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Jerome81
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As someone has pointed out already, the Greek word translated as ‘‘secret’’ is ‘‘Mysterion’’ which means ‘‘Mystery.’’ There is one place in the OT which reveals the Mystery of the Kingdom of God and that is in Daniel 2. In Daniel 2 King Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream about a statue made of different types of metals that is crushed by a stone which becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth:
Over and over again this dream is called the Mystery (Mysterion LXX).
Dan 2:19
Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
Dan 2:27-28
Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery which the king has asked, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.
Dan 2:30
30 But as for me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living has this mystery been revealed to me.
Dan 2:47
The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
Ok, so what exactly is this mystery that is being revealed? It is the Mystery of the Kingdom of God! Daniel is given the ability to interpret the dream for the King and Daniel says that the statue with its different materials represents four gentile kingdoms. At the time of the fourth Kingdom, God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and will eventually fill the whole earth:
Daniel 2:44–45 (RSVCE)
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever; 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
According to Saint Paul. The Mystery is fulfilled through the Church. The Church is the Kingdom of God on Earth It was established by Christ at the time of the fourth Gentile kingdom (Rome) and has become a great mountain filling the whole earth. Through the Church all of God’s children are Gathered into one.
Eph 3:8-11
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10 that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord…
Col 1:24-28
…the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Col 4:2-4
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving; 3 and pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, 4 that I may make it clear, as I ought to speak.
Dr. Scott Hahn makes this connection in his word study on the word ‘‘mystery’’ in his Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:
Mystery (Eph 3:3)
MystÄ“rion (Gk.): “mystery” or “secret”. The term is used six times in Ephesians and 22 times in the rest of the NT. Like Jesus, who revealed the mysteries of his kingdom through parables (Mt 13:11; Mk 4:11), Paul often teaches his readers about the hidden plan of God now manifest in the reign of Christ (Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 15:51; Eph 5:32; Col 2:2; 1 Tim 3:16). The most likely background for this notion is the Book of Daniel, where “mystery” (Aramaic raz) appears eight times in a single chapter (Dan 2:18-19, 27-30, 47). Here the mystery is described in a dream to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who envisioned a huge statue of a human body that symbolized the great empires of the earth. Though the king himself was the “head” (Dan 2:38) of the statue who received his empire from the Lord (Dan 2:37), Daniel went on to describe how the statue would be destroyed and replaced by the messianic kingdom of God. This is the mystery of the kingdom revealed in Ephesians (Eph 1:9; 3:4, 9). It is the mystery of another body, the Church, with its head, Jesus Christ (CCC 772, 1066).
Hahn, Scott; Mitch, Curtis (2010-06-14). The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament Ignatius Press.
Over and over again this dream is called the Mystery (Mysterion LXX).
Dan 2:19
Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
Dan 2:27-28
Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery which the king has asked, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.
Dan 2:30
30 But as for me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living has this mystery been revealed to me.
Dan 2:47
The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
Ok, so what exactly is this mystery that is being revealed? It is the Mystery of the Kingdom of God! Daniel is given the ability to interpret the dream for the King and Daniel says that the statue with its different materials represents four gentile kingdoms. At the time of the fourth Kingdom, God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and will eventually fill the whole earth:
Daniel 2:44–45 (RSVCE)
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever; 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
According to Saint Paul. The Mystery is fulfilled through the Church. The Church is the Kingdom of God on Earth It was established by Christ at the time of the fourth Gentile kingdom (Rome) and has become a great mountain filling the whole earth. Through the Church all of God’s children are Gathered into one.
Eph 3:8-11
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10 that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord…
Col 1:24-28
…the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Col 4:2-4
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving; 3 and pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, 4 that I may make it clear, as I ought to speak.
Dr. Scott Hahn makes this connection in his word study on the word ‘‘mystery’’ in his Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:
Mystery (Eph 3:3)
MystÄ“rion (Gk.): “mystery” or “secret”. The term is used six times in Ephesians and 22 times in the rest of the NT. Like Jesus, who revealed the mysteries of his kingdom through parables (Mt 13:11; Mk 4:11), Paul often teaches his readers about the hidden plan of God now manifest in the reign of Christ (Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 15:51; Eph 5:32; Col 2:2; 1 Tim 3:16). The most likely background for this notion is the Book of Daniel, where “mystery” (Aramaic raz) appears eight times in a single chapter (Dan 2:18-19, 27-30, 47). Here the mystery is described in a dream to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who envisioned a huge statue of a human body that symbolized the great empires of the earth. Though the king himself was the “head” (Dan 2:38) of the statue who received his empire from the Lord (Dan 2:37), Daniel went on to describe how the statue would be destroyed and replaced by the messianic kingdom of God. This is the mystery of the kingdom revealed in Ephesians (Eph 1:9; 3:4, 9). It is the mystery of another body, the Church, with its head, Jesus Christ (CCC 772, 1066).
Hahn, Scott; Mitch, Curtis (2010-06-14). The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament Ignatius Press.