A teaching by Dustin Smith, PhD – Biblical Unitarian Podcast
Original title: Honest Talk about John 1:1
The Eternal appears as God in the original.
The Scriptures, the Bible version used throughout this article, uses the term Elohim to refer to the Eternal
John 1:1 [The Scriptures - TS] In the beginning was the Word a, and the Word was with *Elohimb, and the Word was Elohim c. *Elohim is a Hebrew word that means "supreme one" or "mighty one" and is used to refer to God
<John 1:1 a – In the beginning was the Word>:
“In the beginning” is an exact quote from Genesis 1:1 in the Septuagint, thus drawing the reader back to the original creation.
Genesis 1:1 – (in the beginning) «en arche»…the Eternal created the heavens and the earth
John 1:1, 3 – (in the beginning) «en arche»…was the word through which the Eternal created all things. The word becomes the vehicle through which the Eternal created all things.
THE WORD THAT IS PRESENT IN GENESIS IS THE CREATIVE AND POWERFUL SPOKEN UTTERANCE OF THE ETERNAL
• Genesis 1:3 – And Elohim said, “Let light come to be,” and light came to be [ts]
• Genesis 1:6 – And Elohim said, “Let an expanse come to be in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” [ts]
• Genesis 1:9 – And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it came to be so. [ts]
Notice that in all these verses, the Eternal speaks with His creative and powerful utterance and creation takes place.
The ‘word’ (Hebrew:«davar») of the Eternal never refers to a person in the Hebrew Writings or Old Testament.
PERSONIFICATION OF THE ‘WORD’
Sometimes, the word is personified, and is given personality; this occurs frequently within poetic sections of Scripture:
■ Psalm 107:20 – He sent His word and healed them, and it delivered them from their pits.
■ Psalm 147:15, 18 – He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly…He sends forth His word and melts them
■ Isaiah 55:11 – So will my word be which goes forth from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
The Old Testament prophets are mostly written in poetry; contrary to the belief that poetry is a rare part of Old Testament prophesy, two thirds of it is probably written in the form of poetry.
<John 1:1 b -…and the Word was with Elohim
Although modern Western cultures do not typically speak about their words being with them, this was a common phrase in Jewish poetry:
■ Job 10:13 – And these You have laid up in Your heart, I know that this was with You
■ Job 23:14 – For He makes complete my law, and many like these are with Him.
■ Job 27:11 – Let me teach you by the hand of *El, that which is with the Almighty I do not hide.
(* El is often used as a general term for “god” and as a poetic synonym for YHWH).
If we look at books that are outside the Hebrew Bible but are contemporary with the writing of the Gospel of John and included in the Septuagint. Wisdom of Solomon is very important in understanding John’s prologue
■ Wisdom 9:9 – And Wisdom is with you, who knows your works
By the time that the book of John was written, the term word (Greek: «logos») was nearly synonymous with the Eternal’s wisdom. The Eternal’s word is His creative and powerful speech, through which He has created the world. His wisdom is His wise interaction with and instruction to His creation. He has also created the world through His wisdom. Many scholars today agree that there is an overlap between word and wisdom.
■ Sirach 1:1 – All wisdom is from the Lord and is with Him forever.
Again we see that wisdom is synonymous with the word and is with Him forever.
■ Prov. 8:23, 27, 30 – From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth…When He established the heavens, I was there, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,…Then I was beside Him, as a nursing child; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him.
THE WORD THAT WAS WITH THE ETERNAL IN JOHN 1:1 WAS NOT A PERSON
RATHER, IT WAS WAS HIS POWERFUL AND CREATIVE SPEECH
EXPRESSED IN POETIC FORM
<John 1:1c …and the Word was Elohim>.
The normal way that people read this passage is to equate the term ‘word’ with ‘god’. However, the Greek grammar is quite clear that “god” in this instance functions as an adjective (“the word was fully expressive of God” or godly):
▄“When the article is used, the emphasis of the word is on individuality, God as a person; without the article the emphasis is on quality, God as a kind of being”
(Merrill Tenney, John: A Gospel of Belief, 65).
▄ “Since the word ‘God’ does not have the article preceding it, ‘God’ is clearly the predicate and ‘the Word’ is the subject. This means that ‘God’ is here the equivalent of an adjective”
(Barclay Newman and Eugene Nida, A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of John, 8).
▄ “When in Greek two nouns are joined by the verb to be and when both have the definite article, then the one is fully identified with the other; but when one of them is without the article, it becomes more an adjective than a noun, and describes rather the class or sphere to which the other belongs”
(John Barclay, Jesus as They Saw Him, 21).
▄“[and the Word was] divine”
(Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 269)
All of these things can be said of the creative and powerful word of the Eternal because that word is the Eternal’s creative utterance and not a separate, conscious person alongside Him in heaven.
CONCLUSION:
● John 1:1 begins by pointing the readers back to the Genesis creation, where the Eternal created the heavens and the earth with his creative and powerful word. This is the word that was in the beginning.
● By stating that the word was with the Eternal, the Fourth Gospel is drawing upon a common poetic depiction of the Eternal’s words and decrees being with Him, all of which coming from poetic sections of Scripture and poetic sections of contemporary Jewish writings.
● And finally, the expression that the word was the Eternal would have been heard as an expression of the character of the word, being godly, divine, and fully-expressive of the Eternal. Many interpreters of the Greek text of John 1:1, ranging from conservative to liberal, attest that the word “God” in the phrase “and the word was God” needs to be read adjectivally, rather than as an ordinary noun.
Source:
Joseph Smith (Biblical Unitarian)