The Mysteries Given to Paul
Earlier we had touched upon the various mysteries/secrets given to Paul by our Lord Jesus. You are certainly aware that these mysteries were revealed to no one else but Paul and proclaimed a revolutionary change in God‘s plans for mankind.
These mysteries served to give proof positive that God was truly opening up a new door framed upon the foundation laid by Paul, and given to him by Jesus,
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me (Paul), as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every
man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”
(1 Corinthians 3: 10)
Through Paul, Jesus is “constructing” His Body of Christ. Paul was, in essence, the spiritual contractor who read the blueprints of the new Gospel of Grace and set the underpinnings of His Gospel. We are to build our temples upon Paul’s teachings:
“…for ye are the temples of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
(2 Corinthians 6: 16)
The amazing mysteries provide the brick and mortar of the Gospel of Grace. You will not find these mysteries anywhere else in the Bible. I would advise that as you read the following scriptures, please have your Bible by your side which will enable you to examine the context within which the scriptures are written:
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THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES OF JESUS
Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Romans 16: 25 “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the
mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”
1 Cor. 2:7 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.”
1 Cor. 4:1 “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
1 Cor. 15:51 ” Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”
Ephesians 1:9 “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.”
Ephesians 3:3 “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words.)”
Ephesians 3:4 “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery
of Christ.”
Ephesians 3:9 “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”
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Ephesians 5:32 “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.”
Ephesians 6:19 “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.”
Colossians 1:26 “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.”
Colossians1:27 “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Colossians 2:2 “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.”
Colossians 4:3 “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.”
These fifteen mysteries are found only in Paul’s epistles. The readers will not find them in any other book(s) of the Bible. They disclose the incredible “newness of Spirit” principles that Jesus wanted all the world to understand and believe.
Narrowing Down God’s Incredible Mysteries
Bible teacher Les Feldick compresses the fifteen mysteries into six more specific foundational elements, all inherent within the umbrella of the overall “mystery:”
1. The mystery of His will Ephesians 1:9
2. The mystery of Christ Ephesians 3: 4
3. The mystery of the Body of Christ Colossians 1: 25-26
4. The mystery of God Colossians 2:2
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5. The mystery of Israel “blended” Romans 11: 25
6. The mystery of the Rapture 1 Corinthians 15: 51
I believe it is vital for the reader to truly understand the magnificence of these mysteries, never having been revealed to anyone other than Paul. Jesus did not give these mysteries to Peter. He determined by His plan, purpose and will, to usher in a new direction - the Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ.
THE DOCTRINES OF PAUL AS GIVEN HIM BY JESUS CHRIST
The Doctrines of Paul
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “doctrine” as instruction, or body of principles. As you may have discovered above, the mysteries of God are startlingly different from the Gospel message preached by Jesus, Peter and John the Baptist. These mysteries shape the doctrines that form the foundation of our faith.
These doctrines, which compose the Gospel of Grace, were developed by Jesus to convey to the human race the magnificence of His love toward us.
To fully appreciate the doctrines given to Paul, William R. Newell has succinctly recorded the transforming and wonderful “principles” extracted from the mysteries/secrets, which Jesus commanded Paul to write in his epistles.
These doctrines show how status quo Judaism was “shaken up” and displays how they sometimes prompted the unbelieving Jews, upon hearing Paul preach, to protest by angrily bellowing:
“These (Paul and his disciples) that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.(Thessalonica) Whom Jason (a believer) hath received: and these all 179
do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.”
(Acts 17: 6b,7,8) Jesus Christ was presenting to the Gentiles and the Nation of Israel a new Gospel - the Gospel of Grace. Some accepted his message, but most ridiculed it. The following verse gives us an idea of how some unbelievers reacted to Paul’s Gospel:
“But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.”
(Acts 17: 5)
However, praise be to God, those few Jews who did truly believe in Paul’s message are in heaven now, awaiting the resurrection. In all probability, they long more than we do for their resurrected body because they are yet in spirit form, in whatever distinct reality that may entail.
Let us now observe the 13 thirteen doctrines that William R. Newell extracted from the mysteries given to Paul by our Lord Jesus. Remember - these doctrines have their foundation in the mysteries earlier observed. They are a masterpiece of simplicity and clarity.
NEWELLS’ DOCTRINAL PRINCIPLES
Newells’ principles present an elegant dissection of the myriad mysteries given to Paul.
The following is a verbatim recording of Newells’ step-by-step explanation of the mysteries: 1. The unrighteousness before God of all men.
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2. The impossibility of justification by works before God-that-is, of any man‘s attaining a standard of righteousness, before God, by anything done by him. Do what a man may, he is a condemned sinner still.
3. The fact and the scripturalness of righteousness on the free gift principle that is, of a Divine Righteousness, separate from all man’s doings, conferred upon man as a free gift of God.
4. Propitiation: That satisfaction of God’s Holy nature and law for man’s law for man’s sins rendered by Christ’s blood.
5. Reconciliation: The removal, by Christ’s death for man, of that obstacle to righteousness which man’s sin had set up between God and man.
6. Justification: The plan of actual conferring of the gift of righteousness upon all who believe, without any distinction. This change of a sinner’s standing before God, from one of condemnation to one of righteousness, is called Justification.
Negatively, it is deliverance from guilt because of Christ’s shed blood, and deliverance out of the old creation, by identification in death with Christ on the Cross. Positively, it is a new standing in the risen Christ before God.
7. Redemption: The buying back of the soul through the blood of Christ from sin, from the curse of the law - even death, involving, exclusion from God, under penalty; from the “penalty of death,” which involves the hand of the enemy; and from all iniquity.”
8. Forgiveness: The going forth of Divine tenderness in remitting penalty for sin, in view of the blood of Christ trusted in; and in complacency and fellowship, to 181
creatures who before we’re necessarily under Divine judgment.”
9. Remission of sins: The actual removing of transgressions or trespasses from the sinner, so that for all time and eternity his sins shall not again be upon him.”
10. Identification: The great fact that those who are in Christ were united with Him at the Cross, by God’s sovereign inscrutable act; were crucified with Christ and buried with Him; so that their history is now ended before God; and when Christ was raised up as the Firstborn of the new creation, they also were raised up with Him, and their history began as new creatures in God’s sight, in Christ, the last Adam.
Of course, in the experience of the Christian, there comes a time when he is actually made partaker of this new life - that point of time when he is, as we say, saved, or converted, or born again, etc. Nevertheless, the life that is in every Christian came up out of the tomb, and it is in Christ Jesus that a man is created anew.
11. Incorporation: This tremendous doctrine Paul alone mentions and he makes it practically the foundation of all his exhortations to the saints with regard to their conduct and life. By “incorporation” we mean the fact that all those who are really saved and are new creatures in Christ Jesus become members of one organism, which is more real than the very earth we tread upon called “the Body of Christ,” - Christ Himself in heaven being the Head of the Body, and every real Christian a member of it.
Therefore, those believers are thus members of Christ in heaven, and members of another here on earth. No wonder Paul is able to exhort the saints to love one another when they are members one of another (Romans 12: 1, Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4).
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12. Inhabitation: The wonderful fact that the Body of Christ and each member of it individually is inhabited, indwelt, by the (power of) the Holy Spirit Himself, and not only so, but that the Church is being “built together” as a great temple of God so that in the future God’s actual eternal dwelling place will be this wonderful, mysterious company built into a building called “a holy habitation of God in the Spirit.”
This mystery is a great and marvelous one, the fact that we are saved, are partakers now of the life of the Lord in glory, that the (power of) the Holy Spirit indwells us.
13. Divine Exhibition: That through the Church, in the ages to come, is to be made known that which God counts His “riches,” even His grace (Ephesians 2: 7; 3:10). (8) The succinctness of Newells’ construal splendidly reveals how extraordinarily dissimilar Peter’s Gospel of the Kingdom and Paul’s Gospel of Grace truly are. Gone was the law; birthed was a holy “organism” to which all believers in Jesus’ Gospel of Grace would forever unite in “one body,” with Christ as the head and beloved Bridegroom.
Paul’s Doctrines - Alive and Well in Today’s True Churches Les Feldick reinforces Newell’s doctrines by reminding us that Jesus, through Paul, instituted fresh “doctrines” that remain in the true Church today. The following doctrines found their origin in Paul, and no one else: 1) How Christ died for the sins of the whole world. 2) How His shed blood and our faith in it brings justification. 3) How the power of His resurrection is imparted to us when we believe. 4) Paul alone gives instruction for the Communion Service. 5) Paul alone gives instructions concerning Deacons and alone gave instructions for the local church. 6) Paul alone teaches us the end of the Body of Christ on 183
earth. (9)
Keep in mind who authorized the application of this new Gospel of Grace - Jesus Christ Himself. If you reject the apostle Paul, thinking him a fraud, or thinking him as the unauthorized creator of his own epistles, you reject the Gospel message of Jesus. It is always about Jesus Christ.
Remember this - you can most certainly reject Paul. However, by doing so, you are consciously rejecting Jesus, the author of the Gospel of Grace. Consider your choices wisely.