we have a case paralleling that of John 1:1 with exactly the same predicate construction, namely, with an anarthrous [i.e., no definite article] OEOS [theos]" (The Kingdom Interlinear, p. 1160). This at first seems to be true for there is no definite article in Acts 28:6. What the Witnesses fail to mention is that in John 1:1 the predicate nominative (theos) precedes the verb; here in Acts it follows the verb and thus is not applicable. Colwell’s Rule (which is at issue here) states that a definite predicate nominative has the article when it follows the verb and lacks the article when it precedes it:
It must be stated quite frankly that, if the Jehovah’s Witnesses take this translation seriously, they are polytheists. In view of the additional light which is available during this age of Grace, such a representation is even more reprehensible than were the heathenish, polytheistic errors into which ancient Israel was so prone to fall. As a matter of solid fact, however, such a rendering is a frightful mistranslation. It overlooks entirely an established rule of Greek grammar which necessitates the rendering, "…and the Word was God." Some years ago Dr. Ernest Cadman Colwell of the University of Chicago pointed out in a study of the Greek definite article that, "A definite predicate nominative has the article when it follows the verb; it does not have the article when it precedes the verb." …In a lengthy Appendix in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ translation, which was added to support the mistranslation of John 1:1, there are quoted thirty-five other passages in John where the predicate noun has the definite article in Greek. These are intended to prove that the absence of the article in John 1:1 requires that OEOS [theos] must be translated "a god." None of the thirty-five instances is parallel, however, for in every case the predicate noun stands after the verb, and so, according to Colwell’s rule, properly has the article. So far, therefore, from being evidence against the usual translation of John 1:1, these instances add confirmation to the full enunciation of the rule of the Greek definite article. Furthermore, the additional references quoted in the New World Translation from the Greek of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, in order to give further support to the erroneous rendering in the opening verse of John, are exactly in conformity with Colwell’s rule, and therefore are added proof of the accuracy of the rule. The other passages adduced in the Appendix are, for one reason or another, not applicable to the question at issue. (Particularly inappropriate is the reference to Acts 28:6, for no one has ever maintained that the pagan natives of Malta regarded Paul as anything other than "a god.")7
Van Buskirk points out that the Witnesses have attempted to deny Colwell’s Rule by quoting Phillip B. Harner’s article in Journal of Biblical Literature, "Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: Mark 15:39 and John 1:1" (Vol. 92, 1973, p. 87). However, a full year earlier Dr. Mantey’s own letter to the Watchtower Society demanding they stop misquoting him pointed out that not only had they misquoted Colwell’s Rule but that it is impossible to quote Harner in denial of Colwell since Harner himself supports the rule and denies the possibility of an "a god" translation. Van Buskirk observes:
One’s mind staggers at the depths to which someone will sink to prove his point. In the Watchtower’s case both Colwell and Harner show that in John 1:1 "a god" is not a permissible translation. Yet without blinking an eye they will quote, out of context, the man who refutes them. Harner’s article in no way concludes what the Watchtower makes it conclude in their letter.8
Van Buskirk goes on to discuss exactly what Harner concluded and how his research is complementary to Colwell’s; it simply brings out new information.
Nevertheless, even if we were to assume the truth of what the Watchtower Society claims in their appendix, they have violated their own "rule" in John 1:1 94% of the time. Robert H. Countess, writing in The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New Testament, documents this in detail.9
In John 1 alone they violate their principle at least five times. Checking their interlinear (pp. 417-419) we see the following:
• John 1:6 para theou—no definite article
• John 1:12 tekna theou—no definite article
• John 1:13 ek theou—no definite article
• John 1:18 Theon—no definite article
• John 1:23 odon Kuriou—no definite article
If the absence of the article demands the "a god" rendering, why is it not so rendered here? In fact, where is it in 94% of the instances of such construction in the NWT? Clearly translating John 1:1 "a god" is not only a violation of Greek grammar, it is unjustified even in light of the vast majority of their own translation. Obviously then, in John 1:1 (NWT), the translation should be "God," not "a god."
(As an aside, the NWT at John 1:23 translates the Greek kurios (Lord) as "Jehovah," since it is a clear reference to Jehovah God from Isaiah. Yet, according to their John 1:1 rendering, with no definite article it should be "a Jehovah." If "a god" must be different from God, "a Jehovah" must then be different from Jehovah. At this point we would have three Gods: "Jehovah," "a god" and "a Jehovah.")
Notes
1 Sabellianism: "A version of Monarchianism holding that the Godhead was differentiated only into a succession of modes or operations…" The American Heritage Dictionary.
2 Julius Mantey, Depth Exploration in the New Testament (NY: Vantage Press, 1980), pp. 138-39.
3 A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1934), pp. 767-68.
4 A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. 5 (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1930), pp. 4-5.
5 Dana and Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto, Canada: MacMillian, 1957).
6 Quoted in our The Facts On Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 48.
7 Bruce Metzger, "The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jesus Christ," rpt. of April 1953, Theology Today (Princeton, NJ: Theological Book Agency, 1953), pp. 75-76.
8 Michael Van Buskirk, The Scholastic Dishonesty of the Watchtower (Santa Ana, CA: Christian Apologetics and Research Information Service, 1976), p. 16.
9 Robert Countess, The Jehovah’s Witness New Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1983), Chapter 4, pp. 54-55; Appendix Table 5.
http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/bible-for-dummies/BD0805W3.htm
