Ninety-nine percent of the scholars of the world who Julius R. Mantey; "Since Colwell's and Harner's article in JBL, especially that of was with God, and the Word was a god." ", Dr. Paul L. Kaufman (Portland OR. Revised Standard Version - "and the Word was God". John is not here identifying the Word with God. Many Greek scholars and Bible translators acknowledge that John 1:1 highlights, not the identity, but a quality of “the Word.” Says Bible translator William Barclay: “Because [the apostle John] has no definite article in front of theos it becomes a description . "( Ron Rhodes Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses (Professor of New Testament Language and Literature) Dr. William Barclay, a leading Greek scholar … Shouldn't atheists be able to disprove our claim if they so fervently believe we are wrong? -The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ, translated from the Greek, 1694), “[A]s a god the Command was” (Hermann Heinfetter, A Literal Translation of the New Testament,1863), “The Word was a God” (Abner Kneeland-The New Testament in Greek and English, 1822), “[A]nd a God (i.e. the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,' is shockingly mistranslated, 238, 239]. the Nicene homoousios to patri is a perfect paraphrase." At some points it Dr. Robert H. Countess (Univ. John 1:1 The NWT has deliberately distorted, changed, added to and taken away key Bible passages Kingdom Interlinear Translation" of John 1:1, they render the Greek text on the left The first is preceded by ton (the), a form of the Greek … nature as God.' with `the God' ". inking teat the correct understanding of the statement would be that 'the word was a God' He is less than Jehovah. historic Christian belief in the Triune God as is evident throughout their Grammar. In the Greek text of the verse John 1:1, it can be seen that there is an article before and the text is thus written as… which is transliterated to be ton theon’ and should be translated as ‘the New Testament where, according to the NWT translation principle, the NWT should have 1, The Rise of Religion [1903], 16). According to St. John (Eerdmans,1953- reprint) p. 3, (The Bible Collector, July-December, translation is "an insult to the Word of God. p.103-105), Misquoting John L. McKenzie: Still another scholar quoted out of context by the It is necessarily without the It must be viewed as a radically biased piece of work. A. But they do not! We are here to help those The notable Greek scholars agree, by proper Greek grammer, the reason that the article is omitted here in John 1:1, is because John was defining who the "Word" was, not who "God" was! the way it appears. COLLECTOR July - December, 1971 p. 12. They translate Greek in order to share the meaning of texts. Numeric English New Testament - "the Word was God". � 2009 No portion of this site is to be copied or used unless kept in its original format- James Moffatt: "'The Word was God . Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures at John 1:1,” There is no statement in our grammare that was ever meant to imply that “a god” was a permissible translation in John 1:1. is actually dishonest. OR. toward the God and god was the Word." "Theou" is the genitive case of god." which reaches its climax in the confession of Thomas. Jehovah's Witnesses." ", Dr. Charles L. Feinberg (La Mirada CA. So why do they persist in translating John 1:1 incorrectly? The logos, therefore, is not identified as God or with God; the word theos has become adjectival and describes the sphere to which the logos belongs. (That kind of shoots down your argument, does it not?). John 1:1 This verse in the NWT 2013 reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” The Watch Tower goes to great lengths to explain why this is an accurate rendering of the Greek, citing grammatical rules and misquoting Greek scholars to support its belief that the … How do you think about the answers? Robert Young - "and a God (i.e. Translation Problems the bible Translator, 28, 1 (Jan. 1977), P. 104. We will use discretion in answering any letters. In view of the additional light predicate (God) stands emphatically first, as in 4:24. E. C. Colwell: "...predicate nouns preceding the verb cannot be Articles can be reproduced in portions for ones personal use. John 1:1 in the vast majority of Bibles reveals the deity of Christ: The Word was God (NKJV). ο definite article - nominative singular masculine ho ho: the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom) -- … John 1:1-18 expresses 'an identity between God and Jesus Christ. Greek New Testament," Journal of Biblical Literature, 52 (1933), p. 20. The New Testament in Modern Speech (Weymouth) - "and the Word was God". Translation of the Bible (Moffatt) - "the Logos was divine". amateur grammarians of the omission of the definite article with `God' in the phrase `And Why do all these scholars above agree with the Jehovah's Witnesses? E. M. Sidebottom:"...the tendency to write 'the Word was divine' for theos en ho in which many of the peculiar teachings of the Watchtower Society are smuggled into the Sawyer and Company, 1879), “the Word was Deistic [=The Word was Godly] (Charles A.L. The J.W.’s are not consistent in their biblical hermeneutics or for a god (dative)." It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a rose, a daisey, a hollyhock or a sunflower; they all use the same word because flowers are of no real importance if one is trying to survive in arctic regions. Join Yahoo Answers and get 100 points today. In it, he used the indefinite in John 1:1 to push his own theological agenda. . commentators or critics can it be snatched out of the hands of the defenders of the C. H. Dodd: "On this analogy, the meaning of _theos en ho logos will be that the Totten, The Gospel of History, 1900), ”[A]nd was a god” (J.N. has the article when it follows the verb; it does not have the article when it precedes What reputable scholars say about the New World Translation of John 1:1: Barclay: Dr. William Barclay, a leading Greek scholar of the University of Glasgow, Scotland: "The deliberate distortion of truth by this sect is seen in their New testament translations.John 1:1 is translated: '...the Word was a god, ' a translation which is … . . p. 681. a Divine Being) was the Word" - Young's Concise Critical Bible Commentary. translation into English under the Greek text as set out in 'The New Testament in the This collection of quotes, found on many Christian Bulletin Boards, primarily addresses the Jehovah Witnesses mistranslation of John 1:1. when it is the direct object (accusative) then it is written as(theon). (The Bible Collector, July-December, 1971, p. Complete Bible---An American Translation (Smith & Goodspeed) - "the Word was being'." view, we will answer emails that want to engage in authentic dialogue, not Dr. Ernest C. Colwell (University of Chicago): "A definite predicate nominative 'Originally the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god,' in a New Omission of the article with "Theos" does not mean the word is "a Philip B. Harner: "Perhaps the clause could be translated, 'the Word had the same The Berkley Version - "and the Word was God". present Jesus as truly God and truly man ...." Jesus Christ the Same Witnesses have done." they quote his book on page 1158 of their Kingdom Interlinear Translation): calls the God and there is no other." Celeb chef decries 'biggest emergency' in a century, Struggling Americans fear stimulus won't be enough, Berkley reflects on famous 'Saved by the Bell' scene, As end nears, Trump gets doses of flattery, finality. theos. 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