KBM The Mystery Of Godliness
KBM Impact 3:16 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Continuing our series “Impact 3:16” and having last examined 2 Thessalonians 3:16 we find our next study passage in the very next book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy is part of what are commonly called the “Preacher Epistles” which also include 2 Timothy and Titus. In 1 Timothy 3 we find Paul has just finished telling Timothy of the qualifications and thus characteristics both elders and deacons are to have. That brings us to our text so let’s read 1 Timothy 3:14-15.
1 Timothy 3:14–15 (NKJV)
14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, 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.
As we can see the apostle Paul gives us the “key verse” or “theme verse” for this letter he has written to Timothy. He was writing to Timothy concerning how he, a preacher, ought to conduct himself in the church. Naturally, the things written, because they are inspired writings, apply to all for learning and maturing spiritually were contextually appropriate.
That “key verse” then leads us into our text for today which reads…
16 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.
The Greek word for mystery here is not to be taken as we would normally think. When we think of the word mystery we think of “knowledge withheld” but this Greek word means “truth revealed divinely.” In other words, what Paul is saying is that the gospel of Jesus Christ could not have been understood until God revealed it. It was, as Vines puts it, “outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension.” After all who would have been able to “understand without divine revelation” that “God would become human, be willing to be humiliated, tortured, and executed, all so he could be raised on the third day to overcome man’s sin. If it was not divine revelation it would not be believable but thanks be to God that God has revealed this divine truth of his love for us through the gospel of Jesus the Christ.
Because the “mystery of godliness” has been revealed we all have “hope in eternity” if we love the Lord our God with our “all” (Luke 10:27).