THE PROLOGUE
OUTLINE
37
IN
behind the choice of `pros` in John when we remember how we use the
same idea among ourselves, without any suggestion of physical
proximity.
The Word was God (1:1)
We now come to the third statement in the first verse:
`And the Word was God - Kai Theos en ho logos`.
We have already seen that man, in his effort to find some
explanation of the universe, and some sort of mediator between things
seen and unseen, got as far as giving that mediating something the
name of the Logos, though without realising that the Logos was a
Person. We now come to the word Theos, the Greek equivalent for
`God'.
The following quotation from Dr. Bullinger's Greek Lexicon will
give some idea of the word's derivation:
`Theos, God. - A name reclaimed from the heathen, and used in the
N.T. for the true God. Various derivations, ancient and modern,
have been proposed, but it is nearly certain that its origin is from
the East and comes from the Sanscrit root, DIU-S (pronounced
dyus), which means (1) masc: fire, the sun, (2) fem: a ray of light,
day (hence Lat. Dies (fem. day)), (3) neut: the sky, heaven'.
The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures known as the Septuagint,
adopted the word Theos as the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Elohim
but, with a few exceptions, the singular Theos is used to translate the
plural Elohim.
`The Talmudists themselves were so persuaded of a plurality
expressed in the word Elohim as to teach that the LXX. interpreters
did purposely change the notion ... lest Ptolemy Philadelphus
should conclude that the Jews had a belief in polytheism' (Allix).
The New Testament follows the same procedure, and retains the
singular Theos for the plural Elohim. Both the LXX. and the New
Testament frequently use Theos for Jehovah, as for example in
Matthew 4:4, which cites Deuteronomy 8:3. It should be noted that all
the best texts omit the word Theos in Mark 12:32. Instead of `there is
one God', the passage should read: