptures which applies to Christ himself as a spiritual being, it may be useful to look at all of Paul's passages which relate to the mystery. Doherty lists 4 other passages for support, claiming it leaves no room in the picture for an historical Jesus What do these and other passages reveal?
1 Cor 2:7-8 "7but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; "
What is this secret wisdom? Paul writes about wisdom in the preceding chapter, and even refers to Christ Jesus as whom God made our wisdom. However, he also says in 2:2 that he wanted to originally teach the Corinthians no more than Jesus Christ and him crucified. And in 3:1 writes "1And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ." Then in verse 6 he says "6Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature." The wisdom Paul speaks of in verse 7, MATURE wisdom is therefore NOT that which he spoke of--Christ and his crucifixion--when they were INFANTS. Paul then gives more information about this wisdom for the mature in verses 12-13: "12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. "
It appears then that the secret and hidden wisdom has to do with spiritual truths Paul interprets using Gods spirit, and that they do NOT consist of who Jesus Christ was, nor the fact of his crucifixion, nor even teachings from Christ himself. What God's spirit revealed to Paul however is not specified in these passages. But, it is made more clear in other writings:
Gal 1:11-16 "11For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles."
The revelation here is that of Jesus Christ--for the purpose of preaching to Gentiles. He elaborates further in Chapter 3:
Gal 3:23-29 "23But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham"s descendants, heirs according to promise. "
Finally the mystery is more clearly explained: The revelation was that the faith in Christ, who had come, born of a woman (4:4) was available for the Gentile Galations to whom Paul was writing, that they too might be justified (have salvation), and be sons of God along with the Jews.
Since Doherty includes Ephesians above, I'll quote passages from it:
Eph 1:9-10 "9He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. "
ALL things are united with him.
Eph 3:1-9 "1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-- 2if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; 3that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST, 5which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it HAS NOW BEEN REVEALED to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6TO BE SPECIFIC, THAT THE GENTILES ARE FELLOW HEIRS AND FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE BODY, AND FELLOW PARTAKERS OF THE PROMISE IN CHRIST JESUS THROUGH THE GOSPEL, 7of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God"s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;"
It can't get any clearer that this.. There is no doubt here as to what the mystery was. He states clearly that it was that Gentiles were also included in the plan of salvation through the gospel of Jesus.
In Colossians we again see the same theme of salvation to Gentiles through Christ:
Col 1:25-28 "25Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but[b] has now been manifested to His saints, 27to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ."
Col 4:3 "3praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned "
Paul wasn't in prison for preaching Christ. Though he was accused of breaking Jewish law, the real reason recorded in Acts was due to his message of salvation to Gentiles. (See Acts 22:21-22, 23:29)
In sum, the references in Paul's epistles to that which was hidden, mysterious, and is now revealed most clearly are interpreted as referring NOT to a hidden Christ found in scriptures but to God's plan of eternal salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike, through faith in Jesus as the Christ who died and rose from the dead for their sins.
I also see no similar references to a hidden mystery within Hebrews, 1 John, 1 Clement, and the Didache.
If the mystery was therefore that of the plan of salvation revealed through scriptures, what about the revelation of salvation through the teachings of Jesus? Why doesn't Paul reference that? In the gospels Jesus didn't take his message to the Gentiles and in Acts and Galations we see that Jesus' earliest close followers--John, James, Peter appear to have--at least initially--been reluctant to take the message of salvation to Gentiles. It therefore wouldn't make sense for Paul to appeal to Jesus' life on earth as being the source of revelation of salvation through faith to Gentiles.
4. Conclusion
There is little support for Doherty's expectations for Paul to have mention Jesus' appearance and teachings in connection with the mystery revealed because Doherty has misinterpreted the mystery Paul writes about. It isn't about who Christ was nor what he taught. Rather, Paul was talking about his gospel of salvation for Gentiles through faith in Christ as redeemer. Though some related passages are less clear, Paul states this plainly and multiple times in other passages. Based on the portrayal of Jesus in the gospels, and that of his close apostles in Acts and Galations, one should not expect mention of Jesus' role in this plan of salvation other than as the Redeemer who made such salvation possible, which Paul does many times. |
