John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

 

Introduction:

In the previous article, we discussed the heresy of Adoptionism, wherein its followers believed that the Word, who is Jesus, was adopted by God at some point in time. However, this is the complete opposite of what Scripture teaches, because the Bible clearly says that the Word already existed before the universe was created. Moreover, Jesus Christ Himself claimed that He and the Father shared glory with each other before everything we see was created. In this article, we will discuss another heresy—one of the most well-known heresies in church history—called Arianism.

 

I. Definition of Arianism

According to the Got Questions website, Arianism is a heresy named after Arius, a priest and false teacher in the early fourth century A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt. Arius denied the deity of the Son of God, holding that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation and that the nature of Christ was anomoios (“unlike”) that of God the Father.

Thus, Arianism teaches that Jesus is a finite, created being with some divine attributes, but He is not eternal and not divine in and of Himself.¹ This belief was already condemned at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.² Nevertheless, many religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, continue to hold to this heresy.

 

II. The New World Translation of John 1:1c

The original Greek text of John 1:1c says: “καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος” which can be literally translated as “and God was the Word.” The subject here is the Word because it carries the article (ὁ), while the predicate (“God”)—being a predicate nominative placed before the verb—often omits the article. Thus, the correct translation is: “The Word was God.”

However, the New World Translation, produced by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (the publishing arm of Jehovah’s Witnesses), renders this verse as: “The Word was a god.” They added the indefinite article “a,” arguing that the absence of the definite article before θεός suggests a qualitative nuance—meaning that the Word possesses divine qualities or belongs to a class of godlike beings.³

In the next section, we will examine why this translation is grammatically wrong and why Arianism is unbiblical and false.

 

III. The True Meaning of the Text

The New World Translation’s rendering of John 1:1c as “The Word was a god” is grammatically incorrect in Greek. Let us look at one grammatical principle concerning the article in Greek, known as Colwell’s Rule.

Colwell demonstrated that definite predicate nominatives that precede the verb usually lack the article in Koine Greek. Therefore, the absence of the article before θεός in John 1:1c does not mean it is indefinite. In other words, the article “a” is not necessary.⁴

Colwell observed the following pattern:

• If the predicate nominative comes after the verb (“ὁ λόγος ἦν ὁ θεός” – “The Word was the God”), it usually takes the article (ὁ θεός). This translation, however, would imply that the Word and God the Father are the same person, leading to the heresy of Modalism.

• If the predicate nominative comes before the verb (“θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος” – “God was the Word”), then it usually drops the article, even though it remains definite. This is exactly the structure of John 1:1c, and it correctly translates as: “The Word was God.”

Another example is found in 1 John 4:8: “θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν” (literally, “God is love”). The word ἀγάπη (“love”) has no article, yet the translation is rightly “God is love,” not “God is a love.” The Jehovah’s Witness rendering applied here would be nonsensical.

 

Conclusion:

Knowing who God truly is matters greatly, for it leads us to the true worship of God. Treating Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, as a “little god” or merely a human with divine power at some point in time is nothing less than blasphemy. John 1 plainly affirms Christ’s divine nature.

As Daniel Wallace comments on John 1:1c:

“John 1:1c is an example of a qualitative noun: the Word has the essence of deity, not just ‘a god.’ The construction points to the qualitative aspect of θεός. The idea is that the Word had all the attributes of deity.”⁵

 

Jesus is truly God and truly man. That is why He is the perfect representative of His people, who have broken God’s law. He alone died on the cross and rose again on the third day, so that He might bring His people—all who trust in Him—back to God.

My friend, if you believe in a false Jesus—a Jesus who is merely human, or a “little god”—repent from that sin, from that heresy. Such belief leads only to hell, for it is both blasphemy and idolatry. Put your trust in the true Jesus Christ: the eternal Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, full of glory, grace, and truth (John 1:14). Call upon His name, and He will save you.

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References:

¹ Got Questions – Arianism

² Encyclopedia Britannica – Arianism

³ New World Translation Article

⁴ E.C. Colwell, Journal of Biblical Literature 52 (1933), p. 20

⁵ Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Zondervan, 1996), p. 269

 

Authored by: Chris John Apinan