THE TRANSLATION OF ΘΕΟΣ IN THE

NEW WORLD TRANSLATION

ROBERT H. COUNTESS, P H . D .

The volume chosen as the basis of this paper is the New World
Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures published in 1950 and re­
vised May 1, 1951, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brook­
lyn. The 1961 appearance of the New World Translation of the Holy
Scriptures—the entire Bible—left the former edition of the New Testa­
ment essentially intact. Furthermore, the 1951 edition was selected be­
cause it contains a Foreword and appendices which shed much light
on the translation.
There is no issue taken with NWT regarding the meaning of Θεός,
for seldom does it mean anything other than "God." The issue arises at
first glance out of the arthrous or anarthrous status of this word; but
this paper shall endeavor to demonstrate that the issue arises out of a
prior "preferred religious view" 1 on the part of the Witnesses, so that
one may see that the arthrous or anarthrous status of Θεός became
simply a grammatical means to a doctrinal end.
Since the position of NWT is stated so precisely in an appendix to
John 1:1, the first portion of this paper will present that appendix and
its significations. Thereupon will follow a discussion of the Greek article.
Lastly, there will be a discussion of the more than 1,300 occurrences of
Θεός and the NWT rendering of them.

Appendix to John 1:1—"a god"

2
The appendix to John 1:1 occupies nearly four pages of NWT. It
commences by presenting two modern English versions: The Complete
Bible and James Moffatt's A New Translation of the Bible. Both render
θεός at John 1:1 "divine." Immediately following is this statement:
Every honest person will have to admit that John's saying
the Word or Logos "was divine" is not saying that he was
the God with whom he was. It merely tells of a certain quality
about the Word or Logos, but it does not identify him as one and
the same as God. 3
The NWT rendering of John 1:1 bears out this testimony which "every
honest person will have to admit." It runs: "Originally the Word was,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god."

1. New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (Brooklyn: Watch-

tower Bible and Tract Society, 1950 ), p. 6.
2. Ibid., pp. 773-7.
3. Ibid., p. 773.

153
154 BULLETIN OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The effect of designating Christ "a god" is at the very least startling
to the Christian reading or hearing this translation. Certainly there must
be ponderous evidence for such a departure from the almost universal
manner in which this verse has been rendered in the past—"and the Word
was God." The appendix is not slow to give reasons. Referring to The
Complete Bible and to Moffatt:

The reason for their rendering the Greek word "divine," and
not "God," is that it is the Greek noun theos without the definite
article, hence an anarthrous theos. The God with whom the
Word or Logos was originally is designated here by the Greek
expression ό Θεός, theos preceded by the definite article ho,
hence an articular theos. Careful translators recognize that the
articular construction points to an identity, a personality, where­
4
as an anarthrous construction points to a quality about someone.

Thus NWT derives a translation principle which may be stated as

follows: anarthrous Θεός equals "a god"; arthrous Θεός equals "God."
The anarthrous is qualitative; the arthrous is quantitative. An incidental
criticism at this point is necessary. NWT has "a god," clearly a quantita­
tive rendering! The translators, to be consistent with their principle,
should have followed Moffatt and The Complete Bible, both reading
"divine."

Next, the appendix continues by quoting the grammarians Dana and

Mantey on the significance of the article with a predicate nominative.
An analogous passage to John 1:1 from the Anabasis is given, reading:
"and the place was a market." Dana and Mantey conclude:

The article points out the subject in these examples. Neither

was the place the only market, nor was the word all of God, as it
would mean if the article were also used with Theos. 5

One cannot but notice that NWT omitted the last sentence of Dana and
Mantey's statement, for reasons most obvious : "As it stands, the other per­
sons of the Trinity may be implied in Θεός."6 Then NWT lightly chides
these grammarians for not translating Θεός as "a god" to parallel "a
market" in the Anabasis.

Some scholars in the past have asserted that the article before Θεός
in John 1:1 is to be assumed. NWT counters :
it is presumptuous to say that such a definite article is to be
understood so that the sentence should therefore be translated
"and the Word was God." 7

4. Ibid., p. 774.
5. hoc. cit.
6. Η. E. Dana and J. R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament
(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927), p. 149.
7. New World Transfotion, p. 774.
 COUNTESS: THE TRANSLATION OF 155

Such a rendering, they contend, would mean that the Logos is the God
with whom he is said to be, and "This is unreasonable." 8 Furthermore,
the inspired writings of John and his fellow disciples indicate what the
true idea is, namely that the Logos "is not God or the God, but is the
Son of God, and hence is a god."9
The appendix concludes by acknowledging that theirs is not the
first translation to render John 1:1 "a god." That honor must reside with
an 1808 New Testament printed in London and based upon Archbishop
Newcome's new translation. 10

Significance of This Rendering

If it is simply a matter of the presence or absence of the article,
then why cannot a principle be established and followed throughout the
New Testament that ο Θεός be translated "God" and Θεός "a god"?
Such is, to be sure, the clear assertion of the NWT appendix.
But the really trenchant significance of this rendering "a god" is that
Jesus Christ is not "very God of very God" and the second person of
the Trinity. He is merely "a god" in a pantheon of lesser divinities. The
Witnesses would tell us that Jesus in his pre-human state was an angel,
identifiable in the Old Testament with Michael and as such, God's
Chief Executive Oificer.11 Yet Jesus is to be regarded as unique and
worthy of obeisance, but not worship.

The Greek Article

The NWT appendix several times uses the phrase "the definite
article" so as to imply that in Greek there exists in correspondence to
English an "indefinite article." Such phraseology implies lack of under­
standing of this aspect of the Greek language, for there is no such parallel
correspondence to English usage.
In his doctoral dissertation, the reviser/translator of the Blass-
Debrunner Greek grammar, Robert W. Funk, presents a recent analysis
of the Greek article in both classical and Hellenistic times. 12 By way of
general comment Funk notes that there are several factors which make
the article an important element in any stylistic or grammatical study.
One is its high frequency. Its constant, and sometimes almost automatic,
repetition tends to make it more idiomatic and more revealing of a writer's
temperament and disposition; in this respect it compares closely with
particles, although exceeding them, of course, in frequency.

8. Loc. cit.
9. Ibid., p. 775.
10. Ibid., p. ΊΠ.
11. The Truth Shall Make You Free (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society, 1943), p. 44, and New Heavens and a New Earth (Brooklyn: Watch-
tower Bible and Tract Society, 1953), pp. 28-30.
12. Robert W. Funk, "The Syntax of the Greek Article: Its Importance for Critical
Pauline Problems" (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, 1953).
156 BULLETIN OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Also the article is characterized by its being a luxury of the language,

but never without meaning. The Greek article is not necessary for a sub­
stantive to be definite; yet, when the article is used, definiteness is assured
and a nuance is added which is not available to authors under different
grammatical systems.

The article is deictic in that it points to something as does an index

finger. Thus is apparent the development from the demonstrative of the
όριστικον αρορον, as the Greeks called it—"the defining article." But un­
like the demonstrative it does not denote location in space and time. Be­
cause the article is deictic its function is twofold: (1) individual, in
that the known, specific, previously recognized individual person or
thing is denoted; and (2) generic, in that it refers to class or genus of
persons or things.

Grammarians past and present realize the difficulty of making hard

and fast rules governing the use of the article. They further agree to
the flexibility of this part of speech. One must acknowledge that the
article can be understood and appreciated only through diligent study of
it over a long period of time. One must attempt to capture, as Walter
Bauer put it, "das Stilgefühl"—the feeling of style—of the writer. From
Plato to Paul the article has appeared as an integral and viable part of
the language. In the Papyri and in Patristics it continued to retain its
vitality. It defies constriction by narrow grammatical rules, but it also
defies the charge of ambiguity. And it is with all of this in mind that
one must view the rendering of NWT at John 1:1 and the definitive
principle by which this rendering is defended: ό Θεός = "God" and Θεός
= " a god."

Colwell's Rule
In 1933 an endeavor was made to delineate a definite rule for the
use of the article. Ernest C. Colwell—then of the University of Chi­
cago—outlined his discovery in an article in the Journal of Biblical
Literature entitled "A Definite Rule for.the Use of the Article in the
Greek New Testament." 13 The proposed rule is, A definite predicate
nominative has the article when it follows the verb; it does not have the
article when it precedes the verb. [I shall abbreviate it "Colrule."]
As a result of his study of John 1:49; 5:27 and 9:5, Colwell came
to the two conclusions set forth in his proposed rule. In 1:49 Nathaniel
ascribes two titles to Jesus; in one of them he uses the article, but in the
other he does not. Συ εΐ ό υιός του Θεού* συ βασιλεύς του 'Ισραήλ. Why
the difference? Close scrutiny revealed to Colwell that the variable
quantum is not definiteness but word order. It was then necessary for
him to establish this observation upon general New Testament usage.

13. E. C. Colwell, "A Definite Rule for the Use of the Article in the Greek New
Testament," Journal of Biblical Literature, LII ( 1933), pp. 12-21.
 COUNTESS: THE TRANSLATION OF 157

As formulated by Colwell the rule relates only to constructions where

the copula is actually expressed.
The task yet awaits the labor of someone to scrutinize carefully the
entire New Testament in order to set forth all the data relevant to
Colrule. However, of the many examples available are these. In John
19:21 the title "King of the Jews" occurs twice. The Jews demand of
Pilate, "Write not 'The King of the Jews'; but that he said, Ί am King
of the Jews'." The Jewish objection was to the factual character of the
superscription. They wanted it changed so as to indicate to everyone that
Jesus merely claimed to be King. The former instance of this title has
the article; the latter is anarthrous and it precedes the verb. In these
passages—Matthew 27:11, 37; Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3, 37; and John 18:33
—"King of the Jews" appears with the article and each time it is after the
verb. In Matthew 27:42 the same title is anarthrous and before the verb.
Two other examples from the Gospels must suffice for the present
paper. The first relates to the so-called seven major "I am's" of John's
Gospel. They are as follows :

6:35 Έγώ εΐμι ό άρτος της ζωής*

8:12 Έγώ ειμί το φως χον κόσμου*
10:7 Έγώ ειμί ή θύρα των προβάτων.
10:11 Έγώ είμι ό ποιμήν ό καλός·
11:25 Έγώ ειμί ή άναστασις και ή ζωή*
14:6 Έγώ είμι ή οδός και ή αλήθεια και ή ζωή*
15:1 Έγώ ειμί ή άμπελος ή αληθινή.

All illustrate Colrule in that each has the arthrous predicate noun after
the copula. Interestingly, in 9:5 John writes φως είμι του κόσμου. The
anarthrous predicate noun precedes.
The other example is the Matthean explanation of the Parable of the
Sower, 13:37-39. The passage contains a series of seven clauses with seven
predicate nouns. The first five predicate nouns are articular and follow
the verb while the last two, equally definite, are anarthrous and precede
the verb.

1. ό σπείρων το καλόν σπέρμα εστίν ό υιός του ανθρώπου*

2. ο δε αγρός έστιν ό κόσμος*
3. το δέ καλόν σπέρμα, οΰτοί είσιν οι υιοί της βασιλείας*
4. τα δέ ζιζάνια είσιν οι υίοι χον πονηρού,
5. ό δέ εχθρός ό σπείρας αυτά έστιν ό διάβολος*
6. ό δέ Αερισμός συντέλεια αιώνος έστιν,
7. οι δέ θερισται άγγελοι είσιν.
158 BULLETIN OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Whether Matthew altered the order of words for the purpose of

emphasis or for variety of style we cannot be sure. Of this, however, we
can be certain: the predicate nouns in the last two clauses are as definite
as those preceding; the only difference is that he omitted the article
when the noun preceded the copula.
Colwell discusses some fifteen apparent exceptions to his proposed
rule which vary from the rule that a definite predicate noun before the
14
verb is anarthrous. Half are scattered throughout Luke, John, 2 Peter
and the Apocalypse. In five of these there is significant manuscript
evidence for omitting the article in compliance with Colrule. The other
half of these exceptions occur in the Corinthian letters. Of these seven,
five place the predicate noun not only before the verb but before the
subject as well: for example, in I Corinthians 9:1 ου το έργον μου ύμεΐς
έστε εν κυρίω; Colwell suggests that this is "a stylism temporarily affected
15
by the Apostle to the Gentiles, possibly for the sake of greater emphasis."
That class of exceptions which omits the article after the verb
contains more examples—approximately twenty-six.16 Since proper names
regularly omit the article in the predicate when following the verb, they
are not included as exceptions. Two of these twenty-six are quotations
from the Septuagint; five are substantivized adjectives. The rest have
no common characteristics. Two—1 Corinthians 12:27 and 1 Thessalon-
ians 4:3—have textual evidence giving some basis for reading in accord­
ance with Colrule. The most notable feature in this list is the large
number of exceptions in Romans. 17
The importance of Colrule may be seen in at least three areas of
New Testament study: grammar, text, and translation or interpreta­
tion. Future grammars will no longer merely say that predicate nouns
regularly omit the article. They must say that when the copula occurs
that about two-thirds of the definite predicate nouns do have the article.
The following rules may be formulated tentatively:
( 1 ) Definite predicate nouns here regularly take the article.
(2) The exceptions are for the most part due to a change in
word order: (a) Definite predicate nouns which follow the verb
(this is the usual order) usually take the article; ( b ) Definite
predicate nouns which precede the verb usually lack the
article; (c) Proper names regularly lack the article in the predi­
cate; ( d ) Predicate nominatives in relative clauses regularly
follow the verb whether or not they have the article. 18

14. Luke 4:41; John 1:21; 6:51; 15:1; II Peter 1:17; Rom. 4:13; I Cor. 9:1, 2;
11:3, 25; II Cor. 1: 12; 3:2, 17; Rev. 19:8; 20:14.
15. Colwell, p. 18.
16. Matt. 20:16; Mark 4:32; 9:35; 12:28; Luke 20:33; 22:24; John 4:18; 18:13,
37; Acts 10:36; Rom. 4:11, 18; 7:13; 8:16, 29; 11:6; I Cor. 12:27; 16:15;
II Cor. 5:21; 6:16; Gal. 4:31; I Thess. 4:3; I Peter 5:12; Heb. 11:1.
17. Colwell, pp. 18-19.
18. Ibid., p. 20.
 COUNTESS: THE TRANSLATION OF 159

In the area of textual criticism Colrule makes an equally definite contri­

bution. "It shows in certain specific cases what the probabilities are as to
the author's use or non-use of the article." 19 Second Peter 1:17 is a good
example. Westcott and Hort, following, of course, Vaticanus, read
ό υιός μον ό αγαπητός μου οΰτός έστιν. Since the evidence set forth in
Colwell's study points to the extreme rarity of this type of construction
in the New Testament, Tischendorfs judgment—that the more greatly
attested reading is οΰτός εστίν ό τϊός μον ό αγαπητός μου—is to be pre­
ferred.
The area of translation or interpretation receives the greatest light
from this rule. No longer can a predicate noun preceding the verb be
translated as indefinite or qualitative solely because no article is present.
If the context (and not necessarily just the immediate context) reveals
that the predicate noun is definite, then it ought to be translated as a
definite noun despite the absence of the article. Contrariwise, when a
predicate noun is anarthrous following the verb, the probability that it
is indefinite is very great. In summary Colwell remarks:
Loosely speaking, this study may be said to have increased
the definiteness of a predicate noun before the verb without the
article, and to have decreased the definiteness of a predicate
noun after the verb without the article. 20
John 1:1 is cited by him as one of the many verses where this rule
suggests translating an anarthrous predicate noun definitely. Regarding
the context Colwell states:
The context makes no such demand in the Gospel of John,
for this statement cannot be regarded as strange in the prologue
of the gospel which reaches its climax in the confession of
Thomas. 2 1
Colwell's proposed rule has not passed unnoticed in the intervening
thirty-three years. Bruce Metzger, writing in Theology Today in 1953,
says that NWT overlooked entirely "an established rule of Greek gram­
22
mar which necessitates the rendering 'and the Word was God\" That
Metzger's opinion of Colrule remains unchanged is affirmed by a recent
23
letter.
In 1963, the author of Moulton's Greek grammar, Nigel Turner,
alluded to Colrule. Although his remarks are on the whole pessimistic,
24
he does admit that the rule "may reflect a general tendency." Clearly
then the last word regarding this rule remains to be uttered, and may
19. Loc. cit.
20. Ibid., p. 21.
21. Loc. cit. For Thomas' confession see John 20:28.
22. Bruce M. Metzger, "The Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ," Theology
Today, X (April, 1953), pp. 65-85.
23. "Though I have not made any special study of the matter in recent years, I
have come across nothing that I can recall now which would lead me to change
my earlier opinion of the validity of the rule formulated by Colwell." ( Personal
letter, October 11, 1966.)
24. Nigel Turner, Syntax. Vol. Ill of A Grammar of New Testament Greek by
James H. Moulton (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963), p. 184.
160 BULLETIN OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

never be; but the first word demands a confrontation with anarthrous
nouns which may very well be very definite.
The Occurrences of Θεός in the New Testament
Having received impetus from NWT's appendix which attempted to
justify "a god" for Θεός I observed every occurrence of ό θεός, θεός in
the New Testament. Using Moulton and Geden's Concordance to the
Greek Testament the 1,300 plus occurrences were checked against the
Nestle text, and when a variant regarding the article existed, against the
Westcott and Hort text—the basic text underlying NWT.
In a table each instance of ό θεός, θεός was recorded along with
the NWT rendering of it. The results clearly indicate the inconsistency
of the translators and markedly point up the arbitrariness with which they
manipulated the text at John 1:1. Throughout the New Testament the
arthrous Θεός far exceeds the anarthrous, and of 282 occurrences of the
anarthrous Θεός NWT sixteen times has either "a god, god, gods, or
godly." The translators were, therefore only 6% faithful to their canons
enunciated in the appendix to John 1:1—i.e. Θεός = a god and ό Θεός
= God. On the other hand they were 94% unfaithful.
The first paragraph of John, 1:1-18, furnishes a lucid example of
NWT's arbitrary dogmatism. The Greek word for "God" occurs eight
times, in verses 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 18, and has the article but two times, verses
1 and 2. Yet NWT reads "God" six times. Of these, four are anarthrous
and two arthrous. And in verse 18 NWT reads " t h e . . .god" where there
is no article in Greek. Such examples can be adduced in great abundance
throughout NWT.
Conclusion
That NWT has certain praiseworthy features—for example, an
apparatus criticus—everyone must admit. That NWT is perhaps the first
entire translation of the New Testament by any of the cults is significant.
But that it has chosen to translate John 1:1 "a god" is most unfortunate
for several reasons : ( 1 ) It shows ignorance of a particular nuance of the
Greek language; (2) The translators have established a principle re­
garding the article to which they themselves have been unfaithful 94%
of the time; and ( 3 ) The "preferred religious view" of an Arian-type cult
has influenced the rendering of a very important passage. The "Foreword"
of NWT disclaims any prejudice or bias for its translation. All other trans­
lations are written off as having been influenced by "religious traditions,
25
hoary with age." The reader, I suggest, must be the judge.
Is Colrule absolute? No. Much work remains to further establish and
explicate it. In view of available data, however, one must concur with
Colwell when he says that "And the Word was God" may not be re­
garded as strange in a Gospel that concludes with Thomas' exclamation
26
in 20:28, ό κύριος UCD και ό θ?ός μου.
Covenant College
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee
25. New World Translation, p. 6.
26. Colwell, op. cit., p. 21.
 ^ s
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