God has always had in this world those who lived to please Him, whose object in life was to do the will of God as it was made known to them, and of such it is written, “But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for Himself” (Psalm 4:3). If the godly sought to please God, they were the special objects of God’s care, being set apart by Him to enter into what He had make known concerning Himself and His ways. Psalm 1 describes the godly man, and having done so in verses 1–3 tells us, “The ungodly are not so…the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment…the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
The Mystery of Godliness
On account of the full revelation of God in the Person of the Son, and the spread of God’s testimony among the Gentiles, godliness is now much more widespread, and though ever essentially the same throughout the dispensations yet in Christianity it bears its own character, and it is this that is spoken of in First Timothy. Godliness is a great mystery to the man of this world, something he cannot understand, but the secret belongs to those who have received the Gospel of God, and who see in Jesus what God truly is.
The godly walk in separation from the men of this world, and they lead a life into which the natural man cannot enter, a life in communion with God that pleases Him, and the secret of it is that they see in Jesus that “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). Without the knowledge of God in the Person of the Son the Christians would be like the men of this world, seeking their pleasure in present things. Instead, the true believer finds delight in contemplating what God is in His nature of love, and in all that He is as seen in Jesus in this world. The God who dwelt in the thick darkness, yea who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, or can see, is seen and known in the Son of His bosom by those in whom God has wrought by His Spirit.
The entire life of Jesus in Manhood here, His wondrous death in which He glorified God and dealt with our sins, and His glorious resurrection, are involved in the words, “justified in the Spirit,” for the Spirit of God could put the seal of God’s pleasure on all that the Son was and wrought for God, whether in His life or His death. At His baptism the Spirit rested upon Him, His words and works were by the Spirit, in death He offered Himself by the Eternal Spirit, and He was quickened by the Spirit in coming out of death.
When God came to visit Abraham in angelic form He was accompanied by angels, but how great must have been the wonder for angels to see their God in manhood’s form, and how great their delight and privilege to minister to Him in the circumstances that must have caused their great amazement, when tempted of the devil after fasting forty days (Matt. 4:11), and just before going to the cross, while in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43). And how great must have been the joy of the angel who rolled back the stone of the Lord’s tomb when he said to the women, “Come see the place where the Lord lay”? (Matt. 28:2–6). Well did Peter write of these holy mysteries, “which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12).
The piety found among the Gentiles is on account of the preaching of Christ to them in the Gospel. When Jesus was on earth He preached only within the confines of the land of Israel, but in resurrection He sent His servants to preach in all the world. Faith in Him who died for our sins, and rose again, brings the blessings of the Gospel, and His grace enables us to live for Him and for the pleasure of His God and Father in this world.
Having made God known in manhood, and having glorified God in life and death, the risen Saviour was “received up into glory,” where now we see Him, by faith and in the Spirit’s power, sitting at the right hand of God. In glory He is the object of His saints, and He waits there until the time of His coming to receive His own to be forever with Himself, and to be like Him, sharing His glory.
Prayer and Godliness
Of old it was written, “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee…surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him” (Psalm 32:6). Prayer marked the godly, and such had the protection of God in times of trouble. In 1 Timothy 1 the Apostle exhorts the saints to pray “for all men, for kings…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (verses 1–2).
God’s house is a house of prayer for all the nations, hence this exhortation. The godly have God’s interests in their hearts, and knowing that our Saviour God “will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth” (verse 4), they pray for all men. The hearts of all are in God’s hands, and He is able to dispose all things for the accomplishment of His will, and to enable His saints to live quietly and godlily.
Exercise and Godliness
Timothy was to refuse “profane and old wives’ fables,” all that originated in the mind and heart of man, his imaginations and speculations in things religious, and he was to exercise himself unto godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). If Christians are to live piously there must be exercise of soul. Godliness is the fruit of the divine nature that God has given us, but the flesh must be kept in the place of death, and the heart engaged by the Spirit with Christ in glory. Spiritual exercise should deepen with the increase of divine knowledge, so that there might be increased fruit for God’s pleasure in our lives.
Most of us know how to care for our bodies, and it is a right thing to give proper attention to the temple of the Holy Spirit, but we should not be over-occupied with the vessel that holds the divine treasure, “for bodily exercise profits (for a) little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (verse 8). Bodily exercise will profit us a little, but in a very small way in comparison with spiritual exercise that produces godliness. Godliness has its present rewards in spiritual growth, spiritual joy, and in the knowledge that we are living for God’s will and pleasure; and what is produced in us of Christ now by divine exercise will be found in the display of the world to come.
The Doctrine According to Godliness
Teaching has a very necessary place in Christianity, for it sets before us the mind and will of God, and directs His people in their walk and ways. There are the great foundation truths that centre in the Person and work of the Son of God, the truths relating to the assembly of God and to God’s ways with men from the beginning, but there are also instructions for our behaviour in the house of God, what should mark believers in the different relationships of life in which God has set them. It is in these relationships that godliness is manifested, for in them it is our privilege to manifest His nature, and to carry out His will.
Unhappily there are those in the Christian profession who have no real knowledge of or desire for godliness, and of such the Apostle warns in 1 Timothy 6:3–10. Their teachings and manner of life are the very antithesis of godliness, their hearts being set on gain which they suppose to be godliness. How very destitute of divine truth one must be who supposes that the acquisition of material things is pleasing to God, and that seeking such is doing His will. Those who walk in such a path may not blatantly say they are seeking wealth, but their actions plainly show the motive and object of their lives.
There is however great gain in godliness as the Apostle writes, for he says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (verse 6). Material things are only for the present, and the desire for riches so often bring destruction and perdition to men, and have caused true believers to err “from the faith,” and to pierce “themselves through with many sorrows” (verse 7–10).
The man of God, the truly godly man, is to flee from all covetousness, knowing its grievous results, but he is to “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,” things that bring true joy to the heart as fulfilling the will of God for us.
The Form of Godliness
In 2nd Timothy 3 we are forewarned of what would mark “the last days” of the Christian profession, and a comparison of the opening verses of this chapter with the closing verses of Romans 1 shows how the Christian profession closely resembles heathenism in its departure from God. No one with any spiritual judgment will doubt that we have reached “the last days.” They are indeed difficult times, but the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2:1) is able to keep the true believer in the path of God’s will, and faithful to Him.
The first trait of the men of the last days is they “shall be lovers of their own selves,” and to gratify themselves they are “covetous,” or “lovers of money” (verse 2). All the sorrowful features of those who profess to be Christians, but with whom it is a mere profession, are clearly delineated in verses 2–4. Men have made very wonderful progress in the discovery of the secrets of knowledge, and of this they boast in their pride of achievement. With these features there is also blasphemy, and even in the very heart of religious circles, while disobedience to parents and unthankfulness are very marked where the state has made itself responsible for the welfare of its subjects.
Morally corrupt, men are found to be without the natural affection that preserves the beauty of home life and the sanctity of marriage, and what is seen in the closest relationships and associations of life reach out to every circle in which men are found. Seeking their own things, and thinking light of their evil ways, it is not surprising that men are “despisers of those that are good,” that they are not to be trusted, and are inflated in their evil ways.
If men love themselves, and love money, they seek to gratify themselves with the passing pleasures of this world, caring nothing for the God they profess to serve, for with all this solemn category of evil there is a veneer of religious profession. There is a “form of godliness,” an outward show of religion in which there is no divine power. Men will have their children baptised by the clergy, they will arrange their marriages in religious buildings, and at their death will be buried with religious ceremony; but all this can be a mere form of piety without the knowledge, or the desire for the knowledge, of the true God made known in Jesus.
Not only is there the absence of what is real in the “form of godliness,” there is also the denial of its true power. Even the leaders of Christendom deny the need for the new birth, for conversion to God, for a living faith in the Son of God to direct in the things of God. They have the outward forms of Christening and confirmation, and such things, and vainly imagine the form is what God demands.
The Christian’s attitude in such a condition of things is not left to his own choice, for the divine injunction is, “from such turn away.”
R. 23.7.68