tigger2
Active Member
Scheherazade has agreed to follow along and comment on each post of my study of John 1:1c.
A.
John 1:1 in NT Greek:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος
En arche ēn ho logos and ho logos ēn pros ton theon and theos ēn ho logos
1. There are three clauses separated by καὶ (or “and” in English). The first (John 1:1a) is literally translated: “In beginning was the word.” The second (John 1:1b) is translated “the word was with the god.” And the final one (John 1:1c) is literally translated “god was the word.” [Remember that there were no uses of initial capital letters ( ‘God,’ ‘Lord,’ ‘Jesus,’ etc.) in the NT manuscripts which translators use for today‘s Bibles.]
2.I intend to examine John 1:1c to show that the very usage/grammar used by John himself shows the actual meaning (whether ‘the Word was God,” or the “Word was a god”). Please notice that whether the Logos is a person or a thing in this verse makes no difference as to the proper rendering of theos.
3. Since different NT writers varied somewhat in their grammar and usage of the Greek, we need to stick to John’s usage if we wish to analyze John 1:1c properly.
4. First, the word in question is θεος (theos in English letters), a noun known to NT Greek scholars as a noun in the nominative case. [The other words translated “God” in Jn 1:1b are τὸν θεόν (ton theon or ‘the god’ in English) which are in the accusative case (used mostly for direct objects and objects of some prepositions)] Notice that this form (θεος) of the word ends in ‘s.’ Theos can be used to mean ‘God’ or ‘god.’ Also notice that, as used in John 1:1c, theos stands alone. That is, it has no “prepositional” modifiers (usually genitive or dative case nouns) such as “theos of Israel, or “theos to me,” etc.
5. Not only do such modifiers cause the use of the definite article (‘the’ in English) to be used irregularly, but the verse in question (John 1:1c) does not use them anyway. Therefore, the very few “preposition-modified” nouns in John’s writings are not proper examples in this study which relies on the use of the definite article.
6. The next point is that when John (and Matthew, Mark, and Luke also) clearly meant “God” when writing theos (the form of the Greek word which ends in ς), he always used the definite article (‘the’ in English - ho in Greek): ho theos. (You can tell that o in NT Greek is ‘ho’ if it has a tiny c-shaped mark above it - ὁ.)
You can test this ho theos use means ‘God’ in John’s writings yourself with a good interlinear NT and concordance.
For detailed examination of all uses of theos in John’s (and the other Gospel writers) writings, see end note #5 in my original study:
http://examiningthetrinity.blogspot.com/2009/09/def-part-4-end-notes.html
To Be Continued in Lesson B after we discuss this first lesson.
A.
John 1:1 in NT Greek:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος
En arche ēn ho logos and ho logos ēn pros ton theon and theos ēn ho logos
1. There are three clauses separated by καὶ (or “and” in English). The first (John 1:1a) is literally translated: “In beginning was the word.” The second (John 1:1b) is translated “the word was with the god.” And the final one (John 1:1c) is literally translated “god was the word.” [Remember that there were no uses of initial capital letters ( ‘God,’ ‘Lord,’ ‘Jesus,’ etc.) in the NT manuscripts which translators use for today‘s Bibles.]
2.I intend to examine John 1:1c to show that the very usage/grammar used by John himself shows the actual meaning (whether ‘the Word was God,” or the “Word was a god”). Please notice that whether the Logos is a person or a thing in this verse makes no difference as to the proper rendering of theos.
3. Since different NT writers varied somewhat in their grammar and usage of the Greek, we need to stick to John’s usage if we wish to analyze John 1:1c properly.
4. First, the word in question is θεος (theos in English letters), a noun known to NT Greek scholars as a noun in the nominative case. [The other words translated “God” in Jn 1:1b are τὸν θεόν (ton theon or ‘the god’ in English) which are in the accusative case (used mostly for direct objects and objects of some prepositions)] Notice that this form (θεος) of the word ends in ‘s.’ Theos can be used to mean ‘God’ or ‘god.’ Also notice that, as used in John 1:1c, theos stands alone. That is, it has no “prepositional” modifiers (usually genitive or dative case nouns) such as “theos of Israel, or “theos to me,” etc.
5. Not only do such modifiers cause the use of the definite article (‘the’ in English) to be used irregularly, but the verse in question (John 1:1c) does not use them anyway. Therefore, the very few “preposition-modified” nouns in John’s writings are not proper examples in this study which relies on the use of the definite article.
6. The next point is that when John (and Matthew, Mark, and Luke also) clearly meant “God” when writing theos (the form of the Greek word which ends in ς), he always used the definite article (‘the’ in English - ho in Greek): ho theos. (You can tell that o in NT Greek is ‘ho’ if it has a tiny c-shaped mark above it - ὁ.)
You can test this ho theos use means ‘God’ in John’s writings yourself with a good interlinear NT and concordance.
For detailed examination of all uses of theos in John’s (and the other Gospel writers) writings, see end note #5 in my original study:
http://examiningthetrinity.blogspot.com/2009/09/def-part-4-end-notes.html
To Be Continued in Lesson B after we discuss this first lesson.
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