I was going through the Bible, I stumble on this popular verse - John 1:1

'1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.' (KJV)

And because I'm not a theologian and I needed to understand more of the verse, I corroborated from other Bible versions but found this version to be somewhat different;

'1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was a
god.
2 This one was in [the] beginning with
God'. (NWT)

I researched more and found that it is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; the Jehovah's Witness Version of the Bible.

I have heard a lot from the kingdom hall of the JW people. Some contradict what I believe as a christian (Trinity, Life after death, etc.)

I know there are a whole lot of Spirit-filled Bible teachers as well as knowlegeable theologians here. Please I need proper analysis of this part of the Bible.
Your comments/analysis will be appreciated


Yours in the Lord,
Bro Phil.

philip.adesola:
I was going through the Bible, I stumble on this popular verse - John 1:1

'1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.' (KJV)

And because I'm not a theologian and I needed to understand more of the verse, I corroborated from other Bible versions but found this version to be somewhat different;

'1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was a
god.
2 This one was in [the] beginning with
God'. (NWT)

I researched more and found that it is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; the Jehovah's Witness Version of the Bible.

I have heard a lot from the kingdom hall of the JW people. Some contradict what I believe as a christian (Trinity, Life after death, etc.)

I know there are a whole lot of Spirit-filled Bible teachers as well as knowlegeable theologians here. Please I need proper analysis of this part of the Bible.
Your comments/analysis will be appreciated


Yours in the Lord,
Bro Phil.

broda 4get those witness and there confusion and stick to the holy bible dat u knew. No strenght to type nw

The simple explanation is that there are two possible ways of translating that part of John 1:1.

One way is to render it as "the word was God" - most popular, being as most people, including translators believe the Trinity, or are influenced by the popular Trinity teaching.

Another way to translate it is "the word was godlike/divine/a god" - not so popular but some "scholars believe it is possible or even preferable" way to translate that verse.

More information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_1:1 .

Whichever option you lean towards, clearly Jesus is subordinate to and different from the Almighty God (the Father - Jehovah/Yahweh), as other Bible verses clearly show, two examples below:

John 14:28 - " “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."

1 Cor 15: 25-28: " For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. "


And there are many scholars/translations, whose rendering of John 1:1 is similar to that of the JW's NWT, according to this link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120226195730AA757Az :

[b]
C. H. Dodd - "The Word was a god" - Technical Papers for the Bible Translator, Jan., 1977.

Murray J. Harris - "the Word was a god" - p. 60, Jesus as God, Baker Book House, 1992.

Robert Young - "and a God (i.e. a Divine Being) was the Word" - Young's Concise Critical Bible Commentary.

"And the Word was divine." - An American Translation, 19th impr., 1975.

“and the word was a god” (Newcome, 1808)

“the Word was God’s” (Crellius,as quoted in The New Testament in an Improved Version)

“and the Word was a divine being.” (La Bible du Centenaire, L’Evangile selon Jean, by Maurice Goguel,1928)

“the Logos was a god (John Samuel Thompson, The Montessoran; or The Gospel History According to the Four Evangelists, Baltimore; published by the translator, 1829)

“the Word was divine” (Goodspeed’s An American Translation, 1939)

“the word was a god.” (Revised Version-Improved and Corrected)

“and god[-ly/-like] was the Word.” (Prof. Felix Just, S.J. - Loyola Marymount University)

“the Logos was divine” (Moffatt’s The Bible, 1972)

“the Word was God*[ftn. or Deity, Divine, which is a better translation, because the Greek definite article is not present before this Greek word] (International English Bible-Extreme New Testament, 2001)

“and the Word was a god” (Reijnier Rooleeuw, M.D. -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. a Divine Being) was the Word” (Robert Young, LL.D. (Concise Commentary on the Holy Bible [Grand Rapids: Baker, n.d.], 54). 1885)

“the Word was a god” (Belsham N.T. 1809)

“And the logos was a god” (Leicester Ambrose, The Final Theology, Volume 1, New York, New York; M.B. Sawyer and Company, 1879)

“the Word was Deistic [=The Word was Godly] (Charles A.L. Totten, The Gospel of History, 1900)

”[A]nd was a god” (J.N. Jannaris, Zeitschrift fur die Newtestameutlich Wissencraft, (German periodical) 1901, International Bible Translators N.T. 1981)

“[A] Divine Person.” (Samuel Clarke, M.A., D.D., rector of St. James, Westminster, A Paraphrase on the Gospel of John, London)

“a God” (Lant Carpenter, LL.D (in Unitarianism in the Gospels [London: C. Stower, 1809], 156).)

“a God” (Paul Wernle,(in The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. 1, The Rise of Religion [1903], 16).)

“and the [Marshal] [Word] was a god.” (21st Century Literal)

[A]nd (a) God was the word” (George William Horner, The Coptic Version of the New Testament, 1911)

“[A]nd the Word was of divine nature” (Ernest Findlay Scott, The Literature of the New Testament, New York, Columbia University Press, 1932)

[T]he Word was a God” (James L. Tomanec, The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Anointed, 1958)

“The Word had the same nature as God” (Philip Harner, JBL, Vol. 92, 1974)

“And a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word” (Siegfried Schulz, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1975)

“and godlike sort was the Logos” (Johannes Schneider, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1978)

“the Word was a divine Being” (Scholar’s Version-The Five Gospels, 1993)

“The Divine word and wisdom was there with God, and it was what God was” (J. Madsen, New Testament A Rendering , 1994)

“a God/god was the Logos/logos” (Jurgen Becker, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1979)

“The Word/word was itself a divine Being/being.” (Curt Stage, The New Testament, 1907)

“the Word was of divine kind” (Lyder Brun (Norw. professor of NT theology), 1945)

“was of divine Kind/kind” (Fredrich Pfaefflin, The New Testament, 1949)

“godlike Being/being had the Word/word” (Albrecht, 1957)

“the word of the world was a divine being” (Smit, 1960)

“God(=godlike Being/being) was the Word/word” (Menge, 1961)

“divine (of the category divinity)was the Logos” (Haenchen (tr. By R. Funk), 1984)

“And the Word was divine.” (William Temple, Archbishop of York, Readings in St. John’s Gospel, London, Macmillan & Co.,1933)

“the word was with Allah[God] and the word was a god” (Greek Orthodox /Arabic Calendar, incorporating portions of the 4 Gospels, Greek Orthodox Patriarchy or Beirut, May, 1983)

“And the Word was Divine” (Ervin Edward Stringfellow (Prof. of NT Language and Literature/Drake University, 1943)

“and the Logos was divine (a divine being)” (Robert Harvey, D.D., Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Westminster College, Cambridge, in The Historic Jesus in the New Testament [/b]

Please and please, let us use proper understanding that its called for. i will make it simple and straight to the point. John 1:1 talks about 2 people, God and Jesus. Now Jesus confirm that he has a God who is his father. to make it more clear, he said the same person is our father and God. now read it in your own bible in (john 20:17). Now read also (2 Corinthians 1:3 and Ephesians 4:6).

Let us therefore gain these understanding that Jesus the son of God is the word spoken of at john1:1. Jesus he can be termed a god but cannot be termed God since he is lower than his father who made him. Jesus himself worship and glorify the same God that we worship cause he is the father of all.

Jesus has a father who is his God and our God too

The passage John 1:1 has been grossly mis-translated by Jehovah's witnesses because

1. John 1:1 was purposefully translated in order to deny the
traditional view that Jesus is God.
Witnesses are quick to point out that the passage is expressing a divine quality about
Jesus; Christian scholars
agree with a qualitative
(descriptive) nuance of theos in John 1:1c.

2) That the addition of a second smaller "god" (Jesus) to the bigger "Jehovah God" (the
Father) in the translation
introduces polytheism into the New Testament (Martin and Bruce Metzger). Witnesses
deny the "polytheist" label and point out that the NWT is a literal translation that mandates a rendering of "a god" with an interpretation of "Godlike" or "Divine". That the predicate nominative inflection for the word "God" and the sequence of the words in the Greek sentence "and God was the Word" require the traditional
translation in English "and the Word was God". That the word for God (theos) without the article is used only a few verses later in the text in both the accusative and
nominative cases, which the NWT translates without an indefinite
article both times "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten god..." BeDuhn explains the fallacy of this
assertion, and Martin's
fundamental misunderstanding of basic Koine Greek, by pointing out that the passages are not
comparable.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that God is a Trinity and use this as indication that they
alone worship truth. The
Watchtower presents that there is their correct understanding of
God, and Christendom's pagan view.

"Christendom's unchristian doctrine of a Trinity of "God the
Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost" will be rejected by all enlightened mankind as
being a blasphemous pagan lie."
Paradise restored to Mankind -By Theocracy p.388

This us-and-them attitude fails to recognise the number of groups
that share the Watchtower's
Arian concept of God.
Furthermore, there are a number of different beliefs regarding the
Nature of God, including
Unitarianism,Adoptionism,Tritheism, Binitarianism and Modalism. Assemblies of Yahweh and some Church of God branches follow Binitarian beliefs
and many millions of people belonging to the Oneness Pentecostal movement are not
Trinitarian, but Modalist. When claiming Christians believe in a Trinity, the Watchtower fails to
acknowledge the large number of Christians that are not Trinitarian.
A "straw man" argument defines a person's point of view inaccurately, and then attacks the misrepresentation. The
Watchtower does this by
defining the Trinity inaccurately and inadequately. When
presenting the Trinity doctrine, the Watchtower melds Trinitarian and Modal concepts, creating an inconsistent and confusing teaching that does not define
any formal position. Modal concepts are passed off as the Trinity, yet in the 56 years of
Watchtower publications on the Watchtower CD 2006, there is not
a single discussion on Modalism.
By failing to recognise these different teachings and mixing doctrines, the Watchtower misrepresents the Trinity, making it impossible for a Witness to form an informed opinion.

How could you know a fake or counterfeit money if you have no idea of what the Original looks and feels like ? _ why not take ur time do research and find out which is right about the whole thing from the Original print itself _Written in Hebrew _ you can always google it alongside the meanings too and stop blaming the JW for Translating the Original Language (Hebrew/Greek) to Modern English _

A question for the Scholar_ How many times does the Name of God "Jehovah Appears. In Original Manuscripts and How many times does it appear. In KJV and Other translations?_ and why so? _

So many things you don't know

TroGunn: The simple explanation is that there are two possible ways of translating that part of John 1:1.

One way is to render it as "the word was God" - most popular, being as most people, including translators believe the Trinity, or are influenced by the popular Trinity teaching.

Another way to translate it is "the word was godlike/divine/a god" - not so popular but some "scholars believe it is possible or even preferable" way to translate that verse.

More information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_1:1 .

Whichever option you lean towards, clearly Jesus is subordinate to and different from the Almighty God (the Father - Jehovah/Yahweh), as other Bible verses clearly show, two examples below:

John 14:28 - " “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."

1 Cor 15: 25-28: " For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. "


And there are many scholars/translations, whose rendering of John 1:1 is similar to that of the JW's NWT, according to this link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120226195730AA757Az :

[b]
C. H. Dodd - "The Word was a god" - Technical Papers for the Bible Translator, Jan., 1977.

Murray J. Harris - "the Word was a god" - p. 60, Jesus as God, Baker Book House, 1992.

Robert Young - "and a God (i.e. a Divine Being) was the Word" - Young's Concise Critical Bible Commentary.

"And the Word was divine." - An American Translation, 19th impr., 1975.

“and the word was a god” (Newcome, 1808)

“the Word was God’s” (Crellius,as quoted in The New Testament in an Improved Version)

“and the Word was a divine being.” (La Bible du Centenaire, L’Evangile selon Jean, by Maurice Goguel,1928)

“the Logos was a god (John Samuel Thompson, The Montessoran; or The Gospel History According to the Four Evangelists, Baltimore; published by the translator, 1829)

“the Word was divine” (Goodspeed’s An American Translation, 1939)

“the word was a god.” (Revised Version-Improved and Corrected)

“and god[-ly/-like] was the Word.” (Prof. Felix Just, S.J. - Loyola Marymount University)

“the Logos was divine” (Moffatt’s The Bible, 1972)

“the Word was God*[ftn. or Deity, Divine, which is a better translation, because the Greek definite article is not present before this Greek word] (International English Bible-Extreme New Testament, 2001)

“and the Word was a god” (Reijnier Rooleeuw, M.D. -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. a Divine Being) was the Word” (Robert Young, LL.D. (Concise Commentary on the Holy Bible [Grand Rapids: Baker, n.d.], 54). 1885)

“the Word was a god” (Belsham N.T. 1809)

“And the logos was a god” (Leicester Ambrose, The Final Theology, Volume 1, New York, New York; M.B. Sawyer and Company, 1879)

“the Word was Deistic [=The Word was Godly] (Charles A.L. Totten, The Gospel of History, 1900)

”[A]nd was a god” (J.N. Jannaris, Zeitschrift fur die Newtestameutlich Wissencraft, (German periodical) 1901, International Bible Translators N.T. 1981)

“[A] Divine Person.” (Samuel Clarke, M.A., D.D., rector of St. James, Westminster, A Paraphrase on the Gospel of John, London)

“a God” (Lant Carpenter, LL.D (in Unitarianism in the Gospels [London: C. Stower, 1809], 156).)

“a God” (Paul Wernle,(in The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. 1, The Rise of Religion [1903], 16).)

“and the [Marshal] [Word] was a god.” (21st Century Literal)

[A]nd (a) God was the word” (George William Horner, The Coptic Version of the New Testament, 1911)

“[A]nd the Word was of divine nature” (Ernest Findlay Scott, The Literature of the New Testament, New York, Columbia University Press, 1932)

[T]he Word was a God” (James L. Tomanec, The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Anointed, 1958)

“The Word had the same nature as God” (Philip Harner, JBL, Vol. 92, 1974)

“And a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word” (Siegfried Schulz, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1975)

“and godlike sort was the Logos” (Johannes Schneider, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1978)

“the Word was a divine Being” (Scholar’s Version-The Five Gospels, 1993)

“The Divine word and wisdom was there with God, and it was what God was” (J. Madsen, New Testament A Rendering , 1994)

“a God/god was the Logos/logos” (Jurgen Becker, Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1979)

“The Word/word was itself a divine Being/being.” (Curt Stage, The New Testament, 1907)

“the Word was of divine kind” (Lyder Brun (Norw. professor of NT theology), 1945)

“was of divine Kind/kind” (Fredrich Pfaefflin, The New Testament, 1949)

“godlike Being/being had the Word/word” (Albrecht, 1957)

“the word of the world was a divine being” (Smit, 1960)

“God(=godlike Being/being) was the Word/word” (Menge, 1961)

“divine (of the category divinity)was the Logos” (Haenchen (tr. By R. Funk), 1984)

“And the Word was divine.” (William Temple, Archbishop of York, Readings in St. John’s Gospel, London, Macmillan & Co.,1933)

“the word was with Allah[God] and the word was a god” (Greek Orthodox /Arabic Calendar, incorporating portions of the 4 Gospels, Greek Orthodox Patriarchy or Beirut, May, 1983)

“And the Word was Divine” (Ervin Edward Stringfellow (Prof. of NT Language and Literature/Drake University, 1943)

“and the Logos was divine (a divine being)” (Robert Harvey, D.D., Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Westminster College, Cambridge, in The Historic Jesus in the New Testament [/b]

Nice one!