God’s Secrets
And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Luke 8:10 NASB
Mysteries – Do you know God’s secrets? Have you heard that still, small voice of the Spirit whispering to you something quite amazing, some private revelation so that you know the truth? Has God chosen you to bear witness in a way no other human being can? Ah, the wonder of a mystery, that secret piece of information that sets you apart from all those others. How comforting! You are special indeed.
Of course, the problem is that the word mysterion doesn’t mean anything like the description above. In fact, in the first century this Greek word was borrowed by the rabbis to describe the oral Torah! It appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QpHab 7:8; 1 OS 3:23; 1 QM 3:9; 16:14; 17:17 and CD 3:18) to describe the unique teachings of the Qumran sect. Tanhuma, Veyerah 5 uses this Greek word to specifically designate the oral Torah. When Yeshua tells his disciples that they have been granted the ability to know the “mysteries,” he is not talking about some kind of hidden knowledge. Yeshua is no gnostic. He is speaking about understanding what he said via the oral Torah.
In other words, God’s “secrets” are not secret at all. There aren’t any secrets. Everything YHVH wants us to know is revealed, either through the prophets, the writings or the rabbis (no, I didn’t say they were of equal weight). What the rabbis offer is elaboration and application of the written text. Yeshua, as rabbi, does exactly the same thing—and he points his disciples toward his oral Torah as the way to understand the meaning of his teaching. The gospels are, in essence, an addition to the oral Torah in the same genre as the oral Torah of the sages.
We, of course, ignore all this. We have the Spirit who directly speaks to us. Why bother with all those centuries of exploration, debate and practical application? That’s Jewish! We are Christians. We don’t need all that Jewish stuff. We have direct access to God Himself and, after all, each one of us is a priest. No need to study history or language or those who wrestle with such questions. We’ll just pray and let the Spirit tell us what the text means.
Perhaps a bit of satire will shake loose this dominant Western prejudice. Undoubtedly, you have already recognized its grip and have begun the process of letting go. But maybe you need a reminder. Mysterion is not your word. It is a word that belongs to the rabbis of the first century and it needs to be understood as they used it. If this rings true, if you had to reassess what you thought about “mysteries,” then maybe there are some other words that need to be reassessed. Like atonement, salvation, grace, wrath, judgment, peace, righteousness, obedience, just to name a few.
Topical Index: mysteries, mysterion, oral Torah, Luke 8:10
The oral Torah He was specifically referring to, of course, was His (like the Sermon on the Mount, which exploded (expanded) Torah, not REPLACED it), because the other oral Torah anybody could go sit at the feet of any of the other rabbis to learn. The multitude got the parable of the Good Seed. The disciples got the interpretation and explanation. Of course, any oral anything that does not line up with the obvious meaning of the written one can be safely ignored or taken with the same grain of salt we all should take what each other says with. I mean, there’s some pretty weird stuff some rabbis have said that I have searched that Good Book from cover to cover and cannot find. I take it that they were humans who thought they were getting some special, private interpretation. Not. Back to the written Word. And Skip, who insists on trying to understand what it is, obviously, of course, trying to tell us. Thanks, Skip!
This is the number one obstacle I encounter when trying to discuss the relevance of the Torah for us today. “I’m lead by the Spirit brother” or “the Sprit tells me how to follow His word”. You’re right on target with this discussion Skip. I’ve actually heard the phrase “This Jew stuff” spoken with such disdain that it sent chills up my spine.
Up AND DOWN our spines, Gary, YES! We continue to learn when to speak (to those who are open-minded, curious) and when to be silent (with the disdainful ones) and, as you say, we still err.
I don’t think I’ve ever connected the “still small voice” with understanding “mysteries”. The misuse of terms like “being led by the Spirit”, etc. has been mentioned in several TW. I agree, many times it is but…does that mean that we as God’s people never have the experience of God speaking specifically into certain situations or even just to encourage us and remind us He is there and to have a relationship? My experience is that He does. I love learning Torah and obeying it. I love and am deeply challenged by all the terms, concepts, and beliefs I am reassessing mainly because of these TWs. I’m deeply troubled by all the misconceptions we Christians have and often feel overwhelmed by it all. Once I just sat down on my living room floor in despair and said, “Lord, this is too much.” His peace came over me and I heard three words, “I am here”. This was totally unexpected. Theology or “truth” would not have helped me at that time – I had had plenty of that. My heavenly Father knew I needed Him and His reassurance.
Ingela, thank you. Yes, YHVH or Yeshua or one of God’s Messengers has spoken to me like that a few times. I have no witnesses, but I am “sure” the Voice was audible. It was always unexpected, as you described. These were “other world,” super powerful, clear, messages/sound that was strangely loving… and they were short. Once, I was hanging out the laundry and I heard the Voice say, “Pray.” I almost fell on my face in my yard, I was so stunned. A time much earlier than that, when I had just become an orphan, I heard the Voice, in a body of a man who came out of nowhere and walked right up to me, say, “It will be ok.”
No, I’m not nuts. No, these aren’t some profound theology or “truth.” It was a particular “blanket of encouragement” given to me at a moment when God saw fit. While these experiences are definitely mysteries, they have zero to do with “religion” or “revelation” or words lofty and prophetic. They are just Words coming from a Father to His daughter when He chose to shock me “alert” and warm me in that way. Nothing intellectual about it at all.
Praise Him forever.
“…atonement, salvation, grace, wrath, judgment, peace, righteousness, obedience, just to name a few.”
I hope you will be able to get to these as well (eventually), Skip!
Fortunately, I have a lifetime to do it. I’ll need it.
Any and All
“It is written.” These three words ’bout say it all. All we need for life and for godliness are contained and revealed within the writtens instructions of God’s love letter to His children, our beloved Bible. There are no private revelations, for there is nothing that is known that has not been known before. I may experience these “aha” moments, which may be mine, but I am not the first, neither will I be the last!!
God does, however, deal with us One-to-one, very similar to a Father loving each of His unique children. And if God does “speak,” it will be according to His written word. The will of God and the wisdom of God is fully revealed (for whosoever will) within the word of God.
“Whosoever will” is pretty much an open invitation to (?) “whosoever will!” This greatest RSVP ever is public, yet personal. Because God is not willing that [ANY] should perish, but that [ALL] should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-10)
Mysterion or mystery is now fully revealed within the written and completed word of God, our inspired (God-breathed) Bible. There is much mystery yet to be discovered in this gold mine, and it is our Father’s good pleasure that we “look, find and feast” upon the pleasant, eternal, life-giving treasures in the life-giving, life-imparting words of our LORD. Perhaps, Solomon said it best: ~ Listen, [shema!] my son, to your Father’s instruction and do not forsake your Mother’s teaching ~ Proverbs 1.8 Selah.
The most wonderful mystery of all was right before their eyes: Yeshua himself ~ ” the word became flesh” present here – from before the foundations of the world as we were…and God said ‘Remember” how many times? mmmmmmm……
Having the Spirit who directly speaks to me and studying all that Jewish stuff is like peas and carrots.
I’m not sure what you meant. Both vegetables. Both nutritious. Both kosher. Why wouldn’t I want both?
Sorry. It’s farmer speak. It’s an idiom referring to two separate items that work really well together when combined.
Being a geek, looking at the Greek of Luke, and seeing the rendering of “parable”, I see parabole, which takes my mind to parabola…
A parabola is a curve where any point is at an equal distance from:
a fixed point (the focus), and a fixed straight line (the directrix)
A parabola has this amazing property:
Any ray parallel to the axis of symmetry gets reflected off the surface straight to the focus.
And that explains why that dot is called the focus …
… because that’s where all the rays get focused!
Did he speak in parables so that the “deaf”and “blind” (by choice, I might add – imho) might have the opportunity to reflect and perhaps find the focus through rays of enlightenment?