Church bulletin for February
Everyone loves a good mystery. My youngest son has become quite interested in crime solving having watched an Agatha Christie film. He was fascinated at the way Poirot was able to piece together the clues and catch the murderer. The next day he spent considerable time stepping us through the logic involved and the cleverness of Poirot to unearth the truth. It must be admitted, it’s quite neat at the end looking back at how everything fits together and the way in which all of the clues complete the picture. Mystery solved.
The Apostle Paul on several occasions speaks of the Gospel in connection with mystery. 1 Tim 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” What Paul means is that the key to understanding how one can know God and live before Him, is Jesus Christ. It is Christ who unlocks what would otherwise remain a mystery. In Paul’s day there were many “mystery religions”. These were pagan / proto-gnostic religions shrouded in secrecy. If one wanted to know deep spiritual truths, only the gurus of those religions could explain them. The people were thus dependent upon them. True Godliness however is not to be found in following self-styled gurus but through faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul draws upon what appears to be a hymn which would have been used in corporate worship: God [He] was manifested in the flesh. This can only be referring to the incarnation. Although God [Theos] is not in the oldest manuscripts and was probably added for clarification, this is clearly the intention of the apostle.
Spurgeon comments: “There is very little occasion for fighting about this matter, for if the text does not say ‘God was manifest in the flesh,’ who does it say was manifest in the flesh? Either a man, or an angel, or a devil. Does it tell us that a man was manifest in the flesh? Assuredly that cannot be its teaching, for every man is manifest in the flesh, and there is no sense whatever in making such a statement concerning any mere man, and then calling it a mystery. Was it an angel, then? But what angel was ever manifest in the flesh? And if he were, would it be at all a mystery that he should be ‘seen of angels’? Is it a wonder for an angel to see an angel? Can it be that the devil was manifest in the flesh? If so, he has been ‘received up into glory,’ which, let us hope, is not the case. Well, if it was neither a man, nor an angel, nor a devil, who was manifest in the flesh, surely he must have been God; and so, if the word be not there, the sense must be there, or else nonsense”
What makes a good mystery? The way it is solved; the wisdom employed; the skill of the sleuth. God has masterfully solved the problem of sin – He became man. He did for us what we could not do ourselves. The mystery of how to know God; finding true purpose to life and the meaning of our existence; to know the forgiveness of sin and the hope of heaven is revealed through the incarnation. Jesus Christ is the key. We do not need mystical impressions, spiritual gurus, or higher knowledge, we must look to Christ.