What the texts say. Paul introduces what looks like an early Christian hymn: “great is the mystery of godliness,” followed by six lines about one who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world and received up in glory. The question is the first word. The Patriarchal Text and the Textus Receptus read theos, “God.” The critical editions read hos, “who.” The Latin Vulgate reads quod, “which,” agreeing with “mystery.”
Why the confusion was easy. Scribes wrote sacred names in abbreviated form, and “God” was written ΘΣ with a line above it. The relative pronoun “who” was written ΟΣ. The two differ by a small stroke inside the first letter and a bar above. A scribe could easily read or correct one into the other (Very Strong).
The manuscript evidence. The first hands of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Ephraemi read “who,” and so, most scholars judge, does the first hand of Codex Alexandrinus, though a faint stroke at that spot has been argued over since the eighteenth century. Several other manuscripts and the early writers Didymus and Epiphanius also read “who.” Correctors in all three codices later wrote “God.” The first hand of Codex Claromontanus and nearly the whole Latin tradition read “which.” “God” stands in the later correctors, in minuscules such as 1739 and 1881, and in the great majority of Byzantine manuscripts. On this evidence most textual scholars judge “who” to be the original reading (Strong). Defenders of the Byzantine text argue that “God” is original; that remains a minority view among critical scholars.
What the Orthodox Church reads. The Patriarchal Text reads “God was manifest in the flesh,” the reading of the Byzantine Church. Orthodox readers should know that this is a real textual question, but also that the Church’s faith in the Incarnation is not built on one disputed word.
How translations handle it. The KJV, NKJV and Reina-Valera 1909 read “God.” The ASV reads “He who was manifested”; the ESV, NIV, NRSVUE and RSV Catholic Edition read “He,” most with a note that some manuscripts read “God.” The Douay-Rheims, from the Latin, reads “which was manifested.”
What it does and does not change. Read with “who,” the hymn still speaks of a person who existed before he “was manifested in the flesh,” who was seen of angels and received up in glory: that is, the incarnate Son. The deity of Christ is confessed elsewhere without any textual doubt: “the Word was God” (John 1:1), and Thomas’s “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Choosing “who” changes the wording of this verse, not the faith of the Church.