![]() According to one scholar who has researched the matter considerably, in no fewer than 282 of these texts theos is without the article (Countess, 54-55). The noun theos is found some 1,343 times in the Greek Testament (Smith, 173). Rather, we will simply state here that the Watchtower procedure has been utterly repudiated by the best of the world’s New Testament Greek scholars.Īt this point, we would simply observe there are numerous instances in the Greek New Testament where the term theos (God) is used either with or without the article “without any apparent difference in meaning” (Balz, 140).īut perhaps the best way to expose the Watchtower fallacy is to throw the spotlight on their egregiously inconsistent translation of theos in those New Testament texts where theos is unaccompanied by the article. We have dealt with the matter in some detail in another extensive article ( Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ. We will not consume the time at this point in discussing the grammatical circumstances that reflect the diversity between the use and non-use of the article in this passage. It is this absence of the article that leads the Watchtower advocates to the unorthodox rendition “a god.” In the second instance (with reference to Christ) there is no article. In the first instance, the word is accompanied by the article. In John 1:1 the term for “God” is twice used. One scholar has written an entire volume of over 500 pages, solely on the uses of the Greek article in the New Testament (Middleton). A failure to appreciate the article’s flexibility can result in a significant misunderstanding of some texts. The use of the Greek article, however, is a very complex study. When the noun is unaccompanied by an article, generally the nature of the object is being stressed. Accordingly, when a noun is accompanied by an article, usually a definite object is in view. In New Testament Greek, there are definite articles, however, there is no indefinite article. “The” rock refers to a particular rock, as in: “The rock fell and hit John on his head.” “A” rock is simply a piece of stone no particular stone, just stone as to its character. The definite article is the word “the.” Indefinite articles are “a” and “an.” In English, there are both definite and indefinite articles. Let us develop some foundation for understanding this problem. The Witness solution has been to render the Greek word theos as “a god.” In order to accomplish this linguistic marvel, they have manipulated certain elements of New Testament Greek grammar in the interest of their own theological agenda. They somehow must convey the impression that while Jesus may have been a substandard kind of “god,” he was not fully divine in the sense of the heavenly Father. In an effort to sustain their dogma that Jesus was just a man and not God in the flesh, these misguided people have reconstructed this verse. The text further identifies this Word as one who came and dwelt in flesh (i.e., Christ, see v. In the common versions, John 1:1 identifies the Word as God (i.e., deity in essence). According to their little book, Let God Be True, they consider him to be nothing more than a “perfect man” (87). ![]() Those of the Watchtower persuasion do not believe that Jesus Christ possessed the nature of deity. Why does this version use the expression “a god” when referring to Christ? Almost all other translations read “the Word was God.” “In beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” In their translation, the Gospel of John begins in this way. They also go by the designation "Jehovah’s Witnesses. The New Word Translation of the Holy Scriptures is the self-published version of the Bible that is translated, published and used by members of the Watchtower organization.
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