The Second Adam
God was revealed in [the] flesh. (1Ti 3:16).
Response: A survey of over 20 different translations reveals 4 different versions of this phrase.
1) "...God was revealed in flesh..."
2) "...who was revealed in flesh..."
3) "...which was revealed in flesh..."
4) "...he was revealed in flesh..."
Which version is most likely to be what Paul actually wrote to Timothy? I would say that "God" would be the least likely for several reasons:
1) 1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. - Same book, same author, who just so happens to make a clear distinction between God and Jesus and who explicitly calls Jesus a man. It's unlikely that the same author in the same letter would say, "For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" and then a few paragraphs later make a statement by which he meant, "Jesus is God."
2) Footnote in The New American Bible: "Many later (eight & ninth century on), predominantly Byzantine manuscripts read "God" possibly for theological reasons." My understanding is that we have no Byzantine manuscripts older than eighth century. So the versions that have "God" are all relatively late. Granted, "possibly" is speculative, but put together with internal data such as given above, the speculation makes sense. Someone, somewhere, sometime, changed the text. We basically have 4 choices. Take your pick.
3) The footnote in the RSV reads, "Greek: "who"; other ancient authorities read "God"; others, "which". If we use "who" or "he" it is obviously speaking of Jesus. Jesus was revealed in the flesh. This is a Hebraism that means Jesus was human. It was Jesus who was vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory. If we use "which" we have the possibility that what was manifested in the flesh was, "the mystery of our religion." The mystery would be, among other things, how a human woman was impregnated by God and gave birth to God's literal son, a man of flesh, the second Adam, who was then able to fulfill the Mosaic Law, take the sins of the world upon Himself, justify us all before God, rise from the dead, and be taken up in glory.
4) Even if the correct translation is "God", we can argue that saying that God was revealed in Jesus is not the same thing as saying Jesus was God.