'This MEANS my body.' The New World Translation and the Greek word ESTIN

Matthew 26:26 in the New Jerusalem Bible: "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples. 'Take it and eat,' he said, 'this is my body.'"

Matthew 26:26 in the New World Translation: "As they continued eating, Jesus took a loaf and, after saying a blessing,  he broke it and, giving it to the disciples, he said: 'TAKE, eat. This means my body.'"

About this, one website states: The NWT translates the Greek word "esti" as "is" every time it appears in the New Testament (eg, Mt 26:18, 38, Mk 14:44, Lk 22:38, etc), except in Mt 26:26-28, Mk 14:22-24, and Lk 22:19 where it is rendered as “means”, even though this word is translated as “is” in the Kingdom Interlinear. Why the inconsistency in the translation of the word "esti" in these verses? If the NWT were consistent and translated the Greek word "esti" as "is" in these verses, what would these verses say?

Reply: That's not true. The Greek word ESTIN (in its various forms) occurs almost 1000 times in the NT, and it is rendered as "means" about 49% of the time in the NWT, not just in the few isolated cases as mentioned above.

For instance, from the New World Translation:

"Go, then, and learn what this means/ESTIN, 'I want mercy, and not sacrifice.'" Matt 9:13

"So they brought him to the place Gol'go·tha, which means/ESTIN, when translated,  Skull Place." Mark 15:22

And at the ninth hour Jesus called out with a loud voice: "E'li, E'li, la'ma sa·bach·tha'ni?" which means/ESTIN, when translated: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34

"We have found the Mes·si'ah" (which means/ESTIN, when translated, Christ)." John 1:41

"This means/ESTIN everlasting life" John 17:3

"So Joseph, who was surnamed Bar'na·bas by the apostles, which means/ESTIN, when translated, Son of Comfort" Acts 4:36

"no fornicator or unclean person or greedy person-which means/ESTIN being an idolater-has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God." Ephesians 5:5

"Here is where it means/ESTIN endurance for the holy ones" Rev 14:12

"And the woman whom you saw means/ESTIN the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth." Rev 17:18

"This means/ESTIN the second death." Rev 21:8


"Means" falls within the allowable lexical range of meaning for this word, as is evident in Matthew 1:23 in most versions: "and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which means/ESTIN, God with us)." RSV

Other Bible versions have also translated and expounded similarly to the NWT

"The broken bread is a symbol of Christ's body." NASB Zondervan Study Bible, 1Cor 1:24 ftn.

"this means my blood, the new covenant-blood, shed for many, to win the remission of their sins." Moffatt Bible

"for this represents my blood, the blood of the new covenant which is shed for mankind for the remission of sins." Daniel Mace New Testament

"This means my body." William Barclay NT

"Take, eat; this SIGNIFIES my body." Authentic New Testament by Hugh J. Schonfield (See also The Simple English Bible footnote)

"This represents my body." The Eonian Life Bible: New Testament (Christopher Sparkes)

The Translator's New Testament adds in a note:

"This saying is interpreted in different ways in different parts of the Church. In the original context the word "is" can only mean 'stand for', 'represents', as Jesus' actual body was there in it's physical form."

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A Conversation on the Trinity Doctrine

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A Conversation on the Trinity

From an Email Sent to Me: Consider the appearances of YHWH in the OT to his saints. And consider them in context with Ex 33:20, "Thou canst see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.," and with the parallel declaration in the NT, "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him," indicate the he, who thus manifested himself, was the Lord Jesus.
Now Jacob says, "I have seen YHWH face to face, and my life is preserved" (Gen 32:30), and after his wrestling all night long in tangible conflict with the One now called a man, now the angel, now God, now the Lord of Hosts (Hosea 7:3,4). The elders saw the God of Israel. To Moses, for example, the Lord spoke face to face, as a man speaks with his friend (Ex. 33:11). Joshua conversed with the adorable captain of Jehovah's hosts (Josh 5:15). Manoah feared, saying, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God" (Jud. 13:22). Isaiah cried, "Woe is me! for I am ruined;...for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:5). Of the message then recorded, we are expressly told - "These things said Isaiah, when he saw his (Christ's) glory, and spoke of Him (Jn 12:41). These are only a few on many passages in which the who appears under the form of an angel or a man, is, in the immediate context, declared to be God (YHWH). The big question is, who was this being? Who is this Angel, or Sent One - the one whom the Lord calls "MY PRESENCE"? (Ex. 33:14; Num. 12:8). It is also said of this being - "Beware of Him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my Name is in him" (Ex. 23:20-21). This one could not be distinctively the Father, for no man hath seen him at any time, or can see him and live. But he who appeared is declared to be YHWH . Are we not compelled to acknowledge that he was the Divine Word, the Son, the brightness of His Father's glory, the express image of His person? (Heb 1:3ff). And let's talk briefly about Heb 1: I think that this passage gives Christ the Divine Name - the Tetragrammaton, the name which names the unique identity of the One God, the name which is exclusive to the One God in a way that the sometimes ambiguous word 'god' is not. Heb. 1:4 states that Jesus, exalted to the right hand of God, became "became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent then theirs." This can only refer to the divine name, as must "the name that is above every name," from Phip. 2. Connected with this naming of the exalted Christ by the divine name is the early Christian use of the phrase "to call on the name of the Lord", as a reference to Christian confession in baptism. The OT phrase [Ps 82:18; Isa. 12:4; Joel 2:32; Zeph. 3:9; Zech. 13:9] means to invoke God by His Name YHWH [CF. Gen. 4:26; 1 Kings 18:24-39], but the early Christian use of it applies to Jesus. It means invoking Jesus as the divine Lord who exercises the divine sovereignty and bears the divine name. Another reason that Heb. 1:8 should be rendered "Thy Throne , o God [HO THEOS IS AGAIN APPLIED TO JESUS] is forever...

Reply: The Dictionary of Deities and Demons [Van Der Toorn] says of the ANGEL OF YAHWEH, "The word ANGEL in this phrase is literally 'messenger'. The juxtaposition of the common noun 'messenger' with a following divine name in a genitive construction signifying a relationship of subordination is attested elsewhere in the ancient Near East." That is probably not what you want to hear, is it?

Others have also mentioned that the angel of Jehovah might be Jesus. Let's take a look at this. In Genesis 18 we have more than one, "And Jehovah appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him." Later we have these 3 angels splitting up, 19:1 "And the two angels came to Sodom". It is not realistic to imagine Jesus as 2 or 3 people. After referencing Genesis 18 and 19, Justin explains to Trypho: "There is . . . another God and Lord SUBJECT TO THE MAKER OF ALL THINGS; who is also  called an Angel, because He announces to men whatsoever the Maker of all things---above whom there is no other God---wishes to announce to them."?Chap. LVI.?God Who Appeared to Moses Is Distinguished from God the Father.

The angel that appeared to Moses was still referred to as an angel in the NT, even though HERE would have been a great opportunity to explain otherwise, "And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. Acts 7:30-32

There were other appearances of the angel of the Lord in the book of Acts (see Acts 5:19; 8:26; 10:3; 12:7, 11, 23). see also Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2)  Compare this to visions of Jesus in the same book. As a spirit creature Christ is "the image of the invisible God" and "the exact representation of his very being", yet a partial revealment of his glory was so intensely brilliant that it blinded Saul of Tarsus, and sight returned only after a miracle of God. (Acts 9:1-18)

Interestingly, the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible says this of Moses, "In the OT as well as the NT Moses is above all the mediator or revelation. Several times his most intimate relation with the LORD is emphasized (e.g., Exod 19:9.19; 20:18-21; 24:18; 33:11.18-23; Num 12:7,8; Deut 5:20-28; Ps 103:7; Sir 45:5; cf. John 9:29; Acts 7:38; Heb 8:5), evidently to emphasize that Moses' words and prescriptions really are the words and rules of the LORD himself. In connection with his role as a mediator of revelation, Moses is portrayed with superhuman traits (cf. also Deut 34:5; Sir 45:20. According to Exod 34:29-35 the skin of Moses' face radiated after his meeting with the Lord on Mount Sinai (Exod 34:29.30.35), i.e. his face was enveloped in a divine aura. By this nimbus Moses was legitimated as the true representative of the LORD (cf. Matt 17:2, Acts 6:15)."

So there were similarities in the representational aspects of both Moses and Jesus, without either having to share nature or essence or Godhood in a consubstantial manner. And I also submit that the angel of Jehovah could have been Jesus at times, but this does not help your view since and angel is a lesser being than Jehovah himself.

But did the name Jehovah become supplanted by Jesus?
The NT writers had use of the LXX (Septuagint). Did the early LXX use the divine name?

"We know that the the Greek Bible text [the Septuagint] as far as it was written by Jews for Jews did not translate the Divine Name by Kyrios, but the Tetragrammaton written with Hebrew or Greek letters was retained in such MSS. It was the Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton by Kyrios, when the divine name written in Hebrew letters was not understood anymore". (Dr. P. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, Oxford, 1959, p.222)

When did they remove the name? In a commentary on the manuscript P Fouad 266, Professor G. D. Kilpatrick, on talking about the period between 70-135 C.E. said that 3 important changes were made in this period. The change from scroll to Codex, the Tetragrammaton was replaced by KYRIOS and abbreviations were introduced for divine names. See Etudes de Papyrologie Tome Neuvieme 1971 pp. 221,222

Why did they remove the Name? "The removal of the Tetragrammaton from the New Testament and its replacement with the surrogates KYRIOS and THEOS blurred the original distinction between the Lord God and the Lord Christ, and in many passages made it impossible which one was meant.  ..Once the Tetragrammaton was removed and replaced by the surrogate 'Lord', scribes were unsure whether "lord" meant God or Christ. As time went on, these two figures were brought into even closer unity until it was often impossible to distinguish between them. Thus it may be that the removal of the Tetragrammaton contributed significantly to the later Christological and Trinitarian debates which plagued the church of the early Christian centuries." George Howard, The Name of God in the New Testament, BAR 4.1 (March 1978), 15

The Trinity, the removal of the Divine Name, the conciliar decisions and the controversies surrounding it blurred the lines between Father and Son

"The strongest anti-Arians experienced their present as a sharp break with the past. It was they who demanded, in effect, that Christianity be "updated" by blurring or even obliterating the long-accepted distinction between the Father and the Son." When Jesus Became God by Richard E. Rubenstein, p.74

Is this Christian or Biblical though?

A. Marmorstein in the book The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God deals extensively with the Hellenistic in the early Jews, and that is the major reason they stopped pronouncing it.
The Bible never tells us to stop using it though. In fact, just the opposite.
Ex. 3:15: "And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent
me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations."
Ps 135:13 "Thy name, O Jehovah, [endureth] for ever;
Thy memorial [name], O Jehovah, throughout all generations."
Mal 3:6 "For I, Jehovah, change not"
In fact, Jehovah jealously guarded his name."And ye shall
not profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of
Israel" Lev 22:32

We know that Jesus made mention of this name at John 5:43, 10:25, 17:6, 11, 12 and Matt 6:9
So what Name was it that Jesus had? "Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

So let us take a look at Hebrews 1....again. Here I will be quoting from the Anchor Bible/Hebrews 1, which also has an interesting parallel of Jesus to Moses like I mentioned above:

"Hebrews also considered Jesus a 'reflection of the glory' which means the same as being a 'stamp of his nature.' The Greek word for 'stamp' comes from the verb charassein, "to mark, engrave, or stamp." The stamp, accordingly, refers to the characteristics and distinctive form (see II Macc 4:10). Isaac was claimed to have features like those of Abraham (Gen R. 21:2; 53: 6). Thyis does not mean either that Isaac was actually identical to Abraham or that Jesus was identical to God. Both were reflections and had characteristics of their Fathers. Jesus was the son, heir, and apostle of God (3:1). As apostle or agent he was sent with the full authority of the one who sent him. A man's agent is like the man himself, not physically, but legally.  He has the power of attorney for the one who sent him. That which the apostle/agent does in behalf of and has the approval and support of the one who sent him. He has the authority of an ambassador who speaks in behalf of a king in negotiating for his country (Ber. 5:5)...Just as Christians thought of Jesus as an apostle of God, so Jews thought of Moses as the 'apostle between Israel and their heavenly Father' (Sifra behuqqotai, perek 8:12; Lev 26:46). As the great apostle (magnus nuntius), Moses prayed "every hour, both day and night...to him who rules the world." (Assumption of Moses 11:17). Samaritans also thought of Moses as their apostle of God; they called him a good apostle, a righteous apostle, an apostle of God, and the apostle of the true One whom God especially chose for apostleship. As apostle he was also called "Son of the house of God," God's "man", "saviour," "prophet," "Faithful one," "crown of the righteous of the world," and "light of prophethood". As an apostle, Moses was entrusted with the mysteries and honored in the things revealed. To Moses was revealed that which preceded creation and also that which follows the day of vengeance....There are many biblical illustrations of apostolic authority: Jehu was ritually made king when Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint him. It was not necessary for Elisha to anoint him himself for the anointing to be authoritative (II Kings 9:1-10). Paul sent a message to the Corinthians, giving them authority to deliver to Satan the man who had been living with his father's wife, becasue Paul was "with them in spirit", meaning that his legal authorization was there (1 Cor 5:1-5)."

But does v.8 mean that he is the Almighty God himself?

"This is not a necessary conclusion. As the pros in v.7 means "in reference to," and it seems most likely that pros in vs. 8 should be rendered in the same way, so it is in reference to the Son that the author quoted the scripture dealing with the eternity of God's throne, upon which the Son would sit. When Solomon, who was God's Son (II Samuel 7:14), ruled over the Lord's kingdom (1Chron 29:11), he sat on the Lord's throne (al kisse Yhwh) (1 Chron 29:23; see also Enoch 51:3; 55:4; 61:8; 62:2-3, 5; 69:26-27, 29). That did not mean that Solomon was God. It means that Solomon ruled over God's kingdom when he ruled over Palestine, and he sat on God's throne when he ruled from Jerusalem. Therefore it is just as proper to speak of the eternity of God's throne with reference to the Son Jesus who was to sit on it as it was to speak of God's throne when Solomon the Son, sat on it. ....For the author(of Hebrews), the Son was the first-born, the apostle of God, the reflection of God's glory, and the stamp of his nature (1:3, 6), but he was not God himself." The Anchor Bible with Commentary by G. W. Buchanan.

By quoting Ps. 97:7, Hebrews 1:6 relates to Jesus' position  under God. (Phil.2:9-11) Paul shows that the resurrected Jesus has a God over  him (1:9). He is not God but "the reflection of [God's] glory and the exact representation of his very being (1:3)." God is his father (1:5) God speaks to us through his son, a Son which was appointed to his position (1:2). Jesus sits at the "right hand of Majesty (1:3). He obtained a better name/authority (1:4). God had to subject the risen Christ's enemies below his feet (1:14). In Hebrews, as is common elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus is never placed on an equal footing with the Almighty, his God Jesus is not the Almighty. Jesus had a God over him before, during and after he came to earth (Mic.5:4, Rom.15:6, Rev.1:6; 3:2,12). Rather than being equal in power, Jesus is said to be in subjection to God even at his highest. (1Cor.15:27,28, Eph. 1:17; 19-22). Mat.28:18,19 says that when Jesus returned to heaven he had to be "given" all authority (power-KJV). If Jesus were equal to God in power, why would he need to be "given" any authority? (Mt.28:18; 11:27; Jn. 5:22; 17:2; 3:35; 2 Pet.1:17) cf. (Mat.11:26-27, Dan.7:13-14, Phil.2:9). Why isn't he powerful enough to subject things to himself? (1 Cor.15:27, Eph.1:17,22) Why doesn't he have the authority to personally grant his followers special positions? (Mat.20:23.) Matt. 24:36 shows that Jesus was not equal to God in knowledge (Cf. Lk.8: 45). Even after his ascension to heaven, why did he then not know what God knows--having to receive a revelation from God? (Rev.1:1). Why did Jesus have to LEARN anything? (Heb.5:8, Jn.5:19; 8:28) Jesus did not exist from eternity but is everywhere described in temporal terms denoting a beginning of life: son, begotten, born, produced, birth, child, image and copy etc. Why did he have to be GIVEN life in himself? (Jn.5:25,26) If Jesus existed from eternity, how could he be a "BEGOTTEN God"? (Jn. 1:18) The idea of "eternal generation" is foreign to scripture and it is a contradiction of terms, an oxymoron. Before Athanasius the word "begotten" meant just that: a birth of something not in existence before. The term "Eternal generation"  was invented by Athanasius who could not accept the normal meaning of biblical words when they contradicted his theology. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I:349)
Jesus is at the right hand of God, and thereby does not share the same substance. How could he be at the "right hand of God," if he were in fact the very substance of God? (Luke.22:69, Acts 7:55, Romans.8:34) These are facts that contradict a Trinity. The only way is to resort to a Trinity is to claim that it is “mystery” beyond human understanding. And, evidently beyond God’s ability to explain in his word.

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And the Word was a God by Raja Ram Mohun Roy 1887

And the Word was a God by Raja Ram Mohun Roy 1887

The exposition of the Editor must render John 1:1, directly contradictory of Deut. 32:39, "I am he, and there is no God with me." Here Jehovah himself expressly denies having another real God with him in the universe, for he is often said to have had fictitious Gods with him, and, therefore, Jehovah's denial, in this verse, must be referred and confined to real Gods. Psalm 82:1: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the Gods." He then addressed himself to those nominal Gods of Israel, among whom be stood, "I said, ye are Gods" (inverse 6). But we firmly believe that John, an inspired writer, could not utter any thing that might contradict the express declaration of Jehovah, though the Editor and others, from a mistaken notion, ascribe this contradiction to the Evangelist. They thus render the last sentence of the verse "the word was God,"' without the indefinite article "a" before "God," while they translate Exod. 7:1, "I have made thee (Moses) a God to Pharoah," though, in the original Hebrew, there stands only the word Elohim or "God," without the indefinite article "a" before it. If regard for the divine unity induced them to add the article "a" in the verse of Exodus, "a God to Pharoah," why did not the same regard, as well as a desire of consistency, suggest to them to add the article "a" in John 1:1, "the word was a God"? We may, however, easily account for this inconsistency. The term "God," in Exodus, is applied to Moses, the notion of whose deity they abhor; but as they meant to refer the same term in John 1:1, to Jesus, (whose deity they are induced by their education to support,) they leave the word "God" here without the article "a," and carefully write it with a capital G. If eternity be understood bv the phrase "In the beginning," in John 1:1, and Jesus Christ be literally understood by the "word," then we shall not only be compelled to receive Christ as an eternal being, but also his apostles; since Luke (ch. i. 2) speaks of himself and his fellow-disciples, as "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word from the beginning."

I shall now quote the interpretation of this passage, by searchers after truth, who have been enabled to overcome their early-acquired prejudices. See Improved version, for which the Christian world is indebted to its eminently learned authors.

The Word. 'Jesus is so called because God revealed himself or his word by him.' Newcome. The same title is given to Christ, Luke 1:2. For the same reason he is called the Word of life, I John 1:1, which passage is so clear and useful a comment upon the proem to the gospel, that it may ho proper to cite the whole of it. 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life: for the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us: that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you.' By a similar metonymy Christ is called the Life, the Light, the Way, the Truth, and the Resurrection. See Cappe's Dissert. Vol I. p. 19.

In the beginning. Or, from the first, i. e. from the commencement of the gospel dispensation or of the ministry of Christ. This is the usual sense of the word in the writings of this evangelist. John 6:64, Jesus knew from the beginning, or from the first: ch. 15:27, 'Ye have been with me from the beginning.' See ch. 16:14, 2:24, 3:11; also 1 John 1:1, 2:7, 8; 2 John 6, 7. Nor is this sense of the word uncommon in other passages of the New Testament. 2 Thess. 2:13; Phil. 4:15; Luke 1:2.

The Word was with God. He withdrew from the world to commune with God, and to receive divine instructions and qualifications, previously to his public ministry. As Moses was with God in the mount, Exod. 34:28, so was Christ in the wilderness, or elsewhere, to be instructed and disciplined for his high and important office. See Cappe, ibid, p. 22.

And the Word was a God. 'Was God.' Newcome. Jesus received a commission as a prophet of the Most High, and was invested with extraordinary miraculous powers. But in the Jewish phraseology they were called gods to whom the word of God came. (John 10:35.) So Moses is declared to be a god to Pharoah. (Exod. 7:1.) Some translate the passage, God was the Word, q. d. it was not so properly he that spake to men as God that spake to them by him. Cappe, ibid. See John 10: 30, compared with 17:8, 2:16, 3:34, 5:23, 12:44. Crellius conjectured that the true reading was QEW, the Word was God's, q. d. the first teacher of the gospel derived his commission from God. But this conjecture, however plausible, rests upon no authority.

Was in the beginning with God. Before he entered upon his ministry he was fully instructed, by intercourse with God, in the nature and extent of his commission.

All things were done by him. 'All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.' Newcome; who explains it of the creation of the visible, material world by Christ, as the agent and instrument of God. See his notes on ver. 3 and 10. But this is a sense which the word EGENETO will not admit, GINOMAI occurs upwards of seven hundred times in the New Testament, but never in the sense of create. It signifies, in this gospel, where it occurs fifty-three times, to be, to come, to become, to come to pass; also, to be done or transacted, ch. 15:7, 19:36. It has the latter sense, Matt. 5:18, 6:8, 21:4?, 26:6. All things in the Christian dispensation were done by Christ, i. e. by his authority, and according to his direction; and in the ministry committed to his apostles nothing has been done without his warrant. See John 15:4, 5, 'Without me ye can do nothing.' Compare vers. 7,10, 16; John 17:8; Col. 1:16, 17. Cappe, ibid.

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and the word was (a) God; or (a) god; or (a) divine being.

and the word was (a) God;” or (a) god; or (a) divine being. 1903 Article in Herald of Gospel Liberty, Volume 95, edited by Elias Smith

John 1:1.
Rev. J. J. Summerbell,
DEAR BROTHER:-Will you please explain in THE HERALD of Gospel LIBERTY, St. John, first chapter and first verse, and oblige,
Your brother in Christ,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ANSWER.

One of the great attributes of God is truth, or knowledge, or reason, or wisdom, the Word.

This attribute, the Word, became incarnated when Jesus was born at Bethlehem. See verse 14, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

However, before that time, the Word existed in a divine being distinguished from the Father; even “in the beginning.” It is probable that “the beginning” spoken of was the “beginning” referred to in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We believe that the agent of God, “in the beginning,” in the creating of the God; for in Hebrews 1:2, we read that God “through him made the worlds.” For beautiful confirmation of this, read Paul's words in Colossians, 1:12-18. And John (1:3) says, “All things were made through him.”

Turn directly to John 1:1, and translate it literally, as modern translators have not been brave enough to do:

“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with the God, and the word was (a) God;” or (a) god; or (a) divine being.

That is, the word was divine; it was of the nature of deity. It was not the God, however, for it was with “the God.” And John emphasizes this point, by saying in the next verse, the very next language, “The same was in beginning with the God.” He makes a clear distinction between him whom he here calls the God, and all other divine beings. We must remember that he was writing for an age when cultivated men believed there “were gods many and lords many” (see 1 Cor. 8:5).

This being whom John calls the word, or the Word, was in the beginning with the God, and was himself of the nature of God. And “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” He was made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they (see Hebrews 1st chapter). This Word was the embodiment of the wisdom, reason, truth, light, or knowledge of God, “in the beginning;” and at the birth in Bethlehem, this great attribute of God was incarnated, made flesh, in Jesus, the “only begotten of the Father.” And he was the light of the world: “the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

(There is absolutely nothing, except the sense, in the original Greek of John 1:1, to show how the capitals should be placed in our English. There lies before us a facsimile of the Alexandrian manuscript of John 1:1, and the letters in the body of the text are all of equal size; in fact, they might all be called capitals, for there is only one kind of letter. In the first Greek manuscripts there was no distinction; all were what we call capitals. The distinction between capitals and small letters was the invention of a later age. Hence, whether we are to capitalize the word theos (god or God) depends wholly on the sense; and, therefore, we cannot determine the sense by the capitals, either in English or Greek. In our modern Greek Testaments the word theos (God) is not often begun with a capital letter).

Jesus was with the Father in the beginning, and himself was a divine being, and was the one through whom God made all things.

The omission, by John, of the definite article the before the word theos (god) compels us to accept the word in that case as a generic word, including the class. John carefully distinguishes between the theos (God), the Father, and the theos that refers to the Son, by joining the Greek article to the former; and he makes this same distinction by the Greek article in the second verse, which, literally translated, reads, “The same was in beginning with the God.”

Brethren who may wish to learn how imperative this argument, derived from the Greek use of the definite article, may be, should consult an extensive Greek grammar. In Winer's New Testament Grammar, translated by Thayer, 7th edition, page 122, occur these words, applying to the very case in question:

“In John 1:1 theos en ho logos the Art. could not have been omitted if John had intended to designate the logos as ho theos, because in this connection theos alone would be ambiguous. But that John designedly wrote theos is apparent, partly from the distinct antithesis pros ton theon verses 1, 2, and partly from the whole description of the logos. Similarly stands in l Peter 4: 19 pistos ktistes without the Art.”

In that passage, 1 Pet. 4:19, the grammarian calls our attention to the will of the God, and (a) faithful creator. That is, in this case creator is a generic word, the article being omitted before it, whereas the God is specific, the use of the definite article limiting it to him who is always the infinite God, in whom we live and move and have our being; the God.

To illustrate such cases of the definite article, even in our own language, we might manufacture some sentences:

(Some years ago there was talk of a meeting between President Diaz, of Mexico, and President Harrison, of the United States. If it had occurred, a writer might have written,)

In California was Diaz, and Diaz was with the President, and Diaz was a president.

(It may be remembered by those familiar with the history of Napoleon the Great, then Emperor of the French, that on a certain occasion he met with the Czar of Russia, at Erfurth. A French historian might have written,)

At Erfurth was the Czar Alexander; Alexander was with the Emperor, Alexander was an emperor.

(A yachtsman, looking from his club-house might say,)

On the flagstaff is the pennant, and the pennant is with the flag, and the pennant is a flag.

The hearer would understand him to mean that the pennant was with the flag of our country, the flag.

Thus illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely.

It may be asked, Why was not the distinction made in our English Bibles by the translators? We answer that we believe that the translation was colored by dogmatic belief. There are two prevailing classes of theologians:

(1) Those who wish to make it appear by the translation, if possible, that more than one God existed in the Godhead. They seemed to believe that this could be done vaguely by using the word with the capital and without the article the, when applied to the Father, and likewise with the capital letter when applied to the other person, the Son of God.

(2) The second influential class among the learned consisted of those who wished to obscure the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus altogether; and this could be done by making John 1:1 largely meaningless or contradictory. And so the passage has been left in an ambiguous form, as though John meant to teach that the Word was the infinite God whom he was with. This has been a disgrace to the learned men of Christendom in modern times. We are sorry to believe that the accurate distinction which John made between the Son of God and the Father has been intentionally obscured by popular theologians.

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"Once for all Time" and Hebrews 9 in the New World Translation

From Cult Watch By John Ankerberg, John Weldon: "Another verse the Society mistranslates to support its rejection of the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment is Hebrews 9:27. The standard way this is understood can be seen from the NIV's translation which reads: 'Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment....' Next, please notice how the NWT adds words not in the original to justify the Watchtower's own biased doctrine: 'And as it is reserved for men to die once for all time [i.e., be annihilated], but after this a judgment.' The words 'for all time' are not in the Greek text, as their own interlinear shows (p. 988). Dr. Mantey observes, 'No honest scholar would attempt to so pervert the word of God." In the Bible, God Himself warns all translators, 'Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar' (Proverbs 30:6)."

Reply: First, all Bible translations "add to His words" as translating word-for-word from the originals would make the text unreadable and certainly not understandable.

The NWT also uses "once for all time" at Jude 3 (amongst other places) for the same Greek word hAPAX. Now the NIV Bible at Jude 3 has "once for all" as does the ESV, NASB HCSB, ASV etc. The New Living Bible and the God's Word Translation has "once for all time."

The reason they do so is supported by lexicons and dictionaries for the Greek word here used (hAPAX). W.E. Vine's An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states that hAPAX denotes "a. once, one time.... b. once for all, of what is of perpetual validity, not requiring repetition." The Abbott-Smith Manual Greek Lexicon gives "once for all" with Hebrews 9:28, as does Baxter's Greek Lexicon, adding "once for ever" for Jude 3. Edward Robinson's Lexicon has "once and no more" for Hebrews 9. See also Bible Key Words by John Rider Coates 1958, p. 54.

"Christ's death was once for all. His sacrifice was sufficient. No one else had to die for people's sins; Christ will not have to die again. The words 'for all' do not refer to people but rather are a translation of the Greek word hapax (once) and thus mean that Christ died 'once for all time.'" Life Application Bible Commentary by Bruce B. Barton 1995

"Jude asserts that the faith was 'once for all' delivered to the saints. The Greek term is hapax, and it means 'once for all time.'"
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/40-contend-earnestly-for-the-faith

Barclay Newman's Greek Dictionary (page 18) published by the United Bible Society, says that hAPAX means "once, one time, once for all time."

The Greek Lexicon by E. W. Bullinger, on page 552, defines hAPAX as "once, one time, once for all."

The Jerusalem Bible reads "once and for all," William Barclay reads "once and for all," and The New Century Version 1993 reads "only once and for all time" at Hebrews 9:28.

"Here attention is called to the Greek word used by the Holy Spirit. It is 'hapax' and means: 1) once, one time, 2) once for all (time, frw). It is the same word used in Hebrews: 'So Christ was once (hapax: once, one time; once for all time) offered to bear the sins of man...'" Barnes Church of Christ - Home of the Oklahoma City School of Biblical Studies
http://okcsbs.com/what-is-truth-2/#.WunXCZKumJ8

"...the Greek word apax and its cognate epaphax, both of which mean 'once' or 'once for all [time],' that is, something that happens one time and never needs to be repeated, being fully effective thereafter forever (Rom. 6:10; Heb. 7:27, 9:12, 9:26, 10:10; 1 Pet. 3:18)." Such a Great Salvation: An Overview of the Christian Faith, p. 128 By Henry Summerall

So Julius Mantey and his minions have embarrassed themselves again. Hebrews 9 in the New World Translation is not mistranslated, and it actually appears to be a better translation than most other Bibles.

The Septuagint and Hexapla Bibles, Over 110 Bibles and Books to Download

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Contents (created on a Windows computer):

The Old Testament in Greek, according to the text of Codex Vaticanus ...
by Alan England Brooke, Norman McLean, Henry St. John Thackeray - 1909

A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament w/Apocrypha by Edwin Hatch, Henry Adeney Redpath - 1906

The Septuagint version of the Old Testament
by Launcelot Lee Brenton - 1884 - 1130 pages

The Septuagint by Henry Barclay Swete

An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek by Henry Barclay Swete 1900

The Psalms in Greek According to the Septuagint by Henry Barclay Swete 1896

The 1808 Charles Thomson Septuagint

An Interlinear Septuagint with Strong's Numbers

The Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek by Henry Thackeray 1909

The Grammar of the Septuagint by Conybeare

An apology for the Septuagint, in which its claims to biblical and canonical are vindicated, by Edward William Grinfield - 1850

Selections from the Septuagint: According to the Text of Swete
by Henry Barclay Swete, Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare - 1905

A letter shewing why our English Bibles differ so much from the Septuagint by Thomas Brett - 1743

The Witness of the Vulgate, Peshitta and Septuagint to the Text of Zephaniah by Sidney Zandstra - Bible - 1909 - 52 pages

The Letter of Aristeas: Translated with an Appendix of Ancient Evidence of Origin of the Septuagint by Henry St. John Thackeray - 1917 - 116 pages

Scripture onomatology, critical notes on the Septuagint
by Eliezer Flecker - 1883

Notes designed to illustrate some words and expressions in the Greek Testament by Charles Frederic B. Wood  - 1882

The Greek Version of the Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs by R.H. Charles 1908

Sir Lancelot Brenton's Septuagint Version in Searchable PDF format 1851

Sir Lancelot Brenton's Septuagint Version in Searchable Open Office format 1851

The Hexaplar Psalter being the Book of Psalms in Six English Versions 1911
Coverdale (1535) Great Bible (1539) Geneva (1560) Bishops (1568) Authorised (1611) Revised (1885) in parallel columns

The Septuagint Rendering of Shiggaion by James Kelso 1907

The Bible Under Trial by James Orr 1907

The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text by John William Burgon 1896

The Triglot Bible, Volume 1 1890

The Triglot Bible, Volume 2 1890

The Greek Septuagint, Its Use in the New Testament Examined by Clarence Esme Stuart 1859

The Quotations of the New Testament from the Old, by Franklin Johnson 1896

The Old Testament in the New by David McCalman Turpin 1868

The Name Jehovah in the New Versions of the Bible 1906 (article)

The Septuagint and New Testament Rendering of Jehovah (article in The Biblical Review) 1847

Origen's Hexapla 1875 Volume 1

Origen's Hexapla 1875 Volume 2

The Complutensian Polyglot Bible
The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, planned and financed by Cardinal Cisneros (1436-1517). It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos.
This is a 500MB pdf (Acrobat) file that you can read and/or print off your computer. About 1500 pages

The English version of the Polyglot Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments - With Copious & Original Selections of References to Parallel and Illustrative Passages 1872

The Psalter of the Church - The Septuagint Psalms compared with the Hebrew by by FW Mozley M.A. 1905

Prolegomena to a Greek-Hebrew & Hebrew-Greek index to Aquila by Joseph Reider 1916

A Handbook to the Septuagint by Richard Ottley 1920

The Apocalypse of St. John done into Modern English, with Explanatory Notes and Translations from the Septuagint by Ralph Sadler 1891

The Book of Isaiah According to the Septuagint (Codex Alexandrinus) by RR Ottley 1904, Introduction and Translation with a Parallel Version from the Hebrew

The Septuagint Fallacy - An Indictment of Modern Criticism by William Phillips 1918

The Septuagint and Jewish Worship by Henry St. John Thackeray 1920

An Enquiry into the Present State of the Septuagint Version by Henry Owen 1769

A Chronological Essay on the Sacred History - Being a Defence of the Computation of the Septuagint by Thomas Brett 1729

Sources of New Testament Greek  - The influence of the Septuagint on the vocabulary of the New Testament by H.A.A. Kennedy 1895

A Handy Concordance of the Septuagint Giving Various Readings from codices Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, and Ephraemi, with an Appendix of Words from Origen's Hexapla, etc., not found in the above mss 1887

The Old Testament in Greek, according to the text of Codex Vaticanus, supplemented from other uncial manuscripts, with a critical apparatus containing the variants of the chief ancient authorities for the text of the Septuagint by Alan Brooke & Henry St. John Thackeray 1906 Volume 1 Part 1

The Old Testament in Greek, according to the text of Codex Vaticanus, supplemented from other uncial manuscripts, with a critical apparatus containing the variants of the chief ancient authorities for the text of the Septuagint by Alan Brooke & Henry St. John Thackeray 1906 Volume 1 Part 2

The Old Testament in Greek, according to the text of Codex Vaticanus, supplemented from other uncial manuscripts, with a critical apparatus containing the variants of the chief ancient authorities for the text of the Septuagint by Alan Brooke & Henry St. John Thackeray 1906 Volume 1 Part 3

A Greek and English Dictionary, comprising all the words in the writings of the most popular Greek authors with the difficult inflections in them and in the Septuagint and New Testament 1828 by John Groves

Hebraisms in the Greek Testament by William Guillemard 1879

The Greek Genesis by Albert Olmstead 1900

The influence of the Septuagint upon the PeSitta Psalter by Joseph Frederic Berg 1895

The Book of Judges in Greek, according to the text of Codex Alexandrinus by AE Brook 1897

The Septuagint and Hebrew Chronologies By William Cuninghame 1838

Recent Translations of the Septuagint, article in The Church quarterly review 1882

Recent Criticism of the Letter of Aristeas, article in The Jewish quarterly review 1902

An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 1 By Thomas Hartwell Horne 1836

An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 2 By Thomas Hartwell Horne 1836

An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Volume 3 By Thomas Hartwell Horne 1836

An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics including an account of polygot Bibles; the best Greek, and Greek and Latin, editions of the Septuagint and New Testament by Thomas Dibdin Volume 1 (1808)

An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics including an account of polygot Bibles; the best Greek, and Greek and Latin, editions of the Septuagint and New Testament by Thomas Dibdin Volume 2 (1808)

The Philogy of the Greek Bible by Adolf Deissmann 1908

Studia Biblica et ecclesiastica 1885 (The light thrown by the Septuagint version on the Books of Samuel.)

Article about the Divine Name in the Septuagint in The Princeton theological review 1914 (Exegetical Theology)

Jehovah the Redeemer God - Scriptural Interpretations of the Divine Name By Thomas Tyler 1861

An inquiry into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, hades, tartarus, and gehenna: all translated hell, in the common English version by Walter Balfour 1854

The Roman edition of the Septuagint by E.W. Grinfield 1855

History of the Canon of the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Church by Eduard Reuss 1884

Philology of the Greek Bible, Philosophy of the Septuagint, article in The Expositor 1907

Corrections of the copies of the Septuagint portion of the Vatican MSS by Herman Heinfetter 1865

Principles of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 1 by Johann August Ernestus 1833

Principles of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 2 by Johann August Ernestus 1833

The Hexaglot Bible comprising the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, English, German and French by Edward Riches de Levante 1906 Volume 1

The Hexaglot Bible comprising the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, English, German and French by Edward Riches de Levante 1906 Volume 2

The Hexaglot Bible comprising the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, English, German and French by Edward Riches de Levante 1906 Volume 3

The Hexaglot Bible comprising the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, English, German and French by Edward Riches de Levante 1906 Volume 4

The Hexaglot Bible comprising the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, English, German and French by Edward Riches de Levante 1906 Volume 5

The Hexaglot Bible comprising the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, English, German and French by Edward Riches de Levante 1906 Volume 6

The Parchments of the Faith by George Merrill 1894

Essays in Biblical Greek - by Edwin Hatch - 1889 - 296 pages

The Ancestry of Our English Bible: An Account of Manuscripts, Texts etc
by Ira Maurice Price - 1920

A Full Account and Collation of the Greek Cursive Codex Evangelium 604
by H C Hoskier - 1890

The Alexandrine Gospel: Sirach, Wisdom, Philo, the Epistle to the Hebrews 1917 by A Nairne

American Greek Testaments by I.H. Hall 1883

New Greek Delectus by Henry Musgrave Wilkins M.A. 1880

Grammar of the Greek Language by Kuhner 1844

Greek Prose Composition fur Use in Colleges by Edward H. Spieker Ph.D 1904

A First Greek Reader by W.G. Rushbrooke M.L.

Syntax of Classical Greek from Homer to Demosthenes
by Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, Charles William Emil Miller 1911

Plus You get the following books on Bible Versions:

English Bible versions by Henry Barker 1907

The Puritan Bible and other contemporaneous Protestant versions by WJ Heaton 1913

Our own English Bible - its translators and their work by WJ Heaton 1913

The Bible of the Reformation by by WJ Heaton 1910

The Lollard Bible and other medieval Biblical versions by Margaret Deanesly 1920

The ancestry of our English Bible by Ira Price 1911

English versions prior to King James 1911

Historical account of some of the more important versions and editions of the Bible by Charles Darling 1894

Old Bibles - an account of the early versions of the English Bible by JR Dore 1888

Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria - being a series of illustrations of the ancient versions of the Bible by JO Westwood 1843

An historical account of the British or Welsh versions and editions of the Bible by Thomas Llewelyn 1768

The Evolution of the English Bible - a historical sketch of the successive versions from 1382 to 1885 (1902) by Henry William Hamilton-Hoare

A Hand-book of the English Versions of the Bible by JI Mombert 1890

The English Bible; some account of its origin and various versions by George Henry Nettleton 1911

A study of Augustines versions of Genesis by John Strayer McIntosh 1912

The Principal Versions of Baruch by Robert R Harwell 1915

English Versions of the Bible - a hand-book with copious examples illustrating the ancestry and relationship of the several versions, and comparative tables by JI Mombert (1906)

The references to the versions by the British revisers compared with the versions by Howard Osgood 1899

The Pronouncing Edition of the Holy Bible, containing the authorized and revised versions of the Old and New Testaments arranged in parallel columns, giving the correct pronunciation of every proper name contained in the Bible by SW Williams 1900

Translations of the Bible, a chronology of the versions of the Holy Scriptures since the invention of printing by Bernhard Pick 1913

The Bibles of England: a plain account for plain people of the principal versions of the Bible in English by Andrew Edgar 1889

The Holy Gospel, a Comparison of the Gospel text as it is given in the Protestant and Roman Catholic Bible versions by Frank J Firth 1911

The Theology of the Bible, itself the teacher and its own interpreter, 5 versions of the Old Testament and four of the New, compared with the originals 1866 by Oliver S Halsted 1866

The English Bible. History of the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English tongue. With specimens of the old English versions 1856 by HC Conant

Prospectus of a new translation of the Holy Bible from corrected texts of the originals, compared with ancient versions by A Geddes 1786

And the word was [a] God, by Rev. Timothy Kenrick 1828

From An Exposition of the Historical Writings of the New Testament By Rev. Timothy Kenrick 1828

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was [a] God.]

And the word was [a] God.

That is, On account of the knowledge and power communicated to him by Almighty God, he may have been said to have been a God on earth, just in the same manner as God was pleased to say to Moses, Exodus 7:1. "I have made thee a God to Pharaoh;" and as magistrates are called gods, Psalm 82: 1, 6, "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the Gods. I have said, ye are Gods;" which last verse our Saviour cites, John 10: 34, in vindication of himself against the Jews, who stoned him, because, as they said, "Thou, being a man, makest thyself a god." Agreeably to the language here made use of, it is said in another place, that Christ, being in the form of God, or in the form of a God, took upon himself the form of a servant. In this manner has the above declaration of the evangelist been explained, by those who maintain that the translation may be altered in the manner in which I have exhibited it. But if it should be insisted that this alteration is not countenanced by the idiom of the original, and the common translation be retained, viz. "and the word was God," still this language may be understood to intimate no more than a complete union of counsels and designs between the word of life and God; so that the authority of the one might be considered as the same as that of the other; just in the same sense as Christ says, "I and my Father are one;" and "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

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