Colossians 1:26-27

…the mystery hidden for all ages but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Paul is talking about the mission God had chosen him for—to make the Gospel fully known to Jews and Gentiles alike—when he talks about something that, from a modern perspective, can be easily misunderstood. Twice in these passages he uses the word musterion, or mystery, and then rather briefly he explains what it is. Jesus used the same word himself (3x in the Gospels and once in Revelation), and it appears 25 more times throughout the New Testament. Interestingly, it only appears four times in the Old Testament, and only in the Book of Daniel.

In Paul’s day musterion was a technical term utilized by the “mystery religions” which referred to secrets concealed by strange customs and ceremonies and confided only to those initiated into the “mystery cult”. Mystery in modern usage is similar to this ancient use, for it usually means a secret for which no answer can be found. In contrast to this contemporary use of “mystery”, Scripture uses musterion to indicate truth which was previously unknown, but which now has been made known through revelation mediated by God. Stated another way, it is a secret purpose of God which, when uncovered, is understood by the Spirit-taught believer…which is why Paul noted that it had been “revealed to his saints.”

So…what’s the big mystery?

For over two thousand years—from the time of Abraham until Jesus’ ministry—God had chosen to reveal himself specifically to only one group of people. Through the line of Abraham we get to Israel itself (the Jews), and in all those years, not only was God untouchable, so to speak, but He was also containing his affections to the Jewish people. Jesus’ ministry changed all of that…to say the least. He opened God’s Family to ANYONE that would believe in him, and instead of remaining at a distance, Christ himself—God himself—would take up residence in the hearts of His people. Now to us, this is rather simple biblical teaching, but to Paul’s audience it was MIND BLOWING. F. B. Meyer exclaims: “That He should dwell in the heart of a child of Abraham was deemed a marvelous act of condescension, but that He should find a home in the heart of a Gentile was incredible.”

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We who have grown up in Christian surroundings tend to take all of this for granted. But think of the excitement this message must have generated in a church composed of new believers who had no background in the church. Once they were outside the covenants of God, but now they were members of His family. Once they were living in spiritual ignorance and death, but now they were alive and sharing in the riches of God’s wisdom in Christ. Once they had no hope, but now they had a glorious hope because Christ now lived within! It would be good for us today to recapture some of that “first love” excitement, especially because without Christ in us…we were Gentiles, too.