p120 (Caragounis)
The article ό, ή, τό has the quality of classifying and individualizing
substantives. In other words, the article can turn a substantive from being
general to particular and from being indefinite to definite.
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The predicate is usually anarthrous, because it does not denote a
definite person or kind or class but only property or essence, which is
predicated of the subject.
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Most scholars, it would appear, settle for the "qualitative" use of the
predicate. The problem with this explanation is that it opens the way
to substituting the noun Θεός with the adjective θείος'43. Since Greek
does have an adjective to express qualitative significance, but does not
use it here, it is obvious that John's meaning cannot be expressed by
θειος. Instead, we need to understand the anarthrous Θεός as was defined
above, of that which distinguishes, demarcates, and defines God from
the various categories of creatures. Thus, it is unnecessary to interpret
Θεός qualitatively, i.e. "what God was the Word was", which is rather
inelegant, or use θείος i.e. "the Word was divine" and then try to produce
safeguards for what we mean by 'divine'.
When John wrote και Θεός ην ό Λόγος, he simply meant "and God
was the Word". This, expressed according to the English idiom, becomes:
"and the Word was God", although the emphasis of the original on Θεός
is gone. This is the best we can do in English, which, as has already been
hinted at, is not an adequate translation of the original. But the reason for
this, as we have seen above, is due to the fact that the uses of the Greek
article do not coincide with those of the English article.
p.138
The three clauses are beautifully structured. In the first clause John
asserts the eternity of the Word. In the second clause he asserts the relationship
of the Word to God (= the Father) and in the third clause he
asserts the fact that the Word was God.
The Word cannot be identified with the Θεός of Jn 1,1b, because in his Gospel John
intends to distinguish Θεός (= the Father) from Λόγος (the Son)