The copies

Witness

Matthew jumps a verse. The prayer stops. Two strokes decide God or He.

Walk the copies. KJV often keeps the longer reading. BSB follows the older books. When a post says theft, we show you the page. A missing verse is often still in Mark. This is not a decoder ring for villains.

The gaps

A line sits in the KJV and not in the oldest copy. It is often still in Mark or Luke.

01Fasting02Lost03Widows04Ears05Worm06Forgive07Numbered08Fire09Field10Barabbas11Angel12I believe13Goads14Silas15Grace

The joins

An Amen was added. A hard stop was kept. Sweat like blood is argued. A woman the church would not lose.

01Amen02Ending03Sweat04Woman

The words

The copies disagree on God or He, on blood, on three that testify, and on God or Son.

01Comma02Blood03God or He04Son of God05God or Son

The words · 03 of 05 · Two tiny strokes

God or He

Two tiny strokes decide the word: ΘC or OC, God or He who. The hymn still says the one who appeared in flesh was taken up in glory.

King James (1611)
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.
Berean Standard Bible
He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

The word

θεός

God, the one the hymn is about, two strokes in a capital letter (theos)

Walk this word

Later copies, and the King James

God was manifest in the flesh. (ΘC)

The earliest copies

He who appeared in the flesh. (OC)

The two readings

  1. 01The hymn

    1 Timothy 3:16

    Great is the mystery of godliness. The hymn has six beats. The copies pick God or He who at the first beat. The rest of the hymn does not move.

  2. 02The Word became flesh

    John 1:14

    We have seen His glory. John does not wait on two strokes in Timothy to say it. The flesh is already the Word’s.

  3. 03The fullness of Deity

    Colossians 2:9

    In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily. The posts that stop at ΘC never seem to open Colossians.

In these copies

  • later Byzantine copies reading Θεός
  • KJV, WEB

Not in these copies

  • early copies reading ὅς (“He who”)
  • Sinaiticus
  • Vaticanus
  • BSB, ASV, NIV

Read it this way

In old capital-letter Greek, ΘC (God, a contracted Θεός) and OC (who) differ by two tiny strokes — a line in the theta, a bit of ink. Some later copies read “God was manifest in the flesh.” The earliest read “He who was manifest in the flesh.” It is a hymn in six beats. Appeared, vindicated, seen, proclaimed, believed, taken up.

The posts treat the strokes as a council. They are a copyist’s mark. θεός (theos) is God. ὅς (hos) is he who. John 1:14 does not wait on this letter: the Word became flesh. Colossians 2:9 does not wait on it: in Him the fullness of Deity dwells bodily. 1 Timothy’s hymn still says the one who appeared in flesh was taken up in glory.

KJV and WEB print God. BSB and ASV print He who. God becoming man is not hiding in a copyist’s mark. “He who appeared in the flesh” is still God come as a man. Walk the word. Then read the rest of the letter.

Some sayThey denied that God was manifest in the flesh.

God becoming man is not hiding in a copyist’s mark. “He who appeared in the flesh” is still God come as a man.

  • KJV

    on the page

  • WEB

    on the page

  • BSB

    shorter

  • ASV

    shorter

Open 1 Timothy 3

The line the text already walks — that is Foretold. Words you already say out loud sit in Words with weight. Witness is when the copies do not match.