Bible Authenticity

There is some controversy as to how should John 1:1 be translated. Trinitarians often use the verse to support their contention that Jesus is the eternal Almighty God.

The traditional rendering in English is:

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

There are many other variations of rendering John 1:1 which are more accurate according to the Greek text, both in translation or paraphrase, John 1:1c also exist:

• 1808: “and the Word was a god” – Thomas Belsham The New Testament, in an Improved Version, Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome‘s New Translation: With a Corrected Text, London.
• 1822: “and the Word was a god” – The New Testament in Greek and English (A. Kneeland, 1822.)
• 1829: “and the Word was a god” – The Monotessaron; or, The Gospel History According to the Four Evangelists (J. S. Thompson, 1829)
• 1863: “and the Word was a god” – A Literal Translation of the New Testament (Herman Heinfetter [Pseudonym of Frederick Parker], 1863)
• 1864: “and a god was the Word” – The Emphatic Diaglott by Benjamin Wilson, New York and London (left hand column interlinear reading)
• 1879: “and the Word was a god” – Das Evangelium nach Johannes (J. Becker, 1979)
• 1885: “and the Word was a god” – Concise Commentary on The Holy Bible (R. Young, 1885)
• 1911: “and [a] God was the word” – The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Southern Dialect, by George William Horner.^[17]
• 1924: “the Logos was divine” – The Bible: James Moffatt Translation, by James Moffatt.
• 1935: “and the Word was divine” – The Bible: An American Translation, by John M. P. Smith and Edgar J. Goodspeed, Chicago.^[19]
• 1955: “so the Word was divine” – The Authentic New Testament, by Hugh J. Schonfield, Aberdeen.
• 1958: “and the Word was a god” – The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Anointed (J. L. Tomanec, 1958)
• 1970, 1989: “and what God was, the Word was” – The New English Bible and The Revised English Bible.
• 1975 “and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word” – Das Evangelium nach Johnnes, by Siegfried Schulz, Göttingen, Germany
• 1975: “and the Word was a god” – Das Evangelium nach Johannes (S. Schulz, 1975);
• 1978: “and godlike sort was the Logos” – Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Johannes Schneider, Berlin
• 1985: “So the Word was divine” – The Original New Testament, by Hugh J. Schonfield.
• 1998: “and what God was the Word also was” – This translation follows Professor Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John, ed. Daniel J. Harrington.
• 2017: “and the Logos was god” – The New Testament: A Translation, by David Bentley Hart.

GREEK ANALYSIS

“Jn 1:1 should rigorously be translated ‘the word was with the God [= the Father], and the word was a divine being'” (Dictionary of the Bible, 1965, by scholar John L McKenzie, S J). read more