“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
- Ἐνin, on, among
- ἀρχῇruler, beginning
- ἦνI am, exist
- ὁthe
- λόγοςa word, speech, divine utterance, analogy
- καὶand, even, also, namely
- ὁthe
- λόγοςa word, speech, divine utterance, analogy
- ἦνI am, exist
- πρὸςto, towards, with
- τὸνthe
- θεόνGod, a god
- καὶand, even, also, namely
- θεὸςGod, a god
- ἦνI am, exist
- ὁthe
- λόγοςa word, speech, divine utterance, analogy
In beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward the God, and God was the Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Three coordinated clauses, each governed by the imperfect ἦν. The first two nouns are articular; the predicate θεός in the third clause is anarthrous and fronted before the verb.
Step-parallelism (anadiplosis): the last word of each clause becomes the subject of the next (Word … Word … God … God), a chain that climbs to the identity claim.
The looping repetition is built for the ear: a hearer feels the rungs of the ladder before the mind analyzes the anarthrous predicate. On the page the eye can pause and weigh θεός; the ear simply receives the ascent.
Text-centered
Form mirrors content: a rising three-step chain enacts the very movement from "beginning" to the divine identity of the Word.
Author-centered
Echoes Genesis 1:1 ("In the beginning"); the author locates the Word before creation and in unbroken relation to God, framing the Gospel's argument that this Word became flesh (1:14).
Reader-centered
An ancient assembly heard an ascending hymn and felt its claim land communally; a modern silent reader can stop at the third clause and probe the grammar — gaining precision, losing the sweep of the spoken ascent.
θεός is qualitative: the Word shares the divine nature yet is distinct from "God" (the Father) named just before.
The absence of the article makes θεός indefinite: "the Word was a god."
We endorse no tradition. The basis is shown so you can examine and decide for yourself.
Whether the anarthrous θεός is qualitative, definite, or indefinite is a genuine grammatical question (Colwell's rule is contested); the text is marked † at θεός.
The hinge is the third clause. Preach the ascent — beginning, relation, identity — and let the anarthrous θεός hold both distinction ("with God") and deity ("was God") without collapsing either.