Scholar Writes Paper Arguing for the "a god" Rendering at John 1:1c

 

This Kindle book, And the Word was a god: Conversations on the Most Disputed Text in the New Testament - John 1:1 is available on Amazon by clicking here

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Alexander Smarius has written a paper entitled Another God in the Gospel of John? A Linguistic Analysis of John 1:1 and 1:18 in which he argues for the "a god" translation of John 1:1c.

Here is an excerpt" 

"While many scholars have discussed the intricacies of the traditional translation of 1:1, far less attention has been given to an altogether different interpretation for which the Greek itself also allows. This alternative view, in which 'the Word was a god' – a distinct but completely cooperative deity close to God – has had advocates mainly outside the field of academic scholarship. Although some technical studies admit to the linguistic possibility, it is generally considered impossible within the NT context.

In this paper I argue that there is good reason to explore the linguistic plausibility of the Word as a god close to God. A new analysis of both John 1:1 and 1:18 will show that this alternative interpretation deserves more serious attention than has hitherto been acknowledged."

Read the rest at https://brill.com/view/journals/hbth/44/2/article-p141_2.xml

See also: Over 200 PDF Books on the Christology & Deity of Christ to Download

The Trinity Doctrine Examined in the Light of History and the Bible By Nelson Herle

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 Nelson Herle's classic work, _The Trinity Doctrine Examined in the Light of History and the Bible_ is now online at this link here.

Gerard Gertoux book _THE NAME OF GOD YeHoWaH. ITS STORY_ is online at https://lifes-purpose.info/divinename/NameofGod1.htm

Someone posted Heinz Schmitz's old yhwhbible website at this link.

Rolf Furuli's _The Tetragram in Hebrew Sources in BCE and the First Century CE, Part One_ is posted here.

Jason Beduhn's Truth in Translation [Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament] is posted at https://thebibleisnotholy.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/truth-in-translation.pdf

Lesriv Spencer on Acts 20:28 is posted at https://vdocuments.mx/acts-2028-whose-blood-gods-or-christs.html?page=1

The Significance of the Anarthrous Predicate Nominative in John by Paul S Dixon is posted at http://lareopage.free.fr/dixon.pdf

Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: Mark 15:39 and John 1:1 is posted at http://fdier02140.free.fr/Harner.pdf

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The Coptic Gospel of John 1:1-14

 

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"In the beginning existed the Word, and the Word existed with God, and the Word was a God."

The Coptic Gospel of John 1:1-14, According to the Coptic text in G. Horner, The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Southern Dialect, vol. III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911-1924) pp.2-4. This is posted at this link.

The Coptic was the first language into which the New Testament was translated that had both a definite and an indefinite article, and they understood the Greek theos/QEOS to be an indefinite noun at John 1:1c, which is contrary to the customary tradition of rendering the verse in English as "and the Word was God".

"True, the Coptic text is a translation of the Koine Greek text of John 1:1c , but that text also can be translated literally to say 'a god was the Word.' The Sahidic Coptic translators were translating the Greek text as they understood it, from the background of 500 years of Koine Greek influence in Egypt." ~The Sahidic Coptic Indefinite Article at John 1:1

See also https://pdfcoffee.com/sahidic-coptic-grammar-pdf-free.html

The 1915 Bible Review on John 1:1

 

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THE Gospel by John begins thus: “'In a beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was a god”[Emphatic Diaglott]-i. e., was a power. The word Logos appears to have no exact equivalent in English and is variously translated. But the statement, "Through it every thing was done; and without it not even one thing was done, which has been done,” and that it “was in the beginning,” shows that the Logos is the first step in the accomplishing of anything.

God created man in his image, that is, man has the same faculties and powers as his Creator, even as a little child has the faculties and powers of its father, tho as yet undeveloped. If man is in the image of his Creator then their manner of operation must be similar. Before one can do anything there must be first the thought or idea concerning that thing. Therefore we may say concerning God, and as well concerning man, in doing any. thing there is first in the beginning the thought, the idea. So we feel that we do no violence to the text to translate it: "In the beginning was the idea, and this idea was with God, and this idea was a power. This (idea) was in the beginning with God. Thru it everything was done, and without it not even one thing was done, which has been done. In it (the idea) was life, and the life was the light of men.” ~Enoch Penn writing in the Bible Review 1915

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The 1907 Watchtower and John 1:1

 

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John 1:1 from 1907 Zion's Watch Tower

The first verse of our lesson, although not a bad  translation, fails to give to the English reading the  force, the significance of the Greek, and gives the implication that there are at least two Gods, whereas the Scriptures declare that "there is one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ." (I Cor. 8:6.) Nowhere in the Scripture are these said to be equal in power and glory. On the contrary, whether we take the words of the apostles, or the prophets, or of the Lord Jesus himself, they all declare in harmony that the "Father is greater than I." "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 14:28; 6:38.)  When we read, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God," that makes two, the Word and the God whom he was with or represented, and then the statement that the "Word was God," we are thrown into confusion. How could the Word and God be God? It is here that the Greek gives the relief and makes the matter plain. It reads, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with the God and the Word was a God; the same was in the beginning with the God." If we accept this just as the Greek gives it, with the emphasis of the Greek article in the one place and not in the other, then all is straightened out— is clear. Then we can see that originally there was but the "one God, the living [self-existent] and true God"; that the glorious personage in this verse called the  Word or Logos was the beginning of the Father's creative work. 

This is in full accord with the Scriptural declaration that Jesus was the beginning of the creation of God— the "Firstborn of every creature." (Col. 1:15.) But some one objects,— "You are making Jesus, the Son of God, a created being." We answer, No; we are making nothing. We are just finding out what the Scriptures say; we are twisting nothing. The fault lies in the error of the "dark ages" in assuming that Jesus was one of three Gods or that he was all of the one God. For neither of these positions is there a particle of Scripture. Let us not be wiser than God. If we accept the Bible as the divine revelation— as the voice from heaven said of our Lord Jesus, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him"— does not the very word son, applied to our Lord, imply that he was not his own father nor coexistent with the Father, but a begotten or subsequent creation? Surely there is no escape from the simplicity of the Scriptural presentation of the subject. "The same was in the beginning with the God" clearly implies a certain time recognized as the beginning, but so far as the heavenly Father himself is concerned, the Scriptures declare, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." (Psa. 90:2.) In other words, while it may be beyond our comprehension, it is the Scriptural presentation that the Father alone was without beginning, and that the Son was the beginning of the Father's creative work— created before  angels as well as before man. 

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254 Alternative Translations of John 1:1c

This book by Grzegorz Kaszynski [NOW 254 translations not rendering theos en ho logos as “the Word was God” (John 1:1)] can be downloaded at the google drive link below and an older version can be viewed at archive.org

This page will be updated frequently as new additions are found.

You can also download this book by clicking here 

See also http://areopage.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/John-1.1-149-translations.pdf

One French sample:

À l’origine, le Logos était,
le Logos était auprès de Dieu
et dieu était le Logos. ~Didier FONTAINE Évangile de Jean

See also See also And the Word was a god: Conversations on the Most Disputed Text in the New Testament - John 1:1 on Amazon

Alexander Smarius has written a paper entitled Another God in the Gospel of John? A Linguistic Analysis of John 1:1 and 1:18 in which he argues for the "a god" translation of John 1:1c.

Here is an excerpt" 

"While many scholars have discussed the intricacies of the traditional translation of 1:1, far less attention has been given to an altogether different interpretation for which the Greek itself also allows. This alternative view, in which 'the Word was a god' – a distinct but completely cooperative deity close to God – has had advocates mainly outside the field of academic scholarship. Although some technical studies admit to the linguistic possibility, it is generally considered impossible within the NT context.

In this paper I argue that there is good reason to explore the linguistic plausibility of the Word as a god close to God. A new analysis of both John 1:1 and 1:18 will show that this alternative interpretation deserves more serious attention than has hitherto been acknowledged."

Read the rest at https://brill.com/view/journals/hbth/44/2/article-p141_2.xml