BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: 1 Timothy 3:16 states that God was manifested in the flesh. Does this verse prove that Jesus, a man in the flesh, was also God? Is that what the Bible really teaches?
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The Bible, the basis of our faith in the Church Of Christ, which answers questions about proper worship, the right relationship with God, and most importantly, salvation. That’s in the Bible.
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: I’m Bob Pellien, and welcome to the program That’s in the Bible. In this program we respond and reply to questions and comments about biblical teachings in hopes to clear up misconceptions about what is actually written in the Bible. One of the fundamental teachings of the Bible that we uphold and produce media content about is that the one and only true God in the Bible is the Father alone.
Those that do not agree with this belief and instead feel that Jesus Christ is also God incarnated in the flesh, have posted comments using a particular verse in an attempt to support their claim. And this verse is 1 Timothy 3:16. Let’s just read a few of those comments. One viewer posted:
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…God was manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16)
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Then he draws his conclusion and writes his name is Jesus.
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His name is JESUS.
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Another simply posted the verse, but someone else replied with another translation of the verse, which reads differently:
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1 TIMOTHY 3:16
And beyond controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed unto the world, received up into glory.
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: But another viewer posted the same verse which does not read “God was manifest in the flesh.” And that’s the NASB (New American Standard Bible) of 1 Timothy 3:16 reads:
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NASB 1 Timothy 3:16
Beyond question, 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.
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, these comments reveal that some translations of 1 Timothy 3:16 read “God was manifested in the flesh,” and others that read, “He who was manifested in the flesh.” So how should we understand the actual message of the biblical verse? In order to address this topic let’s break down our discussion by answering these related questions.
- What is the reason for this discrepancy?
- How can we determine who is referred to as the one manifested in the flesh?
- What is the true message of this biblical verse 1 Timothy 3:16?
So, dear friends, let’s begin with the first question, which is: What is the reason for this discrepancy? If the verse actually mentions “God manifested in the flesh,” then why write “He who was manifested in the flesh”? And if the verse actually reads “He” then why change it to “God”? And if the verse actually uses “He” and it’s not referring to God, then who is it referring to?
Dear friends, there are biblical scholars who have studied this verse, comparing translations to ancient manuscripts. What do they have to say?
Well, first we can read this in the footnote of 1 Timothy 3:16 found in the translation of the Bible called the Emphatic Diaglott. And here’s what that footnote, states:
This is according to the pointing of Griesbach [a German biblical textual critic]. Nearly all the ancient MMS [manuscripts] and all the versions have ‘he who’ instead of ‘God’.
[Footnote of 1 Timothy 3:16, Emphatic Diaglott]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So according to some scholars here and the manuscripts of the biblical text, he said, “nearly all the ancient manuscripts and all the versions have ‘he who’ instead of ‘God’”. Well, why would there be translations that contain different information from the ancient manuscripts of the Bible? Let’s find out how copies of biblical manuscripts were produced throughout history. And this is important.
We’re going to read the Orthodox Corruption of Scriptures written by Bart D. Ehrrman. Here on page 3 to 4, he writes this important note:
The New Testament manuscripts were not produced impersonally by machines capable of flawless reproduction. They were copied by hand, by living, breathing human beings who were deeply rooted in the conditions and controversies of their day. Did the scribes’ polemical contexts influence the way they transcribed their sacred scriptures? The burden of the present study is that they did, that theological disputes, specifically disputes over Christology, prompted Christian scribes to alter the words of Scripture in order to make them more serviceable for the polemical task. Scribes modified their manuscripts to make them more potently ‘orthodox’ and less susceptible to ‘abuse’ by the opponents of orthodoxy.
[The Orthodox Corruption of Scriptures by Bart D. Eherman, pp. 3-4)
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So here, dear friends, we learn something so important, and that is that the New Testament manuscripts were copied by hand. What should we also understand regarding the people or the the scribes who were tasked to make those copies? Well, we learned here that “the scribes’ polemical contexts influenced the way they transcribed their sacred scriptures.” In fact, what’s been revealed is that “disputes over Christology prompted scribes to alter the words of Scripture in order to make them more serviceable for the polemical task,” or, more potently orthodox.
I know, unless you’re familiar with biblical research, some of these terms might be a bit confusing, or let’s say unknown to us. So just to clarify: polemical, it’s just another, older word for controversial or an aggressive attack against or for, an idea. We know today that orthodox Christology is the belief that Jesus Christ is one person in two natures, both God and man.
So we’re learning that the scribes copying the manuscripts that had that belief, altered and modified the manuscripts to reflect their belief. If all the versions of the ancient manuscripts have the words ‘he who’ instead of ‘God,’ when did the word ‘God’ replace the words ‘he who’?
Let’s use another reference to learn how far along in history from the time the actual Bible was written, did this change occur? We’ll read from the Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. It’s written by Bruce M. Metzger. And let’s take a moment to quote from page 574, wherein he wrote this:
no uncial (in the first hand) earlier than the eight or ninth century (ψ) supports theos [God]; all ancient versions presuppose “ος or ο”[“he who” or “he”]; and no patristic writer prior to the last third of the 4th century testifies to the reading theos [God].
[Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce M. Metzger, pp. 574]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, here we learn that the word theos, which is the Greek word for God, it never appeared in the verse referring to 1 Timothy 3:16 until the eighth or ninth century.
This means that for about 7 or 800 years, no one was reading the phrase ‘God was manifest in the flesh’ in 1 Timothy 3:16 no. It was always ‘He who was manifest in the flesh.’ Again, why did this change? Why did this change make its way into the Bible? Let’s continue reading from this textual commentary and it states:
The reading theos [God] arose either a) accidentally, through the misreading of oς as θς (he who as God) or b) deliberately, either to supply a substantive for the following six verbs, or, with less probability, to provide greater dogmatic precision.
[Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce M. Metzger, pp. 574]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So, dear friends, as you can see there on the screen, the two words in Greek, well, they’re very similar looking, right? You can see that. Based on biblical scholars that we’re quoting from here, the change or the altering of the verse in English occurred either accidentally or deliberately to provide greater a dogmatic precision. Or in other words, it was deliberately changed to support their dogma or established belief. Now, some might think that, well, if the change went from the word ‘He’ to the word ‘God,’ not that big of a deal, they might say it’s not that big of a problem, since the word he is a pronoun which takes the place of a noun, it might just be a different way of saying the same thing. But how can we determine who really is being referred to as the one manifested in the flesh? You know, reading that same verse in other translations might put us on the right path. For example, who is the pronoun ‘he’ referring to? For example, if we read the New Living Translation, it says:
Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit….
[1 Timothy 3:16 New Living Translation]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: And if we were to read in another translation the Amplified rendition of the Holy Bible, that verse is translated this way:
And great, we confess, is the mystery [the hidden truth] of godliness: He (Jesus Christ) who was revealed in human flesh,…
[1 Timothy 3:16 Amplified Bible 2015
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Here in the Contemporary English Version, it’s translated like this:
Here is the great mystery of our religion: Christ came as a human. The Spirit proved that he pleased God, and he was seen by angels. Christ was preached to the nations. People in this world put their faith in him, and he was taken up to glory.
[1 Timothy 3:16 Contemporary English Version]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So, dear friends, in all these various translations the word ‘He’ in the original manuscript was translated to refer to Jesus Christ. So here’s the important question now. Well, so how will we know? How will we know for sure who’s actually being mentioned then in the Bible as the one who was manifested in the flesh? How do we know which set of translations are true? Which brings us then to this: what is the true message of this biblical verse 1 Timothy 3:16?
The apostles give to us an important instruction, dear friends, on how to determine the true message of the biblical scriptures. What did they instruct us? Guidance is recorded here in 1 Corinthians 2:13. This is very important. And it reads:
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
[1 Corinthians 2:13 New King James Version]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Here, dear friends, we learned that comparing spiritual things with spiritual well, that’s what will guide us to understand what the Holy Spirit teaches. Therefore, to understand the spiritual words of the Bible, if there’s a difference between translations like what we’re encountering in our study now of 1 Timothy 3:16, we’ve got to compare them with other spiritual words of the Bible.
In other words, we allow the Bible to explain itself and not try to find an explanation outside of the Bible. Since the words of God written in the Bible are the truth, as we often cite John 17:17, there then is no contradiction among any of the Bible verses. So if we do find what appears, emphasis on that word right, appears to be a contradiction, then we would know it was translated incorrectly.
So let’s find out then who is the one being referred to in the verse as ‘He who was manifest in the flesh.’ How are we going to do that? By comparing this verse with other verses. Is it God or is it Jesus Christ? What does Jesus teach about himself? We can read in Luke 24:39
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
[Luke 24:39 New King James Version]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, Jesus Christ mentions to His disciples, “you see, I have.” What is it that Christ clearly has? He said, “flesh and bones.” Jesus Christ is the one with flesh. What does not have flesh and bones like Christ? He also mentioned in this verse, the “spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have,” said Jesus. So who is a spirit that does not have flesh and bones like the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus also teaches that, and that’s recorded here in John 4:24. Here’s what he said:
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
[John 4:24 New King James Version]
BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Who is a spirit that does not have flesh? God is spirit according to Jesus. Therefore, according to the spiritual words of the Bible, Jesus Christ is the one with flesh and not God. So now we know who is being referred to in 1 Timothy 3:16, it’s our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the one who was manifest in the flesh, not God. This is the proper explanation of the verse because that’s in the Bible.
So let’s summarize. We started out with these questions. This is what we have learned.
- What’s the reason for this discrepancy?
Well, we learned that it was either accidentally or deliberately, but nevertheless clearly a modification was made to read the word ‘God’ instead of the actual word ‘He’ in 1 Timothy 3:16
2. How can we determine who is being referred to as the one manifested in the flesh?
Based on the Bible, Jesus Christ has flesh and God does not, because He is spirit.
3. And what is the true message of this biblical verse 1 Timothy 3:16?
Well, Jesus Christ is the one being mentioned as ‘he who was manifest in the flesh.’
In the Church Of Christ we use many different Bible versions in our studies of the Bible, because we have to make sure we understand the true meaning, and will not use any version that uses an erroneous translation, such as 1 Timothy 3:16, especially one that is used to falsely declare Jesus is God because that’s not in the Bible.
We’d like you to continue learning about the teachings of the Bible taught here in the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ). To do so, please visit us online and browse the different topics. Or better, set up an appointment to meet with a minister of the gospel here in the Church Of Christ. We are here to help you.
If you have any questions about the Bible, salvation, please email them to us. I’m Bob Pellien, thanks for watching. See you next time right here on That’s in the Bible.
