[B-Greek] John 1:1c

David McKay david.mckay at ozemail.com.au
Wed Jul 5 03:20:24 EDT 2006


The English rendering "And the Word was God" is linguistically impossible 
because:

1) In English, "God" (with capital "G") is equivalent to a proper noun, and 
this makes "the Word" and "God" in the clause convertible terms, that is, 
"the Word" and "God" are identical in all respects.

2) That the words are convertible terms and reciprocate is forbidden by the 
use of preposition in 1:1b (and suggested by the lack of article before QEOS

in 1:1c). It is linguistical nonsense to make a text saying that someone "is

with" someone else and at the same time is identical with that one.
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I once heard an argument for the traditional rendering of John 1:1c that
goes like this: Compare it with this pretty terrible sentence, based on the
theology of Genesis:

In the garden was the Woman. And the woman was with Man. And the Woman was
Man. 

The woman is not identical with man, but in Genesis we are told that the two
are ADAM or "man." [Modern translations would render "human."] Doesn't this
make the traditional translation linguistically possible?

David McKay
david.mckay at ozemail.com.au




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