In the Persence of Mystery (1 Tim. 3:16)
Last week's lesson spoke about the mystery of Christ's deity. But as we contemplate His humanity, we stand also in the presence of a profound mystery. As Paul expressed it: "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He [Jesus] appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory" (1 Tim. 3:16, NIV).
One scholar makes the point that the claim that the founder of Christianity was Divine was not a big shock in the Roman world; after all, their emperors routinely claimed divinity. But the claim that "the Christian God was concerned about humanity; concerned enough to suffer in its behalf. This was unheard of."—Huston Smith, The Illustrated World's Religions (New York: Harper Collins, 1986), p. 219. But however strange to the Greco-Roman world, that, precisely, was the testimony of the New Testament.
What do the following passages teach about this amazing condescension?
It is fascinating to watch the unstudied precision with which the New Testament writers approach the issue of Christ's humanity. Matter-of-fact and straightforward, they simply tell the story, with no knowledge (perhaps) of the firestorm that would follow in succeeding centuries. But it is precisely the absence of any posturing that helps give credibility to the documents that we have. It is not as if the earliest disciples faced no controversy in regard to the nature and identity of Jesus; they did, as we see in the New Testament itself. But their arguments in regard to Jesus' person clearly were not designed to counter the position of rationalistic or scientific opponents, which gives an unspoiled freshness to their witness. It was as though they argued their case out of surprise that anyone would dare to doubt the uncommon mystery that had affected them so dramatically, both corporately and personally.
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