To “Nu” or Not to “Nu?”

The NIV ‘11 of 1 Thessalonians 2:7a:

Instead, we were like young children among you…

The ESV:

But we were gentle among you, …

Based on the NIV, I was going to write a post about how we are to be humble in our Gospel-sharing, but then the ESV went and ruined that by suggesting that the word is “gentle” instead of “young children.”

This comes down to a textual variant in the manuscripts.  Some say ἤπιοι (“ēpioi,” meaning gentle) and others say νήπιοι (“nēpioi,” meaning infants/children).  The preceding word ends in a nu (“ν”), so the question becomes, did a scribe mistakenly duplicate the nu or was it accidentally deleted?

Here is the context of the NIV, 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

7 Instead, we were like young children among you.  Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

And the ESV:

7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

As you can see, other questions abound here concerning the other various clauses.  (Remember, there was no punctuation when these words were transcribed.  All of that had to be decided upon later).  These modifications seem to be due to our little textual variant.  

What does this tell us?  Well, a little nu can make a big difference!  But, what does this say about scripture?  I’m sure God could have sovereignly overridden this error if He wanted it to remain perfect!  

So why didn’t He?

Of course I cannot know, but maybe God allowed this–yes, rather small and insignificant–mistake to persist to remind us of our humanity–our distinct “otherness” in relation to God.  While there is no fault in Him, we fail to simply copy things down.

Or, perhaps it is to remind us that God uses people to accomplish his purposes.  All throughout the Bible we find God’s plan being carried out by men and women unqualified to do so.  God uses people like Samson, Gideon, and Saul: selfish men who hardly seem reliable for noble tasks.  And yet, God uses them.  

And whether or not we get all of our nu’s in the right places (we can’t), God can employ us too.  Even for the missions we are sure to taint along the way.