“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” – 1 Timothy 3:16
As you study the Bible, God teaches you in many places that there is much “mystery” in the Scriptures. In other words, there are many truths that God hid for a time and later revealed as His light shone upon them, the truth was made clear and was expounded to His people, and connections were made between the revealed truth and previous revelation as well as the fulfillment of prophecy. All revelation of such mysteries is gloriously rich and provides you with beautiful depth of knowledge about God, about Jesus Christ, His character, His decrees, His providence, His works, and His promises.
We’ve been blessed recently in our morning sermon series through Matthew to learn more of the riches of the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 13:11) through the parables Jesus spoke in His third discourse. In Eph. 3, the Apostle Paul unpacks the mystery of Christ and His church, explaining in verses 5-6, “which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel”. There are other passages regarding mystery that we can consider in Rom. 16 and Col. 1, as well as our focus text in 1 Tim. 3, where Paul speaks clearly about the “mystery of godliness”.
Take note that before Paul lays out the details of this mystery in 1 Tim. 3:16, he leads into it by declaring a wonderful foundational truth to you. The church of the living God is the “pillar and ground of the truth” (v. 15). In saying this, Paul isn’t teaching that the authority of the Scriptures depends upon that of the church. Rather, the church stands on and proclaims the truth of Scripture and the doctrine of Christ as it is the holy Word of the living God. Considering this, what is the truth which the church is the pillar and ground of? Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. In other words, the doctrine Paul is about to put forth is confessed and acknowledged openly as being true and great in its importance.
So, what is the mystery of godliness? At first glance at these words, one may think that Paul is speaking about more revealed truth regarding the Christian’s walk in godliness or in God‘s work in us to do so. But, is that the mystery? No, the mystery of godliness is Christ. This is clear as Paul lists six things concerning Him that make up this mystery and lay out the Gospel. They proclaim tenets of the Christian faith, in many ways as a biblical creed, that many scholars believe may have been used as an outline of the more expansive Apostles’ Creed.
- God was manifested in the flesh: This confesses the incarnation of Christ, the Son of God come in the flesh, while also revealing His preexistence. (John 1;1-2, John 1:14 1 Pet. 1:20, 1 John 1:2, 1 John 3:5) In addition to these references, regarding your confession of Christ, I encourage you to study and commit 1 John 4:2-3 to memory- “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”
- Justified in the Spirit: This confesses the vindication of Christ in His resurrection. God the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice as satisfactory. He rose for our justification, as He was delivered for our offenses. (Rom. 4:25) Jesus was “…declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Rom. 1:4)
- Seen by angels: This confesses Christ and His ascension. Jesus is the Lord of the heavenly host. (Heb. 1) Acts 1:10-11 “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
- Preached among the Gentiles: As is true of the testimony of the truth in the mystery Paul proclaimed in Ephesians 3, this statement confesses the great work of Christ in Him being preached to the Gentiles through the Gospel as Redeemer and Savior, the middle wall of separation having been taken down. Remember Paul’s response to the envy of the Jews in Acts 13:46-47 “Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
- Believed on in the world: As the Gospel of Christ goes forth into the ears and to the hearts of men and women in the world, it isn’t preached in vain. God has and continues to draw His people to Himself and saves us. We believe, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. (Acts 16:31, Gal. 2:20, Acts 15:11, 2 Tim. 1:9-10, Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2) John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”
- Received up in glory: This confesses Christ’s exaltation to the right hand of God. (Col. 3:1) Acts 7:54-56 “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Praise God for His revealing this mystery! This is a succinct, beautiful confession of Christ and the Gospel, isn’t it, Beloved? Whether you’re well familiar with this verse or not, I encourage you to study and meditate on it this week. Confess the incarnate, crucified, risen, ascended, seated, and reigning Christ. Stand on and proclaim His truth with much joy and thanksgiving today!