John 1:1,2 with John 17:1,3,5 distinguishes the "only true God" from the Logos, Jesus. John emphasizes that Jesus is with (or toward, in service of) God twice; the default reasoning should be that the Logos is not the only true God whom the Logos was with, and thus the usage of THEOS as applied the Logos must be used with the Hebraic meaning of "mighty" or "mighty one". Jesus was, before he became flesh, a mighty spirit being when he had the celestial glory (1 Corinthians 15:39-40) before God made the world of mankind through Jesus. -- John 1:3,10; 17:5.
I believe that John used the Greek structure for the purpose of showing that THEOS, as applied to the Logos, is meant to differentiate THEOS as applied to the only true Supreme Being; indeed, this should be the default reasoning. Trinitarian scholars themselves do not all agree on exactly what the Greek syntax means, although they, in some way, agree that it means that Jesus is the Supreme Being, to which they would imagine, asssume, add to, and read into, the scripture, that this means that Jesus is a separate and distinct person of the Supreme Being. Regardless of how one views the Greek syntax from strictly the Greek itself, the default conclusion should be that the Logos is not the Supreme Being whom he was with.
The basic Hebraic meaning of the forms of the word that is often transliterated as EL is might, strength, power, etc. Forms of the word often transliterated as THEOS in the New Testament corresponds with forms of EL in the Old Testament. Since it should be obvious that the Logos is not the only true God in John 1:1, as John emphasized twice that the Logos was with, or toward, the only true God, and which Jesus later confirmed (John 17:1,3,5), the most basic and obvious reasoning would be that the Jesus the NOT the only true Mighty One, that is, He who is of Himself the Might of the universe, the source of all might.
Jesus, in effect, acknowledged that usage of theos by this words in John 10:34,35, in which he quotes the Old Testament and applies a plural form of THEOS to the sons of the Most High, to whom the Logos came. (Psalm 82:1,6) Jesus was not saying all these sons of God were persons of the Most High; he was saying that these sons of the Most High were 'gods' in the sense that they had received power and might by means of God's Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8) Psalm 82 describes the difficulty of the sons of the Most High to overcome the sinful flesh, so as to not being misjudging, etc. The point, however, is that Jesus recognized the usage of theos in the manner. The King James Version refers to these sons of the Most High collectively as "mighty" in Psalm 82:1, where the Hebrew word EL is rendered as "mighty". Likwise, Jesus, being the only begotten son of God is "mighty", but he is not the Almighty Jehovah, who is the Mighty One Absolute, the source of all might, power, authority, etc. -- 1 Corinthians 8:6.
The KJV translators rendered forms of the Hebrew EL in various ways when they believed it was not speaking of Yahweh or false idol gods: Genesis 23:6 (mighty); Genesis 30:8 (mighty); Genesis 31:29 (power); Deuteronomy 28:32 (might); 1 Samuel 14:15 (great); Nehemiah 5:5 (power); Psalm 8:5 (angels); Psalm 36:6 (great); Psalm 82:1 (mighty); Proverbs 3:27 (power); Psalm 29:1 (mighty); Ezekiel 32:21 (strong); Jonah 3:3 (exceeding). Most other translations also recognize this usage.
If such Hebraic usage is applied to Jesus (who is shown to not be the only true God — John 17:1,3) in John 1:1, we would have “the Word was mighty,” and all makes perfect sense without adding all of the imaginations and assumptions that would have to accompany viewing the scripture through the tint of the trinity doctrine. Jesus was indeed a mighty one with the only true Supreme Being -- the source of all might -- before the world of mankind was made. -- John 1:10; 17:1,3,5; 1 Corinthians 8:6.
See my studies on my websites:
Trinitarian Assumptions
http://defendbiblefaith.com/?p=19
John 1:1-3 - The Logos Was Theos
http://jesus-rlbible.com/?p=372
I hope to eventually repost this to:
http://jesus-rlbible.com/?p=6367
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