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seen God at any time' (John 1:18). In the forefront of this epistle to
Timothy, God as the King eternal is before us, but in the last chapter, the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is the glory that He had before the world was,
the essential glory that will still be His. Even though He again limits
Himself and condescends to become `King of kings and Lord of lords', not a
gleam of His uncreated and essential glory will be at that time manifested or
ever has been in the eyes of any creature whatever. In the centre of this
epistle is revealed the very Mystery of Godliness:
`God was manifest in the flesh ... seen of angels'.
He Who is unseeable, Who dwells in light unapproachable, veiled His
glory, stooped to the limitations of time and place, became man and
manifested in the flesh God, Who is invisible. The mystery of Godliness is
expressed in Colossians 1:15 by the title `The Image of the invisible God',
in Philippians 2:6 as `the form of God', in John 1:1 as `the Word of God' and
in Hebrews 1:3 as `The express image of His person'. God, Who had previously
spoken to the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days done something
so wonderful that it is of itself the very mystery of godliness, He hath in
these last days spoken to us In Son, en huio (Heb. 1:2), just as in the Old
Testament times He spoke or revealed Himself `In God Almighty' El shaddai
(Exod. 6:3).
Having surveyed this most wondrous teaching of Holy Scripture we return
to our question, why is all this called the mystery of Godliness? Can the
idea of the consistent piety in daily life of any of the redeemed exhaust
such a passage as 1 Timothy 3:16, especially when we have seen its most
evident relationship with the nature of the invisible, immortal,
unapproachable God? We are convinced that something deeper and of greater
significance is intended by the word `godliness'. The word translated
`godliness' has no word meaning `God' or a word meaning `likeness' in its
composition, it is the Greek word eusebeia, eu meaning `well' and sebomai `to
worship'. This word gives us the title `Augustus', Sebastos, found in Acts
27:1, so named by reason of the `pious awe and homage' that a `divine'
Emperor demanded of his subjects; hence in 1 Timothy the `King' eternal, and
`The King of kings' on either side of the mystery of eusebeia.
The Satanic counterfeit of the mystery of godliness is the mystery of
iniquity, which forms the central theme of 2 Thessalonians. In that epistle,
the apostle warns the church to be on their guard against deception by
spirit, by word, or by letter as from himself. He tells them that before the
Second Coming of the Saviour, the man of sin shall be revealed, `the son of
perdition'. These Thessalonians had been turned to God from idols and were
waiting for `His Son from heaven' (1 Thess. 1:10), the only other occurrence
of huios `son' in these two epistles being 1 Thessalonians 5:5 where it is
translated `children'. In direct antithesis is placed `The Son of God' and
`the son of perdition'. The one outstanding and only characteristic given by
Paul in this epistle of this antichristian son of perdition is concerned with
Worship.
`Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God' (2 Thess. 2:4).
This is `the mystery of iniquity' (verse 7), the Satanic counterfeit of
`the mystery of godliness'. `Opposeth' is the Greek antikeimenos. In 1
Timothy 1:10 the word is `contrary'; in 5:14 it is the word `adversary'.