Satan's activities are characterized by the word `anti'.  He it is that

raises up the Antichrist and the Antichrists; he himself is called the

antidikos `the adversary' (1 Pet. 5:8); from him come the `oppositions'

antithesis of science falsely so called (1 Tim. 6:20) and the `gainsaying'

antilogia of Core (Korah) (Jude 11).  It suits the deceptive purposes of the

Devil that he should be thought of as the instigator of wickedness, but his

true object is not to rule in a dominion of sin and death, these are

consequences which he would gladly avoid; his supreme desire from the

beginning has been Worship, the usurpation of the prerogative of Deity.  This

was the goal of the temptation in the wilderness.

`All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship

me' (Matt. 4:9).

This is what he will attain, however briefly, and at whatever cost,

before the end comes; for when the son of perdition sits in the temple of

God, Satan himself will be worshipped.

`And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and

they worshipped the beast ... and he opened his mouth in blasphemy

against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that

dwell in heaven ... and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship

him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain

from the foundation of the world' (Rev. 13:4 -8).

The ten commandments were the most concise and wonderful moral code

ever given to men, but they do not open with a reference to morals, but to

`Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ...

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them'

(Exod. 20:3 -5).

The mystery of godliness is the mystery of acceptable worship.  This

worship is impossible apart from the One Mediator `Himself man' (1 Tim. 2:5

R.V.).  Only through Him Who was `God manifest in the flesh' can the sinner

find access to the Father.  All other worship savours of the way of Cain and

leads to the awful alternative, the antichristian travesty of truth which

immediately follows in 1 Timothy 4 as characteristic of the last days.

We have by no means covered the ground that the magnitude of this

investigation demands, but we remind ourselves that this examination of 1

Timothy 3:16 was by way of elucidating the intention of the apostle when he

spoke of the truth that was according to `godliness'.

We must now return to the epistle to Titus and continue our study of

this very wonderful epistle.  (See Mystery3; Last Days2; Worship7,10 and p.

(Titus 1:2)

`In hope of eternal life'.  The faith of God's elect and the

acknowledging of the truth that is according to godliness leads on to hope

and that hope embraces eternal life.  The R.V. here reads in the margin `for'