THE PERSON OF GRACE
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” — 1 Tim. 3:16
“Great is the mystery of godliness.” To understand what the Spirit of God would set before us here, we must first understand that there is a different meaning for the word “mystery” as it is used in the New Testament from our popular use of it today. For us a mystery is something obscure or baffling. The term in scripture means almost the opposite; it refers to something once hidden, but now revealed.
To derive the significance of this text, we also need to understand the meaning of “godliness.” If you look the word up in a dictionary the definition will be something like “pious” or “devoutly religious.” Certainly that is not what the word means here. It is my judgment that the term as the Spirit uses it here is almost self defining; it means, God-like-ness.” To give godliness this significance will at once explain why it is clearly applied to Christ. He is the only one in all the history of man who manifests godliness in the ideal sense of unqualified likeness to God.
He revealed “the mystery of Godliness” (What is God like?) because He IS God. That is the first clue to the “mystery.” He was “GOD manifest in the flesh.” “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily [Col. 2:9].” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [John 1:1, my italics].” Christ is “the image of the invisible God… [Col. 1:15],” The “brightness of [God’s] glory, and the express image of His person… [Heb. 1:3].” “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son,…He hath declared (revealed) Him [John 1:18]. Thus He could say, without qualification or exaggeration, “…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father…” (cf. John 14:9).” What is God like? He is like Jesus Christ!
That is the declaration; what follows in our text is the confirmation.
“Justified in the Spirit.” Recall that on the occasion of His baptism “…the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased [Luke 3:22].” Thus did the Holy Spirit confirm His Person and identification with the Father.
“Seen of angels.” Angels attended and announced His birth. They ministered to Him when He withstood the temptation in the wilderness. Twelve legions (as many as 72,000) stood at the ready to come at His call when He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. They were present at His resurrection. And, it may be noted, they will form part of His retinue when He returns!
“Preached unto the Gentiles.” His work as Redeemer disclosed the love of God (Jn. 3:16) not for the Jew only, but for the lost Gentile world as well. Humanity has ever been divided into conflicting “camps” defined by country, color, class or culture; Christ, as God manifest in the flesh, embraced them all without discrimination when He bore our sins in His own body on the cross.
“Believed on in the the world.” The supernaturalness of the Son of God is evident in the scope of the embrace of His person and work in “every tribe and nation.” The message of the gospel is an offense to the natural man; only God could persuade men anywhere that the sacrifice of “the Lamb of God” affords a remedy for the sinfulness of lost mankind. Clearly this man is much more than a philosopher or a “cleric.”
“Received up into glory.” This concluding phrase in our text assumes the resurrection, and whatever the other elements may seem to signify, this is the cord that binds them all in the bundle of Truth and confirms the deity of Christ. His Person stands unique among men. He claimed to be God; He manifested “God-like-ness” and His triumphant return to “the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3) is the seal that endorses it all!
But, the wonder of this text does not end there. The “mystery of godliness” is magnified in its extension to every redeemed sinner. For now, Christ alone qualifies as truly “God-like,” but the day is coming when that magnificent quality will clearly define every born again believer; for, “we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is [I John 3:2b]!”
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
For the glory of Christ and of God,
"Pastor" Frasier
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