Hello, Claire. Please don't take the following as a reprimand or anything like that. Maybe it can be seen as logically complementary or fitting-to your wording, or as just further definition —I don't know.
I completely agree with and applaud the idea you support here, that there is reason that pursuit of understanding of these things should not be abandoned, by just calling it "mystery", BUT:
However, the NT usage of "mystery" does not mean "beyond human understanding," but rather "secret, never before revealed," as in
the incarnation (
1Ti 3:16),
the death of Christ (
1Co 2:1,7).
the gospel (
Ro 16:25),
God's purpose to sum up all things in Christ (
Eph 1:9),
the inclusion of both Gentiles and Jews in the NT church (
Eph 3:3-6),
the plan of God by which both Jew and Gentile will be included in his kingdom (
Ro 11:25),
the change that will take place at the resurrection (
1Co 15:51),
None of the NT
mysteries above are "beyond human understanding."
They
are beyond human understanding in the sense that we can't even nearly —I'd even, perhaps hyperbolically, say, "we can't even begin to"— plumb the depths of God's point of view of these things (i.e. "the facts"). (I note here, that while it is rightly said that,
'All truth is God's truth', I think it is even more important to know that
'God's truth is all truth.' i.e. there is no other truth. What he 'sees' is the only unmoving reference.)
Where is the. . . "
mystery". . .of God "
interacting with human free will". . .that is "
beyond human understanding" . . .
in God working in the heart/disposition, giving one to
prefer the gospel, which one then
freely and
willingly chooses. . .all according to God's
predestination
(
Ro 8:29-30) of him?
I completely agree with the use of the term, "
willingly" here, but I find myself objecting to the term, "
freely", here —not because it is wrong, but because it begs definition. To merely define it or limit it with, "all according to God's predestination", too easily allows those who espouse 'libertarian freewill' to sidestep the idea that God predestines all things. I would prefer something similar to, "all as a result of God's predestination". I find myself increasingly unhappy, lately, with the prevailing notion (and its posits and implications) that anything can happen apart from God's purposeful causation. All Glory goes to God, even for what Christians find hard to digest.
I admit it could just be "me". I'm having a hard time accepting terminology that doesn't immediately counter the notions of arminianistic* and particularly pelagianistic* theology. Maybe the fact that I find myself reacting so, is largely because of a gut response to suggestions of late, that I don't really believe in the Calvinistic/Reformed-sounding beliefs I claim.
But I'm not asking you to change the description you have used so well for years. I just feel the need to define it— to be sure nobody takes it to say what it does not say.
What's to wait for?
Is Scripture not
already replete with
the Holy Spirit's revealing the truth of God working in the heart/disposition; i.e., "
interacting with human free will" to accomplish his purposes, as in
Ge 20:6,
Ex 3:21,
Dt 2:25, Dt 2:30, Jos 11:20,
1 Sa 10:9,
Ezra 1:1,
Ezra 1:5,
Ezra 7:27,
Neh 2:12,
Neh 7:5,
Ps 105:25,
Ps 106:46,
Pr 21:1,
Eze 36:27,
Da 1:9,
2Co 8:16,
Php 2:13,
Rev 17:17?
There's always more to learn.
*pardon the unnecessary-sounding suffix. I want to be sure that those who use some of the same things that Arminian and Pelagian theologies are know for, understand that I am talking about THEM, too.