John 1:1c, List of Alternate Readings (By: Lesriv Spencer. March 9, 2011. Updated May/2014) (Bold and italics are mine, unless otherwise indicated. Greek citations are from The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (“SBLGNT,” a publication of Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, Michael W. Holmes, Editor, Copyright 2010). Since I have no assistant editor, I assume full responsibility in the event the reader encounters an error in one of the translations below. To help readers reach their own conclusions when going over the material, comments are kept to a minimum. If you wish a more extensive explanation of John 1:1, check the following link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34916458/The-correct-translation-of-John-1-1 ) Seven subjects are presented below: I. A comparison of John 15:1 and John 21:12 with John 1:1. II. The Vulgate Latin reading versus the Greek reading of John 1:1. III. A list of similarly structured passages to John 1:1c to determine how translators deal with this. IV. A glance at Acts 28:6. V. List of alternate readings to John 1:1c. VI. Comments made by various scholars on the subject. VII. The role of context in interpretation. The purpose of these lists is to help Bible readers determine on their own, how translators normally deal with these grammatical structures. I believe illustrated examples, when analyzed, can be more illuminating, and less slanted, than a ton of “theological” persuasion, since they virtually explain themselves. I. A comparison of John 15:1 and John 21:12 with John 1:1. For comparison purposes we will consider two examples where they differ with John 1:1 (John 15:1 & John 21:12), where Greek nouns, which have the Greek article ho before it (equivalent to the English the), and preceding the verb, are translated literally by the English article “the”, shown in bold letters. Keep in mind, as you analyze these two scriptures, that they are structurally similar to John 1:1c, where Greek nouns precede the verb, but with one notable difference: The structure of John 1:1c lacks the article (the) before the predicate noun and verb, while both John 15:1 and John 21:12 have predicate nouns with the article before the verb, making them definite, stressing specificity (particularity) and/or identity. Predicate nouns without the article preceding a verb are normally descriptive in nature, serving the role of adjectives. A Catholic Bible explains: “With God: the Greek preposition here connotes communication with another. Was God: lack of a definite article with “God” in Greek signifies predication rather than identification .” (NABRE) Since, the second instance of θεὸς (“God”) is descriptive in nature, some translators have chosen to render it, “divine,” “god,” and even as “a god.” I. Two articular Greek nouns (arthrous, i.e. with the article) in John, preceding the verb, to illustrate how Bible translators work with this grammatical construction in contrast with the absence of the article before “god” at John 1:1c). Observe how well the translators handle the presence of the Greek article ho (“the” in bold letters) in these samples. John 15:1: Greek: καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστιν and the father of me, the farmer is
List of alternate readings of John 1:1c. Some would have you believe there is only one possible way to translate this scripture. But, honestly, is this true?
