In Paul’s letter to the Romans he spends the first seven chapters covering all the ins and outs of justification. It is no wonder people can get the impression that this is his main idea. Finally, when he comes to chapter 8 he tells them the secret—the hidden mystery involving the very purpose for creating human beings in the first place. He covers that in one chapter.
Paul mentions “the mystery” in passing only six times in his authentic letters, but without explaining much about what he means.2 We are most fortunate to have Romans 8, since it is the only place he offers a full and systematic exposition of the revelation he had received. Without this chapter we would be hard-pressed to make much sense of the other passing references, where he assumes a familiarity on the part of his readers. For example, he writes the Corinthians that he did not come to them “proclaiming the mystery of God in lofty words of human wisdom,” but he assumes, and does not say, what that mystery is (1 Corinthians 2:1). We have to remember that Paul’s letters are occasional documents, written at various times and places to address specific issues. Much of the time he is handling emergencies, addressing practical problems and misunderstandings, responding to threats, and defending himself against enemies. He often assumes, but does not explain, the details of his teachings. His letter to the Romans is a fortunate exception to this general rule. It comes close to a formal treatise, expounding Paul’s view of his gospel message.
The word “gospel” in Greek, euangelion, like the word “salvation,” is another one of those words that have come to have an exclusively theological sound to our modern ears. It is commonly said to mean “good news” or “glad tidings,” which is correct, but a more fresh translation might be an announcement, in the sense of a welcome proclamation. There are several Greek inscriptions and papyri dated before the Christian era where an announcement of the birthday of the emperor Augustus is proclaimed, using the word “gospel.” These texts show that the word was commonly used in Koine and that it had no special religious meaning.3
I already pointed out in the introduction to this book that Paul uses the word “gospel” in a most proprietary way. He refers to “my Gospel,” and it is clear he has something very specific in mind (Romans 2:16; 16:25; Galatians 1:11-12). As I mentioned, of the seventy-two occurrences of the term gospel in the entire New Testament, sixty are in Paul’s letters!4 A better modern translation would be, again, “the Announcement,” referring most specifically to Paul’s revelation of the hidden mystery. As we will see, this is not the same as the gospel preached by the Jerusalem apostles but a revelation Paul insists was given to him alone, completely independent of them, not from the earthly Jesus they had known, but from the heavenly Christ who had chosen him even before his birth (Galatians 1:11–15). Notice Paul’s very specific language about the timing of this revelation. He is speaking of what he calls “my Gospel” and says it is “the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now being disclosed” through his preaching to the nations (Romans 16:25).
All the various aspects of “the Announcement” had further been confirmed to him by a series of subsequent “visions and revelations of the Lord,” including being taken into heaven to see and hear “things unutterable” (2 Corinthians 12:1–4). When he uses the formula “I received from the Lord,” he refers to a rich body of “revelations” that he has received, including direct sayings from Jesus, teachings about the Lord’s Supper, and details about how the end of the age will unfold.
THE HIDDEN MYSTERY REVEALED
At the core of the mystery announcement that Paul reveals is God’s secret plan to bring to birth a new heavenly family of his own offspring. In other words, God is reproducing himself. These children of God will represent a new genus of Spirit-beings in the cosmos, exalted in glory, power, and position far above even the highest angels.
That is part of the reason the plan was kept secret. Reflecting a common Greco-Roman view of the cosmos, Paul believed in a universe thickly populated by a vast hierarchy of angelic beings, demonic spirits, and spiritual forces both good and malevolent.5 As a Jew he also believed in forces of darkness led by Satan and his angelic minions, whose entire concerted efforts were concentrated on opposing the ways of God in his dealings with humankind. For Paul, Satan was a very real entity with whom he has had personal dealings, not a metaphor for evil. Paul calls Satan “the god of this age” and refers to human history, under Satan’s control, as “this present evil age” (2 Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 1:4). Various human kings, emperors, and potentates rule the visible world, but the invisible power behind the scenes is Satan. When Paul says the mystery was hidden from the “rulers of this age,” or else they would not have crucified Jesus, he refers to Satan and his forces as much as the human rulers, Jewish or Roman, that they inspired (1 Corinthians 2:8). The death of Jesus was all part of God’s secret plan, in order for Jesus to become the “firstborn” Son of this new heavenly family. Jesus’ crucifixion looked like a defeat but it was actually God’s surprise strategy to defeat the Satanic forces.
For Paul this cosmic birthing process is not a metaphor: it is as literal as the birth of a human child. In his letter to the Romans he offers a tightly worded sequential outline of what he calls God’s purpose or plan of salvation:
For those whom God foreknew he also predetermined to share the likeness of the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29–30)
The plan is laid out clearly here and its implementation involves five sequential steps: to foreknow, to predestine, to call, to justify, and finally to glorify. It is the final stage, that of glorification, that is the heart of the mystery: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery (musterion) that has been hidden that God decreed before the ages, for our glorification” (1 Corinthians 2:7). This glorification involves, as Paul says, “sharing the likeness of the image of his Son,” referring to Jesus’ exalted glorified state, and thus becoming part of the new heavenly family.
Paul says the first step is the selection of a special group of chosen ones whose call to participate in the plan was determined before their birth. In other words, God both knew them and chose them in ages past. They are the ones “called” by God at the present time to participate in the plan. Paul refers constantly to his followers being “called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6). He trusts that the selection process is in God’s hands and his role is only to proclaim the Announcement:
We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23–24)