theos and ho theos'

One of the McKays musicke at ozemail.com.au
Thu Mar 1 23:43:03 EST 2001


If I read Greg correctly, he says that to say "the Word was with God, and
the Word was God" is bad grammar, because the Word can't be the God he was
with.

Here is a parallel from the Garden of Eden.

In Genesis 5:1-2 we read:
This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made
him in the likeness of God.
 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were
created, he called them "man".

Now it would be perfectly proper to say:
In the garden was the woman. And the woman was with man and the woman was
man, using the terminology from Genesis.

We are not saying "woman = man" but it is proper to say the woman is "man"
[or ADAM in Hebrew] because that is the name God gave to his special
creation.

I believe the rest of John's gospel explains how the Word can be called
"God", especially his climax in chapter 20:28.

But that's theology.

Speaking of which, as far as I can ascertain, isn't it true that despite all
the huffing and puffing about definite this and anarthrous qualitative
whose-a-ma-jigs, trinitarians translate the verse to say the Word was God
and Arians translate it "a god" or in various other ways which do not call
the Word "God."
David McKay
musicke at ozemail.com.au




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