The Rev. Lyman Abbott on John 1:1

 There is a difference in the language of the first and last clause of this sentence in the original which is significant, but difficult, if not impossible, to render in the English. In the first clause, "the Word was with God," the article accompanies the word God; In the second clause, "the Word was God," it is wanting. We should measurably reflect the meaning by reading the passage, "the Word was with God and the Word was divine;" or "the Word was with the Father and the Word was God."
"The same was in the beginning with God." John recurs to his first statement and reiterates it, not merely for the sake of emphasis, but also to mark a real distinction between the Word and the unknown Father. For he labors to express two conflicting and even apparently contradictory ideas, the identity of the Word with God and the individuality of the Word, as distinct from the infinite and invisible deity. This contradiction subsequent theology has endeavored in vain to eliminate by drawing distinctions between essence and substance, person and being, etc., in such phraseologies as three in substance and one in essence, or three persons in one God. This philosophy of the Trinity is extra-Scriptural..." ~An Illustrated Commentary on the Gospels By Lyman Abbott D.D. 1906

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