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The main job of pastors, teachers, elders is to communicate
mystery doctrines. Communicating Bible truth is the primary focus
of the command to elders in 1 Peter 5:2 to "Feed the flock
of God which is among you..."
1 Cor 4:1, "Let a person regard us as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God."
1 Cor 2:7, "But we communicate God's wisdom in a mystery,
the hidden assets which God predestined before the ages to our
glory."
1 Tim 3:9, "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."
So it is the pastor's job to uphold the mystery, to inculcate,
to repeat and teach the mystery.
Etymology and Historical Context
The Greek word (musterion) means "mystery". This noun
had originally been used in reference to the secrets of ancient
mystery cults. Paul used it in technical, theological sense to
indicate that the Church Age doctrine was totally unknown in Old
Testament times. This noun is generally in the plural, referring
to a number of doctrines not known in the Old Testament.
This noun was originally used of the ancient fraternities during
the 7th through 4th centuries throughout ancient Greece which
employed secret doctrines and secret ceremonies. Only those who
were initiated into the fraternity knew the mystery doctrine or
their secrets.
Some of the famous mystery cults included Elusis adopted by Athens.
Isis, the cult of Egypt, spread to Corinth and included as one
of its initiates the famous doctor Opulais. The mystery sorority
of Dionysus for women only included dancing, drinking, drugs,
ecstatics, madness, lesbianism, ritual shouting, and human sacrifice.
The mystery cult of Mythris was for men only; the male worshippers
of Sybile castrated themselves in the frenzy of the rites. The
Orphic mystery cults centered around the singer Orpheus; it was
adopted as a mystery system called Orphic theology. It emphasized
purification, and the means whereby the soul might escape the
body and ascend into the realm of the blessed. A tremendous amount
of human sacrifice was related to these cults.
The mystery cults of the ancient world were based on Greek, Egyptian,
and Roman mythology. Most of these mystery fraternities were related
to the gods or goddesses of the underworld like Dimetre, Dionysus,
Sybile, Adonis, Isis. They are related to the growth of crops:
they die in the winter, come back in the spring. Thus, human sacrifices
were offered in the winter so that in the spring everything would
come back.
Every Hellenistic fraternity had secret doctrines and cultic rites
in which the destinies of the gods were portrayed, and those initiated
were supposed to share the fate of these gods.
Therefore, a vocabulary was developed in the Attic Greek.
The Greek word (mueo) means to be initiated into the mysteries
of the fraternity. This initiation involved teaching someone the
secrets and doctrines of the fraternity which were never to be
revealed to outsiders. So to be initiated meant to learn so as
to pass the test, so that you know what your fraternity stood
for.
The Greek word (muste) referred to those who were initiated, to
those who persevered until they actually learned all the fraternity
doctrine.
The word (mustikos) was used for the secret rites of the doctrines
that had to be learned. So all the doctrines were called (mustikos).
The word (musterion) came down into the Koine and is the word
used in the New Testament. (musterion) refers to the content of
the doctrine, the actual principles and points that had to be
learned.
(musterion) was used to describe the false doctrines of these
ancient Greek fraternities. But the apostle Paul took this noun
away from the Greek fraternities and gnostic cosmology and gave
it, under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, a Biblical definition
which stands in the Word of God forever. It now becomes a part
of our vocabulary.
While most of the attic Greek words remained in the realm of demonism,
false doctrine, cults, promiscuity, human sacrifice, yet our noun
(musterion) is a Biblical word used twenty-three times in the
New Testament. Paul uses it twenty-one times.
Jesus Christ used the noun for the first time when He first presented
Church Age doctrine to the disciples in Mt 13:11 and Mk 4:10-11.
A parable is a story about some common event designed to teach
something. The disciples were trying to understand why our Lord
taught in the form of parables. Our Lord answered in Mt 13:11,
"To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them [unbelievers] it has not been given."
Col. 1:26-27; Rom 16:25-26
Send comments or questions to:
Warren Doud...
1705 Aggie Lane
Austin, Texas 78757