The Mystery of The God-Christ - 2

The oldest Greek manuscript of the Letter of Jude, the Papyrus 72, and which dates between 250-300 A.D., has the reading in verse 5, “ὅτι θεὸς Χριστὸς”. The verse reading, “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that God Christ, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe”. The Greek here is identical to that in Colossians 2:2, the only difference is, that here we have the nominative case, whereas in Colossians, it is in the genitive. There is other strong textual evidence, that has “ὅτι Ἰησοῦς” (that Jesus), instead of the corrupted reading “κύριος” (Lord). “ὅτι Ἰησοῦς”, can be found as early as Origen in the early 3rd century, about the same time as the P72 mss. Of the Greek Manuscripts, we have the codices, Vaticanus, of the 4th century, and Alexandrinus, of the 5th. The support of the Ancient Versions, the Latin Vulgate, which is of the 4th century. The Coptic (Egyptian) Sahidic Version, 4th. The Armenian Version, 5th. Ethopic Version, about the 5th. The Church fathers who knew of the reading “ὅτι Ἰησοῦς”, were, Didymus, "the blind", (A.D.313-398); Cyril of Alexandris (died 444); who were both of the Greek Church. Then, of the Latin Church we have, Jerome, who was responsible for the Latin Vulgate (342-420); John Cassian (360-435), and Bede (673-735). There can be no doubt, that, like Colossians 2:2, and other passages, that the clear Testimony of Scripture, to the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as been corrupted. The passage in Jude is a clear reference to the Old Testament deliverance of the children of Israel by the Hand of YHWH. Thus we read:

"And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power" (Deuteronomy 4:37)

"And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15)

"You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today" (Deuteronomy 5:15)

There are many other passages that testify to the fact that it was the Lord, God Almighty Who brought out the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt. To this we must add another text from Deuteronomy, where we read: "So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him" (32:12).

Compare Judges 2:1-2

"Then The Messenger of the LORD (Jesus Christ) came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’” So it was, when The Messenger of the LORD (Jesus Christ) spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept."

With Judges 6:8-10

“Thus says The LORD God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, “I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’”

There is no doubt, that The Malakh Yahweh (The Messenger of the LORD), Who is also identified as Himself being YHWH, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 5, and the correct reading in 1 Corinthians 10:9, “nor let us tempt The Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents", which is a clear reference to Numbers, “So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died” (21:6). Also in 1 Corinthians 10:9, “τὸν Χριστόν”, which is in the same Greek mss that has “τοῦ θεοῦ Χριστοῦ”, in Colossians 2:2, has been corrupted to read, “τὸν κύριον” (The Lord), so as to remove any direct and unambiguous Testimony to Jesus Christ, that HE IS YHWH!