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1 Timothy 3:16 "God was manifest in the flesh"
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into
glory." - King James Version |
The Red Flag of Unorthodox Theology
One
of the first signs that there may be a problem with translation or
tampering with the underlying source text is the manifestation of apparent unorthodox or
even blasphemous theology. Here we have the classic example of
a Christian heresy in the midst of a thoroughly Jewish text -
the deity of messiah. Either Paul, who wrote this letter to
Timothy, was a rank heretic or the original text has been corrupted.
The Rogue Copy
Not always, but often, a single variant among other copies of the passage may be another sign that a rendering is suspect -
especially when the difference is a single character, or what appears
to be the confusion between two different letters that look very
familiar. The Codex Alexandrinus1
is the only manuscript that has "God" in 1 Timothy 3:16 and has no
second or third witness, nor is it even the earliest manuscript at 450 c.e. The
Aramaic Peshitta correctly reads הון "he who" as do all other Greek and Latin manuscripts.
"Truly great is the secret of justice. He who
was revealed in the flesh, righteous in spirit, and confirmed to the
messengers, and proclaimed among the people, and believed by the world,
and ascended into a better place." - 1 Timotheos (Timothy) 3:16, Peshitta
Forensic Orthography
A
great amount of effort has been invested in finding ways in which to
filter out bleed-through in older texts and manuscripts to improve the
clarity making them easier to interpret. The Codex Alexandrinus
exhibits a moderate degree of opacity which allows the ink of the
text on the back side of the pages to permeate through thereby mottling
the text. In
1715, bible scholar, Johann Wettstein examined this passage in the
Greek Codex Alexandrinus. He noticed that the word "who" ΟC (omicron-sigma)
had been altered to appear like the abbreviation for "God" ΘC (theta-sigma). A line of ink had bled through from the other side of
the parchment changing the appearance of the Ο (omicron) to a Θ (theta). An error like this would have normally been caught, however
some later and unscrupulous scribe added a stroke over the word
(in a slightly different coloured ink) indicating that it was to be read as an abbreviation.
Until now those aware of these facts have had to imagine what
this evidence looked like, allowing many to doubt these claims and
continue in heresy. I have provided the visual evidence here by
presenting an image of the actual manuscript with the verse and word in
question. This first image (below) juxtaposes the right column of
folio 123a with the corresponding left column of folio 123b on its
backside. It is fairly easy to see with the unaided eye the many
instances where the ink has bled through from one side of the
parchment to the other.
Note the large drop case letters in the margins and blank sections
between paragraphs where the bleed-through is even more apparent.
This
second image (below) is taken from the left column of folio 123a and
compares the word in question to two uncontested examples of the letters. Bleed-throughs are evident in each instance.
a) corrupted OC (omicron-sigma) "who" in 1st Timothy 3:16
b) authentic example of OC (omicron-sigma) in ΚΟCΜω "world" in 1st Timothy 3:16
c) authentic example of Θ̅C (theta-sigma) "God" in 1st Timothy 4:3
The second line in the text above that reads ΜΥϹΤΗΡΙΟΝΟϹϵϕΑΝϹΡω from 1st Timothy 3:16 "mystery: who was manifest" is written directly over ΚΑΙΤΗΚΑΤϵΥϹϵΒϵΙΑΝΔΙΔ on the reverse side, which is the ending portion of 1st Timothy 6:3 "and the teaching which is in accordance with godliness," (the conflated letters are underlined in red). The middle stroke of the ϶ (reversed epsilon) bled through to provide the middle stroke to the Ο (omicron) on the front side to form the letter Θ (pseudo-theta). Below is a reconstruction of the corruption formed by reversing and overlaying the recto (black) and verso (dark grey) lines.
Original front side
Original back side (reversed)
Reconstruction overlay
Although
there are some differences between the original and reconstructed fonts
in kerning, size and form, and considering that where and how much ink
bleeds through is uneven, the reconstruction is remarkably accurate. As we can see the Ο (omicron) and the ϶ (reversed epsilon) combine to form a Θ (pseudo-theta). Immediately on the left of this example is another bleed-through combining the N (nu) and the Y (upsilon) exactly as the reconstruction model has predicted. Other matches include the first elongated P (rho) along the left side of the reverse B (beta) and the second elongated P (rho) along the left side of the reverse K (kapa).
Conclusion
It should be evidently clear that the original Greek text which was written as OC "who" was corrupted by ink bleeding through the parchment.
It was further corrupted when a later scribe supplied a diacritical
mark, a horizontal stroke, above the letters to indicate that they were
an abbreviation Θ̅Ϲ (THS) for ΘΕΟϹ
(THEOS) both meaning "God". All other manuscripts clearly state that
the messiah, "who" and not "God" was manifest in the flesh.
It is also interesting to note that at the height of Christological controversies
from the fourth century through the middle ages, no reference to this
passage was ever made even when proponents for the deity of Christ
would have naturally appealed to this passage for support. This
suggests that the corruption was a more recent one, and that the
reading did not exist in the original.
Since
it is also
made clear in the scriptures, without any orthographic
controversy, that no one has ever ontologically seen or heard God
at any time, (Exodus 33:20, Deuteronomy 4:15-16, John 1:18, 5:37, 1
John 4:12) itis not theologically permissible for God to manifest in
the flesh in a way that anyone who saw "the flesh" also saw God
Himself. If one was to "see" God as Tæoma did,
and yet not see God in as a form of flesh, it is only reconcilable if
one is perceiving God's spiritual qualities being demonstrated through
the flesh, as no fleshly form in creation could be God, (since He is
not flesh nor created, but spirit) nor could any created fleshly vessel
contain His essence wholly, (but only the whole of His spiritual
qualities). We can thus be assured that the Peshitta has preserved the
original and that it was the messiah who was manifest in the flesh and
not God Himself.
1.
The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, MS Royal 1. D. V-VIII;
Gregory-Aland no. A or 02) is a 5th century manuscript of the Greek
Bible, containing the majority of the Septuagint and the New Testament.
It is one of the earliest and most complete Greek manuscripts of the
Bible. It derives its name from Alexandria where it resided for a
number of years before given to the British in the 17th century. It
also contains the writing of Athanasius. It was bishop Alexander and
deacon Athanasius of Alexandria who were the leading proponents of the
divinity of Christ leading to the Nicene Creed.
Codex Alexandrinus digital images courtesy of the Center for the Study of New Testament manuscripts.
