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Colwell's Rule and John
1:1 by William Arnold
A Greek scholar named E. C. Colwell discovered a rule which
applied to certain uses of the Greek article (in English this is the word
“the”). His rule stated that “definite predicate nouns which precede the verb
usually lack the article.”1 The word theos (God)
in John 1:1c is a predicate noun and it is anarthrous (it
lacks the article). The question I would like to address is: “How does this
rule apply to John 1:1 and how does this relate to a
Oneness perspective of this passage?” For The Answer open 8.htm Plus
Oneness. defined htm and -7.htm
In the past, Trinitarians have argued that
Colwell’s rule proves that the anarthrous theos
in John 1:1c (the Word was God) must be taken as definite.
They have done so to combat Arianism and modern day Jehovah’s Witnesses. The
New World Translation, the official Bible of Jehovah’s Witnesses, translates
John 1:1c as “the Word was a god.” (Many Bible Publishers
Exposed in SBT’S John1-1.htm)-Aa.htm defined .
So we can see why Trinitarian scholars would object to such a translation and instead argue for a definite theos, thus proving the deity of Christ in this passage. However, as Daniel Wallace has pointed out, simply appealing to Colwell’s rule alone does not prove that theos must be taken as definite.2 His rule would only say that if theos is definite then it would probably lack the article (and it does). But the reverse is not necessarily true. Simply lacking the article in this construction does not make the noun definite.
Wallace goes on to argue that theos should not be taken as definite but instead as
qualitative, thus emphasizing “the nature of the Word, rather than his
identity.” The glosses which he suggests bring out this idea are, “What God
was, the Word was” (
My question to all of these
grammarians is this: “Why does a definite theos have to refer to God the
Father, since all three persons are co-equal in Trinitarian theology?” The Holy
Spirit is identified as “God” with the article present in Acts 5:3-4. Jesus is identified as “God” with the
article present in John 20:28, Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1. Wallace acknowledges these passages, but
states that (in John 20:28)-John-20-28.htm defined-- “there is nothing in that context that would
identify [Jesus] with the Father.”5
But if God is a Trinity, I see nothing in John 1:1b (“the Word was with God”) that would require
that this occurrence of theos be identified as
God the Father either.6 It simply says that “the Word was with God (article
present).” Why could this not be referring to God the Holy Spirit? Surely if
God is an eternal Trinity then Jesus would have been with him (God the Holy
Spirit) in the beginning as well.
The point we should note here is that when a
Trinitarian reads the word “God,” he (rightly) assumes that it refers to God
the Father, unless there is reason to believe otherwise. Somehow, the Father is
more ‘God’ than the other two people. So if a definite theos
in this passage would make Jesus God the Father (as Wallace and the other
grammarians above have stated) then I see no reason why a definite theos
applied to Jesus anywhere else in the New Testament would not also make
Jesus God the Father! (such as in the passages
noted above).
So what other options were open to John? Answer (GOD defined/W/
He could have easily left theos
anarthrous and still put it after the verb, thus retaining the qualitative
sense that Wallace argues for. So it was not necessary to place it
before the verb merely for that reason. The fact that he chose to put it before
the verb and to the beginning of the phrase would seem to indicate emphasis
(The Word was God!). As mentioned before, Colwell’s rule states that
“definite predicate nouns which precede the verb usually lack the article.”7 So if John intended a definite theos and wanted to emphasize the word “God,” then he
would have said it exactly how he did! Now, I am in agreement with
Wallace, that Colwell’s rule does not prove a definite theos, but it most definitely supports it. Even he
admits that a definite theos is
“certainly possible grammatically.”8
Furthermore, you could only derive a
Trinitarian interpretation from John 1:1 (GOD defined/W/
Footnotes
1.
E. C. Colwell, A Definite Rule for the Use of the
Article in the Greek New Testament, p. 20, quoted in Wallace, GGBB,
257. <back>
2. Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond
the Basics, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 269. <back>
3. Wallace, 269. He does not however suggest that these
glosses should actually be used in a translation since they can be misleading. <back>
4. Wallace, 268. <back>
5. Wallace, 268. <back>
6. Which is how a Trinitarian reads this passage - ". .
. the Word was WITH God the Father, and the Word WAS God the Son"
(emphasis added). <back>
7. Colwell, A Definite Rule, quoted in Wallace, GGBB,
257. <back>
8. Wallace, 268. He still argues against it for reasons of
frequency and theology, p. 269. <back>
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Where Were the Nicene Council Members When God
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Who Wrote the Greek Bible Grammatical Rules?-Consider the Source
- 7.htm
Is Oneness In
the Bible- 8.htm-- According to the (Oneness-dualism-Triune-Doctrines ) Jesus disappear into
the clouds and went into a non existing nothingness--- And went back to -being
the 2nd Phantom Spirit being
person of the Trinity?.—or just being God United With God.—Right---yea Right? 8.htm--Colwell’s BestBiblesComingInTheFUTURE.htm-
Man
--With Most likely Satan’s Influence
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GodHead defined
Study
AAIsJesusRealToYOU.htm.
With Verse 9 activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, Compare
KJV/w/Strong’s N0’s 2Th 2:9
TrinityDelusion2Thess8-12.htm
a Delusion of Oneness.htm
Trindirty.htm and 8.htm
So
what does I really mean to the Oneness
–Dualism- Triune –Doctrine(s) Believers
"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to render to every man according to what he has done *. (DenyingJesusLife.htm
defined
Study
9.htm
and 10.htm-13.htm 010.htm
/Oneness.htm defined with (DenyingJesusLife.htm
defined
Man united God---Can You Imagine That ?–Study
-
Jn
1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (GOD
defined/W/
defined/W/
Many Bible Publishers Exposed SBT’S open John1-1.htm)
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The Bottom Line Is
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And incomprehensible--And they choose to think that’s OK—because
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The truth
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When taught
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There are
hundreds of articles with hundreds of printed pages on The Trinitarian/Oneness Binitarian Movement of
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all
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That Jesus
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Repeat
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That Jesus was Created First—The Best Article the Expository
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Part
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Open
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The
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to distinguish between what is real and unreal, powerful and powerless, genuine
and deceptive, pure and contaminated, clear and confused, as well as relative
degrees of one extreme or the other
You have real Life because Jesus’ Father and God caused it. Is Jesus as real as you are?. Does Jesus have life in himself as He himself Stated or do the Nicene Creed Makers know more about Jesus then He did of Himself?
So
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