John 1:1
***What Does John 1:1 TRULY mean?
Here is John 1:1 from the KJV. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Is Jesus a God or is Jesus THE God? First of all, the Word or more correctly, the word is NOT Jesus. But rather, the word BECAME Jesus. Let me explain the difference.
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To read the STUDY and the context, please scroll down.
Is Jesus a God or is Jesus THE GOD?
Is the Word a God or is the Word THE God?
Is the Word in John 1:1 a Divine Person?
Is the Word in John 1:1 a SEPARATE Person?
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Let us begin the Verse Study by reading John 1:4,5 from the LITERAL translation of the Textus Receptus.
Here is John 1:4,5 from the LITERAL translation.
“In SAME was LIFE, and the LIFE was the LIGHT of the humans.
John 1:5. And the LIGHT appeared in the darkness and the darkness did NOT COMPREHEND it.”
So then, what is the LIGHT? We all know and understand that Jesus is the LIGHT of the world, but then, so are WE! For you see, we who believe are the LIGHT of the world as well. So, what exactly is the LIGHT? John 1:4 says that the LIFE was the LIGHT of the humans and that in the SAME, speaking of in the “logos” was LIFE, the LIGHT of men.
So then, to me, the phrase, in the SAME, means in the “logos”. And in the logos means in the word, in the saying, or in the spoken word of PROPHECY that came forth out from the MOUTH of Yahweh there is LIFE. Not human mortal life, as in, the breath of God. But rather, the “ZOA” of Yahweh is in His WORDS. And that LIFE is the LIGHT of men. But what does that mean? Jesus tell us exactly what it means.
John 5:24.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that HEARS my word, (Or truly, truly, I, the anointed Son of MAN, Jesus, say unto you, he that HEARS my “logos” my teaching, my doctrine) and BELIEVES on Him that sent me, has everlasting LIFE, (Immortal ZOA) and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto LIFE.”
So then, the LIFE, as in, the means of being made a PARTAKER of the divine nature of immortal life is in HEARING and BELIEVING the written and or spoken word of God, the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ, the BREAD of LIFE that came down from heaven like being compared with the Manna came that came down from heaven like rain.
And in Isaiah 55:9-11, the word that came out of the mouth of Yahweh is likened to rain coming down from heaven to water the earth so that it would bring forth SEED to the Sower and BREAD to the eater. Then Yahweh says so shall my word be that comes forth out from my MOUTH. It, speaking of the spoken word of Yahweh shall not return unto His void. But it shall accomplish what I please, and it will prosper in the thing that I sent it to do.
So then, the word in John 1:14 is an “it” or a thing, the spoken words out of the mouth of Yahweh as PROPHECY, saying what will happen. And thus, “it” did not become a separate person UNTIL the word was made FLESH in John 1:14.
Also, Jesus teaches is in John 6:63 that the words that he SPEAKS to us are LIFE, because it is the Spirit that gives LIFE. And God’s word is SPIRIT. Keep in mind that Yahweh put HIS words into the mouth of Jesus, according to the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 and the fulfillment in John 12:49,50.
John 6:63.
“It is the Spirit that quickens; (Or it is the God, who is a Spirit, that gives “ZOA”, the Divine NATURE of immortal LIFE) the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, (In SAME) they are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE.”
So then, in that sense, the word in John 1:1 c, the “logos” was “theos”, which is translated as God in the KJV. But the Greek word “theos” ALSO means DIVINE, as in, the DIVINE NATURE of God, which is “ZOA”, the Divine NATURE of IMMORTALITY or ETERNAL LIFE. And some translations say, the word was DIVINE. Here are some examples of different translations of John 1:1 c.
The translation by James Moffatt says, “…and the Word was divine.”
Hugh J. Schonfield says, “…and the Word was divine.”
And Edgar Goodspeed translation also says, “…and the Word was divine.”
The Todays English Version reads as, “…and he was the same as God.”
The Revised English Bible says, “…and what God was, the Word was.”
And the New World Translation says, “…and the Word was a god.”
And here is a list of names with dates of earlier translations of the New Testament before the “MODERN” translation movement that began in 1965 starting with the New International Version that was published in 1978, 13 years later.
You can do your own Internet search to read the following translations online.
The New Testament in an Improved Version (1808)
The New Testament in Greek and English (A. Kneeland, 1822)
A Literal Translation of the New Testament (H. Heinfetter, 1863)
Concise Commentary on the Holy Bible (R. Young, 1885)
The Coptic Version of the N.T. (G. W. Horner, 1911)
NOTE. One of the earliest translations from the Greek was in the Coptic language in the second century. Please read chapter 6 of Book 2, The TRUE Sound Biblical Meaning of John 3:16. The title of that chapter is B-2 Ch6 Why is the the Coptic Translation one of the Earliest Translations?
Das Evangelium nach Johannes (J. Becker, 1979)
The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Anointed (J. L. Tomanec, 1958)
The Monotessaron; or, The Gospel History According to the Four Evangelists (J. S. Thompson, 1829)
Das Evangelium nach Johannes (S. Schulz, 1975)
My point is that there are other POSSIBLE and VALID translations of John 1:1, that are grammatically correct such as the LITERAL translation from the Textus Receptus that I use as one of my resources to study the Bible.
Now, while I agree with the translation made by the Jehovah’s Witnesses concerning John 1:1 c, I do NOT AGREE with the REST of the New World Translation.
For example, the NWT translates John 1:2 as “This one was in the beginning with God” instead of “The SAME was TOWARD the God in a beginning.”
And thus, Christians can be misled to wrongly believe that a God was WITH the God in the very beginning in the eternity past. And that is NOT the God INTENDED meaning of the Gospel of John. Plus, the Jehovah’s Witnesses WRONGLY translated the Word with a capital W, which misleads some Christians to believe that the logos is a Divine being who was supposedly with God in the eternity past. And thus, that misleads some Christians to wrongly believe that Jesus is the CREATOR of the entire universe.
So again, I highly DISAGREE with the NWT, except for John 1:1 c. I do believe that the LIFE within the spoken word of Yahweh became FLESH and then God highly exalted His human Son to be MADE Lord and a God under and subject to his God and Father.
So, I believe BOTH, the word was God, who is a Spirit that gives LIFE, and those words which the Eternal Spirt spoke have life in them. And thus, the spoken word of Yahweh became flesh first to fulfill the PROPHECY in Isaiah 9:6,7.
Here is John 1:2-5 from the NWT.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. (This makes it sound as if the “Word” is a separate Divine being who was WITH God at God’s side and that separate divine being was a God)
2. This one was in the beginning with God. All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence. What has come into existence (And verse 2 in the NWT makes it seem as is the so-called separate Divine being named the Word, which is a god that was supposed WITH God at His side in the Creator of everything that exists)
4. by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
However, the TRUTH of the matter is that the “logos” did NOT actually BECOME FLESH until verse 14. And thus, the “logos” is an “it”, the SPOKEN word of PROPHECY that came forth out from the MOUTH of God that Yahweh used to create all things.
Now, the KJV has PART of verse 2 correct by translating the Greek word “houtos” as the SAME was in the beginning with God. But the LITERAL translation correctly translates the definite article “THE” to say THE God. And this literal translation does NOT add the article “the” to say THE beginning, because the Apostles knew that the beginning in Genesis 1:1 was NOT the very beginning in the eternity past. And this literal translation also correctly translates the Greek word “pros” as the SAME was TOWARD THE God in beginning.”
However, the KJV is NOT consistent to correctly translate the Greek word “houstos” as the SAME all the way through to John 1:14, which is when the “logos”, referred to as “houstos” and “autos” in John 1:2-12, BECAME FLESH. And the Greek word “auto” also means the pronoun it, as in, it became flesh.
Plus, the KJV ADDS the word “THINGS” to the Greek word “pas” that simply means ALL. And that misleads some Christians to wrongly believe that Jesus is the Creator who created everything that exists. Please read the Verse Study John 1:3 for a more in-depth understanding of John 1:1.
Now, while I believe that the Bible ITSELF clearly teaches us the Jesus became a God under and subject to his God, the Bible does NOT teach that the “logos” is a God that was supposedly WITH the Almighty God at His side in the eternity past as the Jehovah’s Witnesses CLAIM.
Nor does the Bible ITSELF teach us that there was a SEPARATE person of the ONE God in ONE person who SUPPOSEDLY was WITH Almighty God the Father in the eternity past as Trinitarian Christians CLAIM.
But rather, that would replace Satan as the God over the whole earth, according to the prophecy in Isaiah 54:5. And Yahweh PROPHESIED that there would be a God in John 1:1 c. In other words, just like the Greek word “theos” means the Almighty God and ALSO means a god, the word “BOW” has many different meanings. And if I would say “The BOW was with God” you would have no idea what I “INTEND” the word “bow” to mean.
It could mean the bow as a WEAPON was with God. It could mean the bow as an instrument used by God to play music on a stringed musical instrument. It could mean the bow of the worshipers was toward the direction of God.
In other words, from just that one phrase, “the bow was with God” you can only GUESS at the intended meaning. And that is why we need the WHOLE word of Almighty God in order to CORRECTLY discern the God INTENDED meaning of John 1:1 c and every other verse of Scripture in the Bible.
For you see, the Bible often uses words that have more than just ONE meaning and in some verses of Scripture, God INTENDS that Hebrew or Greek word to convey ALL of the meanings or at least more than just one single meaning.
For example, in Genesis 1:3,4 God SPOKE His word SAYING, “Let the be LIGHT and there was LIGHT.”
Genesis 1:3,4.
“And God said, Let there be LIGHT: and there was LIGHT.
Genesis 1:4. And God saw the LIGHT, that it was good: and God divided the LIGHT from the darkness.”
Now, did God INTEND His word LIGHT to ONLY mean the “physical” light as some Christians CLAIM?
Or is there ANOTHER hidden meaning of the word “LIGHT” that God wants us to see and understand? In other words, is Genesis 1:3,4 a PROPHECY of Jesus?
Well, in Genesis 1:4 there is a HIDDEN PROPHECY of the Messiah. I say “hidden” because the two Hebrew letters, the Aleph and the Tav, are NOT translated by the translators. Here is Genesis 1:4 with the Strong’s numbers. Notice that the Strong’s number H853 right before the words “the LIGHT” is in parenthesis. That is because it is not translated.
Genesis 1:4.
“And God H430 saw H7200 (H853) the light, H216 that H3588 it was good: H2896 and God H430 divided H914 H996 the light H216 from H996 the darkness. H2822.”
The Strong’s number H853 identifies the two Hebrew letters, the Aleph, the FIRST letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the Tav, the LAST letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And Jesus is called the FIRST and the LAST, the BEGINNING and the END.
Here is what these two Hebrew letters look like.
אֶ ת
Keep in mind that Hebrew is read from left to right. And thus, the second letter from the right is the Aleph and the first letter from the right is the Tav.
So then, the HIDDEN prophecy is the LIGHT and the LIGHT is the Aleph Tav LIGHT, the FIRST and the LAST, the BEGINNING and the ENDING of the Hebrew alphabet. In other words, in the SAME, the “logos”, the SAYING, the spoken word of PROPHECY is “ZOE” eternal LIFE. And that LIFE is the LIGHT, the BREAD of “ZOE” eternal LIFE. So then, what exactly is the BREAD of LIFE?
Now, the word “bread” has more than just ONE meaning. Yes, the word bread does indeed mean food, as in a physical loaf of bread. But that is NOT the God INTENDED meaning of John 6:33-58 where Jesus says that he is the BREAD of life that came down from heaven that GIVES LIFE the “zoe” eternal LIFE. Jesus is NOT a physical loaf of bread and we do NOT eat the literal FLESH of Jesus to have eternal life.
For you see, in Matthew 16:5-12, Jesus teaches us that the word “BREAD” is ALSO to be understood as meaning DOCTRINE or teaching. And thus, by believing the TEACHING that Jesus laid down his physical life on the cross, we can receive eternal life in the world to come.
Matthew 16:5-12.
“Then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven (Or beware of the BREAD) of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Matthew 16:7. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. (They did not understand that Jesus meant DOCTRINE of the Pharisees)
Matthew 16:8. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O you of little faith, why reason you among yourselves, because you have brought no bread?
Matthew 16:9. Do you not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
Matthew 16:10. Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
Matthew 16:11. How is it that you do not understand that I spoke it NOT to you concerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Matthew 16:12. Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the DOCTRINE of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
Now, with this UNDERSTANDING that the Greek word “theos” has MORE than just the ONE meaning, then do not allow EITHER side of the CONTROVERSY of the meaning of John 1:1 to dogmatically demand that John 1:1 c MUST mean and there is no other POSSIBLE meaning.
For you see, the Trinitarian side of the argument is that John 1:1 c MUST, without fail, mean that the Word was THE Almighty God Himself who became flesh.
But yet, other verses of Scripture clearly identify the Father as being God, according to John 17:1-3, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and many other verses of Scripture.
And the “unitarian” side of the controversy argues that the ONE God is ONE being in ONE person who ALONE is the Father.
But yet, SOME unitarian Christians like the Oneness Pentecostal Christians and the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is the Creator who created the entire universe in the eternity past.
So, to me, I believe that the Biblical Unitarian Christians have the CORRECT understanding of Jesus, according to what the Bible ITSELF teaches us in SIMPLICITY.
The Bible ITSELF teaches us that Son of MAN, Jesus, was made in the IMAGE of THE Almighty God to SHOW or to declare to us the NATURE and the character of the ONLY TRUE God who alone is the Father. In other words, the God of Jesus GAVE His human Son all power and authority after the cross and resurrection to be His REPRESENTATIVE on the earth in the world to come.
And if the world refuses to bow their knee to the NAME given to Jesus to rule as God and confess Jesus as their Lord, then Jesus has been given the POWER and the AUTHORITY to REJECT them as having any right to receive eternal life on the final Day of Judgment.
And that, to me, is the TRUE sound Biblical meaning of John 1:1 c. It means BOTH, the word is DIVINE Spirit in NATURE that has LIFE in it, AND the word is a God that was PROPHESIED to come into being a God BESIDE the Father.
Again, be sure to read ALL of the studies that I have written on John 1:1-18. Simply click on the search icon in the header or in the footer and type in John 1:1, and the search should give you around 10 pages with 10 studies on each page. Some of those studies are on my first website at AMatterOfTruth.com. And eventually, I hope to have them all uploading to my MAIN website here at FirstbornOfGod.com.
The REASON that Yahweh CREATED the Son of MAN, Jesus, was to have DOMINION over the work of Yahweh’s hands. And the REASON that Yahweh did that is to STILL His ENEMIES, Satan and the fallen angels. For a deeper understanding of the WAR that Lucifer and one third of the angel waged against the throne of Almighty God, please read the studies under the subject category called >>> Q-0 Why Are We Here? Is God at WAR? <<<
More studies coming in this SHORTER Biblical Unitarian view of who Jesus is according to the WHOLE word of God. If you have a PARTICULAR verse of Scripture that you would like to know the sound Biblical Unitarian meaning, then please email me at MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail.com and let me know.
For further and more in-depth studies on this subject of Jesus being created to STILL the enemies of Yahweh, please read the studies called D-25. A NEW LOOK at JOHN 1:1-In the BEGINNING, and D-28. The PRE-ADAMIC LUCIFERIAN FLOOD!
Thanks for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus. So, for ALL of the studies on the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus, please click on the subject heading >>> D-0. THE BIBLICAL UNITARIAN VIEW of JESUS! <<<
And for the SUBJECT on the true foundation of the church, please click on the subject heading >>> C-0. THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH! <<< This way you can just send ONE link to those who you want to share the TRUE sound Biblical FOUNDATIONAL teachings of the church that Jesus and his Apostles taught in the first century church.
Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Brother Mark.
My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century. So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament.
To learn more TRUTH, then please return to
VERSES USED TO TEACH THAT JESUS PREEXISTED!
To me, the best way to know the ONE true God in ONE person is to know who Jesus TRULY is according to the WHOLE word of Almighty God. So please read ALL of the studies under the heading >>> N-0. WHO is JESUS ACCORDING to the BIBLE? <<< and you will see that the Bible itself teaches us that Jesus was CREATED by his God and Father. And if you have any questions related to the correct meaning of certain verses of Scripture on this subject of who Jesus is please read all the studies under the two headings >>> U-0. VERSES used for THE TRINITY! <<< and >>> V-0. VERSES used to TEACH that Jesus PRE-EXISTED! <<< These two headings have ALL of the studies that I have on who Jesus truly is according to what the Bible itself teaches us in simplicity. I compiled these three headings to make it easy for my readers to send just one, two, or three links to those you desire to help understand what the Bible itself teaches concerning who Jesus is in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me.
My contact email is MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail.com.
Thanks again for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God.
Your Brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Brother Mark.
RETURN to HOMEPAGE at
The end.
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Always be faithful to share, to preach, and to teach the whole gospel of Jesus Christ!