Did you ever have a “trick test” from grade school, where the first instruction is to read everything first, followed by a lot of silly things to do? The last instruction in that list tells the student to ignore all of the other instructions, and just hand in the paper.
Students tend to ignore the first instruction, and then embarrass themselves by doing the other steps, having not known about the “mystery” at the end of the test. For those who have learned the catch, though, the answer is quite obvious once you know it.
Let’s take a look at a couple of verses from 1 Corinthians 4:
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.4.1-2.NIV
At first read, this sounds like a reiteration of Paul’s role, where he – and others – are servants of Christ. That is true. However, there’s a second element here: being “entrusted with” [NIV] or “stewards of” [NASB] mysteries of God.
I could talk a lot about what it means to be a steward of what God has entrusted with us, but I like how the Lookout [cited below] puts it, “Think of this as parents who give their children money to purchase birthday gifts for the parents”. Paul and Apollos were just doing what God wanted with what already belonged to God (i.e., His church), whether this was planting – starting – the church, or helping it grow by teaching or pastoring it.
First, though, this term “mysteries” deserves a bit of an explanation. My understanding is that this had a specific meaning in the first-century Greek-speaking world. A “mystery” was something that wasn’t well-known, or was difficult to figure out, but a mystery was not unknowable. So, not everyone understood a particular mystery, but it wasn’t impossible to know it, and those who had figured it out could tell others.
I think of this like a mystery novel or a multi-episode TV detective show. If you’ve read the end of the book or watched the end of the series, you know the answer. However, those that are still only part way through don’t. They might have theories, but unless someone tells them the answer (“spoiler alert!”), they aren’t sure.
In the first century, just like today, there were important things that people wanted – and needed – to know, like the nature of God, their purpose in life, what happened after death, and how they should live. These questions qualified as “mysteries”, I suppose, and a lot of people had made up answers. In the first century, for instance, there were beliefs in the Roman system of gods and goddesses on one hand, and the legalistic religion of the Pharisees on another. Today, people have all kinds of secular and spiritual answers to these questions (often without having read the truth that God has supplied to us), and any of them that don’t correctly reflect the truth of Jesus Christ are regrettably – and often harmfully – incorrect.
In that light, these verses make it clear that Paul had to be a good steward of the answers to these mysteries. I think that the same applies to us: We didn’t figure out an answer to core questions about life because we were “really smart”. Instead, what we have learned about important things beyond our ability to observe is a result of God having given the answers to us: through the Bible, through the ministry of Jesus, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s remember that as we share the now-interpreted “mysteries” about God with others. They aren’t meant to give us power to hold over others who don’t yet know them, or as secrets that we mull over as we laugh at others who aren’t “read in” to them. Instead, the great news – about a God who loves us and has provided a way to bring us back to Himself – is meant to be passed around for the good of everyone.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for March 10, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, March 10, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – 1 Corinthians, by Richard E. Oster, Jr. © 1995 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 