God as Life Lived out in the Church for His Expression is the Mystery of Godliness

The great mystery of godliness Paul spoke of in 1 Tim. 3:15-16 is Christ lived out of the church as the manifestation of God in the flesh, which is the church as the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. Amen!

God’s desire is to manifest Himself in the flesh; He does not need the sinful flesh to do things for Him but rather, He wants to embody Himself in men in the flesh to live through them.

He wanted originally to enter into man as the tree of life, but the enemy tricked man, and man received the evil element of Satan into him instead of receiving God as life.

However, God was not deterred; though His enemy did his best to damage man, ruin man, and corrupt man, God Himself became a man.

God becoming a man is a great mystery, for the infinite God was willing to become a finite man.

The God who created all things, who is almighty, and who sustains and upholds all things by the word of His power, became a man.

He put on the human nature. Wow!

He became a man not only to redeem man and provide a way for man to come back to God but even more, He became a man and lived on earth so that God may be manifested in the flesh.

Day by day, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, there was a man there, a God-man, who did not live by His human life but by the divine life.

Whether He did something or spoke something, in all things He depended on God, taking God as His source.

Satan hated this One. He wanted to destroy Christ, so he instigated so many around Him to persecute Him, speak evil things about Him, and eventually put Him to death.

No matter how much the enemy tried to suppress the Lord of life, death cannot hold the resurrection life!

The life that Christ lived by when He was on earth, the divine life in His spirit that was manifested through His flesh, this life raised Him from the dead, for it was not possible for Him to be held by it. Praise the Lord!

And in His resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit to impart the divine life within Him to many who believe into Him, so that they would also live the same kind of life as He did.

We are no longer strangers and sojourners, but we’re fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Eph. 2:19).

If the Lord Jesus came only to redeem us, He could have accomplished redemption fairly quickly, with no need to spend thirty-three and a half years of human living.

But He came to manifest God, to explain God, to define God, and to make God known.

Now we as believers in Christ follow Him in doing the same thing.

We are learning to live by the life of God so that we may express God and make Him known to those around us.

Christ was the individual manifestation of God in the flesh, and we as the church are the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh, the great mystery of godliness.

The Mystery of Godliness – God as Life Lived out in the Church to be Expressed

The word godliness in 1 Tim. 3:16 refers not only to piety but also to the living of God in the church; piety is God as life lived out in the church to be expressed.

How and where do we see this? In v. 15 Paul speaks of the church and living in the church life, and in v. 16 he speaks of the mystery of godliness, which is God manifested in the flesh.

This whole section talks about the church and the life of the church.

On one hand, Christ was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory.

On the other hand, this also refers to the church, the body of Christ.

After Christ died and was resurrected, the church became His continuation, His enlargement and reproduction; now the church as the Body of Christ is also God’s manifestation in the flesh.

We believers in Christ are not just disciples of Christ or believers in Christ; we are His members, the members of the Body of Christ.

If we look at the sequence in v. 16, Christ is the One who was incarnated in the flesh to manifest God, He was justified in the Spirit, He was seen by angels, and He was preached among the nations.

Christ was seen by angels in His incarnation, human living, and ascension (see Luke 2:9-14; Matt. 4:11; Acts 1:10-11; Rev. 5:6, 11-12).

Christ was preached among the nations; He as God’s manifestation in the flesh has been preached as the gospel among the nations beginning from the day of Pentecost (Rom. 16:26; Eph. 3:8). Amen!

Even more, Christ has been believed on in the world; as the embodiment of God in the flesh, Christ has been believed on and received as Savior and life by people in the world (Acts 13:48).

Christ was also taken up in glory; this refers to His ascension into glory (Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11; 2:33; Phil. 2:9).

According to the sequence of historical events, Christ was taken up into glory before He was preached on in the world, but Paul mentions it after.

This indicates that we as the church will also be taken up in glory. Not only Christ, the Head, but we also as the Body of Christ will be taken up in glory by the Lord.

This is our hope, that as the manifestation of God on the earth, we will one day be taken up into glory with the Lord.

When a church is well-taken care of according to the instructions given in the first two chapters of 1 Timothy by Paul, and with the oversight of the elders and the service of the deacons being fully established (ch. 3), the church will function as the house of the living God and the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth.

When we as the church advance in the Lord and arrive at God’s standard for the church according to His word, we will be the house and household of the living God for His move on earth.

Also, we will be the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth; we will bear the divine reality of Christ and His Body as a testimony to the world.

Then, the church becomes the continuation of Christ as the manifestation of God in the flesh. Wow!

God as life will be lived out in the church to make the church the manifestation of God in the flesh, the great mystery of godliness.

We are living in this reality today as we exercise our spirit. We are in the process of being sanctified, transformed, and eventually glorified.

Even as Christ was glorified, we will also be glorified with Him to express God.

May we be those who exercise their spirit today to live one spirit with the Lord in their daily life so that God as life may be lived out in the church for God’s expression, His manifestation, in the church.

When God gains such an expression in the church, when He gains the living out of God in the church, He can head up all things in Christ through the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all (Eph. 1:22-23).

Lord Jesus, we praise You for Your incarnation to manifest God in the flesh. You lived a perfect human life and expressed God in all things. You were justified in the Spirit and were seen by angels. Amen, Lord, You were preached among the nations so that many would believe into the Lord and receive the divine life to be members of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, we are not only disciples of Jesus and believers in Christ but even more, we’re members of the organic Body of Christ to be part of His corporate expression! Praise You, Lord, You were believed on in the world, and You were taken up in glory! This is our hope, Lord, that we will also be taken up in glory. Keep us contacting You today in our spirit so that we may have God as life being lived out in the church life for the manifestation of God in the flesh. Amen, Lord, may the church become the continuation of Christ as the manifestation of God in the flesh!

Church Life is the Expression of God: the Mystery of Godliness is the Living of a Proper Church

The mystery of godliness are both Christ and the church, expressing God in the flesh. Without a doubt, confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness.

The mystery is so amazing that the only word we can use is, Great.

Paul did not have words to describe this great thing, the manifestation of God in the flesh, so he called it the great mystery of godliness.

Godliness is God living in a man, God being lived out in the flesh.

How much greater than this can it be? Men like us, men of flesh like me and you, can live out God, a life of godliness.

God can be lived out through us. Like Paul we can say, For to me, to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21), and, I am crucified with Christ, and now Christ lives in me. God can be lived out through us.

This is what the church should be. The function of the church is to manifest God, expressing God.

The function of the church is to live out God in the flesh.

Many activities, services, and outward things need to be coordinated and taken care of in the practical church life, but the church life is the expression of God.

The main function of the church is to express God.

The mystery of godliness is the living of a proper church.

We have to preach the gospel (Matt. 24:14; 2 Tim. 4:1-2), shepherd the new ones (John 21), and teach the truth, but above all, the church life is the expression of God.

Our preaching of the gospel should be manifesting God in the flesh. Our shepherding the new ones and the young ones must be manifesting God in the flesh.

Our teaching of the Bible must be manifesting God in the flesh.

We live in the age of mystery, and great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh to be the living of a proper church.

We may want God to do some miraculous things and works of power, and we may want to behave in an angelic way to be special before others, but God wants us to be men in the flesh who manifest God.

God doesn’t want our flesh, our rotten and corrupted fallen old man, but He wants men in the flesh who express Him.

We are vessels to contain God and express God.

Paul and the apostles with him were in this way; in 2 Cor. 6 he testifies that, as he was carrying out his ministry, there were many things happening to him, but he lived Christ.

Through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report, as deceivers yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying, and behold, they live, as being disciplined and yet not being put to death, as made sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet enriching many, as having nothing yet possessing all things (vv. 6-10).

It seems that there are a lot of contrasts here, and Paul and the apostles with him got the “short end of the stick”, that is, they had many negative things happening to them and being spoken about them.

In all these things, however, the apostles lived a life of manifesting God.

The Lord Jesus also was a man in the flesh who prayed to God and lived out God.

He is in us. We are in Him. Christ lives in us and we live in Him. Even as He is, so are we in this world.

The world did not receive Him, so it does not receive us.

The Lord did not live by His perfect human life but denied Himself and took the Father as the source; so do we today.

For us to be the manifestation of God in the flesh, we must live not by ourselves but by God.

We need to take Christ as our life and person, and we need to live Christ.

This should be our daily living. We should not live in the flesh or by the flesh but rather live Christ by contacting the Lord and living in the mingled spirit.

May the Lord make us desperate to live Christ.

May we realize we are men in the flesh who do not live in the flesh but in the spirit so that God may gain the mystery of godliness – God manifested in the flesh.

May the church life be Christ lived out of all the saints for the corporate expression of God.

Lord Jesus, gain the church as the continuation of Christ to be the manifestation of God in the flesh! Amen, Lord, may Christ be lived out of the church for God to be expressed in the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, we are the Body of Christ, the continuation and reproduction of Christ as the individual manifestation of God. We exercise our spirit, Lord, to contact You and to live not by our self but by God. We want to live by God and take God as our living and our person so that, when we come together we will be the manifestation of God in the flesh. May everything we do in our Christian life and in our church life be for God to be manifested in the flesh. May our gospel preaching be for God to be manifested in the flesh. May our shepherding others be for God’s expression. Amen, Lord, may even the practical matters that we need to take care of in the church life be carried out by the saints for God’s expression!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Timothy, pp. 59-60 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 9, entitled, The Function of the Church (2) The Corporate Manifestation of God in the Flesh.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The mystery of godliness, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – The Mystery of God – Christ, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – In the church – the Body of Christ – as the enlarged corporate expression in the flesh, a portion from, Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 001-020), Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – God – His manifestation, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – God manifest in the flesh, a portion from, Christ as the Reality, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – God Manifest in the Flesh, in Christ & in the Church, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Upholding the Truth and Testifying to the Truth That the Church Is the Pillar and Base of the Truth and the Corporate Manifestation of God in the Flesh, via, The Church in Regina.
  – And Confessedly, Great is the Mystery, a new song via, Hymnal.net.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Lord Jesus, Thy redeemed ones / Are Thy Body and Thy Bride; / As Thy fulness, Thine expression, / In her Thou art glorified. / Thou, her all in all forever, / She Thy riches doth declare; / Thou dost fully saturate her / And Thy glory with her share. / Lo, the holy city, / Full of God’s bright glory! / It is God’s complete expression / In humanity. (Hymns #976 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – God will bring us into glory, / We will then be glorified; /Fully saturated with Him, /We’ll be wholly sanctified…Heirs with Christ in our full sonship, /We’ll His heritage possess, /Glorified with Him as brethren, / God’s full glory we’ll express. (Hymns #970 stanzas 5 and 7)
  – As the center, as the kernel, / Of God’s plan our spirit is; / Calling on the name of Jesus / Makes our spirit one with His. / From the center to circumference / God would saturate each part; / Feeling, mind, and will renewing, / Making home in all our heart…As the product, the fulfillment,/ Will the church in glory stand, / Consummation of the purpose / In eternal ages planned. / God will have His corporate vessel, / All His glory to contain; / Lord, we’re wholly for Thy purpose / All Thy goal in us attain. (Hymns #1325 stanzas 4 and 6)