So, i was reading my greek n.t. today, going through John 1.1, randomly, primarily to refute Jehovah's witnesses, who inaccurately translate this text to say that Jesus Christ is a God, as opposed to a trinitarian understanding of this text. The greek text is adamantly clear that the "word" is not "a" God, but is "the" God, as designated by the articles, grammatically speaking. These particular verses are very woodenly structured, so it is difficult to make grounds for anything other than a literal translation. It could be somewhat translated this way:

"In the beginning, was the word, and the word was with[the] God, and the word was [a]/[the] God. He was in the beginning with [the] God."

Jehovah's witnesses love to point out that the second "God" can and in most cases would be translated as "a" or as indefinitely, referring to the general concept of - such as a table vs. the table, with the second referring to a specific table. The definite articles before the first "God" and second "God" though, thoroughly refute that, for how could it be that the word was a, or an indefinite God among other gods, when there is a specific God mentioned both before and after this usage?

But anyways, this was all an academic approach. Later I was thinking about the implications of that, and how Jesus Christ was truly in the beginning. Jesus Christ, who came down to earth to save us, was "with" God in the begining. There's quite a bit of theological depth to this. This brings about the concepts that Christ not only came to earth to save us from the despair of our sins, but since he existed from the beginning, it was a conscious choice to do this - he was not simply born and then figured out he was God.

Suffice it to say that I found myself praising God, and Jesus Christ, and I think my worship was more focused on the vastness and the incredible plan of God that he had from the beginning...

2 comments

1. matt on January 12, 2008 at 1:39 AM

   Just a quick question -- Can you explain how Rev 1:1 supports the Trinity doctrine?

    
2. Dr. Stu on January 12, 2008 at 4:50 PM

   Well, as much as it would be nice if it did, Revelation 1:1 doesn't really have any support of the doctrine of the trinity.
   
   However, the first chapter as a whole of Revelation has some strong support. In this chapter, the one speaking is the son of man, who declares himself to be the beginning and the end. This passage is very clear about the pre-existence of Christ, which is fundamental to the doctrine of the trinity. It does not seem to clearly define the individual roles of the trinity or their relationship to one another, though. Thats probably what you were looking for, I'm supposing.
   
   Its unfortunate, but the doctrine of the trinity is a doctrine, in the sense that there is not one specific reference that clearly and adamantly defines the relationships of the Godhead, but comes from a broad range of scriptures that indicate a tri-unity, or three-in-oneness.
   
   Hope that helps!