The Mystery of Godliness! Revised!

1 Timothy 3:16- And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness…NKJV

Godliness is not a strange term in the Christian vernacular, but the opposite. We talk about it, sing about it, pray for it, and try to practice it regularly, yet find ourselves trying to hone in on the concept of what is true godliness. Paul wrote that without controversy, or in other words, without a doubt, it’s a mystery.

And then Paul does what seems to be out of place. He quotes the words to a popular song (according to scholars) as if he is clearing up the mystery of godliness, or at least is giving us a heads up to what it pertains to:

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 3:16b NKJV

Before addressing the song, I would like to return to a previous statement of Paul.

I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 

1 Timothy 3:15 NKJV

In chapter three, Paul has listed the qualifications of leaders in the church. His list was pretty exhaustive and covered the gamut of behaviors Timothy should look for when deciding whom to place in leadership. He wrote about leaders not being greedy for money, that they should be married to one wife, that they should not be novices to the faith, that they should be able to teach the word, and not be given to wine. All things that are still applicable for today!

But then Paul states that he is also writing so that Timothy would know how to conduct himself in the house of God. Yes, Paul was advising Timothy on choosing godly leaders, but Paul was also telling Timothy what his life should look like before the church. I don’t think the mystery of godliness had anything to do with Paul not knowing or understanding what godliness looked like. But during a time when there was a lot of focus on Judaism, Hellenism, Romanism, and Greek mythology, Paul wanted to help Timothy set up boundaries in his life and the lives of other church leaders that would make them stand out in the crowd. Also, Paul wanted to encourage Timothy so that even when it was tough, or odd, or if he was the only one, to continue living in godliness.

We’re living in such a day now. There is a lot of focus on a lot of things. We have more religions now than were prevalent in Paul’s day. We have people who claim to know the same God, and are reading from the same scriptures, yet walking away with different understandings of what is godly and what is not! We argue whether women should have their heads covered in church, or should they wear pants, or even, if they should teach and preach, but a greater concern lies in their lifestyle. How are they living before the church and the world?

As a church, we have been studying the book of Timothy. Last week, our daughter made a comment about what she thought was godliness. She said that when we think of godliness, we should think of those things that point people to Jesus. Therefore, anything that was a distraction from the person of Jesus should be considered ungodly. That resonated with my spirit. All the things that point us and others to Jesus pertain to godliness. And now Paul’s song makes perfect sense as a part of the dialogue about 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 3:16b NKJV

What’s our focus as believers? What really matters as we live our lives as kingdom citizens? To really attain godliness, we must remember that God was manifested in the flesh as Jesus, the Savior of the world! There is no other God besides Him, and none can compare to Him! We must also remember that the Spirit of the living God justified or vindicated Him through acts of supernatural empowerment and raising Him from the dead! The Spirit of God bore witness that Jesus was indeed God!

Jesus was seen by angels. How many times in the scriptures did angels appear on the scene for Jesus? There were several! When Jesus was born, angels announced His birth! After He was tempted for forty days and nights, they came and ministered to Him. On the day that His tomb was discovered empty, angels proclaimed that He had risen! And on the day that He ascended into heaven (was received up in glory), an angel asked the disciples why they were still gawking at the heavens.

He preached amongst the Gentiles and believed in the world! That was huge! He was not only the God of the Jews, but now the Gentiles had access to God through Jesus! That news is still being heralded around the world today! Jesus is the Savior of the world! We can only obtain access to God through Him, and throughout the centuries, millions have come to God through Him!

Godliness is very much about our actions. It also includes our character, our attitudes, and the way we conduct ourselves (Tony Evans, NASB study bible). Jesus was our first example of godliness, and His disciples continued with their own lives being examples. Our challenge today, as it was for Timothy and others, is to not be influenced by the world around us, but to influence the world around us with a lifestyle of godliness!

My favorite scripture on godliness is found in 2 Peter:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 3:2-4 NKJV

That’s a lot to unpack! Suffice it to say, God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through His divine power. He’s equipped us to be godly, so we just need to believe that we can live a godly life because He is committed to helping us in our pursuit.

So is godliness really a mystery? I don’t think it truly is since Paul took the time to give us concrete examples of it. Everything he did not cover just needs to come into alignment with scripture. When we miss it, we repent and fix it. But without a doubt, each of us should desire to live a life that is an example of godliness. Wonderful Jesus!