1 Timothy 3:16

The important variants in this verse require close attention. θεός of the rec. text is found in CcD2cKLP and the vast majority of cursives; but it has no support from the versions, and the earliest fathers who have it, viz. Didymus of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa, date from the latter part of the fourth century. On the other hand ὅς is read in אA*C*G 17. 73.181, and the Egyptian versions, and is witnessed to by Origen (probably) and by Epiphanius, Theodore and Cyril of Alexandria (certainly). And again, the Western reading ὅ, found in D2*f g, the Vulgate and the Latin fathers generally, is a manifest corruption of ὅς, introduced because of the preceding τὸ μυστήριον. The Syriac versions have a relative pronoun, but it is not certain whether it is meant to render ὅς or ὅ, as in Syriac there is no neuter. Thus, on the whole, external authority is overwhelmingly on the side of ὅς. The variant θεός would readily arise from the true reading, as confusion of θ̅Ο̅ and OC would be easy; the similarity, indeed, being so great that the reading of A has long been matter of controversy. That it witnesses to ὅς and not to θεός is, however, the opinion of most of the experts who have recently inspected the manuscript, although competent persons who had access to it a hundred years ago, when it was in better condition, believed it to read θεός. For a full discussion of all the evidence, reference should be made to Tischendorf in loc. or to Westcott and Hort’s note (Notes on Select Readings, p. 133) or to Scrivener’s Introduction, II. 390.

16. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FAITH

16. καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα … And confessedly great &c.: ὁμολογουμένως (ἅπ. λεγ. in N.T.) is to be taken with μέγα. Compare τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν of Ephesians 5:32, in both cases μέγα referring to the importance, not to the obscurity, of the μυστήριον. μυστήριον does not necessarily carry with it the idea of mysteriousness, in the modern sense of unintelligibility; it simply means a secret, into which some have been initiated (see on 1 Timothy 3:9).

τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον. τῆς εὐσεβείας, like τῆς πίστεως in 1 Timothy 3:9, is a possessive genitive: the mystery of piety, i.e. the mystery which piety embraces, and on which it feeds. This mystery or secret is not an abstract doctrine; it is the Person of Christ Himself. Cp. Colossians 1:27 τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ὅ ἐστιν Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης; and see the note on εὐσέβεια at 1 Timothy 2:2.

ὃς ἐφανερώθη κ.τ.λ. The critical note gives a summary of the evidence as to the reading, once much disputed, but now hardly doubtful. It seems probable from the parallelism of the clauses and from the rhythmical arrangement that the words ὂς ἐφανερώθη … ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξη are a quotation from an early hymn on the Incarnation. Writing to the Churches of Asia Minor, St Paul speaks of Christian hymns (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16); and it has even been thought that Ephesians 5:14 is a fragment of one. At all events the familiar witness of Pliny (Ep. x. 97) is explicit; he reports that the Christians of Bithynia were wont “carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem”; a description applying well enough to the verse before us, which was probably meant for antiphonal singing. If, then, it be the case that we are here dealing not with St Paul’s own words, but with an apposite quotation introduced by him, the abruptness of ὅς at once disappears. It is the relative to an antecedent not expressed in the quotation, but impossible to mistake.

The clauses fall into three contrasted pairs:

(i.) The revelation and its proofs

(a) ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί. We need not assume any polemical reference to Gnosticism or Docetism, though there are very early traces of these false opinions (see 1 John 4:2-3); a statement of the Incarnation is not necessarily controversial, and the tone of this fragment is one of triumphant thankfulness rather than of argument. Cp. John 1:4; Philippians 2:6; 1 John 1:2. The verb φανερόω is common in St Paul’s writings (see Romans 3:21; 2 Timothy 1:10), as well as in St John, and it is to be observed that when used in the passive it implies the Pre-existence of the Person Who is the subject of the sentence. Thus, whether ὅς or θεός be read, the word ἐφανερώθη involves the superhuman nature of Him Who was manifested in the flesh. The nearest parallel in form in St Paul is Romans 8:3 ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας.

(b) ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, justified in the spirit. δικαιόω is not, of course, used here in the technical sense familiar in St Paul’s Epistles, but in its ordinary signification, as in Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35; Romans 3:4 (Psalms 51:6). πνεύματι is in contrast to σαρκί (cf. 1 Peter 3:18 θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκί, ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι); ̔πνεῦμα signifies the higher principle of spiritual life, as distinguished at once from σάρξ, the flesh, and ψυχή, the physical life. The phrase, then, states that, as Christ was manifested in human flesh, so in His spiritual activities, words and works, He was proved to be what He claimed to be, Son of God no less than Son of man; His Personal claims were vindicated. So in Romans 1:3 we have: ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης ἐξ�, where πνεῦμα is to be taken, as here, of the human spirit of the Redeemer.

(ii.) Its extent and mode

ὤφθη�, ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν. The antithesis between ἄγγελοι and ἔθνη is emphatic. The revelation to angels, the rational creatures nearest to God, is of a different character from the revelation to the Gentiles, the heathen world (as opposed to Israel), and so farthest from God. A revelation which embraces these two extreme classes will take in all rational creation; the blessings of the Incarnation stretch beyond the sphere of human life. The revelation to Gentiles is mediate, by preaching, and it was this with which St Paul was specially entrusted (Ephesians 3:8; cp. Romans 16:26); the revelation to the higher orders of created intelligences is immediate, by vision (ὤφθη; cp. 1 Corinthians 15:6; 1 Corinthians 15:8). We are not to think here of any special manifestation to angels during the Lord’s earthly life, such as are recorded at Matthew 4:11 and at Luke 22:43; but of the fuller knowledge of Christ’s Person which was opened out to the heavenly host by the Incarnation. Such things angels “desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12); and St Paul declares (Ephesians 3:10) that the preaching to the Gentiles was “to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Cp. also 1 Corinthians 4:9 θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κοσμῷ καὶ�.

(iii.) Its consummation on earth and in heaven

(a) ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ. κόσμος has no evil sense here; it is the world which God loved (John 3:16). The prayer of the Lord was ἵνα ὁ κόσμος πιστεύη ὅτι σύ με�. This is the consummation on earth of His Redemptive Work; from the heavenly side it is

(b) ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξῃ. This the distinctive word used of the Ascension in Mark 16:19, and in Acts 1:2. He was received up [and is now] in glory; ἐν δόξῃ expresses the permanent condition of His being. Cp. 1 Peter 1:11. Thus the sequence all through the verse is from the Incarnation to the Ascension, though it is a logical sequence rather than a historical one.