Although 1 Timothy 3:16 speaks concerning the Lord Jesus, it is connected to verse 15 concerning the church as the pillar and base that upholds God. This shows that the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, does not refer only to the Lord Jesus but also to the church, which is His enlargement. Verse 15 speaks of the church, and verse 16 speaks of incarnation, because incarnation was enlarged when the church came into being. Whenever the church is manifested, incarnation is enlarged. In Bethlehem God was manifested in the flesh on a small scale in one man; in the church God is manifested in millions of people. Although the scope is wide, the intrinsic principle is absolutely the same. The Lord Jesus was God manifested in the flesh, the mystery of godliness; the church, composed of millions of people, is still God manifested in the flesh, still the mystery of godliness.
Godliness means God-likeness; it is to have God’s form and to have the ability to express God. For example, we would say that a person who acts justly is righteous, a person who is undefiled by the world and separated from everything is holy, and a person who is meek and humble is modest and good-natured. Likewise, we would say that a person who is like God and expresses God’s image possesses godliness. The mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3:16 is a group of people who are like God; God is now manifested through them, not just through Himself alone. This is a mystery.
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was a mystery. God was within Jesus the Nazarene, yet God was not openly manifest to men. For this reason Jesus was a mystery. The church is also a mystery on earth, and everyone who is part of the church is a mystery. If we genuinely live in the church life, others will be baffled and puzzled by us. Everyone in the church life seems ordinary, and no one is special, yet there are many special stories. What is this? This is a mystery. This mystery manifests godliness and manifests God before men. A person may not see anything of God in this group of people, but even though he may sense a condition of love, meekness, and holiness, it is a condition that surpasses any love, meekness, and holiness that he has ever known. This is the mystery of godliness.
Do we have the mystery of godliness in the church life? If we do, nothing less than God is being manifested in the flesh. The manifestation of God that began on a small scale in Bethlehem will be enlarged and completed in the church. Truth is upheld by the church as the pillar, and truth is set on the church as the base. The church is God manifested in a group of people in the flesh.
Ephesians 4:24 says, “Put on the new man.” This putting on implies that the new man has been accomplished. The verse continues, “Which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.” The creation of the new man was according to God. According to God and in...the reality refer to the same thing. Therefore, what is created according to God is created in the reality. Ephesians 4:24 speaks of putting on the new man, and Colossians 3:10 says, “And have put on the new man, which is being renewed.” These two verses seem to contradict each other. On the one hand, the new man is to be put on, but on the other hand, the new man is being renewed. It seems as if we have put on a garment, yet the garment is gradually being made only after we have put it on. This is what the Bible says regarding the new man. We have put on the new man, but the new man is growing and being built in us. We have all put on the new man, but judging from our living, this does not seem to be the case. We need to remember that we usually put on a garment after it is made, but the new man in Ephesians and Colossians is being made after we have put it on.
The church as the house of the living God is the pillar and base that upholds the truth, manifesting the truth of God. We are being built in truth. He is building us in truth. He is building us in Himself. The church is the pillar and base of the truth, but the amount of truth that can be manifested in the church depends upon how much the church allows God to be built in her. Ephesians speaks of putting on the new man, and this new man was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality, the truth (4:24). Colossians speaks of having put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge (3:10). In Colossians the new man has not yet been accomplished; it is being renewed according to the image of Him who created him. If we put these two verses together, we see that the image, which is in the church, is created by God in the truth. The manifestation of God’s image in the church depends upon how much she allows God to create her in the truth. The truth is God manifested, and it is the reality of the manifested God. This reality, which is manifested, is the image of God.
A church in a certain place with an appreciable amount of God’s image proves that God has done a considerable amount of building there. God’s building work is in truth. The truth is God Himself, God manifested; to build in truth is to build in God as the truth. Whatever is not of God, whatever is different from God, and whatever is not of the truth will be torn down by God. God desires to build Himself into the church and to build according to Himself. God is building Himself as truth, as the reality, into us as truth, that is, He is taking truth as the sphere, the material, and the model of His building. He is also building us into Himself as the truth, as the reality.
In our experience, our temper may not have passed through much of God’s building. We may have a good-natured temper that has not passed through God’s building; this means that there is no truth, no reality, no God, in our good-natured temper. Truth does not refer to doctrine but to God Himself, to God as the truth. If God as the truth is not in us, we do not have the expression of God’s image. If we lose our temper and act in our flesh, we do not have God’s image; likewise, if we are good-natured, meek, and humble but have not been built in God, we do not have God’s image.
This building is according to God, is in God, and takes God as the sphere and the model. For this reason we need to be completely remade when we enter into the church life. Formerly there was not one part of our being that had God or was like God; even though we may have been “godly,” we merely had the appearance, not the reality, of godliness. The reality of godliness is God Himself. God was neither in our hatred nor was He in our love; He was neither in our indifference nor in our zeal. Inwardly we were filled with the self, the image of Adam, and did not have the image of Christ. For this reason we need to be essentially remade in every part of our being—our preference, will, mind, emotion, character, and disposition. We need to be completely remade according to God’s image, with God Himself as the sphere and the material. We should not think that the little amount of dealing and stripping we have suffered is a harsh thing; some people say, “I cannot bear this kind of church life.” However, we must bear it, because this is the necessary path to be remade; we all need to be remade from within, from the very core of our being.
Even though we have put on the new man, we still need to be transformed into the image of the Lord. This means that although we have put on the new man, God’s image has not been fully manifested in us. We still need to go through the process of building. This building work is according to God’s image, in God, and with God as the sphere and the model. We need the Holy Spirit to speak to us and enlighten us in an intense way so that we may see how much of God’s image and God’s element we have and so that we may see how much the church expresses the image of God. A genuine church is where God’s authority and image are expressed. This expression repeatedly passes through God’s building work that is in Him, according to Him, and with Him as the sphere and material. The church expresses God’s image, having the righteousness and holiness of the reality. Righteousness is to be properly related with everything, and holiness is to be set apart from everything other than God. When the church expresses God’s image, she is in full accord with God. When this happens there is no discord, no friction, no natural man, and no worldly mixture in the Body of Christ. Everything belongs to God and matches God; everything is righteous, holy, and true, thereby manifesting God’s image spontaneously.
When people touch such a church, instead of praising the good points of men, they worship God Himself. Does the church in our locality inspire others to praise us or to worship God? Does the church in our locality cause others to touch our good points—zeal, diligence, love, and labor—or does the church cause others to touch God Himself? The answer to these questions is that we have the church and we are the church only when God is manifested among us; the church is not our natural love and zeal. The result of this building is that we are full of the truth, full of God. It is possible for us to be good and even praised by others before we have been built, because we may be full of the good-natured life and the self; however, we are the church only when God is built up in us, thereby being manifested in the flesh.