The Word was a god, and Origen, by William Allen 1860
From A Book of Christian Sonnets By William Allen 1890
According to our English Bible the Son of God under the name of the Word seems to be called God by the apostle John, ch. 1, v. 1. But it was not the purpose of John to represent the Word as the infinite, supreme, almighty God. Origen, who wrote in Greek, in the third century, and understood the language better than any modern critic, says, that John's assertion is that, "the logos, or word, was a god," using the word god in its inferior, well-known sense, as is proved by his omission of the article. If he had inserted the article, he would have said, that "the logos was the God, the supreme God, Jehovah." The plain teaching is, there is one God. With him was the logos in the beginning, an exalted, glorious being; a second, inferior God; a being derived from God; and in this sense a divine being.—Besides Origen, Philo and several other fathers of the three first centuries speak of John's omission of the article here as a proof that by the word god he did not mean the Supreme God. Consider also, that if the logos existed "with God," then he was not the very God, with whom he existed.—On the other hand, it is a matter of no weight that when the supreme God is meant, yet the article is often omitted; for it is an established principle that it may be omitted when the name of God is sufficiently definite without it. In John 1: 6,—"a man sent from God:" here is an omission of it as unnecessary. So v. 12,13,18. Origen again says,—"Angels are called gods because they are divine; but we are not commanded to worship them in the place of God, and hence they are not really gods." He says, the article is withheld, when what is called god is a being different from the self-existent God, having a communicated divinity, being a divine person. Such also was the opinion of Clemens, Alexandrinus and Eusebius; and they were men more competent to decide a matter concerning the construction of the Greek language than any modern critic.—In several of the first centuries it was the judgment of such Fathers as Justin, Athenagoras, Tatian, Theophilus, Clemens, Origen, &c., that the word god as applied to Christ denoted a celestial nature, superior to all creatures, but inferior to the Supreme God. But the authority of Christ himself is more decisive,—"My Father is greater than I:" and the whole of scripture shows, that the one perfect God and his Son are two distinct intelligent Beings. As the word in Greek, Acts 28: 6, has no article our translators have very properly said "a god." If any one will look at 2 Thess. 2: 4, he will see, that the word God occurs four times and undistinguished in the English Testament, but in the Greek the word for God appears once—"in the temple of God" —with the article, shewing that the true Supreme God is meant,— and three times without the article, showing, that the word is used in an inferior sense, that a false god was intended. Dr. Macknight's translation is as follows,—"above every one, who is called a god or an object of worship. So that he, in the temple of God, as a god sitteth, openly shewing himself, that he is a god." It is thus, that the Word in John 1st is called a god, and not God the Supreme, the Almighty Jehovah.
When Tatian, about A. D. 165 speaks of "a god, who was born in the form of man" and of "the suffering God," he certainly did not mean, that Christ was the Supreme God, incapable of suffering.
From A Book of Christian Sonnets By William Allen 1890
According to our English Bible the Son of God under the name of the Word seems to be called God by the apostle John, ch. 1, v. 1. But it was not the purpose of John to represent the Word as the infinite, supreme, almighty God. Origen, who wrote in Greek, in the third century, and understood the language better than any modern critic, says, that John's assertion is that, "the logos, or word, was a god," using the word god in its inferior, well-known sense, as is proved by his omission of the article. If he had inserted the article, he would have said, that "the logos was the God, the supreme God, Jehovah." The plain teaching is, there is one God. With him was the logos in the beginning, an exalted, glorious being; a second, inferior God; a being derived from God; and in this sense a divine being.—Besides Origen, Philo and several other fathers of the three first centuries speak of John's omission of the article here as a proof that by the word god he did not mean the Supreme God. Consider also, that if the logos existed "with God," then he was not the very God, with whom he existed.—On the other hand, it is a matter of no weight that when the supreme God is meant, yet the article is often omitted; for it is an established principle that it may be omitted when the name of God is sufficiently definite without it. In John 1: 6,—"a man sent from God:" here is an omission of it as unnecessary. So v. 12,13,18. Origen again says,—"Angels are called gods because they are divine; but we are not commanded to worship them in the place of God, and hence they are not really gods." He says, the article is withheld, when what is called god is a being different from the self-existent God, having a communicated divinity, being a divine person. Such also was the opinion of Clemens, Alexandrinus and Eusebius; and they were men more competent to decide a matter concerning the construction of the Greek language than any modern critic.—In several of the first centuries it was the judgment of such Fathers as Justin, Athenagoras, Tatian, Theophilus, Clemens, Origen, &c., that the word god as applied to Christ denoted a celestial nature, superior to all creatures, but inferior to the Supreme God. But the authority of Christ himself is more decisive,—"My Father is greater than I:" and the whole of scripture shows, that the one perfect God and his Son are two distinct intelligent Beings. As the word in Greek, Acts 28: 6, has no article our translators have very properly said "a god." If any one will look at 2 Thess. 2: 4, he will see, that the word God occurs four times and undistinguished in the English Testament, but in the Greek the word for God appears once—"in the temple of God" —with the article, shewing that the true Supreme God is meant,— and three times without the article, showing, that the word is used in an inferior sense, that a false god was intended. Dr. Macknight's translation is as follows,—"above every one, who is called a god or an object of worship. So that he, in the temple of God, as a god sitteth, openly shewing himself, that he is a god." It is thus, that the Word in John 1st is called a god, and not God the Supreme, the Almighty Jehovah.
When Tatian, about A. D. 165 speaks of "a god, who was born in the form of man" and of "the suffering God," he certainly did not mean, that Christ was the Supreme God, incapable of suffering.
From: Unitarianism the Doctrine of the Gospel: A View of the Scriptural Grounds on Unitarianism from Lant Carpenter - 1817
"...the meaning of the Apostle may, probably, be more correctly represented as follows:
'At the beginning' of this grand era in the moral world, 'he was' declared to be 'the Word; and the Word was with God,' favoured by Him with peculiar divine intercourse and communications, (referring to the period of our Lord's retirement in the Desert;) 'and the Word was a God,' since to him the word of God came, and he was the Representative of the Most High. 'All things' relative to the Gospel dispensation 'were done through him;' he was the appointed agent in all.— Ver. 10. 'He was in the world, and the world' of mankind 'were formed anew' (or brought into an enlightened state) 'by him, and yet the world knew him not.'
"...the meaning of the Apostle may, probably, be more correctly represented as follows:
'At the beginning' of this grand era in the moral world, 'he was' declared to be 'the Word; and the Word was with God,' favoured by Him with peculiar divine intercourse and communications, (referring to the period of our Lord's retirement in the Desert;) 'and the Word was a God,' since to him the word of God came, and he was the Representative of the Most High. 'All things' relative to the Gospel dispensation 'were done through him;' he was the appointed agent in all.— Ver. 10. 'He was in the world, and the world' of mankind 'were formed anew' (or brought into an enlightened state) 'by him, and yet the world knew him not.'
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