The Mystery of Godliness

1 Timothy 3:16

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.

The epistles to Timothy and Titus are commonly referred to as the Pastoral Epistles because they were written to pastors in regard to the work of the ministry. The emphasis in 1 Timothy and Titus is on the proper order, doctrine, and practice of the church, but in 2 Timothy it is on the apostasy of the professing church. Someone said that in 1 Timothy we see the church in rule, but in 2 Timothy we see it in ruin. 

In 1 Tim. 3 we learn that there are only two offices in the local church (v.1, 10). The qualifications for both offices make it clear that only elders (spiritually mature men) are qualified to serve as bishops (overseer) and deacons (servants, assistants to the bishops). A man that is not grounded in sound doctrine for this present age of grace is not fit to serve as deacon (v.9). He must know the mystery of the faith and he must hold to it with a pure conscience. "The faith" refers to the body of doctrine that Christ revealed through Paul's epistles for the edification of the Body of Christ. 

Most teachers say that the mystery mentioned in v.16 is the incarnation, but he did not say, "great is the mystery of God being manifest in the flesh" (that was prophesied, Isa. 7:14; 9:6). It is the mystery of GODLINESS. Sinners like us could not be godly without Christ being baptized into our humanity and us being baptized into His Body, thereby being made one with Him. Our spiritual union with Christ is the mystery of godliness. 

The context is godliness. The qualifications for the offices of bishop and deacon provide a good description of godliness. In v.15 he talked about how we are to behave ourselves in the church. That the first word in v.16 is "And" shows that v.16 is an expansion of the thought in v.15. In chapter 4 he shows that we are not made godly by the efforts of the flesh and continues to teach about godliness. Those who teach that we can be made godly by things like abstaining from meats have departed from "the faith" which was stated in 3:16. 

If v.16 was only a statement about Christ, why would he list things out of order?  Christ was not preached unto the Gentiles and believed on in the world before He was received up into glory. Since Christ and His church are one (Eph. 5:22-33), what is said in v.16 applies to both Christ and His spiritual Body. By the way, the modern versions change “God” to “He" and thereby totally mess up a great verse. 

How v.16 applies to Christ:

1. God was manifest in the flesh – Jn. 1:1-3, 14
2. Justified in the Spirit – Lk. 7:29
3. Seen of angels – Matt. 4:11
4. Preached unto the Gentiles – Acts 13:46-47
5. Believed on in the world – Col. 1:6
6. Received up into glory – Mk. 16:19

How v.16 applies to the Church:
1. God was manifest in the flesh - 2 Cor. 4:10-11; Gal. 2:20
2. Justified in the Spirit - 1 Cor. 6:11
3. Seen of angels - Eph. 3:10
4. Preached unto the Gentiles - Rom. 16:25-27
5. Believed on in the world - Rom. 16:26
6. Received up into glory - Col. 3:1-4

Verse 16 presents a series of contrasts:
Flesh vs. Spirit
Angels vs. Gentiles
World vs. Glory