1 Timothy 3:16

1 Timothy 3:16

1 Timothy 3:16
(KJV) 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.
(1611 KJV) And without controuersie, great is the mysterie of godlinesse: God was manifest in the flesh, iustified in the Spirit, seene of Angels, preached vnto the Gentiles, beleeued on in the world, receiued vp into glory.
(1587 Geneva Bible) And without controuersie, great is the mysterie of godlinesse, which is, God is manifested in the flesh, iustified in the Spirit, seene of Angels, preached vnto the Gentiles, beleeued on in the world, and receiued vp in glorie.
(1526 Tyndale) And with out naye great is that mistery of godlines: God was shewed in the flesshe was iustified in the sprete was sene of angels was preached vnto the gentyls was beleved on in erth and receaved vp in glory.
Counterfeit Versions
(1901 ASV) And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
(CEB) Without question, the mystery of godliness is great: he was revealed as a human, declared righteous by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached throughout the nations, believed in around the world, and taken up in glory.
(1899 Douay-Rheims Roman Catholic) And evidently great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the spirit, appeared unto angels, hath been preached unto the Gentiles, is believed in the world, is taken up in glory.
(CSB) And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
(HCSB) And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
(THE MESSAGE) He appeared in a human body, was proved right by the invisible Spirit, was seen by angels. He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples, believed in all over the world, taken up into heavenly glory.
(NCV) Without doubt, the secret of our life of worship is great: He was shown to us in a human body, proved right in spirit, and seen by angels. He was proclaimed to the nations, believed in by the world, and taken up in glory.
(RSV) Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (Douay-Rheims - Roman Catholic) And evidently great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the spirit, appeared unto angels, hath been preached unto the Gentiles, is believed in the world, is taken up in glory.
(NIV) Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. (NASB) 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 in glory.
(ESV) Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
(NWT - Jehovah’s Witnesses) Indeed the sacred secret of this godly devotion is admittedly great: “He was made manifest in flesh, was declared righteous in spirit, appeared to angels, was preached about among nations, was believed upon in [the] world, was received up in glory.’
(1881 RV) And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He* who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory

*Footnote in 1881 RV on “He” - The word God, in place of He who, rests on no sufficient ancient evidence. Some ancient authorities read which.
Textus Receptus
καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον· Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις, ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν, ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ, ἀνελήφθη ἐν δόξῃ.
Hort-Westcott
καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶν τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον· ῝Ος ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις, ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν, ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ, ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξῃ.
Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century (original)
C 04 - Ephraemi Rescriptus - Fifth century (original)
33 (Minuscule) - Ninth Century
Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century (corrected)
C 04 - Ephraemi Rescriptus - Fifth century (corrected)
D 06 - Paris: Claromontanus - Sixth century (corrected)
K 018 - Ninth century
L 020 - Ninth century
P 025 - Ninth century
Do you remember what the footnote stated under 1881 RV concerning the evidence for using “God” instead of “He” in the text? They stated that there is no sufficient ancient evidence. The use of “God” in the text has for its evidence These manuscripts ranging from the third century to the ninth. Hort and Westcott used the Sinaiticus as one of their primary manuscripts for their Greek text and yet they reject what it is saying here about Jesus being “God manifest in the flesh.” It has five ancient manuscripts and three middle ages manuscripts plus there would also be more that are unnamed. So Hort and Westcott lied about the evidence for this verse. This is why the modern versions cannot be trusted in any way because of the nefarious history of the manuscripts behind them.
Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Reads “he who was manifest” instead of “God was manifest”
Greisbach, Johann - 1805
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871
Wordsworth, Christopher - 1856 revised in 1870
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902

Evidence from Early Father's Usage
Ignatius lived from 35AD to 108AD and says: "God Himself being manifested in human form"

Gregory of Nyssa lived from 335AD to 395AD, and says: "Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever ," and writing to his disciple Titus, "According to the appearing of Jesus Christ the great God and our Saviour," and to Timothy, proclaims in plain terms, "God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit ." Since then the fact has been demonstrated on every side that the Only-begotten God is God"

John Chrysostom lived from 347AD to 407AD, and he says: "And wonder not that Paul saith in another place, "God was manifested in the Flesh"

Theodoret of Cyrus lived from 393AD to 460AD, and he says: "The divine apostle, writing to Timothy, also says “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.” (Thanks to a good friend Thomas Golda for these 4 quotes)
Affected Teaching
1 Timothy 3:16 is one of the most clearest teachings on the incarnation of Christ and His Deity. The Gnostics had removed “qeos” (Theos-God) which is a noun and changed it to “῝Ος” (Hos-He), which is a pronoun. This is a glaring attack upon the Lord Jesus Christ by removing the fact that He was and is God, and specifically as God being the Savior. (Isa 43:11 KJV) I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
If Christ, as God, did not die upon that cross for His children, then we are still in our sins. For no mere man can die for another and have their sins removed, for who will remove the sins of the one sacrificing himself? Sinner cannot redeem sinner!
Gnostic teaching did not allow for any deity to dwell in sinful flesh, so they removed the name of God and changed it to He, which can now make room to substitute anyone else’s name. The problem here is that this attack is answered by another verse of Scripture. (1 John 4:3 KJV) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Let us look at 1 John 4:3 in the NIV and you will see a pattern emerge. (NIV - 1 John 4:3) “but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” What is missing from that verse? The part about Jesus coming in the flesh! Do you see the underlying spirit of Satan which permeates these modern versions? They remove “God” in 1 Timothy 3:16 and so no one will question it, they remove the reference of Christ coming in the flesh in 1 John 4:3. It is a shame that so many churches and Christians are doing the work of Satan by proliferating these evil books under the name of Christianity.

By removing the name of God, in reference to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the authors of the modern Bibles are admitting their books are not from God but from Antichrist, who is Satan himself. They are not confessing that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, which makes these counterfeit versions, as rooted in Satan and not in God. Christians must begin to realize that these modern versions are not the Bible and will not yield any fruit in the lives of any Christian or church which uses them. In fact, if we use a version which is hostile to biblical truth, we are, in essence, in rebellion against God, simply because we are accepting the false teachings in the false versions and some Christians go so far as to defend these Gnostic books, simply because they refuse to do any research into the versions they use. They will research the stock market for investments, yet their spiritual life seems very unimportant to them.
If you will notice the footnote in the original 1881 Revised Version, which also appears verbatim in the American Standard Version of 1901, you will see that they claim that “God” appearing in this verse “rests on no sufficient ancient evidence.” This is probably one of the biggest lies attached to these versions. The truth is that “God” is missing from only 4 of the manuscripts. Of course, the main one that “God” is missing from is Aleph (Sinaiticus). The word “God” is found in over 300 cursives (manuscripts written in script) and many lectionaries. “Theos” in these lectionaries goes back as far as the first century with Ignatius who died around 110 A.D. Lectionaries were used by the church for Bible lessons. This means that “God” was in the original manuscripts but was removed by Satan’s intellects in Alexandria and the horror of it is that the modern scholar agrees wholeheartedly with Satan’s 2^nd century intellects. If your Bible reduces the Lord Jesus Christ to a mere man, then you do not have the Bible, you have an inferior imposter.

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