Taken from Kallistos Ware's The Orthodox Way, page 15:
"In the proper religious sense of the term, 'mystery' signifies not only hiddenness but disclosure. The Greek word MUSTHRION is linked with the verb MUEIN, meaning 'to close the eyes or mouth.' The candidate for initiation into certain of the pagan mystery religions was first blindfolded and led through a maze of passages; then suddenly his eyes were uncovered and he saw, displayed all round him, the secret emblems of the cult. So, in the Christian context, we do not mean by a 'mystery' merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we never understand exhaustively because it leads into the depth or the darkness of God. The eyes are closed--but they are also opened."
7 comments:
"revealed for our understanding," - surely once one person understand he should be able to communicate it to all. As this has not actually happened, it sounds like the language of the gnostic texts.
Dan 2:19 lxx - ο μυστήριον απεκαλύφθη
https://books.google.com/books?id=cKdZ9ePfl6IC&pg=PA85&dq=mysterion+new+testament&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBl5K04J7NAhVLWh4KHcaiBTcQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=mysterion%20new%20testament&f=false
The link has a useful definition for musterion. I guess Ware wants to claim that even though God discloses himself, thus unveiling the "mystery," some of the mystery remains after the divine unveiling. See Mark 4:11; Revelation 10:7.
Not that I necessarily agree with Ware, but merely trying to understand his view.
The end of mark 4:12 is the interesting phrase. Did Jesus not want them to understand?
Rev 10:7 still indicates that at some future time this mystery will be completely revealed.
Regarding Mk 4:12, that is an open question in NT/Markan scholarship. Check out the literature on Mk 4:11-12. Not saying that I agree with all that's been said on these verses, but an examination of the original text suggests some ambiguity there.
On Rev. 10:7: people like Ware would say that anytime God reveals a "mystery" (a misleading term in English), there is a residue of "gloom and darkness" that remains. Even with Rev. 10:7, Witnesses have traditionally believed that the finished "mystery" is only the start of a movement towards the eschaton. Cf. Rev. 11:15-19.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3260467?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/myers/moore.pdf
There are those who claim that Matthew 5:17-20 is written in a similar vain.
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