IE divine. Contrary to the
KJV wording, the passage does not suggest that God and the Word are the same
Being. The first occurrence of God, in the GR text, is preceded by the definite
article, which is missing in the second occurrence. This second occurrence is
an anarthous predicate, actually written before “the Word” in the GR, meaning
that it assigns a quality to “the Word” (like an adjective), making him divine.
But the English term “divine” is not strong enough to explain what John means
here. IN reality, he is saying that the Son is exactly like the Father but is separate
from the Father. (The divinity of Christ is affirmed in John 20:28 and hinted
in 5:18 and 10:33.) That the GR construction does not mean identity of the Word
and God is further clarified by this v. and by v. 2, where the Word is “with God,”
and by v. 18, where the Son “is in the bosom of the Father.” The fourth-century
Christian writer Chrysostom was the first to note that the first occurrence of “was”
in this v. refers to the existence of the Word, the second to the relationship
of the Word to God, and the third denoting what the Word was. (John A.
Tvedtnes, “The Gospel According to St. John,” in Footnotes to the New Testament
for Latter-day Saints, ed. Kevin L. Barney, 2 vols. [2007], 1:431-32 n. e)
