John 1:1
John 1:11In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
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.
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 , 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 , , .
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."