Mysteries Overcome by Philosophical Discipline are not Mysteries

https://www.challies.com/articles/difficult-does-not-mean-cryptic-and-mysteries-arent-meant-to-mystify/

Challies is a popular figure within New Calvinist/Evangelical circles. He rightly denounces the counterfeit mysteries that seem to be so popular in Evangelical and Charismatic circles - the Bible code books, visions of heaven and hell, hidden prophecies tied to contemporary politics, or perhaps the latest 'key' to understanding the Dispensational End Times scheme. There are plenty of examples we could point to and Challies rightly denounces this tendency.

But then he said a few things that I found to be troubling.

He questions whether or not the Bible's message is hidden. On the one hand it's message is plain and (at least in the broad strokes) plain for all to see. But it's also proper to speak of it being hidden (2 Corinthians 4.3-4, Matthew 13.11-16) and unavailable to the lost. The key is not found in a code or cypher but rather by faith through the Spirit.

Challies compares Biblical mysteries to a 'difficult' Rubik's Cube. The solution is to learn how to solve it. It's difficult not cryptic.

This might be true when we speak of the gospel but there are other truths that are in fact cryptic and impenetrable. They are mysteries revealed in Scripture that transcend our ability to understand them and reduce them to logical terms - like solving a Rubik's Cube.

We can think of course of the Incarnation, the hypostatic union, the Trinitarian Godhead, the eschatological nature of the Kingdom, the sacraments, prayer, union, communion, and much more. These are mysteries that are not solved by learning the right methods or being trained to think in terms of some kind of philosophical discipline.

There are certainly times when the term mystery is employed in reference to redemptive-historical unveiling - Christ was not revealed as clearly in the Old Testament as He is in the New.

But that is only one aspect of what mystery entails. It's not simply something that was in the shadows that is now in the light of day. Consider 1 Timothy 3.16, Mark 4.11, 1 Corinthians 2.7, 4.1, Romans 11.25, Ephesians 1.9, 3.4, 6.19, Colossians 2.2, 4.3. These are but a few examples, a list that could be greatly expanded if we move beyond the word mystery and touch on larger concepts. One thinks of the language in passages such as John 6 and 17. They are not only difficult they are layered and multifaceted. Or consider Paul's account of the Third Heaven in 2 Corinthians 12. Some suggest that Paul was forbidden from describing what he saw and heard. That may be the case to some extent but there's also a clear suggestion that such things are not capable of being understood by fallen temporal beings. They are mysteries.

And this touches on the nature of our knowledge in which we are able to apprehend truths but we cannot hope to comprehend them in the way God can. This is where faith comes in. Mysteries that are overcome by philosophical training are not mysteries in the Biblical sense. They are not puzzles, but transcendent revealed truths.

Again, I appreciate what Challies is saying about Bible codes and the like but there is still room for mystery and a failure to understand this will lead to a greatly reduced reading of Scripture - one that I think plays out in New Calvinist and most contemporary Confessional circles. It's apparent in the approach to theology - a method that walks on the edge of the rationalist precipice.

It's not solely an American problem, or limited to American thinking, but America's intellectual climate and history has helped to foster this tendency. I say this knowing full well that Challies is Canadian. I'm speaking of intellectual tendencies that come out of British Empiricism and long affected the colonial context of North America. It's something that's also seen in the naked rationalism of Gordon Clark and his followers though they arrive at that point via a different road.

Mystery is essential to understanding the New Testament. It need not be equated with Mysticism which often relies on extra-Scriptural understanding, paradigms, and practice. There is enough high mystery in the Scriptures to satisfy the wonder of the curious and the transcendent experience of the mystic need not be sought in prescribed methods or means but in Biblical meditation and simple prayer. These are the means by which the Spirit promises to work. It's there for the taking (as it were) but how few avail themselves of these holy mysteries. How many quench the Spirit by subjugating the dynamics and mysteries of Scripture to the cold reductionist reasoning of the Enlightenment mind and the rationalist ethos?