“
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
….…………………………
T2: It is far from surprising that
trinitarian scholars would prefer the 'God' translation at
John 1:1c and ignore any other honest alternate. However, notice this:
Trinitarian Greek expert, W. E. Vine, (although, for obvious reasons, he chooses not to accept it as the proper
interpretation) admits that the literal translation of
John 1:1c is: “
a god was the Word”. - p. 490
, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1983 printing.
Professor C. H. Dodd, director of the
New English Bible project, also admits this is a proper literal translation:
“A possible translation [for
John 1:1c] ... would be, ‘The Word was a god.’ As a word-for-word translation
it cannot be faulted.” -
Technical Papers for the Bible Translator, vol. 28, Jan. 1977.
The reason Prof. Dodd rejected “a god” as the actual meaning intended by John is simply because it upset his trinitarian interpretation of John’s Gospel!
Rev. J. W. Wenham wrote in his
The Elements of New Testament Greek: “Therefore as far as grammar alone is concerned, such a sentence could be printed:
θεὸς ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, which would mean either,
‘The Word is a god’, or, ‘The Word is the god’.” - p. 35, Cambridge University Press, 1965.
(Of course if you carefully, properly examine this study, you will find that the grammar really shows that ‘The Word is [or “was” in
John 1:1c]
a god’ is what John intended.)
Trinitarian NT scholar Prof. Murray J. Harris also admits that grammatically
John 1:1c may be properly translated, ‘the Word was
a god,’ but his trinitarian bias makes him claim that “
John’s monotheism” will not allow such an interpretation. - p. 60,
Jesus as God, Baker Book House, 1992. However, his acknowledgment of the use of “god” for men at
John 10:34-36 and the use of “god/gods” for angels, judges, and other men in the Hebrew OT Scriptures contradicts his above excuse for not accepting the literal translation. - p. 202,
Jesus as God.
And Dr. J. D. BeDuhn in his
Truth in Translation states about
John 1:1c:
“ ‘And the Word was
a god.’ The preponderance of evidence from Greek grammar… supports this translation.” - p. 132, University Press of America, Inc., 2003.
Trinitarian Dr. Robert Young admits that a more
literal translation of
John 1:1c is “and
a God (i.e. a Divine Being) was the Word” - p. 54, (‘New Covenant’ section),
Young’s Concise Critical Bible Commentary, Baker Book House, 1977 printing.
And popular Bible scholar, author, and Bible translator, trinitarian Dr. William Barclay wrote: “You could translate [
John 1:1c],
so far as the Greek goes: ‘the Word was
a God’; but it
seems obvious that this is so much
against the whole of the rest of the New Testament that it is wrong.” - p. 205,
Ever yours, edited by C. L. Rawlins, Labarum Publ., 1985.
You see, in ancient times many of God’s servants had no qualms about using the word “god” or “gods” for godly
men, kings, judges, and even angels.
New Testament Greek expert Joseph H. Thayer defines
theos:
““
θεός is used of whatever can in
any respect be
likened to God or resembles him in
any way: Hebraistically, i.q. God’s
representative or vicegerent, of magistrates and judges.” - p. 288,
Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
To see the proof of John’s intended meaning of “a god” at
John 1:1c, see my personal studies:
Examining the Trinity
or
Examining the Trinity: John 1:1c Primer - For Grammatical Rules That Supposedly "Prove" the Trinity