![]() John 1:1 from the Ostromir Gospel, with John's Evangelist portrait, 1056 or 1057. But a theology in which Jesus is subordinate to God leads to the conclusion that ". The commonly held theology that Jesus is God naturally leads to a corresponding translation. Consequently, this article raises the concern that uncertainty with respect to the grammar may result in translations based on the theology of the translator. ![]() So, whether the predicate (theos) is definite, indefinite or qualitative depends on the context. ![]() The absence of the article does not make the predicate indefinite or qualitative when it precedes the verb, it is indefinite in this position only when the context demands it. With respect to John 1:1, Ernest Cadman Colwell writes: In that case, “the Word was God” may be misleading because, in normal English, "God" is a proper noun, referring to the person of the Father or corporately to the three persons of the Godhead. The point being made is that the Logos is of the same uncreated nature or essence as God the Father. One minority translation is "the Word was divine." This is based on the argument that the grammatical structure of the Greek does not identify the Word as the Person of God but indicates a qualitative sense. The main dispute with respect to this verse relates to John 1:1c (“the Word was God”). Origen of Alexandria, a teacher in Greek grammar of the third century, argued that John uses the article when theos refers to "the uncreated cause of all things." But the Logos is named theos without the article because He participates in the divinity of the Father because of “His being with the Father.” In John 1:1c, logos has the article but theos does not. On the basis of John 1:1, Tertullian, early in the third century, argued for two Persons that are distinct but the substance is undivided, of the same substance. This and other concepts in the Johannine literature set the stage for the Logos-Christology in which the Apologists of the second and third centuries connected the divine Word of John 1:1-5 to the Hebrew Wisdom literature and to the divine Logos of contemporary Greek philosophy. For example, “ the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 cf. "The Word," a translation of the Greek λόγος (logos), is widely interpreted as referring to Jesus, as indicated in other verses later in the same chapter. ![]() The verse has been a source of much debate among Bible scholars and translators. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The traditional and majority translation of this verse reads: John 1:1 is the first verse in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. First page of John's Gospel from the Coronation Gospels, c. ![]()
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