The Narrow Path Ministries

This is mainly for Steve Gregg. I normally don't catch the program, but I was on my way back to work from lunch and was able to tune in for a few minutes. I only caught the tail end of the discussion with the fellow who was espousing understanding the Egyptian mysteries in order to properly understand Christianity, but I had a few comments that I think might be worthwhile to you in dealing with this fellow and others like him.

As you correctly pointed out, the guy was coming from a false premise. The bible is supposed to be "self-contained," meaning that you don't need to go to a source outside the bible to understand the bible's core message. However, there is some truth to what he was saying, as I think you'll agree.

First of all, the "mysteries" that are mentioned several times in the New Testament are mysteries that are being revealed, and the understanding of those mysteries has been included within the New Testament itself. For example, we have the "mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven" which Jesus Himself mentions in Matthew 13:11.

However, there are "mysteries" which are mentioned in the New Testament but which are not explained. For example, the author of Hebrews talks of Melchizedek in Hebrews 5:10-14, "Of whom we have many things to say that are difficult to explain, considering that you [Hebrews] are dull-witted! Even though you ought to be teachers, you need one to teach you again the first principles of the revealed word of God. ..."

This gentleman mentioned "oral traditions" of mysteries which were understood by an "elite group" in the first century. That's actually true, but these mysteries weren't required for salvation. Rather, the understanding of them was meant to be part of growing up to spiritual maturity, as the author of Hebrews plainly states.

Jesus, like the prophets who came before Him, spoke in parables. (Compare Hos. 12:10 with Mat. 13:11-17.) For those who were able to understand the mysteries illustrated by those parables, they would grow up to spiritual maturity. For those who were not able, they would remain spiritually blind and deaf. (Note that even prophets and righteous men were included in this latter group, so we can't definitively say that the latter group only consisted of people who weren't saved.)

Anyway...that's my two cents.

Damon

Thanks for putting in your two cents.

The caller on my program was trying to equate "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," with those of ancient Egyptian andf other pagan mystery cults. He was trying to establish the thesis that Christianity and even the Mosaic writings grew out of the pagan mysteries of Isis and Mithras.

There is not reasonable evidence that this is the case, in my judgment. He supported his contention by pointing-out that Moses was schooled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians before God called him (Acts 7:22). My point was that we have no evidence that he embraced these teachings, even in his youth, and even if he did, his meeting with Yahweh set the tone of all of his later religious ideas.

The dialogue, I believe, will be continued in future radio conversations.

As for the biblical teaching on the subject, in 1 Corinthians 2:6, Paul says that there were things that he reserved for teaching "the mature." He called them "the wisdom of God in a mystery" (v.7), and also "the deep things of God" (v.10).

These deep things are what Paul refers to as "solid food"—as opposed to "milk" (3:1-2). The dichotomy between solid food and milk is also found in Hebrews in the context of the writer's treatment of Melchisedek (Heb.5:12-14).

I don't necessarily think that the ideas that Paul includes in this category are very different from those that he expresses in his more "mature" epistles (e.g., Ephesians and Colossians). When Paul speaks of the "solid food," in 1 Corinthians, he says that he is referring to...

"...the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" (2:7-9)

That is, the information was not previously made known to natural men, but he then adds: "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit" (v.10).

He spoke very similarly in both Ephesians and Colossians:

"...He made known to me the mystery...which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets..." (Eph.3:3-5)

"the mystery...has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles..." (Col.1:26-27)

However, in those places, he actually identified the concepts to which he was alluding:

"...that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ" (Eph.3:6)

"...which is Christ in [or among] you, the hope of glory." (Col.1:27)

In other words, Paul mainly has the church, as the combined body of believing Jews and Gentiles, in mind when he speaks of the mystery hidden from the minds of natural men and lately revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit. These truths are unpacked in Ephesians and Colossians, which were among Paul's later epistles.

Even with these epistles to disclose these truths, Paul feels a need to pray for his readers, that they will receive sufficient spiritual revelation and insight to grasp these mighty truths (Eph.1:17-18; 3:18-19/Col.1:9).

Even the writer of Hebrews, after complaining that his readers are dull of hearing, exhorts them to move on beyond the basics, and proceeds to disclose to them the mystery of the Melchisedek priesthood of Christ.

From these data, we can learn the following about "the deep things of God"—

1. They primarily concern the issues of the union of Jew and Gentile into one body in Christ, as well as the priestly intercession of Christ on our behalf;

2. They are not necessarily a body of orally-transmitted truths that are absent from the written word, but appear to be included in the canonical New Testament;

3. They are not for some privileged, spiritually-elite klatch in the church, but are the common truths that Paul wanted all mature Christians to grasp;

4. Since they are spiritual truths (which the natural man cannot receive), an adequate apprehension of them requires special illumination from the Spirit of God, who, of course, dwells in every believer.

This seems to make Paul's "mysteries" quite independent of any taught by the cults of Mithras and Isis (obviously), since he did not believe in such deities, and since he said the mysteries were given by new, direct revelation from God—not developed from earlier paganism.

Hi Steve.

I agree with practically everything you said. The one point where I disagree only slightly is that I do think that there are certain "mysteries" which will not commonly be known among Christians, even today. Even Paul made the statement that there were certain things which were revealed to him that he was not permitted to generally share. (2 Cor. 12:1-4)

But again, things like that don't have to do with salvation.

Damon