mystērion

Semantic range

1. 1a secret known only to initiates
2. 2a truth once hidden and now disclosed by God
3. 3in Latin translation, sacramentum — hence the sacraments

A New Testament mystery is not an unsolvable puzzle but a secret that has been let out. Paul's characteristic move is to announce that a mystery hidden from ages past is now made known (Ephesians 3:3–5; Colossians 1:26).

Jerome's Vulgate sometimes rendered mystērion as sacramentum — originally a soldier's oath — and that translation choice is a large part of why the Western Church came to speak of sacraments. Latter-day Saints use "the sacrament" of the Lord's Supper specifically, and Alma 12:9–11 gives the governing principle: the mysteries are given "according to the heed and diligence" one gives to the word.

See also

• οἰκονομίαoikonomia
• εὐαγγέλιονeuangelion
• ἀποκάλυψιςapokalypsis