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The word 'mystery' means a secret that God has withheld from man until the predetermined time He has chosen to reveal it. In this case the mystery has several elements: 1) that in the fullness of time He would enter His creation as a Man; 2) that through this Man He would reveal His love and kindness toward man; and 3) that through the gospel of this Man He would bring together both Jews and non-Jews into one unified body called the church. The reason He kept this hidden until a certain time is because He chose from the beginning to reveal Himself gradually to mankind.
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