PART 1"THE WORD" - WHO IS HE? ACCORDING TO JOHN
(In Five Parts)
"IN THE beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." That is how the first two verses of the apostle John's account of the life of Jesus Christ read, according to the Roman Catholic Douay Version and the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
2 Thus at the very beginning of John's account the very first one to be introduced to us is someone who is called "the Word." After having such a sudden introduction to the Word, any reader would naturally want to know who or what this Word was. In fact, since the second century of our Common Era there has been a big debate as to the identity of this Word. And particularly since the fourth century there has been much religious persecution poured out upon the minority group in this debate.
3 The apostle John wrote his account in the common Greek of the first century. Such Greek was then an international language. Those for whom John wrote could speak and read Greek. So they knew what he meant by those opening statements, or, at least, they could get to know by reading all the rest of John's account in its original Greek. But, when it comes to translating those opening statements into other languages, say modern English, there arises a difficulty
1,2. In his life account of Jesus Christ, whom does John first introduce to us, and so what do readers naturally want to know?3. In what language did John write his account, and why do we have difficulty in understanding John's opening statements?
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in translating them right in order to bring out the exact meaning.
4 Of course, the Bible reader who uses the generally accepted versions or translations will at once say: "Why, there should be no difficulty about knowing who the Word is. It plainly says that the Word is God; and God is God." But, in answer, we must say that not all our newer modern translations by Greek scholars read that way, to say just that. For instance, take the following examples: The New English Bible, issued in March of 1961, says: "And what God was, the Word was." The Greek word translated "Word" is logos; and so Dr. James Moffatt's New Translation of the Bible (1922) reads: "The Logos was divine." The Complete Bible - An American Translation (Smith-Goodspeed) reads: "The Word was divine." So does Hugh J. Schonfield's The Authentic New Testament. Other readings (by Germans) are: By Boehmer: "It was tightly bound up with God, yes, itself of divine being."* By Stage: "The Word was itself of divine being."º By Menge: "And God (=of divine being) the Word was."ª By Pfaefflin: "And was of divine weightiness." ¹ And by Thimme: "And God of a sort the Word was."²
5 But most controversial of all is the following reading of John 1:1, 2: "The Word was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This Word was in the beginning with God." This reading is found in The New Testament in An Improved
* "Es war fest mit Gott verbunden, ja selbst goettlichen Wesens," The New Testament, by Rudolf Boehmer, 1910.º "Das Wort war selbst goettlichen Wesens," The New Testament. by Curt Stage, 1907.ª "Und Gott (= goettlichen Wesens) war das Wort," The Holy Scriptures, by D. Dr. Hermann Menge, twelfth edition, 1951.¹ "Und war von goettlicher Wucht," The New Testament, by Fried-rich Pfaefflin, 1949.² "Und Gott von Art war das Wort," The New Testament, by Ludwig Thimme, 1919.
4. Do all modern translations read like the old accepted versions of the Bible, and what examples do we have to illustrate whether?5. What is the most controversial translation of all, as shown by two examples, and why may the translation by Professor Torrey be placed alongside the above?
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Version, published in London, England, in 1808.* Similar is the reading by a former Roman Catholic priest: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without it nothing created sprang into existence." (John l:l-3)** Alongside that reading with its much-debated expression "a god" may be placed the reading found in The Four Gospels -A New Translation, by Professor Charles Cutler Torrey, second edition of 1947, namely: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god. When he was in the beginning with God all things were created through him; without him came no created thing into being." (John 1:1-3) Note that what the Word is said to be is spelled without a capital initial letter, namely, "god."
6 So in the above-quoted Bible translations we are confronted with the expressions "God," "divine," "God of a sort," "god," and "a god." Men who teach a triune God, a Trinity, strongly object to the translation "a god." They say, among other .things, that it means to believe in polytheism. Or they call it Unitarianism or Arianism. The Trinity is taught throughout those parts of Christendom found in Europe, the Americas and Australia, where the great majority of the 4,000,000 readers of The Watchtower live. Readers in the other parts, in Asia and Africa, come in contact with the teaching of the Trinity through the missionaries of Christendom. It becomes plain, in view of this, that we have to make sure of not only who the Word or Logos is but also who God himself is.
* The title page reads: "The New Testament in An Improved Version upon the basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation: with a Corrected Text, and Notes Critical and Explanatory. Published by a Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue, by the Distribution of Books." -Unitarian.** The New Testament -A New Translation and Explanation Based on the Oldest Manuscripts, by Johannes Greber (a translation from German into English), edition of 1937, the front cover of this bound translation being stamped with a golden cross.
6. With what differing expressions are we confronted in the above-quoted translations, and so now whose identity do we have to find out?
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7 Christendom believes that the fundamental doctrine of her teachings is the Trinity. By Trinity she means a triune or three-in-one God. That means a God in three Persons, namely, "God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost." Since this is said to be, not three Gods, but merely "one God in three Persons," then the term God must mean the Trinity; and the Trinity and God must be interchangeable terms. On this basis let us quote John 1:1, 2 and use the equivalent term for God, and let us see how it reads:
8 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was the Trinity. The same was in the beginning with the Trinity." But how could such a thing be? If the Word was himself a Person and he was with the Trinity, then there would be four Persons. But the Word is said by the trinitarians to be the Second Person of the Trinity, namely, "God the Son." But even then, how could John say that the Word, as God the Son, was the Trinity made up of three Persons? How could one Person be three?
9 However, let the trinitarians say that in John 1:1 God means just the First Person of the Trinity, namely "God the Father," and so the Word was with God the Father in the beginning. On the basis of this definition of God, how could it be said that the Word, who they say is "God the Son," is "God the Father"? And where does their "God the Holy Ghost" enter into the picture? If God is a Trinity, was not the Word with "God the Holy Ghost" as well as with "God the Father" in the beginning?
10 Suppose, now, they say that, in John 1:1, 2, God means the other two Persons of the Trinity, so that in the beginning the Word was with God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. In this case we come to this difficulty, namely, that, by being God, the Word was God
7,8. What does Christendom say that God is, but by applying this equivalent term to John 1:1, 2, what tangle do we get into?9. If it is claimed that "God" means God the Father, then into what difficulty do we get?10. What if it is said that "God" means the other two Persons of the Trinity, and what attempted explanation does not explain it?
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the Father and God the Holy Ghost, the other two Persons of the Trinity. Thus the Word, or "God the Son," the Second Person of the Trinity, is said to be also the First Person and the Third Person of the Trinity. It does not solve the difficulty to say that the Word was the same as God the Father and was equal to God the Father but still was not God the Father. If this were so, it must follow that the Word was the same as God the Holy Ghost and was equal to God the Holy Ghost but still was not God the Holy Ghost.
11 And yet the trinitarians teach that the God of John 1:1, 2 is only one God, not three Gods! So is the Word only one-third of God?
12 Since we cannot scientifically calculate that 1 God (the Father) + 1 God (the Son) + 1 God (the Holy Ghost) = 1 God, then we must calculate that 1/3 God (the Father) + 1/3 God (the Son) + 1/3 God (the Holy Ghost) = 3/3 God, or 1 God. Furthermore, we would have to conclude that the term "God" in John 1:1, 2 changes its personality, or that "God" changes his personality in one sentence. Does he?
13 Are readers of this booklet now confused? Doubtlessly so! Any trying to reason out the Trinity teaching leads to confusion of mind. So the Trinity teaching confuses the meaning of John 1:1, 2; it does not simplify it or make it clear or easily understandable.
14 Certainly the matter was not confused in the mind of the apostle John when he wrote those words in the common Greek of nineteen centuries ago for international Christian readers. As John opened up his life account of Jesus Christ he was in no confusion of mind as to who the Word or Logos was and as to who God was.
15 We must therefore let the apostle John himself identify to us who the Word was and explain who God
11, 12. According to the Trinity, how much of God would the Word be, and what question do we have to ask about the personality of God?13, 14. (a) What does the Trinity teaching do for the meaning of John 1:1, 2? (b) What was John's state of mind on the Word and on God?15. Whom must we let help us out on this puzzle of identities, and what writings can we draw upon for an explanatory enlargement of things?
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was. This is what John does in the rest of his life account of Jesus Christ and also in his other inspired writings. Besides the so-called Gospel of John, he wrote three letters or epistles and also Revelation or Apocalypse. By many John is understood to have written first the book Revelation, then his three letters and finally his Gospel. Says Biblical Archaeology, by G. Ernest Wright (1957), page 238: "John is usually connected with Ephesus in Asia Minor and is dated about A.D. 90 by most scholars." For the Gospel of John this booklet accepts the date A.D. 98. So for an explanatory enlargement of things written in the Gospel of John we can draw upon his earlier writings, Revelation or Apocalypse and his three letters or epistles.
16 This we shall now do. We do so with a desire to reach the same conclusion about who the Word or Logos was that the apostle John does. For us to do so means our gaining a happy everlasting life in God's righteous new world how so near at hand. John, with all the firsthand knowledge and associations that he had, had a reason or basis for reaching an absolutely right conclusion. He wanted us as his readers to reach a right conclusion. So he honestly and faithfully presented the facts in his five different writings, that he might help us to come to the same conclusion as he did. Thus, as we accept John's witness as true, we start out with a right aim, one that will lead to an endless blessing for us.
WHAT ABOUT 1 JOHN 5:7, Dy; AV?
17 If Trinity believers are not up-to-date, they will ask: Does not John himself teach the Trinity, namely, that three are one? In their copy of the Bible they will point to 1 John 5:7 and read: "And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one." That is what 1 John 5:7 says in the Roman Catholic Douay Version
16. In doing this, with what aim do we start out, and why?17. What will Trinity believers, when not up-to-date, ask, and what must be said about the verse to which they point In their Bible?
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and similarly in the Authorized or King James Version. But the words "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one" do not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts. Hence the most modern Bible translations omit those words, the Bible edition by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine putting the words in brackets along with an explanatory footnote, as follows: "The Holy See reserves to itself the right to pass finally on the origin of the present reading."
18 The oldest Greek manuscript of the Christian Scriptures is, in the judgment of many, the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209, written in the first half of the fourth century. In our own copy of this Greek manuscript as edited by Cardinal Angelus Maius in 1859, he inserted the Greek words into the Manuscript copy but added a sign of a footnote at the end of the preceding verse. The footnote is in Latin and, translated, reads:
From here on in the most ancient Vatican codex, which we reproduce in this edition, the reading is as follows: "For there are three that give testimony, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three are for one. If the testimony" etc. There is therefore lacking the celebrated testimony of John concerning the divine three persons, which fact was already long known to critics.*
19 Says Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed, the Bible translator, on 1 John 5:7: "This verse has not been found in Greek in any manuscript in or out of the New Testament earlier than the thirteenth century. It does not appear
* The Latin footnote reads: "Exin in antiquissimo codice vaticano, quem hac editione repraesentamus, legitur tantum: oti treiV eisin oi marturountV to pneuma cai to udwr cai to aima cai oi treiV eiV to en eisin Ei thn marturian etc. Deest igitur celebre Iohannis de divinis tribus personis testimonium, quae res iamdiu criticis nota erat." -page 318.
18. What confession does Cardinal Maius make about 1 John 5:7 in his edition of the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209?19. What does Dr. E. J. Goodspeed say about 1 John 5:7, and so on what basis can we not proceed in examining the identities of the Word and of God?
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