Which translation of John 1:1 is the right one?

Question

RS,KJ, Dy, JB, NAB reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

NW reads: “In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This one was in the beginning with God.”
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The first one is contradictory... Can one be with someone and at the same time be that person.

The second one says that there is a god with God... which is a polytheism.

Prays towards Funky Town.

Even according to the trinity... the word is a part of the trinity not with it.

Answer 1

Simple God is three but one.

k1

Answer 2

Friend, I mainly use the KJV but I also use the Aramaic, & here is what the Aramic says, John 1:1-6 The word was in the beginning, & that very word was with God & God was that word.2: The same was in the beginningh with God. 3: Everything came to be by his hand, & without him not even one thing that was created came to be.4: the Life was in him, & the life is the light of man 5: And the same light shines in darkness & the darkness does not overcome it. Now I know many tries to say that the word was God & the word was made flesh, that is where they get Jesus was God, But let me ask these people, if Jesus was God, Then his first 30 yrs. he was nothing, because God did not dwell in Jesus until he was baptized. Yes the word was a Thought in God's mind. Jesus did not even existed until he was born, In the Mind of God all things exisited But it all was only a thought in God's mind until it came time for that thought to become realality.

Answer 3

Notice how other translations render this part of the verse:

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.

1864: "and a god was the word." The Emphatic Diaglott, interlinear reading, by Benjamin Wilson.

1928: "and the Word was a divine being." La Bible du Centenaire, L'Evangile selon Jean, by Maurice Goguel.

1935: "and the Word was divine." The Bible—An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed.

1946: "and of a divine kind was the Word." Das Neue Testament, by Ludwig Thimme.

1950: "and the Word was a god." New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures.

1958: "and the Word was a God." The New Testament, by James L. Tomanek.

1975: "and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word." Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Siegfried Schulz.

1978: "and godlike kind was the Logos." Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Johannes Schneider.

These are consistent with "the Word was with God." How, then, could the Word BE God?

Answer 4

Much of the problem is that we as humans try to place GOD in a test tube and understand everything about GOD. God plainly states that HIS wisdom is far beyond ours and that we will not fully understand His nature as a human.

To fully understand John 1:1, we need to take all of scripture in context and not try to understand on verse as it stands alone. Scripture does not stand alone. John 1:14 states the Word became flesh and dwelt with us. It is apparent people in the Old Testament saw Jesus but He was not called the Son of God before His birth as a human being.

We need to also remember, that GOD is not limited by time or space and HE is omnipresent also. If HE, I sure do not have a problem with HIS being in heaven and on Earth as Jesus at the same time.

John 1:1 in a literal translation reads thus: "In beginning was the word, and the word was with the God, and God was the word." Notice that it says "God was the word." This is the actual word for word translation. It is not saying that "a god was the word." That wouldn't make sense. Let me break it down into three statements.

"In beginning was the word..."
(en arche en ho logos)
A very simple statement that the Word was in the beginning.
"and the word was with the God..."
(kai ho logos en pros ton theon)
This same Word was with God.
"and God was the word." -- Properly translated as "and the Word was God."
(kai theos en ho logos)
This same Word was God.
Regarding statement 3 above, the correct English translation is "...and the Word was God," not "and God was the word." This is because if there is only one definite article ("ho"="the") in a clause where two nouns are in the nominative ("subject") form ("theos" and "logos"), then the noun with the definite article ("ho"="the") is the subject. In this case "ho logos" means that "the word" is the subject of the clause. Therefore, "...the Word was God" is the correct translation, not "God was the Word."1 But this does not negate the idea that John is speaking of only one God, not two, even though the Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that Jesus is "a god," or the "mighty god" as was addressed above.

One interesting note is that The Watchtower has used Johannes Greber to support their claim that John 1:1 states that Word was "a" god (which would make Jesus a FALSE god since they also admit there is only ONE TRUE God.

Johannes Greber was a Catholic priest turned spiritist who translated the New Testament "with the help of God's spirits." His experiences with spirits and their communications with him are related in his book, Communication With the Spirit World published in 1932

In short, this translation was with the help of DEMONS and I find that very remarkable in that this demonic bible agrees with the New World Translation in every area of theology.

Answer 5

John1:1,RS:"In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,and the Word was God.[also KJ,JB,Dy,Kx,NAB]."NE reads "what God was,the Word was."Mo says "the Logos was divine."AT and Sd tell us "the Word was divine".The interlinear rending of ED is "a god was the Word."NW reads "the Word was a god";NTIV uses the same wording.
What is it that these translators are seeing in the Greek text that moves some of them to refrain from saying "the Word was God"?The definite article[the]appears before the first occurrence of the-os'[God]but not before the second.The articular (when the article appears)construction of the noun points to an identity,a personality,whereas a singular anarthrous (without the article) predicate noun before the verb(as the sentence is constructed in Greek)points to a quality about someone.So the text is not saying that the Word(Jesus) was the same as the God with whom he was but,rather that the Word was godlike,divine,a god.

Answer 6

Stick with KJV of 1611.

John was speaking of Jesus and said He, Jesus, was the Word made flesh that dwelt among us. God defines Himself as "Word" and goes on to say that He, the Word, was made flesh. So there is no two but only one.

Now the Christ anointing is very Word so I will use Christ in place of the word Word in John 1:1: Let us see how this reads.....

In the beginning was the Christ, and the Christ was with God and the Christ was God. All Father God is saying is the anointing, manifest in Jesus, existed from the beginning and was not separate from Him in way. There is no trinity here and not even a duality except for the visible vessel.

Christ the Word was Jehovah God's heart manifest in a body called Jesus the Christ. That same Christ spirit is none other than the holy spirit manifest in more vessels of clay from Pentecost to this day.

So Jesus, as the second Adam, is in effect my father in heaven. He is the holy ghost that I have communion with daily, along with others of the same spirit.

To explain the workings of His eternal spirit, God makes use of dispensations and manifestations as a father, as a son, and now in this dispensation as the holy ghost.

God here defines Himself as Word yet in His manifestation as the Christ in Jesus He is still one. So we can see clearly that Christ, not Jesus, was in the beginning, that Christ was with God and further that Christ was God.

John goes on to note so many things about the Word; including the fact that nothing which was made was made without Him.

So we see eleven men; coming to a revelation that they were in actual physical contact with the creator of the cosmos. God, then present, to begin creation of a new heaven and a new earth
on a hill called Calvary.

The KJV is not a contradiction but an express way of stating that you should not and cannot separate God from His Word. God is in His Word. Many religious men proclaiming Christianity claim that God is in His Church. Scripture teaches that God is in His Word. That is why John notes that Jesus was the Word made flesh.

For straight across views of various translations this is one of the best sites I have found. They do not endorse me.
http://www.scionofzion.com

Answer 7

They are all correct.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God"

Jesus (the word) was WITH God in the beginning showing that at least he had to be a spirit creature of some kind, and at most, "a" GOD to be WITH the creator.

Answer 8

There is an easy to understand study of John 1:1 with Greek examples. It should help you understand and be able to explain to others too!

Please look at the HP http://www.bythebible.page.tl/
in the folder John 1:1

This thing about polytheism, I will address. When a King and Queen have children these children are of royal blood like their parents! Once the king grows old and dies, usually his firstborn becomes king in his place!

If Christ is God's only begotten son or only begotten god. (That is God's only directly created being) then since he is the son of the Almighty God (capital G), Christ himself would be a god. (small g) .
The fact that God never dies, also means that Christ never replaces God and becomes the Almighty!

(ASV)John 1:18No man hath seen God at any time; (1) the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him .(1) Many very ancient authorities read God only begotten )

Answer 9

There is nothing contradictory about the first statement. It merely expresses the dual nature of Christ. For example, John 1:29 says that Jesus is the Lamb of God. John 10:11 says about Christ...“I am the good shepherd. Now I ask you, "How can He be both the lamb and the shepherd? John 10:9 says Christ is the door. John 10:3 reveals Christ as the doorkeeper. How can He be both the door and the doorkeeper? Simple. The same way He can be both God and Man. He is both true man as well as true God.

As true man He was born in Bethlehem. As true God, He exclaimed, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58).
As true man He was weary. As true God, He said, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Mt. 11:28).
As true man, He was hungry. As true God, He fed the multitudes.
As true man, He was thirsty. As true God, He said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I give shall never thirst again." (John 4:14).
As true man, he was troubled in spirit. As true God, He said, "Do not let your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me." (John 14:1).
As true man, He professed not to know the final day of Judgment. As true God, He accepted Peter's statement, "Lord, you know all things." (John 21:17).
As true man, He died. But as true God, He said, "I am the resurrection and the life, whosoever believeth in me shall never die."

Our human mind may not be capable of fully comprehending the fact that Jesus is true man as well as true God any more than we can comprehend how God has always been.
yet we accept it. Why? Because that's what the Bible teaches.

Answer 10

The Bible says :
2 Corinthians8: 5& 6: " For even though there are those who are called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords,” 6 there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.

Jesus is referred to as Mighty God at Isaiah 9: 6 & 7, but never is he referred to as Almight God. That title belongs to Jehovah alone.

Genesis 1:26a: "And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness,"

there you see that God and Jesus were together during the creation of the earth, and mankind. They were not the same one, but it says 'our'...being plural.

Also, if Jesus were God, why would it say that he sat down at God's right hand? There is the Father and the Son...two individuals. The Father is referred to by Jesus as 'his God and Father' as well.

John 3:16:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life."

this shows that Jesus is the only one directly created by God. The following verse shows that all other things were created through Jesus (using God's power):

John 1:2:"This one was in [the] beginning with God. 3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence."

There are other Bible translations which use the word divine in John 1:1..."the Word was divine"

Since the entire Bible shows the relationship between God and Jesus to be that of Father and Son, I don't really see all the why all the confusion, except that Satan has blinded their minds to the truth.

Answer 11

The more man muddles with the word of God the more confusing and mis-translated it becomes. This frustrates those who really want to know and understand the scriptures. Think of the Word as being the Gospel. The Gospel was with God and with His Son Jesus Christ. The Gospel was with God and the Son was with God and the Son was of God. It is polytheism, but most religions do not state this clearly. Remember, if you are a child of God, you have the ability and potential to be a God.