Mystērion: Greek Word Study
To understand how the New Testament uses the word "mystery," it helps to trace the Greek word mystērion (μυστήριον) from its pre-biblical roots through its use in the Septuagint and into the writings of Paul and other New Testament authors.
Etymology
The word mystērion derives from the Greek verb myō (μύω), which means "to close" or "to shut" — particularly the eyes or the mouth. A mystēs (μύστης) was an "initiate," one who had been introduced to secret rites and was bound to keep silence about them. The word thus carries a core sense of something that is closed off to outsiders and open only to those who have been initiated.
Usage in Greek Mystery Religions
In the Greco-Roman world, mystērion (usually plural, mystēria) referred to the secret rites and teachings of mystery cults such as the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Dionysian rites, the Orphic mysteries, and the cults of Isis and Mithras. Key features of these mystery religions included:
- Initiation — Participants went through ceremonies that granted access to secret knowledge.
- Secrecy — Initiates were forbidden from revealing what they had seen or learned.
- Esoteric knowledge — The mysteries promised insight into the divine or the afterlife that was unavailable to the uninitiated.
Some early scholars of religion (particularly in the "History of Religions School" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries) proposed that Paul borrowed the concept of mystery from these pagan cults. This view has largely fallen out of favor. While Paul used the same Greek word, his meaning is fundamentally different in several ways.
How the Biblical Usage Differs
| Feature | Greek Mystery Religions | New Testament Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Secrecy | Permanently secret; initiates must not disclose | Temporarily hidden; now revealed and proclaimed |
| Access | Limited to initiates through ritual | Open to all through the gospel |
| Source | Human ritual and tradition | Divine revelation from God |
| Goal | Personal spiritual experience | Understanding God's redemptive plan |
| Disclosure | Forbidden | Commanded (proclamation is an obligation) |
The most important difference is direction. In the mystery religions, the secret stays secret. In the New Testament, the whole point is that the secret has been made public. Paul speaks of "making known" the mystery, "proclaiming" it, and asking for boldness to declare it openly. See Mystery vs. Secret for more on this distinction.
The Septuagint Bridge
The word mystērion does not appear in the Hebrew Old Testament, but it does appear in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint, or LXX). Most significantly, it is used in the Greek version of Daniel 2, where it translates the Aramaic word rāz (meaning "secret" or "mystery"). This is almost certainly the primary background for New Testament usage, not the Greek mystery cults. See Mystery in the Old Testament for a full treatment of the Daniel connection.
The word also appears in the deuterocanonical books, including Wisdom of Solomon 2:22 ("they did not know the mysteries of God"), Sirach 22:22, and Tobit 12:7. These uses generally refer to hidden divine counsels, reinforcing the sense that mystērion in Jewish Greek circles meant a divine secret, not a pagan ritual.
The Word in Paul
Paul uses mystērion approximately 21 times. For Paul, the word almost always refers to a specific truth or plan of God that was hidden before Christ and has now been revealed through the gospel. His most common associations with the word include:
- Revelation by God (not discovery by humans)
- A plan that predates creation
- The inclusion of Gentiles
- The person and work of Christ
- The obligation to proclaim it
See Paul and the Mystery of God for the full treatment of Paul's theology.
The Word in Revelation
In Revelation, mystērion appears four times (1:20; 10:7; 17:5; 17:7). In these uses, it functions more like "symbolic meaning" — the mystery of the seven stars is what they represent (see Seven Stars and Lampstands), and the mystery of Babylon is the symbolic identity behind the image (see Mystery of Babylon). This usage is closer to the Daniel 2 sense of rāz as a hidden meaning requiring divine interpretation.
The standard Greek lexicon for New Testament study is BDAG (Bauer, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich), which has an extensive entry on mystērion. For online Greek resources, see Blue Letter Bible: G3466 and BibleHub: 3466.