Discussions of the exegesis of John 1:1c, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος, commonly focus on the nonuse of the article with the predicate noun θεός. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what significance, if any, the nonuse of the article might have by examining the three parallel versions (and textual variants) of Christ’s saying that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is “(the) God not of the dead but of the living” (Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38).
Since Philip Harner’s 1973 article, grammarians, translators, and commentators have frequently categorized θεός in John 1:1c as “qualitative,” rather than “definite” or “indefinite,” based on its being anarthrous and occurring before the verb ἦν. Exegetes have concluded that John 1:1c should be understood, and even translated, to say that the Word “had the same nature as God” (Harner) or “was fully God” (NET). The translations “divine” (Moffatt, Goodspeed) and “God” (most English versions) are said to be acceptable only if they are interpreted consistently with the noun’s qualitative force. Thus, an exceedingly subtle distinction, one with suggested implications for the translation of the text, is inferred from the preverbal, anarthrous use of the noun.
The occurrence of a predicate θεός in three parallel yet slightly different versions of the same saying of Jesus in the Synoptics provides a potentially useful test case for theories of the significance of the use or nonuse of the article with the predicate θεός both before and after the copula. Three of four possible scenarios are attested in these parallel sayings (not exemplified is an articular preverbal usage). According to the conventional theory reflected in discussions about John 1:1c, these should be understood as follows: the articular, postverbal θεός (Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:27 variant) is definite (used for identification) and means “the God”; the anarthrous, postverbal θεός (Mark 12:27; Matt. 22:32 variants) is indefinite (used for categorization) and means “a God/god”; and the anarthrous, preverbal θεός (Luke 20:38) is qualitative (used for description) and means “by nature God” or the like.
This paper presents a close analysis of the translation of these three parallel statements, using twenty English versions representing a mix of Protestant, Catholic, ecumenical, and nontraditional perspectives. Eleven of the twenty versions translate θεός the same way in all three verses (“the God” or “God”). None of the versions translate Luke 20:38 to express a qualitative force of the noun. Only the KJV and two versions published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Emphatic Diaglott and the New World Translation (NWT), translate Luke 20:38 with “a God.” Only Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible and the NWT render Mark 12:27 as “a God.” The paper further examines the contextual meaning of the saying in all three Gospels and argues that the predicate θεός is descriptive in all three versions, including the articular form in Matthew 22:32, and that it is not indefinite even in Mark 12:27. The paper concludes by suggesting some implications of these findings for the exegesis of John 1:1c.