`If therefore' (he adds), `at any time hereafter the old line should become

altogether undiscoverable there will never be just cause to doubt but that

the genuine, and original reading of the ms. was Theos; and that the new

strokes, added at the top and in the middle by the corrector were not

designed to corrupt or falsify but to preserve and perpetuate the true

reading, which was in danger of being lost by the decay of time' (Dean

To this testimony must now be added that of modern photography.  The

camera has not only revealed the faded bar that proves that Theos is the true

reading; it has also restored other faded parts of letters about which no

controversy has arisen, but which might have become the basis of argument had

the words been vital.

After reviewing the testimony of the different cursive copies of the

epistles of Paul that are known, Dean Burgon says:

`Behold then the provision which the Author of Scripture has made for

the effectual conservation in its integrity of this portion of His

written Word.  Upwards of eighteen hundred years have run their course

since the Holy Ghost by His servant, Paul, rehearsed the "Mystery of

godliness"; declaring this to be the great foundation fact, namely,

that God was Manifested in the Flesh.  And lo, out of two hundred and

fifty -four copies of St. Paul's epistles no less than two hundred and

fifty -two are discovered to have preserved that expression.  Such

"consent" amounts to unanimity; and, unanimity in this subject -matter

is conclusive.

`The copies of which we speak (you are requested to observe), were

produced in every part of ancient Christendom, being derived in every

instance from copies older than themselves, which again, were

transcripts of copies older still.  They have since found their way,

without design or contrivance, into the libraries of every country of

Europe, where, for hundreds of years, they had been jealously guarded.

And, for what conceivable reason can this multitude of witnesses be

supposed to have entered into a wicked conspiracy to deceive mankind?'

Such is the testimony of antiquity.  This we must sum up, for the

benefit of those who may not have cared to wade through the evidence.

The reading of 1 Timothy 3:16, `God was manifest in the flesh' is

witnessed by 289 manuscripts, by three versions and by upwards of twenty

Greek Fathers.  The relative pronoun hos should agree with its antecedent,

yet musterion is neuter.  Bloomfield in his Synoptica says, `hos ephanerothe

is not Greek'.  We would conclude with the calculated affirmation of our

belief that the original reading of 1 Timothy 3:16 is, `God was manifest in

the flesh' and like Thomas of old, we bow in His Presence and say, `My Lord,

and my God'.

Nation.  Greek ethnos occurs 164 times in the New Testament and is translated

Gentiles (93); heathen (5); nation (64) and people (2).  See articles under

Gentile2; People (p. 174); and People9, for fuller details.

Nephilim.  This word occurs three times in the original Hebrew, and is

translated `giants'.  `There were giants in the earth' (Gen. 6:4); `There we

saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants' (Num. 13:33).