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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | "In beginning was word.." John 1:1 | John 1:1 | 44779 | |||
"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God the word was God" wht it actually means ? Is there any scientific explanation with u ? If u can then please... |
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2 | "In beginning was word.." John 1:1 | John 1:1 | meusing | 44780 | ||
From the Translator's Notes : Today's English Version THE WORD OF LIFE 1. Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. 2. From the very begining the Word was with God. 3. Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. 4. The Word was the source of life,(a) and this light brought light to mankind. 5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out. (a) - What was made had life in union with the Word. Revised Standard Version - 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with God; 3. all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4. In him was life (a) and the life was the light of men. 5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (a) Or was not anything made. That which has been made was life in him 1.1 Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. [Before the world was created,the Word already existed] represents the Greek "in the beginning was the Word." As the commentaies pointout, John obviously intents that his readers see a parallel between the opening words of his gospel and the opening words of Genesis. "In (the) beginning" refers to the period before creation (creation is not mentioned until verse 3), and so the TEV renders this phrase [before the world was created] (see New English Bible (NEB) "when all things began," NEB alternate rendering "the Word was at creation," and GeCL "In the beginning, before the world was created"). John wants his readers to understand that at whatever point creation began, THE WORD ALREADY EXISTED. In the number of languages it is diffucult to translate literally "in the beginning," since a word such as "beginning" requires some indication of what began. Some translators attempt to use the phrase "in the beginning of the world," but this phrase may not make sense, since in some languages only events begin, and not objects, such as the world. The problem is sometimes avoided by using another type of expresion, for example, "before there was anything" or "when things first came into existance." Other translators prefer to transform the passive expression "the world was created" into and active one, for example, "before God created the world." However, to do so introduces a minor complication, for later in the same passage creation is spoken of as being performed through the Word. Note, however, that in TEV the relation of the Word to creation is clearly indicated as secondary agentcy (verse 3). Some of these problems are overcome in certain laguages by an idiomatic expression which indetifies creation as "in the beginning of life" or "when there was as yet nothing." Such expressions, however, depend entirely on the idiomatic usage in the language into which the translation is made. Otherwise such a rendering can be misleading. ..... |
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3 | "In beginning was word.." John 1:1 | John 1:1 | meusing | 44782 | ||
[He was with God] is literally "and the Word was with God." TEV renders the Greek word "and" by a semicolon, and "the Word" (logos) by [he]. In Greek "the word" is masculine, and so to use a pronoun, as TEV does, makes the clause read more naturally in English. It may be conveniant in some languages to break this first verse into two comletely separate sentences, even though the relation between the sentances is very close. The first sentance would be "Before the world was created, the Word already existed," and the second, "He was with God, and he was the same as God." It is important, however, that the reference to "he" be clear in the second sentence, especially in God as creator is introduced on the first sentence. The meaning of the preposition [with] (Greek [pros]) has occasioned some difficulty, but most commentators and translators apparently favor the meaning "to be with" or "to be in the company of." This preposition often conveys the sense of reciorocity, that is, the Word was not merely in the presence of God, but there existed a mutual and reciprocal relationship between the Word and God. This relationship must be expressed in some languages as "God and the Word were together." In other languages however,an idication of purely spatial relation seems to besufficient,and therefore one may say "the Word was there where God was" or "...in company with God." [He was the same as God] appears in most translations as "the Word was God" (Revised Standard Version(RSV), JB, NAB). NEB renders by "what God was, the Word was" and Mft "the Logos was divine" (Goodspeed(Gdsp)) "the Word was divine". Zurcher Bibel (Zur) has "the Word was God." with afootnote indicating that this means the Word possessed a divine nature. These many differences in translation are due to the Greek sentence structure. In this type of equational sentance in Greek (A equals B) the subject can be distinuished from the predicate by the fact that the subject has the article before it and the predicate does not. Since "God" does not have the article preceding it, "God" is clearly the predicate and "the Word" is the subject. this means that "God" di here the equivalent of an adjective, and this fact justifies the rendering [he] (the Word) [was the same as God]. John is not saying that "the Word" was God the Father, but he is affirming that the same divine predication can be made of "the Word" as can be spoken of as God in the same sense. Many languages have two quite different types pf equational sentences. One type indicates complete indentity in such a sentence as "my husbandis John Smith" or "John Smith is my husband," that is, the two parts of the sentence are completely equivelent. In the second type, however, one may say "John Smith is a teacher" but cannot say "A teacher is John Smith." "A teacher" merly qualifies "John Smith" and indicates the class ofpersons to which he belongs. the latter is precicely the type of equational sentance that occurs in this verse. "God" completely characterizes "the Word" and all that is true of God is true of the Word. This does not mean, however, that the two elements can be inverted, and one can translate "God was the Word" any more than one can make "Love is God" and inversion of the biblical sentence "God is love." It is difficult for some people to recognize that this equational sentence in Greek belongs to the second class because in the predicate the term "God" refers to a unique object. since this type of equational sentance may be misleading with "God" in the predicate, it is better to translate it "the Word was the same as God" or "just what God was that is what the Word also was." In some languages there is an additional problem in this verse and some of the following verses, namely, the problem of tense. In some languages a past tense indcates something which existed in past time but no longer exists. thus, if one translated "he was with God and he was the same as God," the statement would presumably apply to a situation that is no longer true. This possible missunderstanding is avoided in some languages by the use of the so-called perfect tense, which carries the meaning "he has been with God and he has been the same as God" or "He was and still with god, and he is the same as God." In still other languages a so-called "timeless tense" must be used in order to avoid wrong implications with regard to the temporal relations. |
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