What is the meaning of the word Mystery in the New Testament?

Our teacher St. Paul talks about “the mystery that was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25). He is referring to God’s work in the New Testament, who fulfilled the wondrous heavenly plan so that the believer’s loving relationship and openness with God may be restored through the crucifixion of Christ, His resurrection, and the work of His grace in His Church, to prepare her to be a heavenly bride that He will offer to His Father in His second coming.

The early Church Fathers focused on the Church sacraments which prepare God’s people and every member to enjoy adoption to God through Baptism and to enjoy the dwelling of the Holy Spirit being God’s temple through the Holy Chrismation . We are continually washed from sins through Repentance and Confession and are united with Christ through the Holy Eucharist. We receive spiritual and physical healing through the Unction of the Sick and the building of churches in our homes in Holy Matrimony . Ultimately, all these mysteries are carried out by Christ through the Sacrament of Priesthood .

During the first thousand years after the ascension of our Savior and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Church practiced the Holy Sacraments without paying attention to how many they are, since none of the believers doubted God’s work in them, but on the contrary they all rejoiced in God’s work through them.

These sacraments reveal the Church’s holy perspective on the flesh as it enjoys a new nature and is called to partake in the heavenly glories along with the soul. This was clearly explained by St. Paul in the fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians. The flesh partakes of the eternal inheritance with the soul, so that the believer inherits the kingdom with all his being.

The Church Fathers emphasized that Christ Himself performs these sacraments through the priest. St. Ambrose of Milan says, “Damasus cleansed not, Peter cleansed not, Ambrose cleansed not, Gregory cleansed not, for ours is the ministry, but the sacraments are Yours. For it is not in man’s power to confer what is divine, but it is, O Lord, Your gift.”¹²⁸³ St. John Chrysostom says, “Till today, Christ who is attached to us prepares for us the table by Himself that He may sanctify it. Man cannot transform the oblations into the Lord’s body and blood, but only Christ Himself who was crucified for us. The priest utters these words but the sanctification is fulfilled through God’s power and grace. By His words, ‘This is My Body,’ the oblations are sanctified.¹²⁸⁴

1283 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit Book 1, Preface 18 (NPNF II/10:96) amended.

1284 Cf. Catena Aurea .

The Holy Spirit does not cease to work, leading us as a bride who is to be united to her heavenly Bridegroom, the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, so that the perfect wedding may be consummated in the Father’s bosom. Sacraments in essence are the way of preparing the bride and uniting her with the Bridegroom by the work of the Holy Spirit according to the Father’s pleasure. In the sacraments, God’s desire of making humans a holy bride is fulfilled, living with Him in heaven where they enjoy seeing Him and partaking of His divine glory. In this present life, the bride continuously prepares herself for this unique wedding and for seeing her Bridegroom. Sacraments are also a special invitation to every believer individually, being the subject of God’s love and appreciation as a living member of the universal Church that extends from Adam and until the end of the ages.

Sacraments are a liturgical work (communal, ecclesiastical) through which the believer is continuously renewed, to explore the Kingdom of God within him (Luke 17:21) so that his inner man may be molded to be an icon of the heavenly Bridegroom. The Holy Sacraments contain readings from Scripture, prayers, supplications, thanksgivings, praises, and rituals. Together, they form the wedding song that turns everything into a harp on which the Holy Spirit plays. On these melodies, the bridal procession proceeds amid the praises of the heavenlies, so that the entire creation participates, even the non-living creation.