1 Timothy 3:16
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.
God was manifest in the flesh
The first part of the mystery of godliness takes in view God being manifest in the flesh. Immediately we think of our Lord Jesus Christ leaving the throne of God and coming down to earth, being born of a virgin, and entering humanity, holding the title, “Son of God” and also the title “son of man”. As we noticed in the last post, we are exhorted to “exercise ourselves to godliness”, so we also view God being manifest in the flesh by the Holy Spirit residing in us, and Christ living His life through us. To see how this is possible we need to go back to the beginning of creation and see how God created man.
First, let’s look at how God created Adam after His own image and likeness as we read in Genesis 1:26-27
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
We see in verse 26 that God says, “Let us make man in our image” and then in verse 27 we see that God “created man in his own image”. As we learn in the other scriptures, there is one God that exists in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So verse 26 holds in view the aspect of the tri-unity of God, while verse 27 holds in view the oneness of God. As we touched on in a previous post, this is difficult for our human minds to grasp, but we see examples of tri-unity throughout God’s creation. In fact, in verse 26 we see one of these examples as He explains the dominion He has given Adam over the world which is one, and then goes on to describe the dominion over… 1. The fish in the sea 2. The fowl of the air 3. The cattle and creeping things of the earth. One world, with three distinct parts: water, earth, and air (atmosphere). So as we learn in other Scriptures that man possesses a body, a spirit, and a soul (1 Thessalonians 5:23) we see that Adam was created after the very image of God, and not only this, but he was created perfect and alive in all three aspects. We see this in Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Next, let’s briefly review what happened to Adam’s posterity because he sinned in Genesis 5:3
And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.
When Adam sinned and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he died. The form of the image he was created in, did not change, he was still body, soul, and spirit. The likeness of that image he was created in did change, he died in the spirit and was dying in the body. Thus when we look above we see his son Seth formed in Adam’s likeness and image, which still had the form of the image of God, but was filled with Adam’s likeness of a dead spirit and dying body. Every single person who has walked the earth except for our Lord Jesus Christ, was in Adam when he sinned, in fact lest we get highminded, if we would have been in Adam’s shoes, we would have done the same thing as him.
Let’s now look at how God would be manifest in the flesh in Matthew 1:20 and then in Luke 1:35
But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And the angel said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ could not be stained with sin as He entered humanity, thus being able to provide the perfect atonement and sacrifice for the world’s sins, reconciling the fallen sons of Adam to God, by the perfect sacrifice of Himself. This could only be accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ entering humanity through the virgin birth. As we looked at before, Adam was created with a living body, soul, and spirit. When he sinned, he and all those after him possessed dead spirits and a dying body. When the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary. This resulted in the Lord Jesus Christ being born truly alive in the body, soul, and spirit. He like Adam had a free will and encountered all manner of trials and temptations, yet unlike Adam, He was also God and never sinned. By this perfect sinless life and fulfilling all the righteousness of the law, He alone provided the perfect sacrifice for our sins and reconciliation for Adam’s fall, when He the perfect, spotless, Lamb of God was slain for our sins. There has really only ever been two type of men in history, the first and the second Adam. Let’s read 1st Corinthians 15:45-47
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
Let’s also read Romans 5:17
For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
And let’s read Romans 5:19
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
As we near the end of today’s post, let’s look at God being manifest in us who believe as we start by reading Colossians 2:13 and Galatians 2:20
And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
When we were born into this world, we were born dead in the spirit and dying in our bodies. Sons and daughters of Adam. As we entered the toddler stage we bore witness to this fact by beginning to sin in ignorance. When we became old enough to discern between right and wrong we bore witness to this fact by sinning willfully. Prior to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we were dead and held in slavery to death and sin. When we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection for us. We were instantly quickened by the Holy Spirit. We were made alive in the spirit. As before we were in Adam, with all the sin and slavery that entailed, we were now made free and placed in the Lord Jesus Christ by God’s grace through faith. All glory, honor, and praise to God the Father through Christ Jesus our Lord forever and ever!
As we were made members of the spiritual organization called the “Body of Christ” and placed in Him, so the Holy Spirit resides in us, God manifest in the flesh! As those that are alive from the dead, we still temporarily have this body that is dying, and have temptation to sin, but we are not slaves to sin anymore, and if we yield to God he will provide the way of escape when sin comes a knocking. Our free will gives us the choice to live godly in Christ Jesus or mind the things of our flesh which is still dying. If we yield to the Lord, He will live His life through us and we will see God manifesting His life and righteousness in us and out of us to others. Even though our flesh is corrupted and dying and cannot be improved, we can see him transforming our bodies into vessels for His use, we can see the earnest of the Holy Spirit, working while we look forward to the redemption of the purchased possession when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back for us and give us each brand new eternally living bodies that will not be able to sin. Then will be said, “Death is swallowed up in victory!”!
As we have examined this first attribute of godliness, which “God manifest in the flesh”. May we pray that we might yield to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and the reading of His Word, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit in all wisdom and understanding. And may we pray that the Lord Jesus Christ might manifest His life in us more and more, ministering to each other and others, while we thank God for all He has given us in Christ Jesus the Lord.
2 Corinthians 13:14
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen!
