God previously hidden but now revealed. Thus the mystery is a mystery only to the outsider. What is the mystery? It has three aspects. First, the mystery is intimately connected with Christ; it is set forth in Christ (“in him” in Greek). Second, the mystery revealed is a plan for the fulness of time. The Greek word for plan is oikonomia, the law of the household, from which the word “economy” derives. The mystery is God’s economy or plan for the fulness of time. The latter phrase implies a succession