1 Tim. 3:15-16 But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. God’s New Testament economy is composed of two mysteries: Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4). As the pillar which bears the truth and the base which upholds the pillar, the church testifies the reality, the truth, of Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ. God is manifested in the church, the Body of Christ and the house of the living God, as the enlarged, corporate expression in the flesh... The antecedent is Christ, who was God manifested in the flesh as the mystery of godliness. This mystery of godliness is the living of a proper church. Such a living is also the manifestation of God in the flesh. First Timothy 3:15 and 16 imply that not only Christ Himself as the Head is the manifestation of God in the flesh but also that the church as the Body is the manifestation of God in the flesh. When the church grows in Christ with the growth of God (Col. 2:19),it will function as the house of the living God for His move on earth and as the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth, bearing the divine reality of Christ and His Body as a testimony to the world. Then the church will become the continuation of Christ’s manifestation of God in the flesh.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 01:43:55 +0000