Great is the Mystery of Godliness: the Church is the Manifestation of God in the Flesh

Great is the mystery of godliness – God manifested in the flesh; godliness is a mystery, for it is real and living yet invisible, and godliness is the manifestation of God in the flesh, therefore the church is the manifestation of God in the flesh. Amen!

In the world today the situation is completely against God and His economy, and even in our whole being there are so many things that are not according to God.

Everything in the world opposes God, and everything in our being also opposes God.

There is worldliness among the people of God today, and the church is in degradation.

This is not unusual. The situation at Paul’s time was very similar. He helped raise up many churches and established co-workers, but when he was imprisoned, many turned away from his ministry, and many co-workers left him.

Yet he was the one who wrote more than half of the New Testament!

This shows that, no matter how degraded the situation is in the church and no matter how evil and corrupt the world is, God still desires to gain His manifestation in the flesh.

We need to be those who know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God, the church of the living God.

How do we live in the world today and how do we live and conduct ourselves in the church life, which is the manifestation of God among men?

We need to realize that, no matter how advanced in the Lord we are, how much we have grown in the Lord, and how much experience in the church life we have, we need to be renewed in our mind again and again so that we may know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God.

May the Lord instruct us, encourage us, and cause us to advance with Him day by day, little by little, both personally and corporately, so that we may be in reality the manifestation of God in the flesh, the great mystery of godliness.

May we be those who love the Word of God, considering it to be above all things and the ultimate speaking of God.

Yes, we do have the proper interpretation of God’s word, but the Word of God is the ultimate speaking of God, what He desires us to know.

We also need to respect the headship of Christ, taking Him as our Head and remaining in the church under the headship of Christ.

As we remain under the headship of Christ, we need to bear the truth, that is, be constituted with the truth and be filled with the living word of God.

The healthy teaching in the New Testament needs to become our constitution so that we may be healthy Christians, even to be men of God with the living word of God, the breath of God.

And in our daily living, we need to live and walk in the spirit and by the spirit so that it would not be us who is expressed but Christ Himself.

Great is the Mystery of Godliness: the Church is the Manifestation of God in the Flesh

1 Tim. 3:16a says, Confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness. Godliness is a mystery.

Godliness is an important word, used nine times in 1 and 2 Timothy (see 1 Tim. 2:2; 3:16; 4:7-8; 6:3, 5-6,11; 2 Tim. 3:5).

When Paul wrote to his young co-worker concerning the way to overcome the degradation in the church, he kept mentioning the words godly (1 Tim. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:12), ungodliness (2:16), and godliness.

What is godliness? Godliness is a mystery because it is real and living, yet it is invisible (1 Tim. 3:16; 6:11).

We need to pursue godliness and flee all other things.

Godliness is God manifested in the flesh or the manifestation of God in the flesh.

The church is the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15); the church is the manifestation of God in the flesh (v. 16).

In v. 16 we are told that great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

It seems that this refers to Christ, for He went through all these processes, but the first before the last item, “believed on in the world” happened after Christ was “taken up in glory.”

Therefore, yes, the manifestation of God in the flesh refers to Christ, but it also refers to the church.

The church today is the manifestation of God in the flesh.

After the church preaches the gospel and is built up to be the Body of Christ, the church will be taken up in glory, that is, the rapture will come.

What is godliness? What does it mean to manifest God in the flesh, and how does this happen?

How can we live a life of godliness, a godly life, to manifest God?

We can all testify that the very reason we believed into the Lord is because someone preached the gospel to us and even more, someone manifested God in the flesh before us.

When we heard the gospel, we may have not understood every word and every doctrine, but we were impressed with their testimony.

They were manifesting God before us, and this impressed us and attracted us.

Godliness is to be Christlike, to appear the same way as Christ so as to convey Christ.

This is not something that is deliberate, like an appearance that we put on when we preach the gospel or meet with the saints.

The manifestation of God in the flesh is something spontaneous as we live in the mingled spirit.

As we open to the Lord day by day and allow Him to work Himself into us, as we remain in His word and let Him renew our mind, something happens in our being: we are being constituted with God, and our very expression becomes Christlike.

As believers in Christ, we are the Body of Christ, and just as the Head is, so is His Body.

The Head, Christ, manifested God in the flesh; we today as the church also manifest God in the flesh.

1 Cor. 14:25-26 says that, when we meet in a proper way by enjoying the Lord, singing, and especially each one prophesying, God will be manifested among us.

When someone comes among us and each one has a portion of Christ to share, the new ones will see that we sing, we pray, we praise the Lord, and we share about Jesus, and what they actually get is that God is among us.

This should be our normal experience in the church life, in the meetings of the church.

Many unbelievers don’t understand the mystery of godliness, for it is a great mystery; however, when they come among us, they realize that God is there.

The church is the manifestation of God in the flesh – this is the great mystery of godliness. And the full knowledge of the truth is according to godliness (Titus 1:1).

We know the truth and arrive at the full knowledge of the truth according to godliness.

May we bring this matter to the Lord and open to Him again and again so that He may infuse us with what He is and we would live in a way that is Christlike.

May the spontaneous living coming out of us be the living out of Christ, God manifested in the flesh.

May the Lord gain among us in the church life the manifestation of God in the flesh so that He may be lived out, expressed, and manifested on the earth.

Lord Jesus, may we see the great mystery of godliness – God manifested the flesh! Thank You, Lord, for coming into us and regenerating us with Your life so that we may be Your corporate expression. We turn to our spirit right now. We want to contact You to be infused with You. Make us the same as You are in life and nature, and also in expression and appearance. Amen, Lord, may the church be manifested as the great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh! We pray that we would have a proper and normal church life in which all the saints enjoy Christ, live Christ, and function in their measure in the meetings of the church so that God may be manifested in the flesh among us! Amen, Lord, You are with us and we are here one with You, allowing You to live in us and to be manifested through us!

The Truth of God’s Eternal Economy is According to Godliness, which is God Manifested in Man

The matter of the truth is very high and deep, for it involves not only knowing the doctrines and teachings in the Bible but much, much more; the truth of God’s eternal economy is according to godliness (Titus 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:16).

God’s economy is God coming into us, and godliness is God going out of us.

It’s like the electrical circuit, which constantly has electricity going and coming.

We have a divine current among us and within us; it is the Triune God flowing in us and flowing out of us.

The truth, the reality, of God’s eternal economy is according to godliness, which is God manifested in man.

We need to know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God; the condition of our conduct should be godliness, the manifestation of God.

We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness.

God wants to be manifested. He wants to be expressed. He is glorious, full of riches, and is love, light, holiness, and righteousness.

He wants to be manifested in the flesh, so He gained one man, Jesus Christ, and this one God-man was reproduced to be the many God-men composing the church.

The church is the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh. Glory is God manifested; when God is manifested in the church, that is God being glorified among men.

We do not need more teachings that tell us to behave in this way or do that; what we need is more of God being infused into us, added into our being, and dispensed into every part of our inner being.

The way God gains His manifestation in the flesh is organically, intrinsically, and slowly.

He doesn’t suddenly manifest Himself through a man who never knew Him.

Rather, He appears to man, draws man, and manifests Himself before man; He manifests Himself through a man before another man so that He may gain man.

When someone preaches the gospel, there are not just words that come out of his mouth; God is manifested through him.

When someone speaks the truth and prophesies in the church life through the exercise of his spirit, there are not just words that are according to the Bible that are heard but God being manifested through that person.

Something is infused into us and into those who hear the gospel when God is manifested through the one who preaches the gospel.

When we teach God’s economy in a living way, when we speak the truth according to the eternal economy of God to others, God is manifested in the flesh, and they get an infusion.

Many times we may not remember the content of someone’s sharing in the meeting or what specifically someone fellowshipped with us, but we do remember the shining out of Christ through that person.

This is what God is after. He wants men through whom He can shine.

He doesn’t want man to try to be better, to improve himself, and to try harder to be like the Lord Jesus. God wants to be manifested in man and through man.

As we live the church life, we should not conform to certain rules or regulations; rather, we need to come to the Lord as the life-giving Spirit to receive and enjoy His divine dispensing.

Others may ask us what to wear, how long should be their hair, and many other such things, but our only teaching and focus is God’s economy.

The teaching according to God’s economy is for the manifestation of God in the flesh.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming into us as our life and as our everything. Thank You for Your divine dispensing. Keep us open to Your dispensing today. Work Yourself into us a little more today. Live in us today. Be manifested through us. May You gain among us the great mystery of godliness – God manifested in the flesh. Thank You for coming to us in Your economy and for flowing out of us to be expressed through us as godliness. We want to flee all other things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and meekness. Amen, Lord, we open to You as the life-giving Spirit to receive and enjoy Your divine dispensing! We want to cooperate with You to dispense God into others for them to be infused with God and become part of the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh. Amen, Lord, gain this among us today in the church life!

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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 3, “Crucial Elements of God’s Economy,” ch. 5, 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 5, entitled, How to Conduct Ourselves in the House of God— Exercising Ourselves unto Godliness.
• Similar articles on this topic:
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  – The mystery of God – Christ, artcile by W. L. in Affirmation and Critique.
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• Hymns on this topic:
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  – Power divine wrought in us is the source so great; / Power divine is in us now to operate. / Hence will spring everything for our life within / And for godliness without, expressing Him. (Hymns #1211 stanza 3)
  – Oh, healthful teaching, wholesome words: / The truth of godliness! / Oh, good deposit, common faith, / And life of holiness! / Lord, make us now those faithful men / Who pass on what we’ve heard; / Make us examples of the saints / In spirit, faith, and word. (Hymns #1285 stanzas 5-6)