2 That is, here, "without any self-originating aid of his," as if he had any independent and meritorious share in the work. Augustine plays on the prepositions, per (eum), and praeter (eum).-Tr.
10 1 Tim. iii. 16. On account of the well-known textual controversy among Biblicists, this passage, as quoted by Augustine, is so far valuable, as it shows us how he read and understood the point in dispute, namely, whether it is "God was manifested" (as in our English version), or, "Who [which] was manifested," as here by Augustine; in other words, whether the original text read Qeo/j or o_j before e0fanerw/qh. The evidence is almost equally divided between the two; and the difficulty is chiefly caused by the circumstance, that in the earliest Mss., the Uncial, QEOS (God) is usually written in a contracted form, consisting of the first and last letters, QS, which differs from the pronoun o$j (who), written QS, merely by the little line inside the Q, and another line over the contraction; both of which may have been unintentionally omitted at the time of copying, or purposely inserted at an after date. To us now, the question is of less importance, as, if the true reading be o@j (who), its antecedent can only be Xristo/j (Christ). [The R. V., in accordance with the oldest Mss. and the best critical edition, reads: "He who (o@j) was manifested"-Tr.
1 Augustine has cognoscetis for the second "know," and scit for that immediately preceding. The Greek text, however, has ginw/skw in both places, and in the present tense. He has also manebit et in vobis erit. The tense of menei, whether, present or future, depends simply on the place of the accent, me/nei, or menei=: while, as between the two readings e0sti\n and e@stai, the preponderance of Ms. authority seems in favor of the latter, although the present gimw/skete in the principal clause would be more naturally followed by an equally proleptic present in those which follow.-Tr.
3 Or, "Jesus is Lord." The weight of authority is clearly in favor of the reading followed by Augustine-le/gei, Ku/rios 0Ihsou=j, giving the direct utterance of the speaker; and not the indirect accusative, Ku/rion 0Ihsou=n, followed by our English version.-Tr.