I have been researching the word for God in Ancient Greek.?

Question

I haven't gotten very far, but have noticed at John 1:1, in Greek, there are two different spellings for "God", different in reference to the Word. Upon further investigation, I realized that there are various alternate spellings for "God" in the NT original Ancient Greek, depending upon context or usage. Can anyone shed any light on this, or provide a link whereas I can compare the different spellings and their various meanings? Thanks!

Θεός is the ancient greek word for God, however, at John 1:1, we see this same word with a captial N at the end rather than the funny looking C. What's up with that?

Svart and Skepsis, that's exactly what I thought but wanted affirmation. Which brings me to my next question: John 1:1 The word was with God and the word was God. Same God?

Answer 1

It's because Greek is an inflected language, like Latin, and like such languages as German, Swedish and Russian still are today.

The "c" is a sigma, "theos" is the basic form of the word god, the "n", giving "theon" means the word was in the accusative case, that is, as object complement to the verb in the sentence where you found it. It's still the same word.

Edit. I don't have the original Greek at hand, but I'll trust my Louis Segond translation there and assume that in that verse, both instances of the word "God" render "Theos", and all three of "Word" render "Logos".

Answer 2

God's word says: To the Jews were committed the Oracles of God. Please remember that the Greeks and the Romans were Gentiles. Check either the original ancient Aramaic texts or the Hebrew concordance of the Torah, or the Bible's Old testament.
Check the on-line Searches for all Torah translations or Solomon's Temple Code translations and you will see how many sequentially coded insights are stored in God's word. Would you believe that even the different expressions of God's Hebrew religion were foreseen?

I will give you a hint: in over two dozen names given for God in the Hebrew texts, each name gives us insights of His personality and nature. That is very important to know.

Boaz.

Answer 3

The term “word” in the Scriptures most frequently translates the Hebrew and Greek words da‧var′ and lo′gos. These words in the majority of cases refer to an entire thought, saying, or statement rather than simply to an individual term or unit of speech. (In Greek a ‘single word’ is expressed by rhe′ma [Mt 27:14], though it, too, can mean a saying or spoken matter.) Any message from the Creator, such as one uttered through a prophet, is “the word of God.” In a few places Lo′gos (meaning “Word”) is a title given to Jesus Christ.

“The Word” as a Title. In the Christian Greek Scriptures “the Word” (Gr., ho Lo′gos) also appears as a title. (Joh 1:1, 14; Re 19:13) The apostle John identified the one to whom this title belongs, namely, Jesus, he being so designated not only during his ministry on earth as a perfect man but also during his prehuman spirit existence as well as after his exaltation to heaven.

“The Word was a god.” Regarding the Son’s prehuman existence, John says: “In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” (Joh 1:1, NW) The King James Version and the Douay Version read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This would make it appear that the Word was identical with Almighty God, while the former reading, in the New World Translation, indicates that the Word is not the God, Almighty God, but is a mighty one, a god. (Even the judges of ancient Israel, who wielded great power in the nation, were called “gods.” [Ps 82:6; Joh 10:34, 35]) Actually, in the Greek text, the definite article ho, “the,” appears before the first “God,” but there is no article before the second.

Other translations aid in getting the proper view. The interlinear word-for-word reading of the Greek translation in the Emphatic Diaglott reads: “In a beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and a god was the Word.” The accompanying text of the Diaglott uses capital and small capital letters for the God, and initial capital and lowercase letters for the second appearance of “God” in the sentence: “In the Beginning was the LOGOS, and the LOGOS was with GOD, and the LOGOS was God.”

These renderings would support the fact that Jesus, being the Son of God and the one used by God in creating all other things (Col 1:15-20), is indeed a “god,” a mighty one, and has the quality of mightiness, but is not the Almighty God. Other translations reflect this view. The New English Bible says: “And what God was, the Word was.” The Greek word translated “Word” is Lo′gos; and so Moffatt’s translation reads: “The Logos was divine.” The American Translation reads: “The Word was divine.” Other readings, by German translators, follow. By Böhmer: “It was tightly bound up with God, yes, itself of divine being.” By Stage: “The Word was itself of divine being.” By Menge: “And God (= of divine being) the Word was.” And by Thimme: “And God of a sort the Word was.” All these renderings highlight the quality of the Word, not his identity with his Father, the Almighty God. Being the Son of Jehovah God, he would have the divine quality, for divine means “godlike.”—Col 2:9; compare 2Pe 1:4, where “divine nature” is promised to Christ’s joint heirs.

Answer 4

It's called "declension", and the nouns and adjectives of nearly every European language in Europe, except English and German, have it. Most languages have several declensions for different sets of words. (Latin has five.) Moreover, verbs have "conjugations" that vary with person, number, gender, tense, voice and mood.

Theos, theou, theon, etc. are all the same word. The ending changes based on how it's used, as the subject, the object, the indirect object, the possessive form, etc. To properly understand it, you really need to take a course. You'll want Koine or Biblical Greek, not Attic/Classical or Modern. There's a difference.

There are books and pay courses online, of course. If you're looking for free, some are more comprehensive than others:
http://www.theology.edu/greek01.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/
http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/
http://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/grkindex.htm
Don't forget to install the appropriate Greek fonts for the site. They are not all the same.

There are also grammars online to help you remember how things fit together:
http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0013314/greekg.htm
http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0013314/greekg/courses.htm
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/classics/People/Faculty/helmadik/index.html

Good luck!

Answer 5

That is correct, also as you look into it you will find that the second spelling (in Koine Greek) of 'theos' is the same exact spelling with vowel pointers as the 'theos' used to describe Satan elsewher in the NT.
Jesus, preached using scrolls that were indeed in Greek, as that was the common language of Palestine at the time.
What will help you is to acquire at least one Interlinear(Greek/English Trans.), a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and a 1611 KJV.

Answer 6

Since every word of the true Bibles were inspired by the Word of God I cannot argue with what is written in them. If I had my druthers, I would have added the Book of Enoch between Adam and Eve and Noah. That is the period in which Enoch lived and was raptured out of that evil period of time.

Answer 7

The only one I would know who has that answer is right now teaching English to people in Istambul as part of his linguistics training, even though he's specializing in Ancient Greek.

Answer 8

Even if that is true, Jesus preached in Aramaic, so the Ancient Greek is just a translation and may not be all that reliable.

Answer 9

I have been researching the word for God in Ancient Greek.?

GOOD QUESTION!

Yes--I will bet you have!

Answer 10

maybe one of the spellings was relating to the 'false' gods and one to the 'true' God.