[B-Greek] Jn 1:1 - Alternate Reading?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Oct 5 03:00:25 EDT 2006




> Hi. I am going to ask a controversial question, and I  am  hoping
> for  a  simple,  COMMON  SENSE  answer  rather than necessarily a
> "doctrine safe" traditional answer.

Mike, have you studied all the previous discussions of John 1:1 on this list?

A common sense answer for you as an English speaker has to include how you interpret the English word God (as well as 
god). Let me use God1 to refer to God the Father and God2 to refer to God in a broader sense of the trinity, including 
reference to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When John 1:1 says that "the Word was QEOS", the word QEOS obviously cannot refer to God1, because Jesus and God1 are 
two different entities. However, QEOS here can refer to the concept of God2 or to the characteristics that are special 
to the three persons in God2.

The main problem is one of interpretation by the reader. This interpretation is complicated by the previous sentence 
which says "the Word was in company with/at/near/besides TON QEON". In this sentence TON QEON probably refers to God1, 
and the reader might then expect the following QEOS also to refer to God1. However, the grammar of the Greek sentences 
indicates that TON QEON is used in a definite referential sense to refer to God the Father, while QEOS in the last 
sentence is used in a descriptive sense, talking about the Word as being either "Godly" or "like God1" or being part of 
God2.

Iver Larsen 



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