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NASB | John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Gen 1:1; Is 9:6] |
Subject: "In beginning was word.." John 1:1 |
Bible Note: [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. |