But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life. Doctrine and Covenants 63:23
Sometimes the topic of “mysteries” may come up in church classes or discussions with other church members as if it’s a forbidden topic. I wonder if we understand mysteries.
Unfortunately, our modern definition may be shaded by the mystery genre, or detective fiction which officially began in 1841 with Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Scripturally, mysteries are something quite different.
Mystery in the Scriptures
The New Testament mentions “mystery” twenty-eight times (three times in the Gospels, twenty-one times in the epistles of Paul, and four times in Revelation). It appears twenty times in the Book of Mormon, twenty-four times in the Doctrine and Covenants and once in the Pearl of Great Price. As we will see, the word mystery in restoration scriptures closely aligns with the Hebrew understanding of mysteries. Although the word mystery doesn’t appear in the Old Testament, its meaning was familiar to its writers.
Word Origin
Hebrew: The Old Testament concept of “mysteries” is primarily contained in the Hebrew word sode (סוֹד) and the Aramaic word raz (רָז), focusing not on obscure puzzles, but on divine secrets that are known only through revelation from God. The fundamental Hebrew meaning of sode, is “confidential discussion,” “secret, scheme,” or “circle of confidants.” (See Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1:745). Sode is used in the Old Testament to refer to a heavenly council presided over by God.
The ability to access this council was a criterion for a prophet’s legitimacy. A true prophet had stood in God’s Council, heard His counsel, knew the decisions of the council, and could act, teach, and prophesy accordingly. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret [sode] unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
One of the most important themes communicated in this council is the creation story or “how life came to be”. Mircea Eliade, a foremost scholar of comparative religion, stated that “the appearance of life is the central mystery of the world”. Other important mysteries communicated in this council include: who is God, what is God like, what is God’s plan, why do human beings need religion, and what happens after death.
Greek: The Greek word musterion, translated “mystery,” wasn’t about obscurity or being incomprehensible. It was about sacred truths revealed to faithful initiates. The New Testament mentions “mystery” twenty-eight times (three times in the Gospels, twenty-one times in the epistles of Paul, and four times in Revelation).
The word comes from myein (μυέω), which means “to shut the mouth,” suggesting silent about religious initiation rites. The classical Greek noun musterion (μυστήριον), which comes from myein, is an “initiation rite” to impart confidential knowledge. A related word, mystēs, means the “one initiated” into the secrets of the given group. These truths of creation, holy covenants, and life’s purpose in early Christianity were guarded by sacred silence.
English: Our English word for mystery is from Anglo-French misterie, Old French mistere “secret, mystery, hidden meaning” (Modern French mystère) and directly from Latin mysterium “secret rite, secret worship; a sacrament, a secret thing.” (etymonline.com). In the English translation of the Book of Mormon, the underlying Hebrew word sode (or its equivalent in the ancient language of the Nephites) is translated as “mystery” when referring to divine secrets or temple context. Conversely, when a counterfeit to the sode is used it refers to evil or conspiratorial councils (a negative sense) and is translated as “secret”.
As I have pondered how to prevent spiritual malnutrition and how to transfer faith and spirituality from one generation to the next, I have concluded that the most important thing we can understand in this matter is that spiritual truths—what the scriptures sometimes call the “mysteries of God”—must be taught and transmitted in the Lord’s way, not in the world’s way. This is demonstrated again and again in the scriptures.
President Dallin H. Oaks
Mysteries and Ordinances
Mysteries and ordinances are deeply intertwined. Ordinances represent higher truths or mysteries. For example, baptism’s ceremony symbolically illustrates the blessings and promises associated with the covenant, representing Christ’s death and resurrection.
Hugh Nibley pointed out: “Morton Smith demonstrates at length that the word mystery, as used by the first Christians, usually refers to ordinances. He duly notes that Judaism itself was an ancient ‘mystery religion’ in which the rites of circumcision and Passover were ‘mysteries,’ and that such early and orthodox Christian writers as Clement of Alexandria ‘think of Jesus as a ‘hierophant,’ a teacher of mysteries.’ As Smith sums it up, ‘This was the mystery of the kingdom—the mystery rite by which the kingdom was entered,’ i.e., the ordinances of initiation” (The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 515)
John Gee noted: “Between the time of writing the New Testament and the end of the second century, the meanings of several of the words changed. Examples include the change of the principle meanings of . . . mysterion from ‘(initiation) rite’ to ‘secret.’ (“The Corruption of Scripture in Early Christianity“, in Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy, 163–204).
In Latter-day scripture the mysteries of godliness are tied to the ordinances of godliness. From the Nauvoo temple stand in May 1844 Joseph Smith called on the Saints to “go forward and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of godliness” (Joseph Smith Papers History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844).
An earlier revelation pointed out: “And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:19–20).
Another Kirtland revelation promised: “The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church – To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn [sode], and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (Doctrine and Covenants107:18-19).
Hugh Nibley explained, “The word ‘mystery,’ as used by the early Jews and Christians (taught in secret to the apostles), was nothing else than a series of initiatory ordinances for achieving the highest salvation.” (Temple and the Cosmos, 28). A related word, mystēs, means the “one initiated” into the secrets of the given group. Nibley also notes, Some mysteries are only “to be had in the Holy Temple of God”, where they mark distinct degrees or steps toward exaltation. The temple is the place of the “great secret” (Teachings of the Book of Mormon Semester 1).
In summary, sacred ceremonies like baptism and the temple are ordinances; the truths they reveal (e.g., the creation and Plan of Salvation) are the mysteries.
Mysteries in the Book of Mormon
Nephi writes his account in the Book of Mormon because of his “great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days” (1 Nephi 1:1).
King Benjamin gathers his people to the temple to inviting them to “open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view” (Mosiah 2:9).
Pay attention to Alma’s command for sacred silence. “And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full” (Alma 12:9-10).
As explained by Thomas R. Valletta, “The presentation of God’s eternal plan by Alma and Amulek while preaching in Ammonihah includes elements that compare to known temple themes.”
“These elements include:
- The premortal existence (Alma 13:3–5).
- Adam and Eve’s “partaking of the forbidden fruit” (12:21–23).
- “Cherubim and a flaming sword” guarding the way to the tree of life (12:21).
- The resulting death and mortal probation as a time given when men should “prepare to meet God” (12:24).
- Angels being sent to converse with and teach Adam and Eve (12:29).
- Angels teaching men to “call on his [God’s] name” and to make “known unto them the plan of redemption” (12:30).
- Men being given commandments and warned of the penalty for doing evil (12:32).
- Sacred ordinances given to make one’s garments “pure and spotless before God” (13:12).
- Being ordained after a “manner” that involved being “called with a holy calling,” and being “ordained with a holy ordinance” (13:8).
- Being sanctified, and entering into God’s rest through humility, repentance, and obedience (13:13, 28-29).
- The great King Melchizedek as an example of one who preached repentance unto his people, “and behold, they did repent” (13:14–18).
All this “being a type of his order,” given to help people look forward to and rely on “the Son of God . . . for a remission of their sins” (13:16). (“Conflicting Orders: Alma and Amulek in Ammonihah,” in The Temple in Time and Eternity, 193).
Understanding Mysteries
Joseph Smith taught that God’s sacred truths known as mysteries are things of “deep import” that can only be found out through “time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts” He explained that salvation and obtaining mysteries must be approached step-by-step: “When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation” (Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by William Clayton, p. 14, The Joseph Smith Papers).
Nephi promised: “For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10:17-19)
Illustration: John 5: The Healing at Bethesda: A Type and Shadow of Vicarious Ordinances
There is a curious story in John’s gospel about a man who waited by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years for the stirring of the waters. Its meaning may perplex without understanding the relationship of mysteries and ordinances.
“This account of the healing at the pool of Bethesda could foreshadow vicarious temple work. Just as we go down into the water for baptism, those who were to be healed needed to go down into the pool. There were numerous powerless individuals near the water who were waiting for an angel to help them because they could not do the work themselves (see v. 7). They have waited a long time (see vv. 5–6). We become like angels to those who have passed on when we stir the water for them by being baptized. It is the Savior’s power that allows us to rise up (see v. 8). It is significant that the man is found rejoicing at the temple after being healed (see v. 14). This helps us understand why this chapter includes Christ prophesying that the dead will be taught the gospel in the spirit world, and that they will be resurrected according to their works (see vv. 28–29)” (New Testament Study Guide: Start to Finish, John 5).
