提前三16 ……大哉！敬虔的奥秘！……就是：祂显现于肉体，被称义于灵里，被天使看见，被传于万邦，被信仰于世人中，被接去于荣耀里。

　　约一14 话成了肉体，支搭帐幕在我们中间，丰丰满满地有恩典，有实际。我们也见过祂的荣耀，正是从父而来独生子的荣耀。

　　提前三章十五至十六节陈明，基督是神显现于肉体。……不仅主耶稣过去是神显现于肉体，今天召会也该是神显现于肉体。……十六节的“敬虔”这辞，意思是“像神”。因此，本节指明人可以有神的样子、彰显和显现。本节上下文里“敬虔的奥秘”这辞，意思是神在祂的奥秘里得以显现并彰显于肉体—人。……从“敬虔的奥秘”转到“祂”，含示神在肉体的显现，基督，就是敬虔的奥秘（西一27，加二20）（新约总论第十二册，二一七页）。

　　1 Tim. 3:16 …Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

　　John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

　　In 1 Timothy 3:15-16 Christ is presented as God manifested in the flesh…. Not only was the Lord Jesus the manifestation of God in the flesh in the past; the church today should also be the manifestation of God in the flesh. The word godliness in verse 16 means “God-likeness.” Hence, this verse indicates that human beings may have the appearance, the expression, and the manifestation of God. In the context of this verse, the phrase the mystery of godliness means that God in His mystery can be manifested and expressed in the flesh, in human beings….The transition from the mystery of godliness to He implies that Christ as the manifestation of God in the flesh is the mystery of godliness (Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3661)

　　神的显现首先是在基督里，那是在肉体里个别的彰显（提前三16，西二9，约一1、14）。新约不是说，只有神的儿子成为肉体，乃是启示神显现于肉体，指明完整的神—父、子、灵—成为肉体。因此，基督成为肉体就是整个神显现于肉体。……根据约翰福音，话，就是神，成为肉体（一1、14）。……那成为肉体的话—神显现于肉体—乃是神在肉体里的解释、说明和彰显（18）。显现于肉体的神，不仅是子神，乃是整个的神—父、子、灵。

　　神显现于肉体，是借着成为肉体和为人生活（1、14）。“于肉体”，意即在人的样式和样子里（罗八3，腓二7~8）。基督是以人的形状显在人前（林后五16），然而，祂乃是神显在人的身上。

　　当祂这神人活在地上的时候，祂所过的生活不是凭祂属人的生命，乃是凭祂神圣的生命。祂所过的为人生活，不是凭着祂的人性，乃是凭着祂的神性。祂是个神人，但不是凭人的生命活着，乃是凭神的生命活着。所以祂的为人生活不是凭属人的生命活出来，乃是凭神圣的生命活出来的。祂是一直拒绝祂属人的生命，把祂属人的生命一直摆在十字架底下而活着。从祂在地上生活的头一天开始，祂就过着被钉死的为人生活，不是凭祂属人的生命，乃是凭祂神圣的生命。祂的为人生活不是彰显人性，乃是彰显神性，使神圣的属性成为人性的美德。这就是保罗在提前三章所说，基督是神显现于肉体（16）的意思。

　　（基督）在地上的日子，一直把自己摆在十字架上。祂留在十字架上受死，好叫祂能凭神活，不是彰显人，乃是使神圣的属性成为人性的美德，而彰显神。……今天我们是祂的复制品，所以我们该过同样的生活。……跟从耶稣就是要过神人的生活，不凭属人的生命，乃凭神圣的生命，好叫神能彰显或显现于肉体，使祂神圣的属性成为人性的美德。这就是跟从基督的内在意义。我们这些神人必须过一种生活，不是凭我们自己，乃是凭另外一位；不是凭我们属人的生命，乃是凭祂神圣的生命；不是彰显我们自己，乃是彰显祂的神性，使祂神圣的属性全都成为我们人性的美德（新约总论第十二册，二一七至二一九页）。

　　参读：新约总论，第十三、三百六十三篇；神经纶的要素，第五章。

　　God’s manifestation was first in Christ as an individual expression in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9; John 1:1, 14). The New Testament does not say that only the Son of God was incarnated. Rather, it reveals that God was manifested in the flesh, indicating that the entire God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—was incarnated. Therefore, Christ in His incarnation was the entire God manifested in the flesh. According to the Gospel of John, the Word, who is God, became flesh (vv. 1, 14)….The Word who became flesh—God manifested in the flesh—is God’s definition, explanation, and expression in the flesh (v. 18). God was manifested in the flesh not only as the Son but as the entire Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

　　Through incarnation and human living (vv. 1, 14), God was manifested in the flesh. The expression in the flesh means “in the likeness, in the fashion, of man” (Rom. 8:3; Phil. 2:7-8). Christ appeared to people in the form of man (2 Cor. 5:16), yet He was God manifested in a man.

　　When He lived on earth as the God-man, He did not live by His human life but by His divine life. He lived a human life not by His humanity but by His divinity. He lived as a God-man yet not by the life of man but by the life of God. Hence, His human living was not lived out by the human life but by the divine life. He lived by always rejecting His human life, by always putting His human life under the cross. From the first day He lived on earth, He lived a crucified human life, not by His human life but by His divine life. His human living did not express humanity but divinity in the divine attributes becoming the human virtues. This is what Paul meant in 1 Timothy 3 when he spoke of Christ as God manifested in the flesh (v. 16).

　　All of His days on earth, [Christ] put Himself on the cross. He remained on the cross to die so that He might live by God, not to express man but to express God in His divine attributes becoming man’s virtues…. Since today we are His reproduction, we should live the same kind of life. To follow Jesus is to live the life of a God-man, not by the human life but by the divine life, in order that God may be expressed, or manifested, in the flesh in all His divine attributes becoming the human virtues. This is the intrinsic significance of what it is to follow Christ. As God-men, we need to live a life not by ourselves but by another One, not by our human life but by His divine life, not to express ourselves but to express His divinity in His divine attributes which become our human virtues. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3661-3663)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 13, 363; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Crucial Elements of God’s Economy,” ch. 5