by David Gibson<\/p>\n
“By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:<\/em>
\nHe who was revealed in the flesh,<\/em>
\nWas vindicated in the Spirit,<\/em>
\nSeen by angels,<\/em>
\nProclaimed among the nations,<\/em>
\nBelieved on in the world,<\/em>
\nTaken up to glory<\/em>” (I Timothy 3:16 NASB).<\/blockquote>\nThis passage is a concise, one-verse summary of the greatness of Jesus Christ. Obviously, it does not tell us everything about Him, but what it does say should be enough to fill us with wonder.<\/p>\n
A life-changing message<\/h2>\n
But consider who wrote this. At one time, he did not believe a word of it. More than that, he violently opposed those who believed it. But all that changed suddenly and dramatically when the glorified Christ appeared to His arch-enemy Saul as he was on his way to arrest more Christians. Three days later, he was baptized, and soon the gospel’s greatest foe became its greatest advocate.<\/p>\n
We know him today as the apostle Paul. For the next thirty or so years, he “Proclaimed<\/em> [Him] among the nations<\/em>” so that He could be “Believed on in the world<\/em>.”<\/p>\n
Like no other<\/h2>\n
From Jesus’ birth (“revealed in the flesh<\/em>“) to His ascension (“Taken up to glory<\/em>“)-in those 33 years, Jesus made a far more powerful impact on our world than anyone else who ever lived before or since. That’s because of who He is and what He said and did.<\/p>\n
If you doubt that, I challenge you to read the first five books of the New Testament. Then decide.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by David Gibson Distilled truth “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up to glory” (I Timothy 3:16 NASB). This passage is a concise, one-verse summary of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-90534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70634,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/disappointed-by-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":90534,"position":0},"title":"Disappointed by Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Jesus does not always fulfill people's expectations. \"Teacher,\" a man said to Jesus, \"tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me\" (Luke 12:13 NASB). But Jesus refused, warning him about the trap of greed. When those Jesus fed with the loaves and fish returned the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/peters-conviction\/","url_meta":{"origin":90534,"position":1},"title":"Peter’s Conviction","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Peter, another eyewitness and apostle of Jesus, was recorded by Luke regarding several of his testimonial accounts. See Luke's impressive documentation of Peter's presentation of the evidence of Jesus, as Luke recorded them in summary in Acts 2, 3, and 10. Luke recorded these speeches to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66578,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-from-sauls-conversion\/","url_meta":{"origin":90534,"position":2},"title":"Lessons from Saul\u2019s Conversion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Saul would become the saved apostle Paul, and his conversion from being totally against Jesus and his disciples to becoming a disciple of Jesus, from being a persecutor to being persecuted, is a remarkable account of what is involved in the process of conversion to Christ.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25530,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-preach-christ-crucified\/","url_meta":{"origin":90534,"position":3},"title":"We Preach Christ Crucified","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Joe R. Price \u201cWe preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness\u201d (I Corinthians 1:23). Let there be no mistake: Preaching \u201cChrist crucified\u201d is gospel preaching. The \u201cword of the cross\u201d is the power of God to save the lost (I Corinthians 1:18,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0005-14-210x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14284,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-was-johns-baptism-different-from-jesus-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":90534,"position":4},"title":"How was John’s baptism different from Jesus’ baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some questions about John's baptism. I've read about how it was a fulfillment of prophecy to prepare the way, but I'm really confused about what that really means and what the point of John's baptism was. I am curious about a few things: What does \"preparing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-righteous-judge\/","url_meta":{"origin":90534,"position":5},"title":"Jesus, the Righteous Judge","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Jesus is the Creator to whom all are accountable. He has all authority, and He has all the right to judge. The Father \"has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father\" (John 5:22-23). He has \"authority\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}