1 Timothy 3:16 — “God was manifested”, or “he who was manifested”?
1 Timothy 3:16 has both readings in the evidence: God was manifested (B) and who was manifested (A). The difference is between ΟΣ and ΘΣ, with later ink strokes reported in Codex Alexandrinus.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The APB prints the verse with an explicit pronoun: “He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” Its rendering therefore follows the sequence as a statement about He, rather than using God in that line.
The case for each reading.
If “who”
Reading A is the pronoun, represented as ΟΣ in the crux and as Ὃς in the apparatus. NA28 prints Ὃς, and the apparatus line aligns WH and Treg with that reading. Codex Alexandrinus is especially relevant to the stated difference in ink: its original reading is reported as ΟΣ, while the strokes that make the form God are described as later touch-ups. On this account, the wording introduces the sequence with a relative pronoun: who was manifested in the flesh. The case therefore rests on the printed pronoun in NA28, the aligned apparatus entries, and the report about the original ink of Codex Alexandrinus.
If “God”
Reading B is ΘΣ, God, represented in the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform by θεὸς. That edition is identified as a Byzantine majority edition and supports the God reading. The crux also explains why the competing forms can be visually close in uncial script: ΟΣ and the sacred abbreviation ΘΣ differ by two small strokes of ink. Thus the case for B is not that the two forms are unrelated, but that the Byzantine textform prints God despite the close graphical relationship described here. With this wording, the subject of manifested in the flesh is stated explicitly as God rather than supplied through a pronoun.
The packet presents two readings and reports later touch-ups in Codex Alexandrinus, but it does not provide a verdict between them. The wording changes whether the subject of manifested in the flesh is explicitly God or expressed by a pronoun. This variant alone does not settle doctrine: doctrines rest on many passages. The immediate difference is real, while the larger question remains open here.
Asked plainly.
Does 1 Timothy 3:16 say God was manifested in the flesh?
The evidence supplied here contains both forms: reading B says God, while reading A says who. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform supports B; NA28 and Codex Alexandrinus as originally written support A.
What is the difference between ΟΣ and ΘΣ in 1 Timothy 3:16?
In uncial script, the packet says the difference is two small strokes of ink. ΟΣ is the pronoun reading, while ΘΣ is the sacred abbreviation for God.
What does Codex Alexandrinus read at 1 Timothy 3:16?
Its original ink reads ΟΣ, according to the packet. The strokes that make it read God are described as later touch-ups.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.