First Timothy 3:16 says, “Great is the mystery of godliness.” The mystery of godliness is the mystery of God entering into man and being joined to man. At the same time, this mystery is godly. The definition of godly in a Bible lexicon is “godlikeness, being like God.” Godliness is a biblical term, which is related to our word godlikeness or being like God. The more we have God’s likeness in our living, the more we are like God; the more we live like God, the more godly we are. A godly person is one who is like God. Hence, whenever we read about godliness in the Bible, we should think of godlikeness. The mystery of God being manifested is the mystery of man being like God. The mystery of God entering into His creatures is the mystery of godliness. When we do not have this mystery, we are not like God. But if we have the mystery of God being manifested in the flesh and of men of flesh being joined to God, then we, as men of flesh, can be like God. This is godliness, and this is also a mystery.
If we tell people that we have God in us, they may say that we are crazy, because this matter is truly too great a mystery. The world does not know, see, or understand this matter. God becoming flesh is a great mystery. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was a mystery. Outwardly speaking, He was a Jew who grew up in Nazareth, but inwardly there was a story that was not yet manifested—there was still a mystery. One day He died and entered into death; then the mystery was manifested. After He was resurrected and ascended, He, as the Holy Spirit, entered into us, and thus we also became part of the mystery.
When we preach the gospel, we testify to people that we have a treasure in us which even the noblest man in the world cannot obtain (2 Cor. 4:7). When Jesus the Nazarene was on earth, He was a mystery among men. Today Christians are also a mystery among men, a mystery incomprehensible to men. When they see us breaking bread, singing, praising, and praying together, they say, “These people are crazy; they sing and shout, and they give thanks and offer praises. What have they really seen?” They neither know nor understand what we are doing. This is the mystery of God manifested in the flesh.
We all know that the church is God manifested in the flesh. The life we propagate represents ourselves. When people see our children, they more or less can tell whose children they are, because our children somewhat look like us. The Fukienese like to have children. It is not enough for them to beget one, but they also are willing to adopt another one. But there is a difference between a begotten child and an adopted child. For example, Brother Lin has a biological child whose surname is Lin, and he has adopted two children, who also have the surname Lin. If all three children were here, we could distinguish between his biological child and his adopted children simply by looking at them. A child is an expression of the one who has begotten him. The church is the house of God, the place where God is, so it is the manifestation of God in the flesh. In this house we can see God, not an individual God but God who is in His children, that is, in many men of the flesh. This is the church.
Whenever we meet, we are the manifestation of God in the flesh. When people see that our meetings are so good, they say that God indeed is among us (1 Cor. 14:25). God is among us; we truly have God in our meetings. Every saved one is God’s manifestation in the flesh. When some people see that we meet every day, they wonder how we can take it. But they do not realize that we cannot live without meeting. Once we get off from work, we go to the meeting hall. This is something mysterious and surprising in man’s eyes. The church is not a meeting hall; the church is God manifested in the flesh, the house of God, the place where God’s life is propagated. This is a great mystery, a mystery of godliness.
Moreover, 1 Timothy 3:16 says, “Justified in the Spirit, / Seen by angels, / Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world, / Taken up in glory.” These five matters speak of Christ and also the church. Christ is the individual manifestation of God in the flesh, and the church is the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh. The Head of the manifestation of God in the flesh is Christ, and the Body of this manifestation is the church; only when the two—the Head and the Body—are joined together can the manifestation be complete. Hence, this verse refers both to Christ and the church. God being manifested in the flesh means that Christ is in this manifestation. These five matters do not refer only to Christ or only to the church. Instead, they speak of Christ and the church together because the two cannot be separated. Hence, when we preach Christ, we preach the church because the church is Christ.
Some people say that we have lost our vigor for gospel preaching and that we like to listen only to messages about Christ and the cross and want only to see revelation. This raises a question about the power of our gospel preaching. If the fervor and excitement of our gospel preaching in the past was of Christ, then the release of messages on Christ and the cross should make us even more fervent to preach the gospel. But if the power of our gospel preaching was a replacement of Christ, then when Christ is manifested among us, the replacement will fade away. The proper gospel preaching is for the church, as Christ, to preach Christ. When we are telling people to believe in Christ, the church in reality is also telling people to believe in the church. Verse 16 says, “He who was... / Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world.” The church, however, is not preached among the nations, nor is the church believed on in the world; rather, Christ is preached among the nations and believed on in the world.
There are two ways to preach Christ: one is to preach the Christ who died, resurrected, and ascended, and the other is to preach the Christ who died, resurrected, ascended, and is now living in us. One way is to preach the ascended Christ, and the other is to preach the Christ who lives in us. “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Because Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20), we are Christ. When we preach the gospel, we are Christ, and all that we preach is Christ. If this is the case, our gospel preaching will have another flavor, and the more we listen to messages on Christ and the cross, the more we will preach the gospel.
In Acts, those who preached the gospel, who preached Christ, were Christ; even the churches that preached Christ were Christ. Only when we see this can we understand the book of Acts. In Acts the twelve apostles, the one hundred twenty, and Stephen were preaching Christ, but they were also Christ. Can the one hundred twenty be separated from Christ? Can we separate Stephen from Christ? This is why Saul heard a voice out of heaven, saying, “Why are you persecuting Me?” when he met Christ (Acts 9:4). When Saul was persecuting Stephen and other Christians, he was persecuting “Me”; when Saul was persecuting the church, he was persecuting “Me.”
Those who preached Christ were Christ; the churches and the apostles who preached Christ were Christ. We need to see that those who preached the gospel in Acts, who preached Christ, were Christ. When Christ was believed on in the world, they were believed on in the world; when Christ was preached among the nations, they were preached among the nations; when Christ was seen by angels, they were seen by angels; when Christ was taken up in glory, they were taken up in glory. Christ was joined to them, and Christ lived in them; therefore, to them, to live was Christ. We must be very clear in this matter; otherwise, we will not know what we are doing in the church.
We need to pray that God would show us what the church is in nature, function, and content. The church is the house of the living God, it is where His life is propagated, where He can express and manifest Himself, and where He finds rest. Moreover, the church is God manifested in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness because the church is one with Christ and mingled with Christ; it was this way in the past, and it is still this way in the present. The church is justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory. This is the church.
In order for us to administrate the church, we must see the church. This is what the Holy Spirit is conveying in 1 Timothy 3:15-16. If we want to administrate and serve the church, we must see that the church is such a great matter. We must see this so that we will know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the church if the Lord delays His coming.