τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως : the faith as revealed, is the same as τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, 1 Timothy 3:16. In the earlier epistles of St. Paul τὸ μυστήριον is a revealed secret, in particular, the purpose of God that Jew and Gentile should unite in one Church. The notion of a secret is still prominent, because the revelation of it was recent; but just as revelation passes from a phase of usage in which the wonderful fact and manner of the disclosure is prominent to a stage in which the content or substance of what has been revealed is alone thought of, so it was with μυστήριον; in the Pastorals it means the revelation given in Christ, the Christian creed in fact. See Dean Armitage Robinson, Ephesians, p. 234 sqq., and Lightfoot on Colossians 1:26. It was not the function of a deacon to teach or preach; it was sufficient if he were a firm believer. ἐν. καθ. συνειδ. is connected with ἔχοντας. Hort (Christian Ecclesia, p. 201) approves of the expl. given by Weiss of τὸ μυστ. τ. πίστ., “the secret constituted by their own inner faith”. This seems unnatural.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising

Old Testament