1 Timothy 3:16

The connexion of thought lies in a feeling that the lofty terms in which the Church has been just spoken of may demand a justification. The truth of which the Church is στύλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα is not a light thing nor an insubstantial fabric; the truth is, more expressly, τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, the revelation to man of practical religion; and, beyond yea or nay, this truth, this revelation, is great. Whether you believe it or not, you cannot deny that the claims of Christianity are tremendous.

μέγας is rare in Paul: (Rom 9:2; 1 Corinthians 9:11; 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 11:15; Ephesians 5:32; 1 Timothy 6:6; 2 Timothy 2:20; Titus 2:13). The nearest parallel to the present passage is Ephesians 5:32, τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν. See note on 1 Timothy 3:9. On εὐσέβεια, see chap. 1 Timothy 2:2.

If we assume that ὅς is the right reading, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that what follows is a quotation by St. Paul from a primitive creed or summary of the chief facts to be believed about Jesus Christ. And one is tempted to conjecture that another fragment of the same summary is quoted in 1 Peter 3:18, θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκὶ ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι. ὅς, then, does not form part of the quotation at all; it is simply introductory, and relative to the subject, Jesus Christ, whose personality was, in some terms, expressed in an antecedent sentence which St. Paul has not quoted.

As the passage stands, there are three pairs of antithetic thoughts: (1) (a) the flesh and (b) the spirit of Christ, (2) (a) angels and (b) Gentiles the two extremes of the rational creation, (3) (a) the world and (b) glory. In another point of view, there is a connexion between 2 b and 3 a, and between 2 b and 3 a. Again, we may say that we have here set forth (1) the Incarnation in itself, (2) its manifestation, (3) its consequence or result, as affecting man and God.

The antithesis between the σάρξ and πνεῦμα of Christ is drawn, in addition to 1 Peter 3:18, also in Romans 1:3-4. τοῦ γενομένου ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυεὶδ κατὰ σάρκα, τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης. We cannot leave out of account in discussing these passages the parallel in 1 Peter 4:6, εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ νεκροῖς εὐηγγελίσθη ἵνα κριθῶσι μὲν κατὰ ἀνθρώπους σαρκί ζῶσι δὲ κατὰ θεὸν πνεύματι. The πνεῦμα of Christ, as man, in these passages means His human spirit, the naturally permanent spiritual part of a human personality. See also 1 Corinthians 5:5.

ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί : He who had been from all eternity “in the form of God” became cognisable by the limited senses of human beings, ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας (Romans 8:3), became manifest in the flesh, σὰρξ ἐγένετο (John 1:14). φανεροῦν is used in connexion with Christ in four associations in the N.T.:

(1) as here, of the objective fact of the Incarnation: John 1:31 (?), Hebrews 9:26 1 Peter 1:20, 1 John 1:2 (bis), 1 Timothy 3:5; 1 Timothy 3:8.

(2) of the revelation involved in the Incarnation: Romans 16:26; Colossians 1:26; Colossians 4:4; 2 Timothy 1:10; Titus 1:3. N.B. in Rom. and Col. the verb is used of a μυστήριον.

(3) of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ, which were, in a sense, repetitions of the marvel of the Incarnation, as being manifestations of the unseen: Mark 16:12; Mark 16:14; John 21:1 (bis), 14.

(4) of the Second Coming, which will be, as far as man can tell, His final manifestation: Colossians 3:4; 1 Peter 5:4; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:2.

ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι : proved or pronounced to be righteous in His higher nature. The best parallel to this use of δικαιοῦν is Psalms 50 (51):6, ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου, also Matthew 11:19 = Luke 7:35. We are not entitled to assume that the ἐν has the same force before πνεύματι that it has before σαρκί; the repetition of the preposition is due to a felt need of rhythmic effect. If we are asked, When did this δικαίωσις take place? we reply that it was on a review of the whole of the Incarnate Life. The heavenly voice, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα, heard by human ears at the Baptism and at the Transfiguration, might have been heard at any moment during the course of those “sinless years”. He was emphatically ὁ δίκαιος (Acts 3:14; Acts 22:14; 1 John 2:1. See also Matthew 3:15; John 16:10.) It is enough to mention without discussion the opinions that πνεύματι refers (a) to the Holy Spirit, or (b) to the Divine Personality of Christ.

ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις : Ellicott points out that in these three pairs of clauses, the first member of each group points to earthly relations, the second to heavenly. So that these words ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις refer to the fact that the Incarnation was “a spectacle to angels” as well as “to men”; or rather, as Dean Bernard notes (Comm. in loc.), ὤφθη and ἐκηρύχθη mark the difference in the communication of the Christian Revelation to angels the rational creatures nearest to God and to the Gentiles farthest from God. “The revelation to Gentiles is mediate, by preaching …; the revelation to the higher orders of created intelligences is immediate, by vision.” It was as much a source of wonderment to the latter as to the former. See 1 Peter 1:12. The angels who greeted the Birth (Luke 2:13), who ministered at the temptations (Matthew 4:11; Mark 1:13), strengthened Him in His agony (Luke 22:43), proclaimed His Resurrection and stood by at the Ascension, are only glimpses to us of “a cloud of witnesses” of whose presence Jesus was always conscious (Matthew 26:53).

ὤφθη is usually used of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ to men. See reff.

ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ : This was in itself a miracle. See 2 Thessalonians 1:10; John 17:21.

Winer-Moulton notes (Grammar, p. 326) that ἐπιστεύθη cannot be referred to πιστεύειν Χῷ but presupposes the phrase πιστ. Χόν. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξη : This is the verb used of the Ascension. See reff. Cf. ἀνάλημψις Luke 9:51.

ἐν δόξῃ : ἐν has, in this case, a pregnant sense, εἰς δόξαν καὶ ἐστὶν ἐν δόξῃ (Ell.). See also reff., in which ἐν δόξῃ is a personal attribute of the glory that surrounds and transfigures a glorified spiritual person; but in this place δόξα means the place or state of glory; cf. Luke 24:26, ἔδει … τὸν Χριστόν … εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ.