The Mystery of Christ

In Col. 2:2-3 Paul says (to churches everywhere), My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings, in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The mystery of God is Christ.

The Mystery of Christ is that God ordained all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge to be hid in Him from before the
foundation of the world... Christ was brought forth from everlasting.

Prov. 8:22-31, “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men.

That is not speaking of Jesus because flesh and blood cannot be pre-existent. You better read that again.

Of course, we find at least 22 references to the word “mystery” in God’s Word, according to Strong’s. The same Greek word is used for all, and it basically means “a secret thing.” But those “things” are “the secret counsels of God which govern His dealings with the righteous, which are hidden from ungodly and wicked men but made plain now to the godly.” ~Interlinear Concordance

Deut. 29:29 says, The secret things belong to the LORD (Jehovah) our God (Elohim), but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

Jehovah (God the Son) was the anointed(Christ) from before the beginning, to be the Incarnate One (Jesus the Son of God) the Christ Who would be the sacrificed Redeemer. The Second Person of the Trinity, the Divine Logos, was (and is) God the Son from all eternity. In the Incarnation, he entered space and time as Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. Do you understand the distinction?

So, on the one hand, we have “Christ” which is simply defined as “anointed” such as David, Saul, Moses and all of God’s chosen servants for a particular task, and we also have THE Christ, which no one has defined to my satisfaction YET!

Incarnation is a term used in “theology” (nowhere in scripture) to indicate that God the Son (Jehovah) was made flesh. Jehovah also was/is the “I AM” of the Old Testament. He is who appeared to Moses, Abraham, Jacob, and whoever else I’m leaving out.

Incarnation is an explanation of the “hypostatic” union, which states that Jesus the Christ is both fully God and fully man. He is simultaneously perfectly divine and perfectly human, having two complete and distinct natures at once. The Incarnation more specifically affirms His humanity, as it is defined as “being in the flesh.” The Trinity is a hypostatic union – distinct yet One.

Now, not to complicate matters, but let’s read what Paul has to say with regard to “mystery” in Eph. 3:6, ...by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

Is the mystery of Christ that Gentiles and Jews would be saved together? Well, that’s part of the mystery. But Paul is speaking here of “the same body” which is the Church, which is Christ, and Christ is the one body. In Eph. 5:30, Paul speaks of this... For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Just as Eve was made from Adam a body, so the church is made from Christ a body... the Church IS the body of Christ.
In Gen. 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So let us have a lesson from Genesis... the church is being fashioned after the likeness of Christ.

This MYSTERY was revealed to only Paul, as he is the Apostle to the Gentiles. Nowhere else in scripture do we see this language of “revelation” and “mystery” and “Body of Christ.”

Jesus foretold of it in John 17:21, That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.

God’s plan involved ONE BODY. Isn’t that what God created in the very beginning? Adam! One Body! That is the emphasis throughout the entire book of Ephesians... UNITY and UNION! (1:23; 2:16; 3:6; 4:4, 12, 16; 5:23, 30).  There is only one body--the Body of Christ. And the man Jesus whose body and blood, death,  burial, and resurrection we remember; Who gave Himself for the salvation of mankind so that we might be made like Him, in Christ, Who is NOW preeminent in ALL things.

Eph. 2:22, ...in whom you also are being built together for a TABERNACLE of God in the Spirit.

Jesus is the cornerstone... we are the bricks.