And the Word was God
and the Word was God
not "a god," as the Jehovah's Witnesses render it.
They do not render "En arche" as "in a beginning" even though there is no definite article there.
New World Translation:
1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. [but they only believe there is one god].2 This one was in [the] beginning with God. 3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.
The Greek does not allow the definite article because “and the Word was God” is a predicate.
If this passage read: "and the Word was [the] God, then it would also have meant "[the] God was the Word. That is not what John wanted to say.
Albert Barnes: "There is no variation here in the manuscripts, and critics have observed that the Greek will bear no other construction than what is expressed in our translation - that the Word 'was God.'
"This is the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity:
1. that the second person is in some sense “distinct” from the first.
2. that he is intimately united with the first person in essence, so that there are not two or more Gods.
3. that the second person may be called by the same name; has the same attributes; performs the same works; and is entitled to the same honors with the first, and that therefore he is “the same in substance, and equal in power and glory,” with God."
John Gill: "...not made a God, as he is said here after to be made flesh; nor constituted or appointed a God, or a God by office; but truly and properly God, in the highest sense of the word...."
Robertson:
And the Word was God (kai theos ēn ho logos). By exact and careful language John denied Sabellianism by not saying ho theos ēn ho logos. That would mean that all of God was expressed in ho logos and the terms would be interchangeable, each having the article. The subject is made plain by the article (ho logos) and the predicate without it (theos) just as in Joh_4:24 pneuma ho theos can only mean “God is spirit,” not “spirit is God.” So in 1Jo_4:16 ho theos agapē estin can only mean “God is love,” not “love is God” as a so-called Christian scientist would confusedly say. For the article with the predicate see Robertson, Grammar, pp. 767f. So in Joh_1:14 ho Logos sarx egeneto, “the Word became flesh,” not “the flesh became Word.” Luther argues that here John disposes of Arianism also because the Logos was eternally God, fellowship of Father and Son, what Origen called the Eternal Generation of the Son (each necessary to the other). Thus in the Trinity we see personal fellowship on an equality.
Vine:
In the third proposition, the Word was God, the article was omitted because Θεὸς described the nature of the Word and did not identify his person.
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As the Gospel comes to a close, Thomas worships the Logos and says, "My Lord and my God," (Joh_20:28). May our study of this book cause us to do the same.
Joh_1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
The writer reiterates what he has just said in v. 1.
Not a mere restatement, but a reptition which shows the importance of the statement. Here, the emphasis is on his pre-incarnate relationship with his father, not as a created being but as the eternal son.
Discuss "eternal sonship"
Isa_9:6
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John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Jesus Christ is the Creator.
All things
things visible and things invisible
things terrestial and things celestial
What is required to create?
omniscience
omnipotence
infinite wisdom
these are all attributes of diety.
There is nothing excepted
Matter is not eternal
Created beings did not create
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John 1:4,5 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
What is life?
Does this refer to:
plant life?
animal life?
human life?
spiritual life?
a combination?
In him was life -- inherently; Joh_5:26
Barnes: “He was the agent by which the vegetable world became animated; by which brutes live; and by which man became a living soul, or was endowed with immortality.”
It refers pre-eminently to spiritual life:
Joh_6:33; Joh_11:25; Joh_14:6
and the life was the light of men
light = knowledge
Jesus shows us the way to the Father
Jesus shows us the truth
Jesus shows us the Father
Vincent: “It is not said that the Word was light, but that the life was the light. The Word becomes light through the medium of life, of spiritual life, just as sight is a function of physical life.”
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Note: these notes are primarily for the benefit of my Sunday Bible class; therefore, I will neither post nor respond to Arian comments.
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