meditations of aservantofJEHOVAH: On the divine Christ or the NWT's rendering of John1:1

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

On the divine Christ or the NWT's rendering of John1:1

Read the watchtower society's article here.

6A Jesus—A Godlike One; Divine

Joh 1:1—“and the Word was a god (godlike; divine)”

Gr., καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (kai the·os′ en ho lo′gos)

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·os′) is a singular predicate noun occurring before the verb and is not preceded by the definite article. This is an anarthrous the·os′. The God with whom the Word, or Logos, was originally is designated here by the Greek expression ὁ θεός, that is, the·os′ preceded by the definite article ho. This is an articular the·os′. 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.

In the Greek text there are many cases of a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb, such as in Mr 6:49; 11:32; Joh 4:19; 6:70; 8:44; 9:17; 10:1, 13, 33; 12:6. In these places translators insert the indefinite article “a” before the predicate noun in order to bring out the quality or characteristic of the subject. Since the indefinite article is inserted before the predicate noun in such texts, with equal justification the indefinite article “a” is inserted before the anarthrous θεός in the predicate of John 1:1 to make it read “a god.” The Sacred Scriptures confirm the correctness of this rendering.

In his article “Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: Mark 15:39 and John 1:1,” published in Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 92, Philadelphia, 1973, p. 85, Philip B. Harner said that such clauses as the one in Joh 1:1, “with an anarthrous predicate preceding the verb, are primarily qualitative in meaning. They indicate that the logos has the nature of theos. There is no basis for regarding the predicate theos as definite.” On p. 87 of his article, Harner concluded: “In John 1:1 I think that the qualitative force of the predicate is so prominent that the noun cannot be regarded as definite.”

Following is a list of instances in the gospels of Mark and John where various translators have rendered singular anarthrous predicate nouns occurring before the verb with an indefinite article to denote the indefinite and qualitative status of the subject nouns:

Scripture Text

New World Translation

King James Version

An American Translation

New International Version

Revised Standard Version

Today’s English Version

Mark 6:49

an apparition

a spirit

a ghost

Mark 11:32