Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. That I may manifest it as I ought to speak (Colossians 4:3).

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for the saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel (or the door to the mystery). For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:18-20).

An important question was raised by a friend recently. As Christians were we doing enough to preach the gospel to the unsaved? he asked. Sure, it was tough to do so but weren’t many going unsaved because we had given up trying to convert them? Good point. Fact is these days it’s so hard to tell unbelievers about the gospel few street preachers still try to do, some at the risk of being arrested for speaking out.

But you know, it’s even harder to speak out to church goers about what scripture calls the mystery.  This, because, to most Christians the mystery remains just that, a mystery of the Agatha Christie kind, not the sacred and hugely important secret hid by God down the ages of human history until revealed to and through the Apostle Paul.

And, no, the mystery is not just that Jew and Gentile are now brought together in a new body in Christ, as most Bible commentators insist. There is much more to it than that. You see God would have his saints know…

…the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you (Gentiles), the hope of glory whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:27-28).

The mystery’s “riches” then are that we are being made fit to live forever with Him in glory because He is filling us within with all the fullness of who He is as God Almighty. Now, the word mystery is found seven times in the New Testament. In Greek the word musterion means a vital secret, long hid but now revealed.

This secret is that our final, complete and eternal salvation has already been accomplished through the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord achieves this practically in by first indwelling us then totally absorbing us into the body and person of Himself.

So hated by Satan is this wonderful new revelation of the mystery that he fiercely opposed and persecuted the Apostle Paul to the point he was scarcely able speak about the mystery at all. Indeed, locked in the depths of the dark and dreaded Mamertine prison and in chains how could he then …

…make all men see what is the fellowship (here the Greek also means dispensation) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:9).

To the apostle it seemed utterly impossible to do this. Which is why Paul in the verses above seeks prayer from others that God may give him “utterance ... that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel”. That mystery is the latest “good news” from God, that now faithful believers can be made so much a part of Christ that they can live forever with Him in glory.

It seems the Lord must open “a door” for the apostle in his dark, dank prison cell before this vital message can be made known to saints throughout the world. And open a door He did, but not in the way Paul or you and I could expect.

Fact is God opened a door for Paul to both speak and have an audience through his writings, through letters to churches and his fellow ministers that became a large part of a book, the New Testament Canon. This is why in Ephesians 3:1-7 he declares…

How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words.

Notice that it is by writing that both the “dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you (the Gentiles) ward” and the “mystery” is now declared. That writing is now the means by which God transmits his latest “good news”, and not through prophets or priests or even pastors and teachers (other than Jesus and Paul, that is) is reinforced by verse 4 in which Paul challenges saints to read what he wrote to understand his knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

And it is further affirmed by Romans 16:25-28 which declares that the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began is now made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets not their audibly spoken words. And this by the commandment of God that the mystery should be made known by the scriptures to all nations for the obedience of faith.

The phrase “scriptures of the prophets” warrants a closer look. You might think it refers to the Old Testament prophets. Certainly, nearly all major commentators think so. But this is not the case. What is referred to here is the “more sure word of prophecy” as the Apostle Peter describes it in 2 Peter 1:19. It’s “more sure” not only because it is spoken by the Lord but also because it is written down in preserved scripture Thus, it is the written word of prophecy that is supreme importance because it is in fact God dictating the writing of it.

A literal word-for-word translation of the phrase “the scriptures of the prophets” is:

• αἱ (hai): The (feminine, plural)
• γραφαὶ (graphai): writings / scriptures (derived from the root meaning "to write")
• τῶν (tōn): of the (genitive, plural)
• προφητῶν (prophētōn): prophets (derived from propheteuo, meaning to "speak forth" or "declare") [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

So now in the new dispensation of grace revealed to and through the Apostle Paul to us Gentiles, the truths of the mystery are only proclaimed through the apostle’s written epistles.

 Sadly, because commentators and most Christians believe there is just one, universal gospel, they will not acknowledge that that Paul’s “my gospel” and the “preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery” are the latest word received from God and that they comprise a new and different gospel message.

Th0065 truth is there is no such thing as just one gospel. There are several. Indeed, many times in his long dealings with mankind the Lord has introduced new commandments and new truth to draw people to Himself. All gospels are “good news”, and good news is what the Lord announces each time He brings new and greater means of salvation.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: johndaldworth42@gmail.com