Textual Variants: 1 & 2 Timothy, Philemon

A Student's Guide to
New Testament Textual Variants

Paul's First Letter to Timothy

1 Timothy 1:12-6:7

1 Timothy 1:12 :

TEXT: "·I thank the One who has strengthened me, Christ"
EVIDENCE: S^c A D G H I K P Psi 81 104 614 630 1241 1739 1881 2495 Byz Lect most lat vg syr(p,h) cop(north)
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: B

NOTES: "·I thank the One who strengthens me, Christ"
EVIDENCE: S* 33 one lat cop(south)
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn

COMMENTS: Some copyists apparently borrowed the present tense "strengthens" from Philippians 4:13.

1 Timothy 3:1:

TEXT: "·The saying is faithful:"
EVIDENCE: S A D^c G K P Psi 33 81 104 614 630 1241 1739 1881 2495 Byz Lect most lat vg syr(p,h) cop
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV RSV NASV NIV NEBn TEV
RANK: B

NOTES: "·The saying is human:" or "·The saying is popular:"
EVIDENCE: D* three lat
TRANSLATIONS: NEB

COMMENTS: Although the text reading might have been borrowed from such passages as 1 Timothy 4:9, 2 Timothy 2:11, and Titus 3:8, the manuscript evidence indicates that it is original.

1 Timothy 3:16:

TEXT: "He was made apparent in the flesh"
EVIDENCE: S* A* C* G 33 syr(pal) syr(p,h)? cop?
TRANSLATIONS: ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: B

NOTES: "God was made apparent in the flesh"
EVIDENCE: S^e A² C² D^c K L P Psi 81 104 614 630 1241 1739 1881 2495 Byz Lect
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASVn RSVn NASVn NIVn

NOTES: "Which was made apparent in the flesh"
EVIDENCE: D* lat vg syr(p,h)? cop?
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn RSVn

COMMENTS: The word "who" was changed to "which" by some copyists to refer to "mystery." In an older manuscript that does not have accents and breathing marks, all that is required to change the Greek word for "who" (OS) to the abbreviation for "God" (OS) is to add two marks. This happened to several manuscripts, apparently to give a definite subject to the following verbs.

1 Timothy 4:10:

TEXT: "to this [end] we labor and struggle"
EVIDENCE: S* A C F G K Psi 33 104 1175
TRANSLATIONS: ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "to this [end] we labor and are reproached"
EVIDENCE: S^c D L P 81 614 630 1241 1739 1881 2495 Byz Lect lat vg syr(p,h) cop
TRANSLATIONS: KJV RSVn NEBn TEVn

COMMENTS: A majority of the UBS Textual Committee felt that the evidence for the text reading was slightly stronger.

1 Timothy 5:16:

TEXT: "·If any believing woman has [relatives who are] widows"
EVIDENCE: S A C F G P 048 33 81 1739 1881 three lat earlier vg cop
TRANSLATIONS: ASV RSV NASV NIV NEBn TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "·If any believing man or woman has [relatives who are] widows"
EVIDENCE: D K L Psi 104 614 630 1241 2495 Byz Lect three lat syr(p,h)
TRANSLATIONS: KJV RSVn NEB

NOTES: "·If any believing man has [relatives who are] widows"
EVIDENCE: three lat later vg
TRANSLATIONS: RSVn

COMMENTS: Although it is possible that copyists accidently omitted "believing man and" when their eyes jumped from "believing man" to "believing woman," it is more likely that other copyists added "believing man" to balance the command.

1 Timothy 6:7:

TEXT: "nothing into the world, and neither can"
EVIDENCE: S* A F G 048 061^vid 33 81 1739 1881 two lat
TRANSLATIONS: ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "nothing into the world; [it is] evident that neither can"
EVIDENCE: S^c D^c K L P Psi 104 614 630 1241 2495 Byz Lect most lat? syr(p,h) vg?
TRANSLATIONS: KJV RSVn NASVn

OTHER: "nothing into the world; [is is] true that neither can"
EVIDENCE: D* three lat most lat? vg?

COMMENTS: The same Greek word can be translated "because" or "that"; thus the differences in the readings are in the additions of "evident" or "true." The Coptic version has "and" which is apparently a paraphrase of "because." It seems that "evident" and "true" are additions by copyists designed to smooth out the grammar.

Paul's Second Letter to Timothy

2 Timothy 2:14-4:10

2 Timothy 2:14:

TEXT: "charge [them] before God not to be fighting"
EVIDENCE: S C G I 614 630 2495 most lat most cop
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn RSVn NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "charge [them] before the Lord not to be fighting"
EVIDENCE: A D K P Psi 048 81 104 1241 1739 1881 Byz Lect five lat vg syr(p,h) some cop(north) one cop(south)
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV RSV

COMMENTS: Although it is possible that "before God" was taken from 1 Timothy 5:4, 21 and 2 Timothy 4:1, a majority of the UBS Textual Committee felt that this was probably Paul's original usage.

2 Timothy 2:18:

TEXT: "saying that the resurrection has already happened"
EVIDENCE: A C D K P Psi 81 104 614 630 1241 1739 1881 2495 Byz Lect cop
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "saying that a resurrection has already happened"
EVIDENCE: S G 048 33
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn

COMMENTS: The word "the" is enclosed in brackets in the UBS text. The great majority of evidence indicates that it original. Latin and Syriac do not have a definite article.

2 Timothy 4:10:

TEXT: "Crescens has gone to Galatia"
EVIDENCE: A D F G K L P Psi 33 614 630 1241 1739 1881 2495 Byz Lect lat later vg syr(p,h) some cop(north)
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: B

NOTES: "Crescens has gone to Gaul"
EVIDENCE: S C 81 104 earlier vg most cop
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn RSVn NASVn NEBn

COMMENTS: There are only two letters' difference in the spelling of "Galatia" and "Gaul" in Greek. Since the two places were inhabited by the same race of people, in the early centuries of this era "Gaul" was called "Galatia." Thus the reading "Gaul" may be due to a misspelling or it may be due to copyists who felt that the "Galatia" referred to was actually "Gaul." Gaul is in modern day France, while Galatia is in modern day Turkey.

Paul's Letter to Titus

No Major Variants Noted in English Translations

Paul's Letter to Philemon

Philemon 6-25

Philemon 6:

TEXT: "every good thing that is in us for Christ."
EVIDENCE: A C D K Psi 048^vid 81 614 630 1241 2495 Byz Lect three lat
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn RSV NASVn NIV NEB TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "every good thing that is in ^plyou for Christ."
EVIDENCE: p⁶¹ S G P 33 104 1739 1881 five lat vg syr(p,h) cop
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV NASV

OTHER: "every good thing that is for Christ."
EVIDENCE: four lat

COMMENTS: The words "us" and "^plyou" were pronounced alike in later Greek. Because of all the second person pronouns in the context, "us" was more likely to be misunderstood as "^plyou" than vice versa.

Philemon 25:

TEXT: "·The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ"
EVIDENCE: S P 33 81 104 1739 1881 syr(h,pal)
TRANSLATIONS: ASVn RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV
RANK: C

NOTES: "·The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ"
EVIDENCE: A C D K Psi 614 630 1241 2495 Byz Lect lat vg syr(p) cop
TRANSLATIONS: KJV ASV

COMMENTS: There was a tendency for copyists to expand the name and titles of Jesus.