If you’ve ever read Agatha Christie, you probably like mysteries. She writes whodunit stories. Who committed the murder? At the start of the book, you can’t tell who did it. She drops hints here and there, but not until near the end is the evidence strong enough that you know who the murderer is.  

The NT uses the word mystery a lot. And you might be surprised by what the NT authors call a mystery.  

The Greek word mystērion, which looks a lot like the English word mystery, occurs twenty-seven times in the NT. That makes it a somewhat rare word.  

I will call these OT mysteries, even though they occur in the NT. That is, they were mysteries in the OT, but they’re not mysteries now.  

The NT does not categorize these twenty-seven mysteries. But commentators break them down into some number of major OT mysteries. Some say that there are eight OT mysteries (versebyverseministry.org; Carl Joseph ministries). Christianity201 says there are four. Crosswalk.com says there are seven. Israelmyglory.org says there are five. There is no agreement on the number or on the mysteries themselves. I’d say they include the kingdom, the Rapture, the Church, lawlessness, godliness, and God/Christ. Six major categories.  

Before I discuss those six, there’s a misleading statement that needs to be cleared up.  

Gotquestions.org says, “the secret of being godly was hidden but is now revealed.” It also says, “We would never have been able to comprehend the way to eternal life without the coming of Jesus, His death and resurrection.” 

That is incorrect. Jesus rebuked Nicodemus for not understanding these things (John 3). Adam and Eve believed in the coming Christ for eternal life. So did Abraham, Moses, David and all the OT believers.  

Now, here are what I consider the six major categories of mysteries. 

Mystery (mysteries) of the kingdom (Matt 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10). The kingdom was clearly taught in Daniel and in many OT books. But many aspects of the kingdom were unknown, such as the New Jerusalem, the Millennium, what Daniel’s seventy weeks means, etc.  

Mystery of the Church (Rom 11:25, engrafted; 16:25; 1 Cor 4:1; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; Col 1:26, 27). The church age was a mystery in the OT. But it is taught in the OT. See, for example Ps 45:7-9. The royal women in v 9 refers to God’s chosen people, Israel. The bride refers to the Bride of Christ, the Church. But without NT revelation, you’d not understand that. 

The Rapture (1 Cor 15:51). There are hints of the Rapture in Enoch’s and Elijah’s being taken up to heaven and in the saving of Noah and his family from worldwide tribulation. The rapture of church-age believers was, however, a mystery in the OT.  

Lawlessness. It is well known in Scripture that the world opposes God and His plans. But this mystery concerns a coming time when lawlessness will increase greatly because the restrainer (2 Thess 2:7), whoever or whatever that is, will be taken away. 

Godliness. In what sense was godliness ever a mystery?  In his commentary on the pastoral epistles, Knight comments, “The RSV and NEB have captured the sense well in their rendering ‘the mystery of our religion’ (cf. BAGD: ‘the duty that man owes to God, piety, godliness, religion’)” (p. 182).  

In this view the Christian religion was a mystery in the OT.  

Luke Timothy Johnson comments, “Used here to introduce a summary of Christian confession, it is virtually equivalent to ‘the mystery of faith’” (p. 232).  

God and Christ. Colossians 2:2 speaks of the mystery of God, “both of the Father and of Christ.” Like the kingdom, the existence of God and of the Messiah were not mysteries in the OT. However, there is much about God and Christ that was unknown in the OT. Of course, there are many more mysteries concerning God and Christ; we know only what Scripture has revealed.  

So, what does mystery mean in the NT? 

It does not mean something never revealed. 

The kingdom, the idea of a Rapture, God and Christ, and all the mysteries are found in the OT. But many aspects of these teachings are not clear until NT revelation.  

Mystery in the NT means something that could not have been fully understood until further revelation was given.  

That is the key: To be understood, further revelation is needed.  

Think of Agatha Christie. In her stories, is the murderer’s name unknown until point in the story when the mystery is solved? Not at all. The murderer is known by name long before he or she is revealed.   

In the same way, many teachings in the OT are mysteries pending later revelation in the NT, especially in the epistles.  

One final question. Are there remaining mysteries that we cannot understand without further revelation? Absolutely! Paul said, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Cor 13:12).  

For example, we do not know whether children will be born on the new earth (Rev 21-22). Who will live in New Jerusalem? Will we explore the planets? Will humans live on the planets? Will we work with angels? Will we be able to talk with animals? What will rulers do? Non-rulers? Will we look the way we should have looked in our prime if everything were as God intended? Or will we look like old people, but with the mind and vitality of people in their prime? How often will we be able to have a private meeting with the Lord Jesus? Every century? Every millennium? (Keep in mind that there will be lots of people, and He will be in only one place at one time in bodily form.) We can speculate. But we cannot be sure of many things that are to come. 

Keep grace in focus as you await our glorious futures with Christ.