Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
Paul has been telling Timothy how people should behave in God's house. Instead of adding more rules, he points to a Person — the open secret behind all godliness. Six short clauses trace that Person from flesh to glory.
What "mystery" means here
The word does not point to something too deep to grasp. It names truth God once kept to Himself and has now made known.
William KellyIn Scripture, "mystery" does not mean something that cannot be explained or understood. It means what could not be understood without God's revelation in the New Testament... Mysteries are New Testament revelations — truths that God kept to Himself in the Old Testament, but has now revealed.
Why godliness has a secret
Godliness here has a hidden source, and that source is God's full revelation of Himself.
F. B. HoleThe sense of the sentence is this: beyond all question, the hidden spring from which the godliness taught here flows is great. In every age, the godliness God's people showed matched the knowledge of God they had. It never went beyond it. The New Testament clearly shows a higher type of godliness than the Old Testament. But why? Because we now have not a partial but a full revelation of God.
Truth and godliness hold together. Neither survives alone:
William KellyThe Holy Spirit will not allow "godliness," or Christian piety, to exist without the truth. And He will not allow anyone to receive the truth in the love of it without godliness coming from it. The truth means living toward God.
"Manifested in the flesh"
Some copies read "God was manifested in the flesh"; others read "He who was manifested." Kelly weighs the difference:
William KellySome will protest that "He Who" pushes out "God." But weigh the better-attested reading well, and you will see that "He Who" is the more exact word here, since it still assumes the same truth in the background. For where would be even the sense of saying that Adam or Abraham, that David, Isaiah, or Daniel, or that any other human being, "was manifested in flesh"? An angel manifested that way would be repulsive, given the purpose in view, and would be no more use than a man. If a person is only a man, no way but "flesh" was open to him.
The wonder is not that He was a man, but who chose to become one:
William KellyHe made all things, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. He was manifested in flesh — He Who could command all glory. But the Creator God is the Redeemer God.
"Vindicated by the Spirit"
Older translations read "justified in the Spirit." Men slandered Him, but the verdict that settled the matter came from God.
William KellyWhen was He justified beyond all dispute? They called Him a drunkard and a Samaritan. They said He had a demon. People said no end of wicked things about the Lord Jesus. How then did His justification come? When God raised Him from the dead. This was the standing justification of Him Whom man crucified.
"Seen by angels"
This clause points to where He went after leaving earth.
William KellyEarth is given to the children of men, but heaven is filled with myriads of angels; there too is the risen Lord gone. He has passed out of this world and entered a condition suited to heaven. There He is "seen by angels." The men who had far more at stake no longer see Him; angels do.
"Proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world"
Israel expected a throne in Jerusalem. What arrived instead was a message carried outward to everyone else.
William KellyIsaiah and the other prophets taught people to look for the Lord Jesus, Jehovah of hosts, reigning in glory in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, before the elders. Instead, He was "proclaimed among the nations."... How great is our debt to His grace, revealed in the mystery of godliness!
Note what the next clause does not claim. He is believed on — not yet obeyed by everyone:
William KellyThis is not the Messiah reigning in Palestine, or "King over all the earth." Still less does it mean a coming reign of the gospel — though there is a gospel of the reign. The Lord will come later to reign in power and glory.
"Taken up in glory"
The last clause names where He is now. Its place at the end is deliberate:
William KellyIt marks Christ's lasting condition on high — taken up in glory. There He stays. Why is that last? It seems to be put in this order to contrast Christ with what "demons," or deceiving spirits, would do in later times, as the next chapter says.
The six clauses also fall into a shape worth holding onto:
Ernie BrownThese six parts are presented as three contrastive couplets. The first couplet contrasts flesh and spirit. The second contrasts angels and men. The third contrasts earth and heaven.
Summary
- Secret told. A "mystery" in Scripture is not a puzzle but a truth God kept back and has now published — here, the truth of Christ.
- Secret sourced. Godliness never rises above the knowledge of God a person has. Full revelation makes full godliness possible.
- Secret embodied. The clause only has force if a divine Person chose flesh — you could not call any mere man "manifested" in it.
- Secret vindicated. Men slandered Him. God's standing answer was the resurrection, and heaven now sees the Man whom earth no longer does.
- Secret spreading. He is proclaimed among the nations and believed on in the world. He does not reign yet, but He is taken up in glory — the answer to every later deception.