From The Early Beginning Of Christianity There Was A Fight For The Truth--The Fight Continues Today

Beloved, while I was very

diligent to write to you

concerning our common salvation,

I found it necessary to write

to you exhorting you to contend

earnestly for the faith

which was once for all 

delivered to the saints.

Jude 3

     Christianity has always been under attack by Satan and his hordes, and his dupes. When the attack comes from outside, an external invasion, one does not have to guess that the war is on! Satan is smarter than that unless the external attack will divert the Christian so that the real attack will not be noticed as easily: that attack is internal, from within the ranks of Christians affecting Churches. The Bible writers are clear that false prophets will attempt by any means to destroy the true Church and replace that Church with his own doctrines. Satan uses men and women to subvert the truth internally: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7:15); and uses men and women who despise Christianity and attack the Church externally: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the4 kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:21-23)! Are you getting the point? This discussion is not just and academic one, it is a all about the truth, and those who are not following the truth, no matter how much they say they are, no matter how many "miracles" they claim, etc, they are doomed, they are the ones who will be thrown into the lake of fire. These early Church Fathers, those men who were Ante-Nicene Fathers who wrote against heresy, who wrote to the Churches instructing them in the truth, wrote words that are apropos today. Those same heresies exist in the Church today. One such heresy: Gnosticism and there interpolation in their transcribing the Scripture affect the Church today. How? In these "modern" scholars who use faulty methodology in their translations, and who use manuscripts that have Gnostic renderings. Let me give three more such renderings:

Ephesians 3:9

Textus Receptus -

καὶ φωτίσαι πάντας τίς ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐν τῷ θεῷ τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,

(And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. - KJV)

NA 21 - καὶ φωτίσαι πάντας τίς ἡ οἰκονομία τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐν τῷ θεῷ τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι

(..and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. - NIV)

The only opposition to the TR reading here is from p⁴⁶, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Ephraemi Rescriptus.

The pertinent alteration in this case involves the removal of dia Ihsou Cristou (by [or through] Jesus Christ). This change essentially removes from this passage the affirmation that Jesus Christ was the agent by which Creation was brought into existence. This fits into Gnostic cosmogeny quite well. Christ, as an emanation of the eternal Father, was therefore completely outside of the material cosmos, only entering it as a representative of the "alien god" who sought to bring out the souls of men (also parts of the eternal Father, and thus alien to the cosmos) away from the material world. As such, Christ would not have been involved in the creation of the material world, which was viewed as the work of the evil Demiurge (Ialdabaoth, etc.) who was opposed to the eternal Father and his efforts to restore the lost light to himself. The removal of "by Jesus Christ" from Ephesians 3:9 supports this cosmogeny as it removes Christ (and by implication the Father) from the the role of Creator, and more easily makes the passage to be understood as referring to the Demiurge as God in creation. In many Gnostic systems, it was taught that the Demiurge was the "World-Artificer", the one who fashioned the existing material world. The Demiurge often is depicted as ignorant of the existence of powers higher than himself, and falls into conceit about his supremacy. For example, Hippolytus cites the belief system of the heresiarch Basilides,

"For there ruled the great Archon, whose dominion extends to the firmament, who believes that he is the only God and that there is none above him."⁴⁴

Further, Irenaeus relates another permutation of this theme found among the Gnostics,

"He boasted of what was taking place at his feet and said, 'I am Father and God, and there is none above me....Do not lie, Ialdabaoth: there is above thee the Father of all, the First Man, and Man the Son of Man."⁴⁵

The Gnostics would rely upon Old Testament statements of God's supremacy, such as Isaiah 45:5, to present their claims that the God of the Old Testament was the Demiurge who makes these sorts of boastful claims, and that the Father of Christ in the New Testament is the Father over all. Hence, to remove reference to Christ as the agent of creation in such a blatant manner would point to the overlaying of Gnostic cosmogeny onto this verse.

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I Timothy 3:16

Textus Receptus - καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶν τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ ἀνελήφθη ἐν δόξῃ 

(And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. - KJV)

NA 21 -  καὶ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶν τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον ὃς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξῃ

(Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. - NIV)

Support for the Textus Receptus Reading

• 4th c. (poss. 7th c.) corrector of Codex Sinaiticus
• 5th c. corrector of Codex Alexandrinus
• 6th c. corrector of Ephraemi Rescriptus
• 9th c. copy of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis [D]
• K (9th c. uncial)
• L (9th c. uncial, Byz.)
• P (9th c. uncial, Alex.)
• Psi (8th-9th c. uncial, Alex.)
• 81 (9th c. miniscule, Alex.)
• 104 (11th c. miniscule, Alex.)
• 614 (13th c. miniscule, West.)
• 630 (14th c. miniscule)
• 1241 (12th c. miniscule, Alex.)
• 1739 (10th c. miniscule, Alex.)
• 1881 (14th c. miniscule)
• 2495 (14th-15th c. miniscule)
• The large majority of the Byzantine text set
• The large majority of the Greek lectionaries

Support for the Critical Text Reading

• Codex Sinaiticus (4th c. uncial)
• Codex Alexandrinus (5th c. uncial)
• Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th c. uncial)
• G (9th c. uncial, West.)
• 33 (9th c. miniscule, Alex.)
• The Palestinian Syraic mss. set (5th c.)
• Possibly the Peshitta Syraic mss. set (5th c.) - unconfirmed
• Possibly the Harclean Syraic mss. set (7th c.) - unconfirmed
• Possibly in the Coptic textual sets (3rd-5th c.) - unconfirmed

This alteration seems pretty straightforward. By changing "God" to the more general "he", the potentially offensive (to Gnostics) idea that the Demiurge would be incarnated into the world and "justified in the Spirit", "received up into glory", etc. is diverted. Thus, the alteration avoids casting the Demiurge into the role which should be fulfilled by the heavenly alien Saviour. On the other hand, if one wishes to consider "God" in this passage (from a Gnostic point of view) as referring to the Eternal Father, then this change is equally supportive of Gnostic theology. The truth of the voluntary incarnation of the eternal God into His own creation is weakened, and replaced with language which could still support the entry of Jesus Christ, as a created aeon, into the material world.

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I John 4:3

Textus Receptus - καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη

(And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world. - KJV)

NA 21 - καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη

(..but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. - NIV)

The only support for the omission of this clause comes from Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus. This clause is contained in Codex Sinaiticus, except that the phrase "Jesus Christ" Ihsoun Criston is changed to "Jesus Lord" Ihsoun Kurion.

This is a straightforward example of a change made to support the docetic aspect of certain Gnostic beliefs. The traditional reading says that if a person refuses to believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, they are of the spirit of antichrist. This reading is changed in the Alexandrian texts in two ways which both reflect Gnostic tampering. In Alexandrinus and Vaticanus, the clause is simply deleted. They now say that if one "denies Jesus" (without the stipulation of acknowledging His literal incarnation), they are not of God, which is something that both Gnostic and Christian would agree upon in a general sense, though the Gnostic can still freely reject the fleshly incarnation of the spiritual, heavenly Christ. Essentially the same sort of change is made in Sinaiticus, which retains the clause, but replaces "Christ" with "Lord", making this passage a Gnostically more acceptable statement concerning the coming of the earthly Jesus in the flesh. This proceeds then without casting the heavenly, spiritual Christ into that material role, which would be unacceptable to many of the speculative systems of the Gnostics.
     As I have stated: when the Critical Text is used for translation there is a demeaning of the Doctrine of Christology, among other doctrines that are affected. When liberalism became the way Churches believe and teach then the whole truth is not present. Listen to one such early writer whose letters were read in the Church, in fact, his writings were considered important and almost were decided to be inspired: they were not cannon, because they were not inspired and did not meet the criteria that determines which writings are inspired and which are not: yet his writings are important. Clement of Rome (30-100 A.D.) was a leading elder in the Church at Rome who wrote an epistle to the Corinthian Church. The reason for this epistle was due to a serious disturbance in the Corinthian Church (It seems that this Church needed much guidance; we have two letters by the Apostle Paul in regards to their poor performance in the Church), and remember that the Apostle John was probably still alive at this time. There was a revolt against the elders, they did not want to be in subjection to them (1:1; 14:1-2; 46; 47:3-6). Sort of sounds like Church splits in our days where people leave a Church for reasons such as: music, the way the new pastor teaches, etc. but hardly ever is a split due to heresy. Clement of Rome addresses the Corinthians and calls to their remembrance of former times within the Church when there was harmony in spirit. Clement exhorts them concerning Christian virtues, love, penitence, and humility, and to lead them back to obedience, and of the certainty of the resurrection. He argues for the fact that the elders and deacons were provided for by the Apostles, who were sent out by Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ was sent out by the Father. This letter is valuable for its information concerning the exalted positions of the bishops or elders in the Church. Do not confuse that the obedience to the elders with that which occurs in the Roman Catholic Church and Churches that attempt to use Apostolic succession, that thinking occurred after 250 A.D. and made more complete after the 300 A.D.'s. Obedience to the elders was to be the practical guarantee of Christian unity. Clement gives some 150 quotations from the Old Testament. 
     I will give more information regarding other men of this era so that you will have some knowledge of the history of the Christian Church. If you want to read more, then go to this website: ccel.org          Here you will find many, many, writings and I know that you will be amazed that Christianity outlasted that early onslaught by the heretics, and I know with the truth you will be able to overcome the heresies to be found in some Church today.


You, who have shown me
     great and severe troubles,
shall revive me again,
     and bring me up again from 
the depths of the earth.
                                Psalm 71:20


Our God is Sovereign


Richard L. Crumb