John 1:1

   I want to explore a most commonly referred to verses in the New Testament, John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." taken from the J.P. Green Interlinear Bible, Literal Translation & King James Version. Both of these versions are exactly the same. From a casual view of this verse, there would seem to be no reason to look further, but if you look at the Greek text, represented in the same J. P. Green Interlinear Bible that gave its Literal Translation, above, there would be seen a change in the order of some words, causing it to be read and understood different then Christ had intended, if He is the Word of God, The Greek reads this way, "In (the) beginning was the Word, and the Word was with - God, and God was the Word." The underlined part of this verse was switched from "God was the Word" to "the Word was God" and from my understanding of the English language; both cannot mean the same. The dash after "with" and before "God" signifies that there is a Greek word that is not translated or used, but this I'll handle later. The way the common translations (referred to above) are considered by the Christian community to mean that this being, the Word, is considered to be the Son of God, and also because of the changing of the last part of this verse, indicates Him to also be God, or considered part of a triune god, who has inspired the words of God (if it is Himself?) to the various writers of the Bible. However, in the Greek text, in its exact English translation, reads as, "God was the Word" promotes the meaning that God is the originator of the words that we read in the Book called the Bible; the Father gave His words to His Son for Him to give to us. This is quite different from saying that the "Word" who is Christ, is also God, however this is how it is commonly taught and considered by most Christians as Biblical truth, because that is the way it is translated in most Bible translations. This would indicate that this is the way the Christian leaders want it to be understood, but not the way it was inspired by Christ. Let me add a point that I've heard from several sources, explaining that both the Greek and the Hebrew language did not have "capitol" letters in their alphabets, revealing that all the capitols were added by the translators many years after the original texts were written. The capitol used in "Word" in this verse, indicated by the translators (or who hired them), that this is a name, which is always capitalized in the English language. Strong's  #3056 logos is described as "thought", "something said" "reasoning" "preaching" plus 25 other uses, including "word", what has been chosen is depended on which meaning the translator's wish to present, which can change the meaning of John 1:1, that can also be considered to be God's thought or reasoning and not Christ at all. However, Christ is later called the Word, supporting that this is a name/title given to Christ, for the reason that He is voicing His Father's words for us, which is also confirmed in several statements by Jesus, "Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but of the One who sent me." (John 7:16) and, "For I did not speak from Myself, but He who sent Me, the Father, He has given Me command, what I should say, and what I should speak." (John 12:49). To recognize what would be consistent throughout God's word, Christ having the title of "The Word" can be correct, and the title that John expresses leads us to consider that Christ is also the inspirer to all the Bible writers, since there is no indication of New or Old Testaments, but, at least the New Testament writers, although there is no Bible verse that states that Jesus is a person called the "Word", but it does make sense, from the two verses presented just above.

    What is not stated or even implied in John 1:1 is that the Word (Jesus), is also God, only that the words He gave us are from the Father, Jehovah, the personal name of God Almighty, presented thousands of times in the Old Testament Hebrew text, although, God's name is only presented four times in most English translated Bibles, which is another topic, addressed in this website ("God's Name verses"). The changing of John 1:1, as pointed out above, is connected with another error taught and believed by most Christians, and I consider this to be the reason for the John 1:1 verse alteration. Designed to help people reading the Bible to lean toward the Trinity doctrine, which has been a long standing Christian tradition, instead of what is overwhelmingly stated in all Bibles, that God is "one", and I invite all to find a Biblical verse that states a triune god, as it is considered throughout most of the various Christian communities. To add to this deception, there are several different ways that the Trinity is explained; further indicating that it is not Biblical. I invite you to prove this by any Hebrew or Greek verse, with only one exception, I John 5:7,8, "For there are three bearing witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement." (the black underlined text is what has been added) The reason I cannot accept this verse is because most Bible translation indicate that the second part of verse 7 and the first part of verse 8 in this verse has been added to only a few of the later Greek manuscripts and never appeared in the majority of the Greek manuscripts. Bibles usually add a note to this effect, by italics, indicating that it was added later on. This information given is from my KJV Study Bible. And again, this change was added by man to help support the Trinity doctrine; which is not present in all of the God's word. There was no divine authority given to any man to make such a change in God's perfect word. The New International Version Bible, Weymouth NT Translation, World English Bible, and the American Standard Version Bible do not contain these added portions of these verses.

   It would be helpful to have on hand an Interlinear Bible with both the Greek and the Hebrew text for researching the verses that don't seem to be consistent with the entire Bible, and this is somewhat easy to find: the J. P. Green Interlinear is available, and to complete ones study, you would also need something like the Strong's Concordance which contains a Hebrew and Greek dictionary. Both are a most valuable tool for seeking the truth in God's word, but please consider that all these various translation, versions and helpful tools are the work of man and may not be perfect, nor are they protected by God, only the original text would be protected, as one can easily see by the multitude of translations and versions of God's perfect word. Another important element in seeking the truth is that it is necessary to read all of God's word to get the complete and clear picture. You need to look into this for yourself to rest easy in the truth of God's word, which is a most important aspect of preparing one self to be accepted into Jehovah's kingdom, which his judgment is based only on God's word and not on any of man's contributions.