In our continued study of the Christ’s mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, we now arrive at the fourth parable of Matthew 13—the parable of the leaven. This parable is also found in Luke 13:20–21: “And again He said, ‘To what shall I compare the kingdom of God It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened.’” The gospel of Mark excludes this parable. Even though worded a little different, both renditions of the parable of the leaven are essentially the same. The leaven parable is second and last of the growth parables; ...
Passage: Matthew 13:44-46
The parables of “the hidden treasure” (Matt. 13:44) and “the pearl of great price” (13:45–46) appear to many to constitute a pair related in some way. These parables are the first two not spoken publicly but only to the disciples in private. Jesus uses the introductory formula “the kingdom of heaven is like . . .” It is likely there is a connection between Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 78:2 in Matthew 13:35 and 13:44 since both use the word “hidden.” ...
Passage: Matthew 13:51-52
We now approach the final two parables relating to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13. Some question whether the statement about the householder in verses 51 and 52 is a parable. It is not called a parable directly and does not use the parabolic formula that includes the word “like.” However, it does provide a lesson like the other parables and brings the entire parabolic section to an end...
As we continue our study of “mystery” in the Bible, our next New Testament passage is Romans 11:25–27. This passage occurs toward the end of Paul’s section on Israel in Romans 9–11. The “Israel section” appears to answer a question raised by the protagonist in light of the end of chapter 8, which argues nothing can separate a chosen one from the love of God (Romans 8:31–39). Paul states in Romans 9:6, “it is not as though the word of God has failed.” More precisely he declares in Romans 11:1, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” ...
Paul again uses the term “mystery” as he closes out his theological masterpiece in Romans. Here “mystery” is associated with the gospel that Paul has grounded the Roman believers in. Interestingly, these final three verses in Romans have been totally excluded from the Majority Text. Textual critic Bruce Metzger and his committee of textual scholars believe these three verses are part of the original and almost all manuscripts include them as genuine. Following the flow of the text, it is likely that Paul would end this great Epistle with a doxological prayer in which he praises God for His magnificent plan of the gospel.