John 1:1,
εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον
θεον και θεος ην ο λογος
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.”
This text provides ambiguous evidence for the trinity at
best. The phrase that is translated as “the
Word was with God” uses τον
Θεόν (ton theon) for God. This is the
definite form. The phrase that is
translated as “the Word was God” uses Θεος (theos) for God. This is the indefinite form. When a noun is in the indefinite form, it can
be translated as an adjective. In fact,
the actual phrase is “καὶ θεος ἦν ὁ Λόγος (kai theos en ho logos)”. Word for word,
in English, this is, “and god was the word.”
This allows it to also be translated as “the Word was Godlike”. For example, the Revised English Bible
renders it, “In the
beginning the Word already was. The Word was in God's presence, and what God
was, the Word was.”
One scholar explained
it this way.
In a case like this we cannot
do other than go to the Greek, which is theos
en ho logos. Ho
is the definite article, the, and it can be seen that there is a definite
article with logos, but
not with theos. When
in Greek two nouns are joined by the verb “to be,” and when both have the
definite article, then the one is fully intended to be identified with the
other; but when one of them is without the article, it becomes more an
adjective than a noun, and describes rather the class or sphere to which the
other belongs.
An illustration from English
will make this clear. If I say, “The preacher is the man,” I use the definite article before both
preacher and man, and I thereby identify the preacher with some quite definite
individual man whom I have in mind. But, if I say, “The preacher is man,” I
have omitted the definite article before man, and what I mean is that the
preacher must be classified as a man, he is in the sphere of manhood, he is a
human being.
[In the last clause of John
1:1] John has no article before theos,
God. 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. We would, therefore, have to say that this means that the logos belongs to the same sphere as
God; without being identified with God, the logos
has the same kind of life and being as God. Here the NEB [New English Bible] finds the perfect
translation: “What God was, the Word was.” (William Barclay, Jesus as They Knew
Him (Harper and Row, N.Y., 1962), pp. 21 and 22.)
Remember, Satan is the
theos of
this world.
2 Corinthians 4:4,
εν οις ο θεος του αιωνος τουτου ετυφλωσεν τα
νοηματα των απιστων εις το μη αυγασαι τον φωτισμον του ευαγγελιου της δοξης του
χριστου ος εστιν εικων του θεου
"In whom the god
(theos) of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine unto them."
Deuteronomy
6:4.
שׁמע ישׂראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה
אחד
“Hear,
O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”
And remember these verses.
Deuteronomy 4:10-19.
יום אשׁר עמדת לפני יהוה אלהיך בחרב באמר יהוה אלי הקהל־לי את־העם
ואשׁמעם את־דברי אשׁר ילמדון ליראה אתי כל־הימים אשׁר הם חיים על־האדמה ואת־בניהם ילמדון
10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people
together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me
all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their
children.
ותקרבון ותעמדון תחת ההר וההר בער באשׁ עד־לב השׁמים חשׁך ענן
וערפל
11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and
thick darkness.
וידבר יהוה אליכם מתוך האשׁ קול דברים אתם שׁמעים ותמונה אינכם
ראים זולתי קול
12 And the Lord
spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words,
but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
ויגד לכם את־בריתו אשׁר צוה אתכם לעשׂות עשׂרת הדברים ויכתבם
על־שׁני לחות אבנים
13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded
you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of
stone.
ואתי צוה יהוה בעת ההוא ללמד אתכם חקים ומשׁפטים לעשׂתכם אתם
בארץ אשׁר אתם עברים שׁמה לרשׁתה
14 And the Lord
commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do
them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
ונשׁמרתם מאד לנפשׁתיכם כי לא ראיתם כל־תמונה ביום דבר יהוה
אליכם בחרב מתוך האשׁ
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw
no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord
spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
פן־תשׁחתון ועשׂיתם לכם פסל תמונת כל־סמל תבנית זכר או נקבה
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image,
the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
תבנית כל־בהמה אשׁר בארץ תבנית כל־צפור כנף אשׁר תעוף בשׁמים
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the
likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
תבנית כל־רמשׂ באדמה תבנית כל־דגה אשׁר־במים מתחת לארץ
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground,
the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
ופן־תשׂא עיניך השׁמימה וראית את־השׁמשׁ ואת־הירח ואת־הכוכבים
כל צבא השׁמים ונדחת והשׁתחוית להם ועבדתם אשׁר חלק יהוה אלהיך אתם לכל העמים תחת כל־השׁמים
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when
thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven,
shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all
nations under the whole heaven.
Numbers 23:19 ESV.
לא אישׁ אל ויכזב ובן־אדם ויתנחם ההוא אמר ולא יעשׂה ודבר ולא
יקימנה
19
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change
his mind. Has he said, and will he not
do it? Or has he spoken, and
will he not fulfill it?
1 Samuel 15:29 ESV.
וגם נצח ישׂראל לא ישׁקר ולא ינחם כי לא אדם הוא להנחם
29
And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man,
that he should have regret.
Hosea 11:9.
לא אעשׂה חרון אפי לא אשׁוב לשׁחת אפרים כי אל אנכי ולא־אישׁ
בקרבך קדושׁ ולא אבוא בעיר
9
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy
Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I
will not enter into the city.
Finally, remember that, when God sent Moses to Pharaoh as
His divine representative, He said
Exodus 7:1.
ויאמר יהוה אל־משׁה ראה נתתיך
אלהים לפרעה ואהרן אחיך יהיה נביאך
1 And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I
have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Someone from this background would interpret John 1:1 in a
way that fit with the Old Testament. The
most straightforward way to do that is to interpret it as saying that the Word
is like God, or the Word is God’s representative to us. It would be very difficult for someone from
this background to believe that this man, Jesus, the Word, is God in the flesh.
