Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3:14-16 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

This lesson is predominately about the mystery of godliness in 1 Tim 3:16.  However, we will first consider the house of God in 1 Tim 3:15.  People often refer to the church building as “the house of God.”  It’s not bad to say that, since we meet together with the Lord when we meet at church.  However, doctrinally, the house of God is “the church of the living God,” (1 Tim 3:15), which is Christ’s body, into which we are baptized by the Holy Spirit when we are saved (Eph 2:19-22).

The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth.  That is, the church is founded on the truth (Matt 16:16-18; Eph 2:20; Jn 14:6), and the church should be standing for the truth (Jn 17:17; Ps 119:160).  A church founded on a pope or a prophet and standing for its own traditions rather than the words of God is not the Church of Jesus Christ; it is a religious organization propagating its own doctrine for its own motives.

In the Bible, ministers of Christ are stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1). There are seven mysteries of God.  The first one is the mystery of godliness, which is found in 1 Tim. 3:16.

The mystery of godliness is, “God was manifest in the flesh.” So, when Jesus said, “And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me,” (John 12:45) he was speaking literally and truthfully because he was God manifest in the flesh. In John 14:9, Jesus said the same thing to Philip, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”

Now, if Jesus Christ is really God while he is here in the earth, there should be other scriptural evidence to this fact. Indeed, there is. In John 1:1, we read, “… And the Word was God.” Well, who is the Word? According to John 1:14, the Word is Jesus Christ. He was made flesh. John said that he dwelt among us and that he was the only begotten of the Father. Furthermore, John says of the Word in his first epistle that he had heard him, had seen him, and had handled him with his hands (1 John 1:1-3).

John leaves no doubt that the Word is, in fact, the true God and not some lesser god or some man upon whom the spirit of God came after his birth. Look at 1 John 5:7. It says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” What could be clearer than that? Well, if you have one of the modern Bibles, you do not have these words in 1 Jn 5:7.  They have been removed.  Furthermore, if you have an NASV, your Bible says that Jesus was a begotten “God” in John 1:18. These are blatant attacks on the deity of Jesus Christ.

Following his resurrection Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples several times. Some teachers would have you believe that his resurrection was merely spiritual and not physical. However, this cannot be true. For when Christ arose, he arose bodily. In Luke 24:39 he said, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

When Jesus appeared to Thomas in John 20:24-29, he appeared in a physical body with the scars in his hands, feet and side. When Thomas saw him, he believed and said to the Lord, “My Lord and my God.” Notice that Thomas, who had been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, did not hesitate to call him, “God,” when he saw him. That would have been blasphemy if it had not been true (John 5:17-18; Mk 2:7).  Some other verses confirming Christ’s deity are Rom 9:5; 1 Tim 1:16-17; Is 9:6; Jn 10:30.

Conclusion: Jesus Christ is God.  He has always been God and will always be God (Rev 1:8, Heb 13:8). To believe that he is anything else other than the true God is to believe a lie. Look how John concludes his first epistle. 1 John 5:20 says, “…we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”