Part
4 of 17 –
God’s Mystery (Secret) Gospel
In
the course of this study series we will cover the content of the following
outlined information, but not necessarily in this order. The series will explain
some of the riches of “the mystery” gospel that was
given to Paul for us today. This outline is a helpful synopsis of the key
Scriptures that help one to understand Paul’s “mystery gospel”
as the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose that was purposed in Christ Jesus.
That
mystery gospel is the last or final gospel found
in the Bible. Though Paul’s epistles are not the last books listed in the
Canon of Scripture, they do present the “last or final” distinctive gospel
to be included in the Bible. The books placed in the Bible before
Paul’s 14 epistles pertain to prophecy concerning a literal earthly Kingdom
promised to Abram’s (Abraham’s) seed, and those after Paul’s
epistles, refer to those prophesies being fulfilled after Paul’s”
dispensation of the grace of God,” ends with the rapture of “the
church, which is His body.” The gospel proclaimed by Paul had been “kept
secret since the world began” and was inserted between
the prophecy and the fulfillment of prophesied Messianic Kingdom on earth.
The
gospel preached by Paul was dispensed to Paul by Christ directly, from heaven .
It was inserted as new, non-prophetic, truth that had been hid in God.
Therefore, it is new information; it’s a new gospel in the Bible that appears
several years after Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost. Paul was given this
gospel…for us today.
These
nine points form God’s last gospel, which Paul called “my gospel”
and “the mystery,” for the Gentiles.
1.
This “Mystery” or Secret Gospel had been
hid and “Kept Secret Since the World Began.”
>
Jesus obviously knew, but kept “the secret.”
John
16:12 I have yet many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
John 16:13 … when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth…John 16:15 …he
shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
>
The Apostle Paul says “the mystery”
was “hidden” and “Kept
Secret Since the World Began.”
Romans
16:25 …according to the revelation
of the mystery (musterion,
secret), which was kept secret since the world began,
1
Cor. 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
even the hidden (apokrupto, concealed)
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto
our glory:
Col.
1:26a the mystery which hath been
hid (apokrupto, kept
concealed) from ages and from generations
2)
The “Mystery” Gospel was revealed 1) at God’s appointed
time, 2) to Paul, 3) for us Gentiles.
Ephes.
3:1-4, 11 For this cause I
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2If ye have heard of the dispensation (oikonomia,
administration) of the grace of God which is given me to
youward: 3How that by revelation he
(Jesus Christ) made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote
afore in few words, 4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my
knowledge in the mystery of Christ) …
11According
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ…
Galatians
1:15-16 But when it pleased God, who separated me from
my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me (Paul), that I might preach him
among the heathen (ethnos, the Gentiles); immediately I conferred not with flesh
and blood:
3)
Paul received this “mystery gospel” from the ascended Christ… as God’s
“last” or “final Gospel.”
Acts
9:15 … he (Paul) is a
chosen (ekloge, divinely selected) vessel unto me,
to bear my name (onoma, authority) Colossians 1:25 Whereof
I (Paul) am made a minister, according to the dispensation
of God which is given to me for you, to
fulfil (Gk
pleroo, complete or finalize)
the word of God;
Gal
1:12 (Paul’s gospel) I
neither received it (the mystery gospel) of man, neither was I
taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
4)
Those Who Preach “Any Other Gospel” during the Dispensation
of Grace of God are To Be Accursed (Banned). “Any
other gospel” would include the “social gospel” that we so often hear
preached today, as well as the Kingdom gospel that is not applicable in this
day.
Gal
1:8-9 But though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we (Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy,
etc) have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9As
we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let
him be accursed (anathema, banned).
5)
What Exactly Is This “Mystery (Secret)
Gospel” according to Paul?
Col.
1:23 … be not moved away from
the hope of the gospel... 25 Whereof I am made a minister,
according to the dispensation of (from)
God which is given to me for you… 26-28 Even (that is) the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints (believers): 27To
whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of … this
mystery among the Gentiles; which … is
CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY: 28Whom
we preach…
6)
Christ Now, as
“the Spirit of Life,” Literally Indwells the Human Spirit of
Every Believing Child of God.
Man’s
human spirit - Zech. 12:1 …
saith the Lord, which
stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth
the spirit of man within him.
Christ
as “the Spirit” - 2 Cor. 3:17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: …1 Cor. 15:45 … The first
man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Christ)
was made (became) a quickening
(life-giving) spirit.
1
Jn 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of
his Spirit.
1Cor.
6:17 …he that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit. Jn 3:6b that which is born
of the Spirit, is spirit
Rom
8:9-10 But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
7)
Paul here reveals “Why
the Mystery Gospel Was Kept Secret?”
1
Cor. 2:7-8 But we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery (secret), even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8Which none of the princes of this world knew:
for had they known it, they would NOT have crucified the Lord
of glory.
Here
“the
princes of this world” refers
to the world leaders who called for and authorized Jesus’ crucifixion. It was religion,
by the Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas, who called for Jesus death; it was the politics
of
Rome
’s authorities that authorized Jesus’ crucifixion. These leaders in the
world system are the "princes" under
the rulership of Satan who himself is “the
prince of the power of the air.” Satan
rules the world system under the air, the sphere we live in on this earth. Ephesians
2:2 Wherein in time past ye (Gentiles)
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience:
Satan
had not known “the
mystery”
that the crucified and resurrected “Spirit
of Christ” would come to indwell each member of “the
body of Christ” as well as those of
believing Israel at "His coming;"
that
Jesus’ life would thereby become multiplied to
“as many as received Him.”
If
Satan had known “the mystery” he would
not have crucified Jesus.
Now in retrospect, I’m sure that Satan would rather have an uncrucified
Jesus, physically walking the streets on earth, than have the
crucified and resurrected “Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus”
multiplied
by indwelling each and every believing child of God.
Now
We See “WHY” The Mystery (Secret)
Gospel Had To Be “Kept
Secret Since The World Began?”
8)
Christ Living In and
Through the Members of “the Body of Christ,” is the Pauline Gospel for
today, in “the dispensation of the grace of God.”
Gal
2:20-21 I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by the faith of (from) the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Col
1:27b-28a Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28Whom
we preach… Col. 3:4 Christ, who is our life…
Col. 2:9-10 For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. 10ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power:
9)
Now We Walk “In Christ Jesus,” subject to the Indwelling “Spirit
of Life”
Rom
8:2 the law (the
working) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law (the working) of sin and death.
Philippians
2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to
do of his good pleasure.
Gal
5:18 if ye be led of the
Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Galatians
5:16 I say then, Walk in the
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Galatians
5:25 If (Since)
we live (have life) in the Spirit, let us also walk
in the Spirit.