Colossians 1:26 Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: The term "mystery," as here used twice, and often in this epistle, does not describe what is essentially incomprehensible, but rather what was hidden and is now revealed. The gospel is a mystery, but a mystery that is to be preached fully, and into which (as the word borrowed from the ancient mysteries in ver. 28 suggests) every man may be initiated. I. THE GOSPEL A MYSTERY. All religion deals with mystery. Genuine mystery is the stamp of a religious Divinity — false mystery is the counterfeit superstition stamp. In its aspect to wards the vast, the infinite, the Divine, religion must always have some mystery to man. II. The gospel a mystery that was LONG SECRET FROM MAN. "The secret things belong unto God." There are hidden facts and laws in nature that science has only gradually discovered, or is now only gradually discovering; hidden moral meanings in nature and history that poets' sight only can descry, and poets' song only describe. There were hidden things in religion that only holy men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost, could reveal. III. The gospel is a mystery that is NOW FULLY REVEALED. Whatever may have been the guesses of nobler pagans, or the anticipations of patriarchs, or the predictions of prophets, it was only as the pale light of very early dawn upon the hills of antiquity. It was noon when Christ lived, taught, died. The seal was broken, the secret revealed. What secret? IV. The gospel is THE REVEALED SECRET OF GOD'S UNIVERSAL REDEEMING LOVE. Christ is fully proclaimed, and Christ is the mystery. In Him are all the treasures of God stored away. 1. All the mystery is proclaimed in Christ. As the rainbow has all possible colours in its wondrous are, as the fabled music of the spheres has all possible tones in its chord, so in Christ is all the wisdom, righteousness, love of God. 2. All men may receive the blessings of this mystery. Christ, and Christ freely given to the Gentiles, given to be an indwelling power in them, is the great mystery which, as Paul dwelt in it, made Him proclaim it with newer and deepening joy. (U. R. Thomas.) I. THE MYSTERY. 1. The term is borrowed from the ancient systems in which certain rites and doctrines were communicated to the initiated (Philippians 4:12, and the word "perfect," which means "initiated," in ver. 28). Potentous theories have been spun out of this word. The Greek mysteries implied secrecy; the rites were done in deep obscurity; the esoteric doctrines were muttered in the ear. The Christian mysteries are spoken on the housetop, nor does the word imply anything as to the comprehensibility of the doctrines or facts which are so called. 3. We talk about "mysteries," meaning thereby truths that transcend human faculties. But the New Testament mystery may be, and most frequently is, a fact perfectly comprehensible when once spoken. "Behold I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep," etc. There is nothing incomprehensible in that. We should never have known it if we had not been told; but when told it is quite level with our faculties. The word is most frequently used in connection with the notion of declaring. It frequently occurs in this epistle and in the Ephesians, and in every instance but one refers to a fact perfectly plain when once made known — the entrance of the Gentiles into the Church. 4. Then it follows that" a steward of the mysteries "is simply a man who has truths, formerly unknown but now revealed, in charge to all who will hearken, and neither the claims of a priesthood nor the demand for the unquestioning submission of the intellect have any foundation in this much-abused term. II. THE SUBSTANCE. OF THE MYSTERY. 1. The wonderful fact that all barriers were broken down. He saw in that the proof and prophecy of the world-wide destination of the gospel. There is no greater revolution in history than the cutting loose, through Him, of Christianity from Judaism, and widening the Church to the width of the race. No wonder that he was misunderstood and hated by Jewish Christians all his days. He thinks of these once heathens and now Christians at Colossae, and of many another little community in Judea, Asia, Greece, and Italy; and as he thinks of how a solid bond of brotherhood bound them together in spite of their differences of race and culture, the vision of the oneness of mankind in the Cross of Christ shines out before him as no other man had seen it till then. 2. That Christ dwelt in their hearts. That dwelling reveals the exuberant abundance of glory. To Paul the "mystery" was all running over with riches, and blazing with fresh radiance, and the possession of Christ was a pledge of future blessedness. The closer we keep to Him the clearer will be our vision of that blessedness. Anything seems more credible to a man who has Christ abiding in Him, than that such a trifle as death should have power to end such a union. This hope is offered to all. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: |
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