Page 42 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” If Jesus was not divine,
such a saying would constitute blasphemy of the first order! Truly Jesus is both GOD and SAVIOR!

5. John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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NWT “In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was a god.”

JWs argue that since there is a definite article preceding the first appearance of the
word, God (ho theos) and no definite article before the second occurrence of “God”
in the Greek text (theos), that they are justified in inserting the article, “a” before
the second “God.” They often quote various Bible scholars that supposedly agree
with their parsing of this verse. However, every Bible scholar that they site in their arguments is either
misquoted or sharply deny their interpretation!!!

The truth is that just because theos is not preceded by a definite article, it does not mean that the
second “God” is not the same as the first. For example, in Luke 20:38, where we read of Jehovah, “Now
He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him." In this verse, the word, “God” has no
definite article, yet the person of God is referenced!

Other verses like this are: Matt. 5:9, 6:24; Luke 1:35, 78, 2:40; John 1:6, 12-13, 18, 3:2, 21, 9:16, 33;
Rom. 1:7, 17-18; I Cor. 1:30, 15:10; Phil 2:11,13; Titus 1:1)

“The writers of the New Testament frequently do not use the article with theos and yet the meaning is
perfectly clear in the context, namely that the one true God is intended” (Walter Martin).

In view of these verses that you have memorized, it is patently obvious that the interpretation of John
1:1 that argues for both a “God Almighty” and a lesser “god” cannot be reconciled with the rest of
Scripture:

Isaiah 45:5a I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God…

Isaiah 43:10-11 Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, even I, am the Lord,
And there is no savior beside Me.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me.”

WITNESSING NOTE: If the Greek word for God (theos) can be used of Jehovah without the definite
article in the New Testament like Luke 20:38, doesn’t this undermine the Watchtower argument that
Jesus is a lesser god because the definite article is not used with theos in John 1:1?

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