By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.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.And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
5 sermons cite this verse
… He is the word. Manifest in the flesh. Justified in the spirit. Seen of angels. Preached unto the Gentiles. Believed on in the world. And received up in the glory. I'm talking about your Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is Christology. I'm talking about your Jesus. I'm not talking about Buddha or Confucius or Socrates. I'm talking about your Jesus, your Jesus, your Jesus, your Jesus, your Jesus. I'm talking about your Jesus. He was so much tied to both past and present that when they pierced him in his side and cut through the veil of his flesh, the veil in the temple ripped from the top to the bottom. Because what the veil in the temple was is the same thing his flesh was. And when you rip the shadow, you rip the reality at the same time. I'm talking about the veils being ripped open. I'm talking about the veil showing himself. I'm talking about God. When he rips one thing, he rips everything. My shadow cannot do any more than my body is moving because my shadow is bound to objects in light. …
You know, first, that "He was rich "We believe that He was infinitely rich and eternally rich, for He was "very God of very God," and none can be compared for riches with God, who has boundless wealth. God was able to create the heavens and the earth at His own good pleasure and of Christ we are expressly told that "by Him were all things created." "He was rich" in His essential Deity and rich in the homage of the holy beings that He had made. The hosts of blessed spirits adored Him, principalities and powers counted it their highest honor to be conformed to His will. Heaven is Heaven because He is there. "By Him all things consist" and, therefore, all things reflect His Glory. We are not among those who think that Jesus was a mere Man—blessed be God, we know better than that! We could not trust our salvation to the very best of men. But Christ is God—He "thought it not robbery to be equal with God." He certainly was rich in happiness. We cannot conceive of His ever feeling a pang of pain or having a single thought of care while yet He dwelt in His Father's bosom. He must have been as happy as He was holy! We say that "He was rich," but that is a poor expression, after all, for human language utterly fails to express how rich He was. He was more than rich—He was more than great, He was GOD—all that that word can possibly mean! We know that we have no controversy about that, for "without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." …
Remember, too, that in that eternal secret council, the Lord Jesus Christ became the Representative and Surety of His chosen people. There was to be in what was then the far remote future, a Covenant between God and man. But who was there who was both able and willing to sign that Covenant on man'sbehalf and to give a guarantee that men's part of that Covenant should be fulfilled? Then it was that the Son of God, well knowing all that such a Suretyship would involve, undertook to be the Surety for His people to fulfill the Covenant on their behalf, and to meet all its demands which He foresaw that they would be unable to meet! Then the Eternal Father gave into Christ's charge, the souls that He had chosen unto eternal life though ages, of which we can have so faint an idea, were to elapse before those souls were to be created! And the Eternal Son covenanted to redeem all those souls after they had fallen through sin—to keep them by His Grace and to present them "faultless" before the Presence of His Father with exceeding joy! Thus, as Jacob became accountable to Laban for the whole flock committed to his charge, Jesus Christ, "that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the "Everlasting Covenant," undertook to redeem and guard the whole flock entrusted to His care, so that when, at the last great muster, they should pass under the hand of Him that counts them, not one of them would be missing and the blessed Shepherd-Son would be able to say to His Father, "Those that You gave Me I have kept, and not one of them is lost." It was in the Everlasting Covenant that our Lord Jesus Christ became our Representative and Surety, and engaged on our behalf to fulfill all His Father's will! And as we think of this great mystery of mercy, surely all of us who are truly His must exclaim with grateful adoration, "Behold how He loved us!" …
… Its absolute perfection because it is the Word of God. First Timothy 3, verse 16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That means it is the breath of God. Inspiration means thunistis. Do you know what you're hearing right now? You say, well, we're hearing you. Well, you're hearing my breath. You're hearing my diaphragm pushing my breath up through my apparatus, whatever's in there, and going over my larynx and taking my teeth and my tongue is forming that sound as it causes my vocal cords to vibrate. What you're hearing is my voice. But what is moving all of that is my breath. Without breath, I couldn't preach. You say, may he run out of breath. Without breath, I couldn't preach. The Scripture is given by inspiration or the breath of God. God breathed out the Scriptures. And the Scriptures are the words of God. That's what he said. Not the words of man, the words of God. And a God of truth cannot inspire error. The fact that the human instruments that wrote it down makes it no less the word of God than my vocal chords that are making noise make what I'm saying any less my words. And, uh, first Peter, chapter 1, VERSE 21, says this, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost. In this church, we believe in verbal plenary inspiration. You say, pastor, I don't even know what that …
It is without doubt much of their employment to behold the glory of God appearing in his works. Therefore this work of redemption greatly contributes to their happiness and delight, as the glory of God is so exceedingly manifested by it. For what is done, is done in the sight of the angels, as is evident by many passages of Holy Scripture. And they behold the glory of God appearing herein with entertainment and delight, as it is manifest by 1 Pet. i. 12. “Which things the angels desire to look into.” The angels have this advantage, that now they may behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, where it shines with a peculiar lustre and brightness. 1 Tim. iii. 5. “Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels.” Perhaps all God’s attributes are more gloriously manifested in this work, than in any other that ever the angels saw. There is certainly a fuller manifestation of some of his attributes, than ever they saw before; as is evident by the text. And especially, it is so with respect to the mercy of God, that sweet and endearing attribute of the divine nature. The angels of heaven never saw so much grace manifested before, as in the work of redemption; nor in any measure equal to it. How full of joy doth it fill the hearts of the angels, to see such a boundless and bottomless ocean of love and grace in their God. And therefore with what rejoicing do all the angels praise Christ for his being slain! Rev. v. 11, 12. “And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” …