The following is excerpted from The Way of Life Commentary Series, The Pastoral Epistles, www.wayoflife.org -

“These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 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” (1 Timothy 3:14-16).

1 Timothy 3:16 is connected with the previous verse. The church’s main faith, main message, its foundation, is that God was manifest in the flesh.

The “mystery of godliness” refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

- It is the revelation of how godliness is obtained. Man lost godliness in the fall, and the mystery of godliness is God’s revelation of how godliness is recovered. “Mystery” refers to New Testament revelation. The mystery of godliness is that the sinner obtains godliness, or the righteousness of God, through Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension. “Godliness” comes 100% by Jesus Christ and 100% by God’s grace. The mystery of godliness refers to the means whereby sinners can obtain the very righteousness of God, the perfect righteousness that is required of God’s law. It was purchased by Christ’s atonement and is given as a free gift to believing sinners, who are justified, or declared righteous, on the basis of that atonement (Ro. 3:24-25). The righteousness of the law is then fulfilled in the believer as he walks in the Spirit (Ro. 8:3-10) through the life of Christ dwelling in him (Ga. 2:20; Col. 1:26-27).

- “This is often quoted and interpreted as if it spoke of the mystery of the Godhead, or the mystery of Christ’s Person. But it is the mystery of godliness, or the secret by which all real godliness is produced—the divine spring of all that can be called piety in man. ... Godliness springs from the knowledge of the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. ... This is how God is known; and from abiding in this flows godliness” (J.N. Darby).

The mystery of godliness is “great.”

- Indeed, nothing is greater than the doctrine of God’s incarnation, of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

- It is great in its compass, in that it was planned before the world was made and is God’s design for the eternal ages.

- It is great in its objective, which is to redeem poor fallen sinners, and to create a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

- It is great in its revelation of God’s character, in that it reveals His power, wisdom, holiness, justice, love, grace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and every other aspect of His infinite character.

- It is great in its wisdom, in that it is the means whereby a thrice-holy God of perfect justice could justify sinners and not destroy the law, whereby “he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Ro. 3:26). It was the contemplation of the mystery of godliness that caused Paul to exclaim, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Ro. 11:33).

The mystery of godliness is summarized in this verse.

- God was manifest in the flesh. This is the incarnation. God became a man. God was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by the Spirit, lived a sinless life, and died for man’s sin. A sinless man became the sacrifice for sinners. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (Joh. 1:14). See also Philippians 2:5-8.

- God manifest in the flesh was justified in the Spirit. This refers to the working of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s incarnation. He had the Spirit without measure (Joh. 3:34). Christ was born of the Spirit (Mt. 1:20), anointed by the Spirit (Mt. 3:16), led by the Spirit (Mt. 4:1), did miracles by the Spirit (Mt. 12:28), offered Himself as a sacrifice to God through the Spirit (Heb. 9:14), was resurrected by the Spirit (Ro. 8:11; 1 Pe. 3:18), and was proclaimed to the world by the Spirit through His coming upon the church at Pentecost (Joh. 15:26; 16:7-10; Ac. 1:8).

- God manifest in the flesh was seen of angels. The angels who knew the Son of God before His incarnation recognized Him and ministered to Him in His incarnation. Angels attended His birth (Lu. 2:10-14), ministered to Him after the temptation (Mt. 4:11), ministered to Him in the garden before the crucifixion (Lu. 22:43), attended the resurrection (Joh. 20:12) and His ascension (Ac. 1:10-11). Even the fallen angels recognized Jesus as the Son of God (Mt. 8:28-29).

- God manifest in the flesh was preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world. We see this throughout the book of Acts. “Three thousand Jews were converted at Pentecost, and before the close of that big meeting near unto 144,000 Jews were converted. Some of the Jerusalem sinners believed on him. His great persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, believed on him. Then his gospel was carried to heathen Antioch, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, the ends of the earth, and wherever this gospel has been faithfully preached it has been accepted and believed. It is not a gospel of empty sound. ... But we need not go back to Pentecost and apostolic times for proof. Fresh evidences abound now, and we are his witnesses. If Jesus be now alive in glory he can now manifest that life. The continued work of the Holy Spirit in the call of preachers, in regenerating and sanctifying sinners, attests it. Every new convert has the witness in himself. Every prayer heard, every sad heart comforted, attests it. It is just as credible now as when first preached, and its saving power as evident” (B.H. Carroll).

- God manifest in the flesh was received up into glory. This refers to Christ’s ascension, whereby the Father glorified the Son. The Son ascended to the right hand of God on high (Ps. 110:1). This is emphasized throughout the New Testament. Compare Mr. 16:19; Lu. 24:51; Joh. 6:62; 13:3; 16:28; 17:5; Ac. 1:9; Eph. 4:8-10; Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 12:2; 1 Pe. 3:22. “The point is just this: If Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended up into heaven, he is alive now. That is what he says: ‘I am he that was dead but am alive.’ If Jesus is alive he can right now manifest that life just as well as when he was alive and walking the streets of Jerusalem. Arguments on a monument are very poor things when compared with arguments based upon present evidences that Christ, the living God, is King of kings and Lord of lords” (B.H. Carroll).

- B.H. Carroll summarizes this verse as follows: “God assumed human nature in his incarnation for the salvation of men. In this incarnation the Holy Spirit justified or vindicated his Deity and its claims. The angels recognized the Deity in the flesh. As God in the flesh he was proclaimed to all nations. Wherever thus proclaimed and attested he was accepted by faith, i.e., the truth so proclaimed and attested was credible. The Father’s reception of him into glory after his resurrection was a demonstration of his Deity in the flesh and a vindication of all his claims while in the flesh. Here we have one great proposition embodying a mystery” (An Interpretation of the English Bible).

The mystery of godliness is a plain statement of Christ’s deity.

- The modern Bible versions based on the critical Alexandrian Greek text remove the word “God” and replace it with “which” or “he.” The American Standard Version of 1901 says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh...” The New International Version says, “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body...”

-  The manuscript evidence for “God” is overwhelming, and we have no doubt this is what the apostle wrote under divine inspiration. That great textual scholar John Burgon published a masterly defense of the word “God” in 1 Timothy 3:16, which was included in his book Revision Revised. Burgon concluded that God is supported by all of the Greek uncials extant but two, all the Greek cursives but one, all of the Greek Lectionaries, and the vast majority of the quotations from the “Church Fathers.” He explains that though “God” is not in the Latin vulgate or in many of the ancient versions (because they are based on the Latin), that fact is outweighed by the other evidence. He concludes that “the result of all the evidence procurable is to establish that the Apostle must be held to have written no other thing but this [God]” and “this passage of arms has resulted in such a vindication of the traditional Reading of 1 Timothy 3:16, as will effectually secure that famous place of Scripture against further molestation” (Burgon, Revision Revised, pp. 495, 515).

- There is no manuscript evidence for “He,” which is the popular reading of the modern English versions. The Greek manuscripts which do not have “God” have “which” or “who” and never “He.” “The makers of the RSV [Revised Standard Version of 1901] adopt the Alexandrian reading and translate it, He was manifested in the flesh, etc., and then place under it a note, Greek, who. But if the Greek is who, how can the English be He? This is not translation but the creation of an entirely new reading” (Edward Hills, The King James Version Defended, 4th edition, 1984, p. 138).

- The internal evidence for “God” is also overwhelming. First, if Paul wrote “he” or “which” or “who” instead of “God,” it ceases to be a mystery. “It could not have been, it would seem evident, o, which, referring to ‘mystery,’ for how could a ‘mystery’ be manifested in the flesh? Nor could it be os, who, unless that should refer to one who was more than a man; for how absurd would it be to say that a ‘a man was manifested, or appeared in the flesh!’ How else could a man appear?” (Barnes). Second, if Paul meant to say Christ was manifest in the flesh, why didn’t He say so? And yet no manuscript or version reads Christ. “But what could Paul have meant by this quotation? Did he mean that the mystery of godliness was the fact that Christ was manifest in the flesh? If he did, why then did he not make his meaning plain by substituting the word Christ for the word He who, making the quotation read, ‘Christ was manifest in the flesh, etc.’ Did he mean that Christ was the mystery of godliness? Why then did he not place the word Christ in apposition to the word who, making the quotation read, ‘Christ, He who was manifest in the flesh,’ etc.?” (Edward Hills, The King James Version Defended, p. 138). Third, the construction “he who” or “which” is not a complete sentence and has no antecedent. “According to the critics, Paul quoted an incomplete sentence, a subject without a predicate, and left it dangling. ‘The change, therefore, that the translators felt compelled to make from who to He comes as a belated admission that the reading, who was manifest in the flesh, cannot be interpreted satisfactorily. And ought not unprejudiced students of the problem to regard this as proof that Paul never wrote the verse in this form but rather as it stands in the Traditional Text, God was manifest in the flesh?’” (Hills, The King James Version Defended, p. 138). Fourth, that Jesus Christ is God is indisputable; it is “without controversy.” It is not only the teaching of this verse but of many other verses in the Old and New Testaments. See, for example, Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Joh. 1:1; 8:58-59; 10:30-33; 20:28; Ac. 20:28; Php. 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 1:8-9; 1 Jo. 3:16; 5:18; Re. 1:8.

- The godhood of Christ is a mystery. This means something hidden in Old Testament times and revealed in the New (Ro. 16:25-26). The Old Testament taught that Christ would be God (Isa. 9:6). It even prophesied the virgin birth of Immanuel, or God with us (Isa. 7:14). But it is in the New Testament that we find the full revelation of “God manifest in the flesh.” Here we learn that Christ  is the eternal God, the Creator of all (Joh. 1:1-3), and that this eternal God “took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Php. 2:5-8). This is the mystery of godliness.