Defining The Word "Mystery"

“This Is a Great Mystery...” Ephesians 5:32

What comes to mind when the word “mystery” is used? We might think of that which is unknowable, something that is beyond us, that which we do not have the ability to comprehend, or even that which is contradictory. We see this explanation in the writings of some theologians. But when we look at the Bible's use of the word “mystery,” we see something different: The word “mystery” in the Bible means a truth that is or was a secret, later to be revealed.

John Murray explains the Biblical usage of this word in Redemption Accomplished and Applied. He writes, “We are liable to use the word [mystery] to designate something that is completely unintelligible and of which we cannot have any understanding. That is not the sense of Scripture.” Murray goes on to say that a mystery is something which was hidden in the mind of God, but that it did not continue to be hidden: God has made it known.



This is how the word mystery is used in Colossians 1:26. The mystery of the Gentiles is said to have been hidden, but now has been revealed. Romans 16:25 speaks of a mystery which was hidden in times past, but has now been revealed. Mystery is not opposed to comprehension, it stands in contrast to that which is made known. God has disclosed Himself in words, and man is to receive them.

There is difference between saying that a given truth is not known, and saying that it cannot be known. There is a temptation to think, if I don't understand a concept, then it is not understandable. But that is an unwarranted leap. To some, it may may seem that it is a display of humility or piety to declare that the truth of God is unknowable. That God reveals to man knowledge about Himself that is comprehensible is rejected by Herman Bavinck. He expresses this opinion when he says, “...the idea that the believer would be able to understand and comprehend intellectually the revealed mysteries is...unscriptural. On the contrary, the truth which God has revealed concerning himself in nature and in Scripture far surpasses human conception and comprehension.”




Yet Jesus tells His disciples, to them it has been given, to know mysteries (Luke 8:10).

And what good news that is, that God's Word is given that we can comprehend it. We should hold on to those truths which God has made known. Because knowing Him is eternal life.


"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

Preparing Children for Worship

With forethought and anticipation, we can prepare ourselves for corporate worship Sunday morning. And as parents, we can help prepare our children for the worship of God. This is a great privilege.

Having conversations with our children on the way to church which anticipate which hymns we'll sing and what we might learn does much to turn our mindset from our distractions.

I am thankful to attend a church that not only allows children to join in the corporate Sunday morning worship, but welcomes them. There are churches which actually stop people at the door who want to bring a young child in to that corporate gathering which Scripture commands us to not neglect (Hebrews 10:25).

More Than Just Sitting Quietly

Having our children in the service with the adults, we have had to teach them to sit quietly. But sitting quietly is not the end goal. We want them to be able to participate, and to know that what we do as a corporate body is not just for them when they are older, it is for them fully now, especially if they believe the same Word of truth.



Knowing the songs we sing and and the creed we recite helps them be a participant in the corporate worship. I just started teaching my two and a half year old the Nicene Creed, which our church recites together as a body every Sunday. I didn't choose to teach her the Nicene Creed because it is the single most valuable thing she can have memorized at her age, but because I think enabling her to participate Sunday morning is important.

Besides participation with the corporate body, one added benefit of teaching hymns and creeds at home to your children is, the truths they are learning leads to discussions such as, What is meant by the phrase His Word can't be broken, in Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken? Or what does it mean to say that Christ is the second Adam from above, in Hark the Herald Angels Sing? Elect from every nation, we learn in The Church's One Foundation.

Even little ones can be engaged during the sermon by keeping track of words and concepts they recognize. When my older children were three and four years old, we used a peg board with words written on it. They move the peg around and place it next to the familiar word they have heard.



Later we moved to tally marks.



At five and six years old, they started drawing a visual narration from the sermon.





After church, I would have them tell me what the sermon was about, and I would write their narration down.



All of these things could be a distraction for some children instead of a help. The important thing is that our children know that we come to church to worship Him. And children are included.

Tortured For Christ

Read Tortured For Christ, and you will know how you can help the underground church, the church which believes the same gospel you do, but lives in countries where it is against the law to talk of such things. I know, it's overwhelming, because there are so many needs and so many people. Go here to see which countries have laws against believing Christianity to be true or teaching Christianity to others:

http://www.persecution.com/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51

"The underground church is like a surgeon who travels by train. The train collided with another train, and hundreds of people lay on the ground, mangled, injured, dying. The surgeon walked among the dying, crying out: 'If only I had my tools! If only I had my tools!' With these surgical instruments he could have saved many lives. He had the willingness, but he did not have the tools. This is where the underground church stands. It is so willing to give all. It is so willing to give its martyrs! It is so willing to risk years in prisons! But all of its willingness is of no value if it does not have the tools with which to work. The plea of the faithful, courageous, underground church to you who are free is: 'Give us the tools- the Gospels, the Bibles, the literature, the help- and we will do the rest.'"

Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured For Christ

When Richard Wurmbrand received Bibles in Romania from American and British Christians, he met two men who had walked from a nearby village to shovel snow all winter to buy a Bible. Wurmbrand gave them a Bible and refused their money, and they took it back to their village and dividing the Bible into thirty sections. Those thirty people received their piece of the Bible with joy!

Voice of the Martyrs send Bibles into restricted nations through the donations of people who love Christians they have never met. Voice of the Martyrs also financially supports the families left behind when a Christian is arrested or killed. Oftentimes, it is made a crime to help the family of a Christian martyr. When Wurmbrand and his wife were arrested, a woman risked her life by taking their son into her house. She was sentenced to eight years in prison. All of her teeth were kicked out. Her bones were broken. She was crippled for life, never able to work again.

"The underground church works under very difficult conditions. Atheism is the state religion in all the Communist countries. They give relative freedom for the elderly to believe, but children and youth must not believe. Everything in these countries and other kinds of captive nations- radio, television, cinema, theater, press, and publishing houses- has the aim of stamping out belief in Jesus Christ. The underground church has very little means of opposing the huge forces of the totalitarian state. The underground ministers in Russia had no theological training. There are Chinese pastors today who have never read the entire Bible."

Tortured For Christ was written in 1967. Today, it is estimated that 171,000 Christians are martyrs every year. The examples of what Christians have been willing to suffer for their faith, then and now, is so far beyond what what most of us will ever experience. Yet our prosperity can be meaningful in so many ways if we so choose. Our prosperity can travel throughout the world for His sake.

The Threefold Division of Faith

We know that we are justified through faith alone. Or do we? If we don't know what the word faith means, do we know what it means to be justified by it? We ought to want to know the Scriptures more, because it is the mind of God revealed. We ought to want to know the Scriptures more, just because we want to know Him more. But oftentimes, we do need a push from the practical, a concrete reason for why I should learn this. This is a question some might have when reading about the threefold division of faith. I will conveniently save the reason for the end.

The historic formulation of faith includes three components: Knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge is defined as the apprehension of a doctrine. Assent is believing the doctrine to be true. Trust, according to John Murray in Redemption Accomplished and Applied, is commitment to Christ and reliance upon Him. Although this threefold division of faith is taught by the reformers such as Martin Luther, Melanchthon, John Calvin, and by more modern theologians such as John Murray and James Boice, holding to sola scriptura means it is necessary to ask, what do the Scriptures say? Is faith defined in the Bible as being knowledge, assent and trust? It may seem presumptuous to depart from such a commonly held position. It goes without saying that we owe these men a debt of gratitude for the recovery of the gospel in the case of the reformers, and that the church has gained much wisdom from the teaching of these men. But to believe a doctrine simply because it is the commonly held view among theologians would be a form of personality worship.

It is common to hear Christians say, as John Calvin did, that we are not saved by mere assent. Something more is needed, and that something more is trust.



Certainly, the Bible does teach that God's people do trust Him and ought to trust Him. To agree to this is not the same thing as agreeing to the threefold view of faith. There are many things that God's people do and ought to do. The people of God love another (I John 2:10). Yet brotherly love is not a part of the definition of the word faith. We must still ask, how does the Bible define the word faith?

The Greek word in the New Testament which is translated as believe in English, when it appears in the noun form, is translated as faith or belief. What is the verb form of the word faith? It is believe. Faith and belief are synonymous terms in Scripture.

We all believe propositions, so we all have faith. Today, the word faith is sometimes used to mean believing something irrational, sometimes even believing something because it is irrational. This is not the Biblical use of the word faith. This is not a Christian idea. To have faith is to believe something to be true. So saving faith is believing that the message of the gospel is true. Atheists have faith too, they just assent to different doctrines.

What does the threefold division of faith say about salvation? It has lead some to say that belief in the gospel is not enough. The conclusion of this distinction is that is it possible to comprehend the gospel, and to believe all the propositions of the gospel, and yet to not be saved; it teaches that one can fall short of redemption due to a lack of trust. This is what Tedd Tripp, author of Shepherding a Child's Heart, says in a recent issue of Tabletalk magazine (October, 2010). He writes, “...mere knowledge and even assent to the truth, while essential, are not sufficient for our children to have saving faith...According to the Reformers, these two are not enough.”



This undercuts the the teaching of Scripture regarding belief. John 3:16 assures us that all who believe have everlasting life. I Timothy 1:16 says that we believe unto eternal life. Galatians 3:22 tells us that Christ's promise is for all those who believe. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says that God chose us for salvation, and that salvation is through belief. Romans 3:22 teaches that the righteousness of God is to all who believe. The Bible teaches again and again, that all those who believe the gospel are numbered among the redeemed (this does not mean that all those who say they believe the gospel actually do). In light of this, are we really willing to say that a person can believe the gospel and not be saved?

Still, there are some who say, just believing it not enough. It is to easy.



It should be emphasized, as Murray does, that it is not our faith that saves, but it is God who saves through faith. It is the object of our faith that matters.

Hearing this, one may then wonder, how is our believing different from the demons, seeing that James tells us the demons believe, and tremble (James 2:19)? It is the content of their belief which is different. The demons believe there is one God. God's people believe in substitutionary atonement, and many other things.

So why does it matter how many components there are to faith? In light of the importance the Scriptures place on faith, that it is the sole instrument of our justification, few things are more important than clearly defining what faith is, in our own mind, and to others. And who knows, we may be asked by a friend or a neighbor, or even our own children, What must I do to be saved? Our answer needs to be clear: Simply believe on Him who is able to save.