Greek word study using e-Sword

You can use the power of e-Sword to do some light weight Greek research.  For example, lets look at John 1:1.  Here it is in the KJV

 (Joh 1:1)  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

When the Jehovah's Witnesses come to your door they may show you that there is NO definite article in front of the second word GOD so it should be translated "and the word was A god".  They may even show you their own Greek interlinear "translation".  Based on this they conclude that Jesus was A God but not the Almighty God, Jehovah.  They also concluded that the doctrine of the "trinity" is false.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. (New World Translation)

So, later, you take a look, and sure enough there is no article.  They seem to be right at first glance.  Using e-Sword, you can look up the verse along with the Strong's Numbers.  It looks like this.

When you click on G2316 you find out that the Greek word for God is θεός (theos).  So far this doesn't help much.

Now you can install a Greek NT into e-Sword and you can research a little further.  You might think, "I don't know Greek".  That's OK.  Its time you learned a little.  Click on Download (Resources on the iPad version), then on Bibles.  Scroll down and install the Greek New Testament. Find John 1:1 and then switch to Greek NT.  The verse looks like this.

Joh 1:1  ᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. 

You have τὸν Θεόν (the God, translated GOD) καὶ (this is the word for AND) then you have Θεὸς.  Notice that there is nothing between AND and GOD...their is no definite article.  You might think, "My goodness, they are right.  It could be translated a God"

BUT WAIT...... using your Greek NT, highlight καὶ Θεὸς and run a phrase search.  You will find only two matches.  Here is what I found.

Joh_1:1  ᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. 

 

2Co_1:3  Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ Θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως,

Now, go to the internet and look up 2Cor 1:3 in the New World Translation (NWT) and see how they translated καὶ Θεὸς.  Here it is.

3  Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, (NWT)

Notice:  Not only did they not put an "A" in front of Θεὸς  (God) but they added the word THE.  In other words, in John 1:1 they translated καὶ Θεὸς "A GOD" but in 2Cor 1:3 they translated it "THE GOD".  Interesting. Which is it?

You can push this a little further using e-Sword.  Highlight the word Θεὸς and run a search.  You will find 246 matches.  Now do the same with the phrase ὁ Θεὸς and you will find 206 matches.  Subtract the two and you will find 40 possible occurrences of the word Θεὸς without the article.  If you manually scroll through the 40, you will eliminate some of them because the "ho" is in a different position.  This will leave you with 17 occurrences of Theos without the definite article.  You can use the internet to look up all 17 of these references in the NWT.  You will find that they put the article "A" in front of the word GOD only twice.  In all the other references, they translate Theos as "the God" or "God."  Here are a the references.

Mat 22:32, Luk 20:38, Jon 1:1, Joh 8:54 Acts 15:8, Rom 8:33, 1Cor 8:4, 1Cor 8:6, 2Cor 1:3, 2Cor 5:19, Gal 2:6, Gal 6:7, Eph 4:6, 1Thes 2:5, 1Tim 3:16, Heb 11:16, and Rev 21:7

In conclusion, it is easy to see that the JW's fabricated their view of John 1:1 in order to support their false doctrine.  The fact is, when the word Theos occurs in a text without the definite article it is for the purpose of emphasis.  Emphatically speaking, Jesus is God.  He was there in the beginning with God.

(Note:  This is not meant to be a scholarly study of John 1:1 or Greek usage.  It is a just handy way to use e_Sword to do a little basic research.  The Greek word "ὁ" is not pronounced "o", it is pronounced "ho" because it has a rough breathing mark.  If translated, it is most often translated "the".