DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH

Hid, Hide, Hidden

Hid, Hide and Hidden. In the N.T. these words are the transladon of either the Greek krupto and its derivatives and compounds, lanthano, or kalupto and its compound with peri. Lanthano occurs six times, but two references only have any dispensational bearing, they occur in 2 Peter 3:5,8:

"For this they willingly are ignorant of" (lit. this ESCAPES them willingly).

"Be not ignorant of this one thing" (lit. let not this one thing escape you).

Moffatt renders these passages: "They wilfully ignore the fact." "Beloved, ye must not ignore this fact." Ignorance may be excusable, but to "ignore wilfully" is sinful, and thus reveals the obstinate character of those who with pseudo scientific arguments protest that the second coming of the Lord, accompanied as it is described by prodigious physical consequences, is impossible. Such "ignore wilfully" both the teaching of Genesis 1:2 and of 6:7, and the evidence of disruption that is everywhere legible in the crust of the earth. God has interfered with the so-called laws of nature in the past, and He is pledged to interfere on a grander scale in the future: "and who may abide the day of His coming?" unless they are found "in Christ", the antitype of the ark in the days of Noah.

Kalupto occurs eight times, and we accordingly give a concordance to the references:

Matt. 8:24	The ship was covered with the waves.
10:26	There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed.
Luke 8:16	No man. . . covereth it with a vessel.
23:30	Say . . . to the hills, cover us.
2 Cor. 4:3	But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
Jas. 5:20	Shall hide a multitude of sins.
1 Pet. 4:8	Shall cover the multitude of sins.

This word is derived from kalumma, "a veil", and this word occurs four times, namely in 2 Corinthians 3:13,14,15 and 16. In addition we must note that anakalupto occurs in 2 Corinthians 3:14 and 18 "untaken away" or "open face". One important fact emerges from this concordance, namely that 2 Corinthians 3 employs the figure of a veil, and that the translation "open" face, and "hid" in the expansion of this figurative passage, themselves "veil" the eyes of the reader and prevent him from perceiving the truth. The accompanying diagram may help to remove "the veil" that the A.V. has perpetuated, and to make clear Satan's use of undispensational truth in his endeavour to blot out "the gospel of the glory".

The theme of 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 is the exceeding glory of the new covenant. In comparison with this covenant, the glory of the old is nullified. The Chart suggests-by the two shaded forms-the tables of stone associated with the old covenant, and the fleshy tables of the heart that belong to the new covenant. Both covenants had their respective "glory", but "even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious" (2 Cor. 3:10,11).

After considering the balancing members, it becomes very dear that "from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18) can mean nothing else than "from the typical glory of the old covenant, to the antitypical glory of the new covenant". This we have suggested by the arrow at the base of the two covenant forms.

Much of the teaching of this passage is connected with the use of the word "veil". Moses veiled his face so that Israel should not see the end of the glory that was transient. Israel wear a veil, not only over their heads when reading the law (as shown in the illustration) but over their hearts. The teaching of the passage is "veiled" to the ordinary reader by the translation "open face" in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where it should read "unveiled face", as a direct contrast with the veiled face of Israel. Further, the word "hid" in 2 Corinthians 4:3 is the word "veiled" , and carries the teaching on to its conclusion.

The new translation of 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 given at the bottom of the Chart reveals the awful truth that Satan fabricates a veil for the spiritual eye out of undispensational truth. Four times in 2 Corinthians three it is stressed that the old covenant was "done away" (or "abolished"), and out of this, as the epistle to the Galatians reveals, the Evil One made a veil to hide the fulness of grace that is found in the person and work of Christ. Two faces are seen in contrast, the face of Moses, and the face of Jesus Christ.

We append the structure of 2 Corinthians 2:17-4:6 as a supplement to the Chart.

A 2:17.	a Not corrupt the Word of God
	b Speak in the sight of God
B 3:1-16. THE FACE OF MOSES.-The passing glory
C 3: 17,18. The unveiled face of the believer.                                                                         -From glory to glory
A 4:1,2.	a Not handle deceitfully the Word of God
	b Commend in the sight of God
C 4:3,4. The veiled face of the unbeliever.-Glory hidden
B 4:5,6. THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.-The glory of God.

The third Greek word translated "hid" and "hide" is krupto and its derivatives. These derivatives are kruphe (Eph. 5:12); kruptos (Matt. 6:18); krupte (Luke 11 :33); perikrupto (Luke 1 :24); apokruphon, apokrupto and egkrupto. Not every one of these words or every one of their occurrences is of dispensational importance. The fact that the Mystery (which also was hidden) occupies such an important place in Ephesians, makes the sinister reference in Ephesians 5:12 the more marked.

"For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret."

There seems to be a passing reference here to the fact that initiates into these pagan mysteries were under a bond of secrecy, and the Apostle seems to suggest that there was good cause for this secrecy, so awful were the rites practised on these occasions. If there is in the Scripture "the Mystery of Godliness" we can depend upon it that there will also be the Satanic counterpart, "the Mystery of Iniquity".

"The very naming of those abominations often produces improper associations in the mind; the description creates polluting images before the imagination. . . . Paul did not describe these vices, he denounced them; he did not dwell upon them long enough for the imagination to find employment, and to corrupt the soul. He mentioned the vice, and then he mentioned the wrath of God; he alluded to the sin, and then he spoke of the exc1usion from heaven" (Barnes on Ephesians).

There are "depths of Satan" which it is commendable in the believer not to know (Rev. 2:24). In 2 Corinthians 4:2 Paul is represented as saying that he had "renounced the hidden things of dishonesty", but this is misleading. To be able to say one has "renounced" anything implies previous complicity. The word translated "renounce" is composed of apo "away" and eipein "to commend". Here Paul rejects with emphasis any complicity with the evil methods adopted by teachers of falsehood. Two references to kruptos occur in Romans two which are important dispensationally. We will not, here, set out the structure of the whole chapter, but will lift out the two corresponding members that contain these words.

A Rom. 2:15,16.	a kardia Work of law in hearts
	b kruptos The secrets of men
B Rom. 2: 17-25.	opheleo The profit of circumcision
*            *            *
A Rom. 2:29.	b kruptos Secret man within
	a kardia circumcision of the heart
B Rom. 3:1.	opheleia What profit of circumcision?

Romans 2:15,16 reveals that when the Gentiles who never received either the law or gospel are judged, they will not be judged superficially by what they have actually done, they will be judged by One Who knows the secret or hidden promptings of the heart. Just one word of warning. We have met those who maintained that the Gentile believer is intended by the "Jew which is one inwardly", but this is not the teaching of Romans two. There the Apostle is saying to the Jew, "your physical descent from Abraham, your entrustment with the oracles of God, are not sufficient, these are outward; but to be a true Jew, these need to have a corresponding inward reality" which alas was so absent from the Jew at that time that he had even rejected and crucified the very Messiah Himself. There remain for our consideration the references to "hide" or "hidden" in Ephesians and Colossians, which are:

Eph. 3:9	"And to make all men see what is the fellowship (R.V. "dispensation") of the Mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ."
Col. 1:26	"Even the Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints."
Col. 2:3	"To the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in Whom are bid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Col. 3:3	"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

Under the heading DISPENSATION, Ephesians 3:9 has been partly examined. All that we are concerned with here is that the Mystery is of such a nature that no amount of human ingenuity, piety or study could ever bring it to light; it had been purposely and effectively hidden "in God", had been hidden from or since the ages in and by that same God Who created all things. Not only so, but Colossians 1 :26 says that this "Mystery was hidden from the ages and from the generations" and has only now been revealed through the stewardship of Paul the prisoner.

Two other equally precious references to the hidden things of the Mystery are: (1) that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and (2) the believer's life is hid with Christ in God. The same care, the same covering, the same hiding-place for the Mystery itself is provided for the life of the believer. Both safe, both manifested in their own appointed season, both very closely related to the heavenly glory of the Saviour. Colossians 2:2 needs a little revision. The Revised text reads: "The Mystery of God even Christ." There is a series of steps to the goal here which we should not miss. Paul's longing for these Colossians, and the labour he put forth on their behalf was in order that

1. Their hearts may be comforted.
2. They may be knit together in love.
3. Unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.
4. To the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God-Christ.
5. In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

For the very real relationship of this blessed assurance with the act and grace of "acknowledgment" the reader is directed to the article bearing the title ACKNOWLEDGE. For the fuller explication of the Mysteries here referred to, the article entitled MYSTERY should be read. If God hides, as He has, who can hope to discover the Mystery until He chooses to reveal it? If God hides, as He has, what can endanger that life which is hid with Christ in God? Riches of full assurance are here indeed!

An Alphabetical Analysis