THE MYSTERIES
OF GOD
Lesson #2
The
Mystery of Godliness 1 Timothy 3:16
When
Paul says, “Without controversy great is
the mystery of godliness,” he means for us to understand three things.
1. The doctrines of the gospel are
irrefutable facts. Sometimes the Word “godliness” refers to the whole body of revealed truth, particularly the truth
of God as it relates to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is
saying, “The doctrines of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ are indisputable,
undebateable, irrefutable facts, so plainly revealed and evidently manifest in
Holy Scripture that no reasonable controversy can be raised about them” Yet...
2. The gospel of Christ is a mystery no man
can comprehend. It cannot be known, understood, or received by any human
being except by divine revelation and regenerating grace (1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor.
4:5-6). Even to those to whom and in whom the gospel is revealed it remains a
mystery that we cannot fully comprehend. “We
see through a glass darkly.”
3. The basis and motive of all true godliness
is the gospel of Christ, the Person and work of our God and Savior. Generally,
when we use the word “godliness,” or when it is used in a biblical context, it
refers to the believer’s devotion and consecration to Christ. Looking at it
that way, Paul is telling us that the mystery of godliness, which the world can
never understand is not a legal bondage, but the constraint of love (2 Cor.
5:14; 1 John 4:19; 3:23). In Christ God’s elect are free, entirely free from
the law (Rom. 6:14, 15; 7:4; 8:1; 10:4; Gal. 3:13; 5:1; 1 Tim. 1:9-10).
Believers are not motivated or ruled by legal principles in any way or to any
degree.
Having said
that, Paul goes on to assert six facts, six matters of divinely revealed gospel
truth, which to mortal eyes are incomprehensible mysteries. I want us to
examine these six statements in this study. These six mysteries of faith are
the things that inspire and compel the believer’s heart in the worship and
service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“GOD WAS
MANIFEST IN THE FLESH.” The incarnation and birth of our Lord
Jesus Christ was an absolute necessity because of God’s eternal purpose of
grace to save his elect. There was no other way for God to be just and yet
justify the ungodly (Rom. 3:24-26). The Lord God declares himself to be both “a just God and a Savior” (Isa. 45:20).
If there was any other way for him to save that did not involve the
incarnation, righteous obedience, and sin-atoning death of his dear Son, “then,” as the Scriptures plainly state,
“Christ is dead in vain” (Gal. 2:21;
3:21). In order for God to save his elect all the demands of his holy law and
infinite justice had to be satisfied on our behalf. Someone, whose
righteousness and sacrificial death would be of infinite merit, and therefore
of infinite efficacy, must make atonement for our sins. Someone had to live and
die as our substitute. The only person capable of such substitutionary
obedience must be both God and man; and that person is Jesus Christ, who is the
incarnate God, God manifest in the flesh.
The results of
his obedience unto death as our substitute before God are certain. This great
Savior cannot fail to save those people whom he came to save (Matt. 1:21; Isa.
42:4). Therefore every believer may rightfully enjoy the blessed comfort and
assurance of his acceptance with God. We have an Advocate with the Father who
is so infinitely meritorious, whose advocacy is so justly efficacious that God
cannot in justice impute sin to those for whom he lived and died (1 John 2:1-2;
Rom. 4:8). This great work of redemption by Christ was planned and purposed in
eternity by God the Father (Eph. 1:3-6), effectually purchased and obtained for
the elect at Calvary by God the Son (Heb. 9:12; Gal. 3:13), and is effectually
and irresistibly applied to every chosen, redeemed sinner by God the Holy
Spirit in regeneration and conversion (Heb. 9:13-15). Jesus Christ, who is God
manifest in the flesh, has fulfilled for every believer all the will and
purpose of God according to the Scriptures (Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7; Mic. 5:2; John
1:1-3, 14, 18; Heb. 1:1-3; 10:5-10).
Having accomplished
redemption for us, the Son of God was “JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT!” While he
walked upon the earth, his claims as Messiah were justified by the fact that
the Holy Spirit was given to him without measure (John 3:34). Particularly at
his baptism, as he began his public ministry, in a very public manor the Holy
Spirit descended and abode upon him in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:13-17),
thereby vindicating his claims and the mission he had come to accomplish. The
miracles he performed by the Holy Spirit justified his claims as Messiah (Lk.
11:20; Matt. 1:21). When he was resurrected from the dead, he was by the Holy
Spirit justified from our sins that had been imputed to him. He was slain
because he had been made to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). When he arose from the
dead three days later, his resurrection was God’s public declaration that all
the sins he bore in his body on the cursed tree were forever put away. Thus,
his resurrection vindicated and justified his claims; and he was justified as
our Representative and Surety (Rom. 4:25). The Son of God in all his claims as
our divinely appointed Savior was justified by the Spirit through the ministry
of his chosen apostles (Heb. 2:3). And he is justified in the Spirit every time
the gospel is preached in the power of the Spirit to the salvation of redeemed
sinners.
Next, Paul
tells us that our Redeemer was “SEEN OF ANGELS!” Of course, he was
seen of angels in his pre-incarnate glory as our Mediator (Isa. 6:1-7; Rev.
4:8-11; 5:8-10). He was seen of angels at his incarnation. When the angels of
God saw God the Son, their Creator in human flesh coming into the world to save
fallen men, they were overwhelmed with wonder. "Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men" (Luke 2:13-15). They were astonished at his
miraculous conception (Matt. 1:18-21; Luke. 1:26-35) and virgin birth (Luke.
2:8-14). The angels of God observed his life, his baptism (Matt. 3:13-17), and
his temptations (Matt. 4:1-11). After his temptations in the wilderness, they
rushed to minister to him. The angels of God observed with reverence all his
words and works of mercy throughout his public ministry. They beheld him in awe
upon the Mount of Transfiguration, as the Father displayed his approval and
acceptance of all he had done and would do, and gave a demonstration of the
glory that he now enjoys in his exaltation, the glory he obtained by virtue of
his obedience (Matt. 17:1-9; Phil. 2:8-11). The angels saw him (How utterly
astonished they must have been!) when the God-man’s heart was crushed in
Gethsemane, as he cried out to his Father at the prospect of being made to be
sin for us. No doubt, those holy spirits were moved as they had never known
they could be moved, when they saw him break out in bloody sweat. They followed
him on to the judgment hall and observed his mock trials, the jeering taunts of
the soldiers, the humiliations he endured at their hands, and the beating of his
holy body. The angels watched the parade of infamy, the crucifixion, and the
torments heaped upon him as he hung upon the cross. The angels observed his
willingness to endure it all, observed his dying love for his people, heard his
tender words upon the cursed tree; and the angels observed the great
transaction of justice and truth. They watched God make his Son to be sin for
us. They heard the Savior’s cry and watched him as he was forsaken by his
Father that we might forever be accepted by him. They saw Immanuel die! The
angels were there when he went into heaven with his own blood and obtained
eternal redemption for us. They saw him rise from the dead, attended him in his
ascension, and shouted for joy as the King of glory sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high.
“When in
heaven He took His seat, The seraphs sang all hell’s defeat!”
Next we read
that our Savior was “PREACHED UNTO THE GENTILES!” This was indeed a mystery. The
Jews who had despised him never dreamed that God would reject them and send his
grace to the Gentiles. They did not understand the prophets or the gracious
purpose of God revealed in them. Certainly, the Gentiles, lost in pagan
darkness, idolatry, and superstition, never thought of such a thing. Yet, God
had from eternity purposed to gather his church and kingdom, his Israel, out of
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. Therefore, when the fullness of time
had come, the gospel of redemption and grace in Christ, the God-man, was
preached to the Gentiles. Chosen Gentiles, hearing of God’s purpose of grace
toward them, hearing of redemption accomplished by the Son of God, and of the
free and full forgiveness of sin by his blood, believed. "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the
word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed"
(Acts 13:48). The Son of God will continue to be preached among the Gentiles
until all God’s elect have been saved. When the fullness of he Gentiles has
been brought in, when the number of the saved equals the number of the elect,
then “all Israel shall be saved”
(Rom. 11:25-26).
As the result
of Christ being preached among the Gentiles, he was and is “BELIEVED ON IN THE WORLD!”
God could call out his elect by any means he desired. Had it been his pleasure
to do so, he could have called them without any intermediary means. Had it been
his pleasure, he could have sent angels to proclaim the gospel to them. He
could have spoken the word of grace by a donkey, or a rock. But “it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). The preaching of the
gospel is God’s ordained means of grace to chosen sinners (Rom. 10:17; James
1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23-25). Here is a great act of mercy and condescension toward
us. Not only has God chosen to save sinners, he has chosen to allow saved
sinners to be the instruments in his hands by which other chosen sinners hear
the gospel of his grace and believe on his Son unto everlasting life (1 Cor.
1:26-31; Eph. 3:8). Christ lifted up upon the cursed tree accomplished
redemption; and Christ lifted up by the preaching of the gospel is the means by
which God calls chosen sinners to himself in saving faith (John 3:14-16;
12:32).
Our great,
incarnate God and Savior, having accomplished eternal redemption for us, was “RECEIVED
UP INTO GLORY.” There is a man in glory today who is God manifest in
the flesh. Once his work of redemption was finished, he sat down at the right
hand of God and took possession of heaven as the Representative and Forerunner
for God’s elect. There he sits in all the ease and tranquillity of total
sovereignty. He is there as our Advocate and High Priest to make unceasing
intercession for his redeemed (Heb. 7:24-25; 1 John 2:1-2). Therefore,
believers may confidently raise those great challenges of faith found in Romans
8:33-34. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God
that justifieth. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Not
only does he intercede for us, the God-man, our Savior holds the reins of the
universe in his hands, ruling the world and all things in it for the salvation
and eternal, spiritual good of his elect. God the Father has invested his Son,
as our Mediator and Savior, with all power, dominion, and authority over all
flesh to give eternal life to chosen, redeemed sinners (John 17:2; Rom. 8:28).
Every child of God ought to seek grace from God to live every day in the
constant, confident awareness of this fact. It would comfort our souls in the
midst of every trial, heartache, and trouble we are constrained by God’s
providence to endure. God’s purpose in all things is our everlasting salvation
and the salvation of all his chosen. At the end of our brief time in this world
of woe, we will confess, like those mentioned in Mark 7:37, who beheld his
works upon the earth, “He hath done all
things well!”