Jesus is supposedly called God in 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.
However, most other translations use the word ‘HE’ instead of God, so they read like this:
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.
So what is going on here?
First off, one must understand the nomina sacra (sacred names). These are abbreviations, in early manuscripts, of certain names and titles.
In ancient manuscripts 1 Timothy 3:16 had the word “os” which looks like: “OC” and means “he”.
The nomina sacra of God looks like OC but instead it has a horizontal line through the middle of the O and a long horizontal line over both letters.
In one old manuscript (Codex Alexandrinus) it seems to be the nomina sacra, but analysis of the manuscript shows that the two horizontal lines were added centuries later.
Many late manuscripts have the nomina sacra, but all manuscripts earlier than about 800AD instead have OC “He”
So “He was manifest in the flesh” is supported by all ancient manuscripts, whereas “God was manifest in the flesh” appears after 800 AD.”
Finally, even if the above explanation didn’t explain the reasons for the wording in this scripture, even then, the term “God manifest in the flesh” doesn’t prove that God became a man thus proving that Jesus is God, rather that if God was manifest in the flesh, that doesn’t mean that Jesus is God. For example, if God was manifest in you or in us, does that make us God or does that mean that God is in us?
2 Corinthians 5:19
namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Similarly, if a person manifests a demon spirit, does that mean that the person is actually the demon? The answer of course is no. Thus there is no good reason to use 1 Timothy 3:16 as a Trinity proof verse.
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