1 Timothy 3:16 Bible Teaching

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So, we left off at verse 14 with Paul telling Timothy that he was trying to get to him as soon as possible saying in (verse 15)

1st Timothy 3.16-end
September 27th 2020

15 But (he says) if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

And then he adds a passage which is profound and impactful, and this is where coming to CAMPUS pays off, folks!

I mean, here is the gold at the end o the rainbow:

16 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.

Before we get into this passage, I want to explain something about the Bible – some of what you are informed about, some maybe not.

But the Bible is certainly a gift – from the living God. Even the most hardened atheist has to admit that in terms of information, narrative, story, and lessons, the Bible does provide some benefit to any reader – to say otherwise is to simply reveal an extreme unwarranted prejudice against the things of God.

So, the Bible gift can be received by most people to some extent or another. On a spectrum of use, we can find benefactors all along the line.

For example:

ON BOARD
16 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.

Atheists Historians Other Faiths Students of Ancient Languages Christians Spirit-Lead Seekers Sons/Daughters

But even on the far right extreme, we have to admit that the Bible, as a whole, is not entirely God breathed. Even Paul admits to this.

Add into this that much of what we hold in our hands speak to a former age (in the Old Testament) speak to a former audience of believers (in the New Testament) and that when everything is said and done, even for Spirit-led seekers and Sons and Daughters of God, there are passages that do not have direct application to our hearts and minds, and there are passages that do.

The filters vary, depending on the person, the spirit, and their use and knowledge of the Word.

Danny said something to me that makes so much sense relative to the Bible – and it relates to a gold-mining show we both like.

His point was miners of earth have to move a whole heck of a lot to discover just an ounce of gold and so it is with seekers of truth in the Bible – and he was equating typically unseen biblical truths to real large deposits of pure gold.

We might see the Bible as mining through a large amount of earth that can be used for gardening, mixed with some stones that can be used to build foundations, mixed with some minerals that can be used to fortify our spiritual walk, mixed with some valuable gems, then pricy metals, mixed with smaller amounts of gold, platinum, iridium, ruthenium and of course gold. Finally, to the most studied and spiritually discerning there are diamonds of varied sizes that, in a few words, speak volumes.

Our passage today, verse 16, is one of them that was a gem in that day, and is a diamond in our day – though admittedly there are other passages less on the nose but even more mind-blowing in the text.

16 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.

Pretty great, huh? And it seems to really explain for us not only what Yeshua did and went through but some great insights into his origins and make-up. And the fact that it is speaking of Yeshua and calls him “God in the flesh” we have a super strong support for the Trinity – or at least the Trinitarians have used it this way.

Now, we have other passages of scripture that tell us about “God with us, right?” Isaiah 9. Matthew 3.

But is there a difference between “God being with us” and “God manifesting himself in flesh.”

So, we have no problem with the notion of God being with us in the Man Jesus, but did Jesus-God manifest himself in the flesh? This passage supports the notion.

But there is a problem – frankly, a huge problem – with anyone using this passage as it reads in the King James and versions that extend from it.

And it really bothers me. Why? Because this passage has been messed with. And people don’t know it.

For starters, it really does look, if you are a Trinitarian, like proof of the pre-incarnate deity of Jesus Christ if you are predisposed to seeing trinity in passages.

But if anybody quotes this verse to prove the Trinity, you right off the bat that they haven’t done their homework.

What do the ancient biblical manuscripts say about I Timothy 3:16?

First, if you look at a Greek interlinear on I Timothy 3:16, you will verify the fact that the Greek word, Theos, meaning God, is not in there.

Instead, hos (who or which) is there.

So, the passage reads:

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: who 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.

Also note that the passage is talking about the mystery of godliness, not the mystery of God – note this – and so when it reads, “who, which or he” in other versions, it speaks of Yeshua, plain and simple and his godliness.

Next, if you look at a Greek Lexicon of I Timothy 3:16, it verifies the Greek interlinear translation I just read.

The oldest complete Greek New Testament in existence, the Codex Sinaiticas, which dates back to the 4th century, confirms all the other referenses and resources cited.

An Aramaic version of the Bible, called the, Lamsa bible, dating back to the 5th century, does the same.

St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate dating to 405A.D? Same. The Armenian Bible, the Syriac Peshitta, Coptic, even the Net Bible, which is a completely new translation of the Bible completed by 25 scholars who are experts in the original biblical languages and worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts?? Same Same Same.

It appears that sometime at the end of the third century that Theos/God reading came into existence.

How? We can’t be sure but what should be there is “hos” which means, “who” which would be an intentional alteration to magnify Christ.

Once theos got inserted, the reading was so inviting (to the Trinitarian cause that was at the same time being created) that it influenced all the other manuscript translation that it came in contact with (including mss already written).

The “TCGNT” [the Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament] says:

“no uncial (in the first hand) earlier than the eighth or ninth century (?) supports ???? [Theos = God]; all ancient versions presuppose ?? [hos = who] or ? [ho = which]; and no patristic writer prior to the last third of the fourth century testifies to the reading ????”

In light of the last fact (and no patristic writer (aka, early church writer) prior to the last third of the fourth century testifies to the reading ????, it is interesting to note that the third part of the trinity had just come into being by the commandments of men in 381A.D.

In fact, the “Encyclopedia Britannica on the Council-of-Constantinople” of 381 says:

“Doctrinally, it promulgated what became known to the church as the Nicene Creed; it also declared finally the Trinitarian doctrine of the equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.”

There is a Bible out there known as the Companion Bible (compiled by a guy named Bullinger in 1910) and in its notes it describes how this happened to 1st Timothy 3:16.

ON BOARD
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: who 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.

So, in some manuscripts where “Theos” is abbreviated Theta Chi (OC) you can even see an addition of different colored ink to give the omnicron a middle dash, turning it from this O (the first letter of OS meaning who or which) to a theta (the first letter of Theos, meaning God), proving the change was a modern addition.

That’s all the manuscript evidence. But what about the internal evidence – which is important because the internal evidence allows everyone, including non-Greek scholars, the ability to rightly decipher the Word.

And relative to internal evidence (which is other passages of scripture) all we have to do is compare the wording of the controversial rendering of this verse to other verses in the bible to see if there are any contradictions or not.

If there are contradictions, then we know this can’t be the original word of God.

So gain, notice that translation of the King James:

16 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.

Let’s take this passage as it reads in the King James line by line and see if the rest of the word supports them, beginning with “God was manifest in the flesh” instead of “Who, Which or He” was manifest in the flesh.” (referring to Yeshua).

There is no verse in the Bible that supports this statement – only religious traditions.

Yes, Matthew 23 does read that Immanual means God with us, but God being with us (in the person of Jesus) can be said of any believer – and is said of them, when we say of others, “God was with him.” So it was with Christ.

But that is a very different proposal than “God was manifest in the flesh – meaning God himself was visible in human flesh.

That says that to touch the flesh of Jesus was to touch God. NOT SO. To touch Jesus was to touch the flesh of the man from Nazareth.

If God were truly manifested in the flesh, as this intrusion tries to make us believe, then obviously, people would be able to see God. But that is NOT possible as even Yeshua said in John 1:18
No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

And 1st John 4:12 says:

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

To accept the addition of “God” in I Timothy 3:16 contradicts these verses, so based upon this alone, we can confidently conclude that the word “God” in this verse was inserted and incorrect.

This point is really important when we are assessing the nature of Yeshua when he was on earth. His flesh was not God and materially Jesus was not known or seen as God, he was known spiritually as God with them. The former plays into creedal Trinitarianism, the latter into scriptural reality.

Next line after “God was manifest in the flesh:” is (and we have to read God before it)

2. “God was justified in the Spirit.”

Think hard about this for a second. Since when would God need to be justified by anything?

Listen to Romans 3:21 where Paul says:

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Our passage in question is talking about Jesus, obedient to the Law, being justified here. Paul says in Romans 3:21 that “The righteousness of God exists without the law,” so we know that the translation with God inserted here is incorrect.

God has to be just in order to justify us. So, we know, from this passage two things: first, God is never justified by anything, and 2, Jesus was justified by his obedience to the Law, again proving the change in words in the original. See the problem when men mess with scripture?

How could God, the creator of the universe, whose glory fills the heavens, be justified by the spirit? He cannot.

But we can see how Jesus, born of a woman, as a man from Galilee, with God in him, was indeed justified by the Spirit!

Next line: “God to be seen of angels, in a literal sense refers to material eyewitness.

I Timothy 1:17 says:

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

God is invisible, so how could he ever be seen? Yes, there is a passage that speaks of angels beholding the face of God, but we cannot have passages saying God is invisible (and a spirit) and passages that claim he has a face. So, we must conclude one correct and the other misunderstood.

And looking at the way Hebrews write, I would suggest that the face of God is a poetic license, not a literalism.

“God preached unto the Gentiles,”

Admittedly, God was certainly preached unto the gentiles, especially by the apostle Paul, who was specifically called to preach to the gentiles. However, in the most common understanding of the words, preached and gentiles from the Bible, if we asked any Christian today they would admit that it was Yeshua that was preached.

“God believed on in the world:” this could be understood in either way, so no big revelation here. But . . .

“God received up into glory” Really? How could God be “received up into glory?”

First of all God is already and always “up”- in heaven and everywhere present, so how could he “get” there since he’s already there?

Secondly, how could he be received up into glory when God was already glorious to begin with?

This verse is actually a direct smack down on trinitarian doctrine of Jesus being God from the beginning, co equal, co-eternal with Father and Spirit and supports the deification of the Messiah by His obedience by and through God in Him.

“received up into glory” implies that God was not glorious at the time, which is impossible and is proven by countless scriptures just in the old testament alone.

So, here is yet another internal evidence in the passage that cannot stand up to the King James translation!!

Now listen to the passage in Bible versions that refuse the King James lie:

16 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.
Names of God Bible (NOG)

16 The mystery that gives us our reverence for God is acknowledged to be great: He[c] appeared in his human nature, was approved by the Spirit,
was seen by angels, was announced throughout the nations, was believed in the world, and was taken to heaven in glory.
Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

16 God’s plan is very great as we all know. Here it is: we saw God as a man; God’s Spirit proved he was right; angels saw him; the nations were told about him; people of the world believed in him; God took him up into heaven.
J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

All these (verses)

16 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.

And again we see yet another passage altered, along with the Johannine comma controversy that aides the Trinitarian position.

Greek interlinears do not have the word “God” [theos] in them.

The Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete Greek new testament from the 4th century, does not have the word “God” [theos] in it.

The Lamsa bible, an Aramaic text from the 5th century, does not have the word “God” [theos] in it.

St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate from 405AD does not have the word “God” [theos] in it.

The Armenian bible, translated from the Peshitta Syriac text in 411AD, does not have the word “God” [theos] in it.

The modern New-English-Translation-NET-Bible does not have the word “God” [theos] in it.

The Coptic text, translated from ancient Egyptian manuscripts from the 4th & 9th centuries, does not have the word “God” [theos] in it

None of the uncial manuscripts before the eighth or ninth centuries, regardless of language or geographic origin, have the word “God” in them.

None of the church fathers before the last third of the fourth century wrote this verse had the word “God” in it.

But not coincidentally, soon afterwards, in 381, post the Council of Constantinople when the co-eternal, co-equal, personal deity of Yeshua was confirmed by man along with the Holy Spirit, this passage began to change to support the Trinity and the word OS, which obviously referred to Jesus, was changed to either Theos or Theta S, an abbreviation for God.

But just as importantly, there is overwhelming internal evidence that shows the change of the passage cannot support the rest of the passages descriptions.

What is also fascinating about all of this, is the first verse Paul writes after verse sixteen, which serves as the first verse of chapter four and says:

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

I don’t think that was by mistake and that is one big hahaha from the Spirit of God in my estimation.

Now, before moving on and teaching the passage in context (with how it was originally written) I want to point something out to you.

When I was a seeker of truth in my younger years, having left Mormonism, I read passages like this and 1st John 5 and was convinced of the Trinity teachings I was hearing.

Over the years, after reading of the Word by the Spirit, I ultimately turned on the teaching.

And it was then and only then that I discovered the problem with the Johnannine Comma and began to see evidence of manipulation.

What’s fascinating is that it was only in preparation to teach 1st Timothy 3:16 that this intrusion, this insertion, revealed itself to me, once again proving yet another MAN-ipulation of the text.

These experiences tell me a couple of things. First it tells me that had I died in my early years in the faith I would have died with a wrong impression of the nature of God – and I think God would have totally understood.

Secondly, I think seekers find, and in finding grow more in their knowledge of Him, which is in and of itself a reward.

I discovered this support for my view of God in non-Trinitarian established years ago only last week in my studies. So, in the face of my own experience, there is no need to become rabid – God knows and God reveals. If you are willing, seeking Him will uncover all sorts of obscurities in the faith – some of which are, in fact, the products of men.

So, let’s cover the verse now that we know it is speaking about the Man, Yeshua of Nazareth, as Paul says, describing Him:

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: which 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.

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:”

Right off the bat we can see that Paul is talking about godliness (which we will see speaks of the godliness that was in Yeshua) and NOT of GOD.

And without controversy GREAT is the mystery of Godliness

“which (not God, “the godliness, which . . .) “was manifest

in the flesh, (of Jesus Christ)
Who was . . .
justified in the Spirit,
Who was . . .
seen of angels,
Who was . . .
preached unto the Gentiles,
who was . . .
believed on in the world,
who was . . .
received up into glory.

This mystery of godliness amazes us when we think of it operating in and through the man Jesus of Nazareth.

Speaking of this mystery, Paul writes in Colossians 1:26

“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.”

And what are the facts surrounding this mystery of Godliness.

Yeshua of Nazareth was manifest in the flesh.

How could God be in the flesh of a mortal? How could this mystery actually be?

In faith we accept that it was, and that godliness was actually manifest in the flesh of a man named Jesus of Nazareth. It appeared in Him. God with us IN the man God was not the man.

Who was . . .
justified in the Spirit,

What or who was justified? Jesus, the man. Was Justified in the spirit. The incarnate Son of God, our Redeemer, man bearing the fullness of God within and therefore godliness.

What did the Holy Spirit justify? The earthly man. His life, walk, death – all that he was and did.

Who was . . .
seen of angels,

Those heavenly beings witnessing his life and death for the world.

Who was . . .
preached unto the Gentiles,

The mystery of Godliness in Jesus Christ, who was justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, was then “preached unto the Gentiles.”

As proven by Paul’s letters and the book of Acts and the seven churches of Asia Minor. This was a fact.

who was . . .
believed on in the world,

The term for world here is kosmos, so Paul is saying that the message of Christ was believed on by more than just Israel and Asia minor, but more in the world as he knew it.

Who was . . .
received up into glory.

This fact is so very important – the MAN Jesus of Nazareth was received up into glory.

Now, we know that Yeshua said while in the flesh:

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

What was Yeshua before the incarnation? The Word of God – His Logos – his everything. And His everything was glorious.

The word of God, becoming flesh, condescended below all things. But in John 17:5 he requests, as a man in flesh, obedient to the Law, obedient to His Father, to restore the glory that he had before the world was.

No problem. The man was worthy of that restoration of glory and was going to receive it. But neither was the Man God (yet) nor was what was in Him a person separate from His Father. He was the Word of God made flesh.

So the apostles watched the ascension. Look out. A human being was ascending up into the heavens to enter the Holy of Holies!

At the end of the day, and in clear contradistinction from the man-made doctrine of a Trinity, this passages brings us in closer to the reality of the make-up of Christ Jesus.

So great is the mystery of “Godliness,” (which is what was displayed out from the man Jesus) as the word of God almighty assumed “fleshly habitation,” lived his mortal life, was “tempted in things,” “learning obedience through the things he suffered,” died on the cross, was JUSTIFIED by the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles (of all things) then believed on in the world, and finally received up into the glories of His Father from which he, as the Word of God, descended from.

Paul stops here in the descriptions of Christ and the Godliness in Him because the next time Christ would appear, at his return, he would not be a resurrected man with God and godliness in Him, but would return as the “Lord God Almighty,” having overcome it all, having received all things from His Father, and having left the right hand of his throne, would assume the throne as the once invisible God becoming visible in and through the resurrected body of His only human Son.

And we will stop here.

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