This morning I had a fresh appreciation of what the church is – as the house of God and the church of the living God, the church is God manifested in the flesh.
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was God manifested in the flesh in an individual person – God was living in His living and God was expressed fully through Christ.
But after His death and resurrection, it is now the church who is God manifested in the flesh – Christ lives in all the members of the Body to express God corporately!
The mystery of godliness
The mystery of godliness is mentioned by Paul in 1 Tim. 3:15-16, where in v. 15 he speaks about the church as the house of God and the church of the living God, and then in v. 16 he continues to say that this is the mystery of godliness!
What is the mystery of godliness? What is godliness? The meaning of this word has been spoiled by religion throughout the ages, so that today people don’t even want to know about it.
But godliness is not only piety (as commonly understood) but it mainly refers to the living of God in the church – God-likeness, God lived out in the church.
Christ is the mystery of godliness – He lived out God in all His human living. Today, it is the church who is the mystery of godliness – the church expresses God in the flesh! This is what the church life today is – the living of the proper church is the mystery of godliness, the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Cor. 14:24-25).
The manifestation of God in the flesh
The mystery of godliness – God manifested in the flesh – began when God became a man in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus (John 14:9). The church as His continuation is now the increase, the enlargement, and the multiplication of the manifestation of God in the flesh.
Praise the Lord, today in the church life we need to learn not to live by our own life, not live in ourselves, but take Christ as our life and person and live out Christ (Gal. 2:20). This is the principle of incarnation – God entering into man and mingling Himself with man to make man one with Himself (see John 15:4-5).
God became man to make man God in life and nature
This is what really touched me and enlightened me this morning, “The great mystery of godliness is that God has become man so that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead to produce a corporate God-man for the manifestation of God in the flesh (Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; Eph. 4:24).”
The way God is expressed in man is not by man doing his best to imitate or copy God but by God coming into man and bringing divinity into humanity. God has redeemed us, and now God imparts Himself into us to be our life within and our living without!
He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17) – this is the great mystery of godliness, this is God manifested in the flesh.
The Lord seeks to be one with us and make us one with Him, so that He may live in us and we may live in Him. We are the same as God in the divine life, in the divine nature, in the divine element, and in the divine essence – but we are not the same as God in the Godhead.
This is why God became a man – to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, so that He may obtain a corporate expression and manifestation of God in the flesh!
[sharing inspired and with quotes from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (by brother Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery. ]
Thank You Lord for becoming a man and bringing divinity into humanity. Thank You for coming into us as the life-giving Spirit to impart the divine life to every part of our being! Thank You Lord for making us the church, Your continuation and reproduction. Strengthen us today to deny ourselves and take You as our life. Lord, You are our life, and we are one spirit with You. Have a way to live in us today – make us in full the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh!
Appreciate your post on the church as the mystery of godliness. May we all appreciate that such a mystery is the living of God in the church. May even our vision of living Christ today not merely be a personal thing but a revelation that what we are living is actually apart of this great mystery of godliness–Christ living again in the members of His Body corporately.
Appreciate your post on the church as the mystery of godliness. May we all appreciate that such a mystery is the living of God in the church. May even our vision of living Christ today not merely be a personal thing but a revelation that what we are living is actually apart of this great mystery of godliness–Christ living again in the members of His Body corporately.