VALUABLE: A CONTROVERSY
To easily understand this controversy, you might want to first read the previous article: Valuable: a Mystery. It explains in detail what I call the Hebraic Greek deistic article. It seems to be able to solve a number of NT textual problems.
In 1 Tim 3:16 two NT text traditions diverge at a key point in this verse. Many scholars think that there has been some textual tampering. If it were only about a small matter, scholars could agree to disagree. But this verse speaks of the nature of the Trinity, hence the controversy. In this case you will clearly see the value of translating a Hebraic Greek deistic article.
In this verse in 1 Tim the Byzantine/Majority versions of the NT have "God" (NT2316), but in Alexandrian texts you find "who" (NT3739). So which version is correct? They both are, and they both are not. When you translate the deistic article, the problem disappears.
The Transparent Experimental New Testament with all deistic articles intact has: "And admittedly great is the mystery of the full devotion [of YHWH], who became known in a physical body." This statement penetrates into the mysterious relationship within the Godhead in the Incarnation. By virtue of His own character, YHWH must be fully devoted to the love relationship among Father-Son-Spirit. When He sent His Son He was trusting His own goodness and His Son was trusting His Father. That mystery of YHWH's full devotion is, as Paul wrote, "admittedly great."
The Byzantine/Majority and the Alexandrian texts at some point began to diverge. The Hebraic Greek deistic article, being originally a Jewish convention, became over hundreds of years less recognized among Christian groups in an increasingly anti-Semitic empire. However, in some verses, ignoring the deistic article created a problem.
Here is how the older Alexandrian text reads in literal Greek: "And admittedly great is the mystery of the full-devotion, who became known in a physical body." Not exactly a smooth thought for a non-Jewish audience. Any Alexandrian Jews, Messianic or not, would have known how to interpret the deistic article in this verse and would have understood it as "the full-devotion [of YHWH]" - referring to the "unspeakable" name of God.
Over time, as the gentile Christians gained favor and anti-Semitism increased in the Empire, this Hebraic device must have become increasingly suspect. Since the Greek article had many other uses, the Hebraic one could become conveniently ignored and forgotten by simply making 'small changes' in the translation. But when the deistic article's additional information modified the meaning of a following phrase, as in this verse, the loss of that information needed to be compensated for in some way.
Two distinct groups handled 1 Tim 3:16 in two different ways. The Byzantine Church eventually ignored the deistic article in translation and made one sentence into two, changing "who" to "God" (NT2316), which kept the deistic information intact except for the implied name of YHWH.
The gentile Christian Alexandrian group may have changed "who" to "he," also making one sentence into two. However this may have horrified any Christian/Messianic Jewish contingent resident in Alexandria. Such a blatant change to one of Paul's letters would have gone against the grain of any God-fearing Messianic Jewish believers. Characteristically, the Jewish tradition of veneration of the Scriptures would have made them do all in their power to preserve them as they had received them. Maybe that is why we have the Alexandrian text today, the oldest surviving version of the New Testament writings.
Perhaps it was the Alexandrian Messianic scribes who decided it was better to maintain the more accurate text tradition. So, if they maintained the deistic article without interpretation or reference to the implied information, and retained the "who" without explanation, the normal Jewish understanding of the deistic article would be "the mystery of the full devotion [of YHWH], who was revealed in a physical body."
However, as time passed and with it the decreasing proportion of Messianic Jews to gentile Christians, the Hebraic Greek deistic article might have become less understood, sounding to gentile ears like "...the mystery of the full devotion who was revealed in a physical body." For believers in this category it would have been helpful to insert "God" or another word of clarification, which seems to be what eventually happened.
In time, the purpose of the deistic article was forgotten, and the two (or more) text traditions went their separate ways. The much later King James translators, perhaps noting the odd Greek reading, solved the problem by translating the literal Greek's "the full devotion" with the English "godliness," completely breaking the link to God's name, at least for all English speakers.
This has been the sad fate of "YHWH" or "YHVH" (the Tetragrammaton) in English, now only hinted in the New Testament by using 'GOD' or 'LORD' in all capital letters. I know there must be well over a thousand deistic articles in the NT. The only inkling of this in any traditional New Testament in English is the use of "LORD" or "GOD" (all caps) to translate the occurrences of the Tetragrammaton that are contained in direct quotes from the Old Testament where "LORD" or "GOD" (all caps) is also used in English instead of the Tetragrammaton.
The sad fruit of allowing the meaning of the deistic article to evaporate into the mists of history (because of growing Church anti-Semitism) should be a lesson to translators that whatever device is needed to convey the same information into another language - use it! At the same time a devoted adherence to original grammar should be guarded as closely as possible without hindering the objective of understanding God's Word. Translation is a balancing act between poles of purpose and priority.
To illustrate this, here are two of my favorite quotes on translating:
"Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture." - Anthony Burgess
"Many critics, no defenders, translators have but two regrets: when we hit, no one remembers; when we miss, no one forgets." - Anonymous
However, here is something you might want to remember -- The TENT version of 1 Tim 3:16: