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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

 

Prof. Bart D. Ehrman

Changing just one Greek letter, or even part of a single letter, can not only alter the meaning of a text but even undermine a major traditional church doctrine.

 

 

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Editor's prefatory comment:

Dr. Ehrman explains that the 5700 early copies of the New Testament – copies of copies of copies – contain hundreds of thousands of discrepancies.

Many of these are inconsequential but a significant number alter the meaning of the text in important ways. Most of these constituted mere human error in copying but some of them, it appears, were purposefully injected into the text by editorial judgment of scribes.

This entire area of scholarship is far more complex than most realize, leading the objective reviewer to understand that, in many cases, we have no knowledge of the original text of the New Testament.

In addition to Dr. Ehrman’s books, his lectures are available on youtube; for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfheSAcCsrE&t=12s

 

 

Dr. Ehrman speaks of this issue in an interview. Listen at 23:46.

 

Greek letter omicron Greek letter theta

 

Scholars' controversy concerning I Tim. 3:16 is obscurred in many English translations but can be easily seen in the Amplified Bible:

 

16 And great and important and weighty, we confess, is the hidden truth (the mystic secret) of godliness. He [[b]God] was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the [Holy] Spirit, was seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, [and] taken up in glory.

 b. Some manuscripts read “God.”

 

Prof. Ehrman points out that the Greek could indicate "Jesus Christ - God, who..." or "Jesus Christ, who..." The discrepancy hinges upon whether the Greek omicron or theta is used in the text. The manuscripts offer both expressions. In this case, the issue, in a sense, is not one letter, but just part of a letter, in that, the two Greek letters differ only by the horizontal line!  

Those who seek for good support that Jesus is God look to I Tim. 3:16 as a "clear" statement to this effect. But the devil is in the details.

Some say that even if I Tim. 3:16 cannot be used as evidence of Jesus' godhood, there are other scriptures which confirm - but this failsafe comes with its own problems.

The Gospel of John purportedly makes clear reference to Jesus' status as God; but, John is just a political hit-piece written to denigrate the Thomas-Christians; further, it contains glaring and obvious contraditions concerning the reports offered by the other three gospels.

 

 

Editor's last word:

On the "Jesus" page, see a full discussion of how "Jesus became God" via a vote at the Nicene Council. The measure failed on the first ballot but finally passed with more campaigning.