* Distortion of the text of Ephesians 3:9 “who created all things through Jesus Christ”

 - One of the challenges that faced the early Christians was their inability to prove the divinity of Jesus, which was approved by the pagan councils, with a clear and explicit text from the Holy Bible!

...;
Therefore, the pious copyists tried to graft the copies and manuscripts with some phrases that might support their belief; as the Encyclopedia of the Bible said, Vol. 3, p. 295.

- For example: The Holy Bible, in its Old and New Testaments, contains many texts that attribute the attribute of creation to God the Father alone.

- As in Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”

- and in Isaiah 44:24
“Says the Lord, ‘I am the Lord, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth. Who is with me?’”

- and in Mark 13:19
“For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, nor ever will be”
...;
- Even Jesus himself attributed creation to God the Father as in Mark 10:5-6
"And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God created them male and female'"
...;
The question is: How can Jesus be "God" and the Bible does not attribute to Him the attribute of creation ... not even once?

- Will the copyists of the manuscripts remain silent about this serious shortcoming in the revelation regarding their God?!!!
==;
* In fact ... the pious copyists tried to make up for this shortcoming in the Lord's revelation; and they tried to add some phrases to confirm that Jesus is the Creator, or at least He was an assistant to God the Father and that the Father does not create except through Jesus
!!
Like what they did in the text of Ephesians 3:9
"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ"
;
the text in this form was used by the interpreters of the Bible to prove the attribute of creation for Jesus; for in this text there is an acknowledgment that God is the Creator... but "through Jesus Christ"!!!

And this philosophy was adopted by the Christians from the pagan Greek thought; where they said: God is the most honorable of beings and it is not appropriate for Him to be preoccupied with creation... therefore He gives this attribute to an intermediary being... which they call "the Universal Mind", and Christianity called it "the Word, or Jesus Christ"
!!
That is why we find Antonius Fikry in his interpretation of the text rejoicing with joy at this addition, and confirming that Jesus is the Creator, saying:
(By Jesus Christ: Christ created Adam and all creation. And now He creates us again in baptism)

====;
* But... by searching in the oldest and best manuscripts of the Bible, scholars have discovered that the phrase “by Jesus Christ” is not reliable or original; because it was added in later manuscripts, and the most important and oldest manuscripts were devoid of it!!
;
👈 This addition is not found in the Sinaiticus Codex, nor in the Vaticanus Codex, nor in the Alexandrian Codex,



and in all of them the number ends with (πάντα κτίσαντι ... who created all things)!!

Even in the Peshitta; the oldest Syriac translation of the Bible (5th century) does not have this addition.

...;
* And so Henry Donald Maurice says in his book The Pulpit Commentary
The words, by Jesus Christ (AV), are not found in a great preponderance of textual authorities
.

,
* And from Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

Who created all things by Jesus Christ.—The words “by Jesus Christ” should be omitted, probably having crept in from a gloss
, and not belonging to the original.
...;
By the testimony of the oldest and best manuscripts of the Bible in Greek and Syriac, and by the admission of textual critics and students of the texts of the Bible; the addition (by Jesus Christ) is distorted and added to the original.
;
Therefore, this addition was deleted from all critical copies, and from most Arabic and foreign translations of the Holy Bible.

====;
* Upon reviewing the Greek critical copies, we found that everyone agreed to delete this unoriginal addition (in Jesus Christ = διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ)
; It is omitted from the Nestle-Aland version, the Westcott-Hort version, the UBS version, the Samuel Tregelles version, and the Tischendorf version.




This is a comparison between the text as it appears in the critical versions, with the addition in one of the traditional versions


- ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ 3:9 Greek NT: Nestle 1904
καὶ φωτίσαι τίς ἡ οἰκονομία τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐν τῷ Θεῷ τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι
-
3:9 Greek NT: Greek Orthodox
Church κτίσαντι 👉 διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 👈

---;
* As for the English versions and translations, most of the copies deleted this addition (by Jesus Christ)

; Such as copying ( - ASV - NIV - RV - RSV - BBE - CEV - GNB - GW - ISV - NRSV)
;
While the King James Version (KGV) and some versions based on the received text of Erasmus have mentioned the addition in the text.


- KJV with Strong's
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 👈
،
- New American Standard Bible
and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
P
- and so the book A Textual Key to the New Testament
by its authors GW and DE Anderson included it among the deleted parts A list of Omissions and Changes
👉*3.9 'by Jesus Christ' 👈

--- ؛
As for the Arabic versions and translations such as (Catholic - Sarah - Joint - Jesuit - Pauline - Simplified - Sharif - Life) and most of the old translations deleted this addition (by Jesus Christ),


while the traditional Van Dyck version included it in the text.

- Al-Fandyk
: “And to enlighten all concerning what is the fellowship of the mystery hidden from the ages in God, the Creator of all things, through Jesus Christ.”
-
The common:
“And to make known to all men the management of that mystery which has remained hidden throughout the ages in God, the Creator of all things.”
----,
* This strange addition was placed by an unknown copyist in an attempt to prove the attribute of creation for Jesus; Here is what Philip Comfort said in his New Testament Text and Translation Commentary about the reason for adding this addition:
Since the textual evidence strongly favors the shorter reading and since there is no good reason to explain why the phrase "through Jesus Christ" would have been omitted if it was originally in the text, we must reason that the phrase was added to emphasize Christ's role in creation (which accords
with Pauline thought—see 1 Cor 8:6 and Col 1:16, which have some ideas that are similar to Eph 3:9-10). ----

;
* Finally: Some use the words of the Lord in the Old Testament in the plural form as evidence of the existence of the Trinity since eternity; as stated, for example, in Genesis 1:26:
“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”
-
and in Genesis 3:22:
“And the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.’”

👈 Alexander Jadid wrote in his book “The Oneness of the Trinity in Christianity and Islam.” Page 4:
(In the Book of Genesis there are hints to the teaching of the Trinity, which are not clearly understood except in the light of the revelations that follow, such as the occurrence of the name of God in the plural form “Elohim” (and the use of a pronoun that indicates the plural such as our image and our God). He did not notice - due to his Christian background
-
that there is a method of glorification, which is for the pronoun of the addressee and the speaker, in which the pronoun is a plural pronoun that expresses or refers to a singular
;
- we read from the Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 1, page 391:
(One of the characteristics of the Hebrew language is that the plural form expresses vastness, greatness, and elevation, in addition to true multiplicity...; and it is not reasonable to assume that the plural form refers to the multiplicity of gods)

👈 The Lord’s speech in the Old Testament about His one self is in the plural form... for the sake of glorification.

And if we assume that the plural form (our image, from us, our likeness... etc.) actually indicates the plural, how do they know that the plural refers to only three?!

Why doesn't it mean four or five or even a million?!
..؛
* And if Jesus existed from eternity and participated with God in creation; why didn't he tell us about that?

And why do his explicit statements contradict this strange belief; he was calling, praying, crying and humbling himself to God; and he was preaching eternal life to those who believed in God alone and in Christ his messenger;
as
in (John 17:3:
"And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
,
👈 Why did Jesus hide his divinity, and leave this impossible task to his followers; which prompted them to try to correct the divine revelation... in defense of an alleged pagan divinity