--- title: John 1:1 url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-1-1/ markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-1-1.md type: verse perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching reference: John 1:1 testament: NT section: Gospels index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt --- # John 1:1 ## Text (Berean Standard Bible) > **1** In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. > > **2** He was with God in the beginning. > > **3** Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. ## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase - NWT (1984 edition): "the Word was a god" - NWT (2013 revision): "the Word was a god" ## JW Usage NWT renders "the Word was a god" — lowercase, indefinite article added. JWs argue the absence of the Greek article means Jesus is "a god" but not God himself. ## Protestant Usage en arche en ho logos — "as far back as you go, the Word was already there." The anarthrous theos in the predicate position is qualitative, meaning "the Word had the nature of God." Every standard translation renders it "the Word was God." "In the beginning" (en arche) is a deliberate echo of Genesis 1:1, which opens with exactly the same words in the Greek Old Testament. Genesis says that in the beginning God created; John says that in the beginning the Word already was. When the beginning took place, the Word did not come into existence; he was already there, and verse 3 says everything that did come into existence came through him. Like Genesis 1, where God creates by speaking, John presents the Word as the one through whom God made all things. Verse 1 also has a partner at the other end of the prologue: verse 18 restates its three claims (the Word's existence, his being with God, and his being God), so the two verses should be read together. Compare Genesis 1:1, John 1:3, John 1:18. ## NWT Issue NWT adds "a" before "god" — "the Word was a god." No standard English translation supports this rendering. The Kingdom Interlinear's own literal column reads "god was the Word." ## Arguments Using This Verse - ['A God' = Polytheism](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john1-polytheism.md) — John 1:1 + Exodus 20:3 + Isaiah 43:10 [Deity of Christ] - [The New World Translation — Anonymous and Unqualified](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-reliability.md) — Can you trust a Bible translated by unnamed, untrained scholars? [NWT Translation] - [Jehovah Created Alone — So Jesus Must Be Jehovah](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/isaiah44-creator.md) — Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ] - [The Bible Has Not Been Corrupted](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/bible-reliability.md) — 5,800 Manuscripts Can't All Be Wrong [Authority] - [The Elohim Category Trap](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/elohim-category.md) — Psalm 82 — If Jesus Is 'a God,' Which Kind? [Deity of Christ] - [The NWT's One-Way Mirror](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-unidirectional-bias.md) — Every Change Points the Same Direction [NWT Translation] - [Thomas' Confession: My Lord and My God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john20-28-thomas.md) — John 20:28 [Deity of Christ] - [Spirit of Christ — Restructured Away](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/spirit-of-christ.md) — 1 Peter 1:11 — The NWT Breaks the Genitive to Hide Pre-Existence [NWT Translation] - [Let Us Make Man — The Isaiah 44:24 Trap](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/genesis1-26-let-us.md) — Genesis 1:26 / Isaiah 44:24 / Job 33:4 [Deity of Christ] - [Gods Who Die and God to Pharaoh Don't Parallel Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm82-exodus71-gods-parallel.md) — Psalm 82:6-7 / Exodus 7:1 / John 10:34-36 [Deity of Christ] - [The Christian Shema — Paul Splits the Shema to Include Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christian-shema.md) — 1 Corinthians 8:6 / Deuteronomy 6:4 / Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ] - [The Word of the Lord — Yahweh's Visible Person](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/word-of-the-lord.md) — The OT "Word of the Lord" appeared physically as God [Deity of Christ] - [King of Kings and Lord of Lords](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/king-of-kings.md) — Revelation 19:16 — A title shared with Jehovah [Deity of Christ] - [Antichrist Is Whoever Denies the Son — And Your NWT Knows](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/antichrist-christendom-boomerang.md) — 1 John 2:22 / 1 John 4:2 / 1 John 5:20 [Deity of Christ] - [When 'Is' Becomes 'Means'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/is-to-means-broader-pattern.md) — The NWT's Pattern of Paraphrasing the Greek Copula [NWT Translation] - [God Is Love — From Eternity, Or Not At All](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-from-immutable-love.md) — 1 John 4:8 / Malachi 3:6 / John 17:24 [Deity of Christ] - [Whoever Denies the Son Does Not Have the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1john2-23-deny-son-deny-father.md) — 1 John 2:22-23 [Deity of Christ] - [You Can't Cite a Bible You Say Is Corrupted](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/consistency-corrupt-bible-self-defeat.md) — The Selective-Appeal Inconsistency [Authority] - ['The Trinity Is Pagan' — Genetic Fallacy And The Wrong Question](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-pagan-deflection.md) — Matthew 28:19 / 2 Corinthians 13:14 [Deity of Christ] - [I Live Because of the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john-6-57-i-live-because.md) — John 6:57 — incarnation context, not pre-existent origin [Deity of Christ] - [If Jesus Is God, Who Raised Him?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/god-cannot-die-jw-closing.md) — Acts 20:28 / 1 Corinthians 2:8 — the two natures of the one Person [Deity of Christ] - [The Grammar Doesn't Support 'A God'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colwells-rule-john-1-1.md) — John 1:1c — Colwell, Harner, and the construction the NWT mishandles [Deity of Christ] - [Two Verbs, Two Categories](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/en-vs-egeneto-john-1-tense.md) — John 1 — the Word 'was' (ēn), creation 'came to be' (egeneto) [Deity of Christ] - [Answering "1+1+1=1" — The Math Mockery Defused](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-math-mockery-response.md) — Units, essence, and persons — why the math objection is a category error [Deity of Christ] - [Two Matches, One Candle — How Three Persons Create as One](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-causal-overdetermination.md) — Causal overdetermination and opera ad extra sunt indivisa [Deity of Christ] - [You're Not God — Why Your Model Isn't the Standard](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/epistemic-humility-trinity-objection.md) — An incomprehensible Creator and the limits of created reason [Deity of Christ] - [You're Already a Trinitarian — The Watchtower's Eternal Logos Problem](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-eternal-logos-tu-quoque.md) — If two persons existed before creation, where's the "one"? [Deity of Christ] - [Have You Read That Yourself? — Surfacing Watchtower-Mediated Reading](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/read-your-own-bible-exposure.md) — A gentle, repeated question that exposes secondhand belief [Authority] - [When Scholars Write Back — The Watchtower's Quote-Mining Pattern](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-quote-mining-tactic.md) — Julius Mantey's 1974 letter, plus Westcott, Robertson, Alford, Harner, Barclay [Authority] - [Paul Restored Mark — What Did Russell Restore?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/founder-character-contrast.md) — Apostolic reconciliation vs Bethel schism — the fruit test applied to founders [Authority] - [The Incarnation Is Addition, Not Compression](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/word-became-flesh-not-michael.md) — Why the Logos-to-Michael-to-Jesus-to-Michael cycle does not match the New Testament [Deity of Christ] - [The Prologue Has Two Bookends — Read John 1:18 Before You Argue About John 1:1](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john1-1-and-1-18-inclusio.md) — John 1:1 and 1:18 — the opening and closing of John's prologue say the same three things [Deity of Christ] - [An Attribute Can't Become Flesh](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/logos-attribute-vs-person.md) — John 1:14 — the Word who became flesh has a son's glory, a past and a place at the Father's side [Deity of Christ] - [Was God Ever Without His Wisdom?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/wisdom-and-power-of-god.md) — 1 Corinthians 1:24 — Christ is God's power and God's wisdom, so Proverbs 8 cannot make him a creature [Deity of Christ] - [Always the Father, Always a Son](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/eternal-father-eternal-son.md) — Malachi 3:6 / John 17:24 — if Jehovah never changes and has always been Father, he has always had a Son [Deity of Christ]