Here is something we can all agree on, great is the mystery of godliness. This mystery, is not something we are trying to figure out, but it is the truth the church (who is the pillar and the ground of the truth) upholds. Before God revealed to mankind this truth, it was a hidden mystery, but not anymore. As the church upholds the truth, she expounds and declares the great mystery that has been revealed by God in His Word. How is it that a sinful man could be justified before a holy God? This is the question of the ages, concerning righteousness, godliness, sin and redemption. For Christians, there is no controversy, there is nothing but consensus - the mystery, the great problem of humanity, has been revealed.
As a quick aside, some suggest that Paul is quoting a hymn of the early churches. If so, want an instruction to us as God's people as to what a real praise and worship song looks like. Look how theologically rich and deep this song is! I know there is sentimentality to many of the songs we sing, but what does "I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses" have anything to do with Christ Jesus the Lord? It's no wonder we have a hard time getting men to sing out in churches. Give me songs of Christ!
God was manifest in the flesh. This is an important point, and one you need to get it right. God appeared in flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14; 1 1 John 1:1-3). The eternal Son entered in to His own creation and was made flesh. Jesus Christ, added to His divinity, humanity and is fully God and fully man. Jesus came with the purpose of redeeming and saving those the Father had given him. To do this, according to the eternal covenant, He voluntarily came to give his life as a ransom, His blood as an atonement. He came to be the substitute, the Lamb of God. The propitiation for our sins.
This verse is the "proof-text" for a certain sect of heretics. God did not switch from Spirit form to fleshly form. That is the heresy of Modalism.
"Modalism is a “heretical view that denies the individual persons of the Trinity. [It] views biblical terminology of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as merely modes of existence or manifestations of the one God” (p. 153). - For Us and For Our Salvation: The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church"This issue is alive and well and today and has a home in the Oneness Pentecostal Movement, which denies the Trinity. Proponents of this heresy, such as T.D. Jakes, try to weasel out of denying the Trinity by quoting this passage. However, their definition of manifest is different than Paul's. The text is not saying that Jesus was a manifestation of God, but God appeared in flesh. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, always has been the son of God. He did not become the son in Bethlehem, but He is the Son of eternal generation.
“There are two things which every child of God has the greatest reason to dread; the one is evil, the other is error. Both are originally from Satan; both have a congenial home in the human mind; both are in their nature deadly and destructive; both have slain their thousands and tens of thousands; and under one or the other, or under both combined, all everlastingly perish but the redeemed family of God.” - JC PhilpotHe that was born of a Virgin in Bethlehem has been and will be from everlasting to everlasting (Micah 5:2). The Lord our God, He is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) and the one God is revealed in Scripture as one God in three persons. This passage shows the personhood of the Son, who is the Word made flesh.
Justified in the Spirit. Christ Jesus was not "justified" in the sense that we are, the forensic act of God declaring us righteous. But he was justified in the sense of he was proven to be, declared to be who He said He was. He was justified in the Spirit much in the same way that Abraham was justified by works (James 2:20-23). As Abraham's works justified the faith he had, the Holy Spirit justified Jesus as Christ. He did this at His baptism (Matthew 3), His preaching (Isaiah 11:1-3; Luke 4:14-21), His ministry (Isaiah 42:1-8), and His miracles (Matthew 12:22-28). The Spirit witnesses and confirmed Jesus was the Christ.
Seen of angels. The holy angels attended to Christ throughout His earthly ministry. Angels announced the forerunner, John the Baptist, told Joseph and Mary that she would give birth to the Redeemer, announced His birth to the shepherds, protected the family from Herod's villainy. Move forward to the ministry of Jesus and we see that the angels were charged to protect Jesus, and ministered to Him in the wilderness of temptation and in the Garden of despair. They declared to the disciples that Christ had risen and they told the disciples that He was coming back after He ascended to Heaven. This text doesn't just say that angels saw Him, but that the holy angels of God knew, worshiped, and served the living Christ.
Preached unto the Gentiles. The ministry of Jesus Christ was local in physical location, but global in impact. His message is preached now across the globe (Acts 1:1-3). He is the Saviour, not just of Israel, but of the world.
Believed on in the world. He was not just preached to the Gentiles, but believed on in the world. Would Gentiles bow the knee to a crucified Jewish king? Indeed we do. Down through the centuries, and throughout the world, Christ is believed upon. Not believed in, but upon. We put our souls trust in Jesus the Christ. He died for me, died for my sins. He was my substitute, my saviour, my redeemer.
Received up into glory. Jesus was born and the world doesn't have a problem with that. Jesus died, and the world has no issue with that. But Jesus didn't stay dead. Jesus rose from the dead! He rose, victorious and for our justification. His body did not stay in the grave, but bodily, he walked from the tomb, victorious over death and ascended unto Heaven. Victory. Completion. Success. Jesus accomplished what He set out to do.
Great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the story of redemption. Great is the plan of salvation. This is not a mystery that cannot be known. It is not a mystery that we cannot understand. It is not a mystery that doesn't have an answer. This is a mystery, but God has given the answer. He has graciously revealed to us His plan of salvation and given the promise to all those that come to Him in repentant faith, He will save.
We are sinners. We have broken that law of our God. You know it, I know it. We have all sinned against God and are guilty. Yes, everyone sins. Yes, you are probably better than your neighbor. But we are not judged on a grading scale of better than most. When we sin against a holy God, we are found guilty.
Are you guilty? Are you burdened with the shame of your sin? Here is the mystery of how a person can be justified before a Holy God and how that burden of guilt and shame can be removed. Christ Jesus came in the flesh, showed Himself to be the prophesied Messiah, died on a bloody cross as a sin substitute, and rose from the dead. The gospel promise is this: trust in this Savior. believe that he died for your sins and rose from the dead. Trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins, that He died the just for the unjust, and the Bible declares that God will forgive you, and justify you. You will be clean and forgiven of all your sins.
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