1808“and the word was a god”The New Testament, in An Improved Version, Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation: With a Corrected Text, London. 1864“and a god was the Word”The Emphatic Diaglott (J21, interlinear reading), by Benjamin Wilson, New York and London. 1935“and the Word was divine”The Bible—An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed, Chicago. 1950“and the Word was a god”New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Brooklyn. 1975“and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word”Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Siegfried Schulz, Göttingen, Germany. 1978“and godlike sort was the Logos”Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Johannes Schneider, Berlin. 1979“and a god was the Logos”Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Jürgen Becker, Würzburg, Germany.
These translations use such words as “a god,” “divine” or “godlike” because the Greek word θεός (the·osʹ) is a singular predicate noun occurring before the verb and is not preceded by the definite article. This is an anarthrous the·osʹ. The God with whom the Word, or Logos, was originally is designated here by the Greek expression ὁ θεός, that is, the·osʹ preceded by the definite article ho. This is an articular the·osʹ. Careful translators recognize that the articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb points to a quality about someone. Therefore, John’s statement that the Word or Logos was “a god” or “divine” or “godlike” does not mean that he was the God with whom he was. It merely expresses a certain quality about the Word, or Logos, but it does not identify him as one and the same as God himself.
