JOHN 1:18 ... Who was Only-Begotten ?

The SON+ ... or ... the THEOS ?



JOHN 1:18

WHO was Only-Begotten
... the SON+  or  "THEOS "  ?


No man hath seen GOD
at any time,
the only-begotten SON+,
which is in the bosom
of the FATHER,
HE+ hath declared HIM.
John 1:18 KJV*
*( See a Few Notes on the Greek at the end of this article. )


Can a one-word CHANGE affect the entire IDENTITY of The SON+ of GOD, our LORD JESUS CHRIST ? 

Yes. The Alexandrian manuscripts ( mss ) have made it so.

There are a few manuscripts ---seven , to be exact** ­---  which changed  one word in John 1:18 : 

They changed

 SON+ into "GOD" 

** based on NA26th apparatus. 


By changing that one word, those seven manuscripts manage to confuse and refute the IDENTITY of our LORD JESUS CHRIST as part of The ELOHIM, the GODHEAD. 



Somehow, those seven Alexandrian manuscripts missed the point.


In context, John the Baptist was bearing witness of The LORD JESUS in verses 15 through 18.  In these verses, which is the record of John the Baptist, he is explaining The ELOHIM.


John 1:15-18


John bare witness of HIM+,
and cried, saying,

This was HE+ of whom I spake,

HE+ that cometh after me is preferred before me: for HE+ was before me.

16 And of His+ fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by JESUS CHRIST.

18 No man hath seen GOD at any time, the Only-Begotten SON+,
Who+ is in the bosom of the FATHER,
HE+ hath declared HIM.
+  +  +


More precisely, John was clarifying the identity of The LORD JESUS CHRIST as The Only-Begotten SON+  Who+ abides in The GODHEAD.
 

John was showing how the SON+ is with The FATHER and always had been ... and always , ever will be.


The Alexandrian manuscripts which have somehow written GOD instead of SON+ in this verse (totally out of context with the record and message of John the Baptist ) are:

·                     Papyrus 75
·                     Papyrus 66
·                     Codex Aleph (01) ( Sinaiticus )
·                     Codex B (03) ( Vaticanus) --- in the picture above
·                     Codex C (04) --- Ephraemi Syriac 
·                     Codex L (019) Codex Regius pc ( i.e., pauci, a little )
·                     minuscule 33 pc


What is crucial to understand, though, is that modern English versions which follow the Alexandrian school of thought , reject the well-attested "Only-Begotten SON+ " .

They present the readers the phrase, "only begotten GOD "  based on these few manuscripts which Westcott and Hort followed when they published  their 1881 Alexandrian-based Greek text. 


In contrast, those manuscripts attesting to the "Only-Begotten SON+ "  are vast and include manuscripts written in the 5th Century with texts based even earlier, perhaps.  They include a wide range of locality in Christendom as well. 


·                 Alexandrinus -- 5th century
·                 C-3rd corrector of the Ephraemi Syriac Codex 04, 5th century
·                 THETA (038) Koridethianus -- 9th century, from the Georgia/Russian area
·                 PSI (043) --8th/ 9th century mixed text types
·                 063 -- 9th century
·                 F-1 group of  5 minuscules , Cesarian text, South Italy
·                 F-13 group of 13 minuscules, Cesarian text, South Italy
·                 Majority Text / Byzantine manuscripts... which includes

UNCIALS: According to NA26th, only 4 out of 49 uncials which contain the book of John  have  GOD instead of SON+.  This is not counting the many minuscules which derived from many parts of Christendom.

·                 Latin ( partial agreement  of Old Latin mss with the Vulgate )
·                 Syriac - Curetonian, Harklean
·                 W-s (032)  Codex Washingtonensis, mixed text, 10th century, Egypt
·                 Italia -- Old Latin manuscripts, very old, pre- 200 AD perhaps

Here is a list , courtesy of Biblegateway.com ,  of the modern versions which replace SON+ with GOD. [ If the abbreviations baffle you, please contact me via a comment and I will give you a comprehensive list of these Bible abbreviations. / SJH + + + ]

AMP

No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].

AMPC

No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

DLNT

No one has ever seen God; the only-born God, the One being in the bosom of the Father— that One expounded Him.

ESV

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

ESVUK

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

EXB

No one has ever seen God [CGod the Father, who is pure spirit; 4:24]. But ·God the only Son [God the one and only; the only Son who is himself God; TGod the only begotten] is ·very close to [by the side of; close to the heart of; Tin the bosom of] the Father, and he has ·shown us what God is like [made him known].

ISV

No one has ever seen God. The uniquely existing God, who is close to the Father’s side, has revealed him.

LEB

No one has seen God at any time; the one and only, God, the one who is in the bosom of the Father—that one has made him known.

MSG

 No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.

NASB

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

NET

No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

NIRV

No one has ever seen God. But the One and Only is God and is at the Father’s side. The one at the Father’s side has shown us what God is like.

NLT

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

NRSV

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

NRSVA

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

NRSVACE

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

NRSVCE

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

NTE

Nobody has ever seen God. The only-begotten God, who is intimately close to the father – he has brought him to light.

TLV

No one has ever seen God; but the one and only God, in the Father’s embrace, has made Him known.

VOICE

God, unseen until now, is revealed in the Voice, God’s only Son, straight from the Father’s heart.

+  +  +

At a glance, anyone can see that many of these versions are VERY FAR from a literal translation. Some of them are commentaries , telling the reader what they suppose the Word of GOD means, instead of a translation from the Greek into English of what the Word of GOD says.

~  ~  ~

Literal Greek*

*A Few Notes on the literal Greek for those interested.


Not one has perceived GOD at any time the only-Begotten SON+
the ONE+ being in the bosom of The FATHER  
That ONE+ 
HE+ declared HIMSELF.
+  +  +

All the words in BLUE are in the Nominative Case. In other words, they are subjects ! But, they are NOT the SUBJECT of the clause: not one has perceived at any time. In this clause, "not one" or No-one ( KJV ) is the subject.

This is a strange construction. All these words are in the nominative  (i.e., subject ) case:

·                 the only-Begotten SON+
·                 the One+ being 
·                 That One+

They are actually what we would term "words in apposition".  In other words, they are simply re-naming or re-identifying HE+ Who+ has declared or made clear or expounded The FATHER.
~  ~  ~

egs-AgAsato = The prefix egs, which basically means OUT, is added to the root word, Ageomai. That root word means to lead or bring.  With the prefix OUT, it means to bring FORTH, to bring OUT.

This verb form is a deponent and middle voice verb. 

In this sentence, this specific verb form is indicative, aorist, MIDDLE DEPONENT... which indicates a REFLEXIVE movement.


Thus, The Only-Begotten SON+ "declares" or makes CLEAR ... what ?  What does the Only-Begotten SON+  makes clear, what does HE+ reveal or show forth?  

There is no other word, no direct object following this verb in the Greek.  So, what is HE+ declaring, expounding, or "making clear" ? 

Because the verb is Middle Reflexive, The LORD JESUS is making clear HIMSELF, The ELOHIM ! 

The KJV tries to show this by putting HIM in italicized print, because the word HIM  is  not in the literal Greek.


John the Baptist is revealing in this passage that The LORD JESUS CHRIST is part of the ELOHIM:  the unified, plural ONE , i.e, The FATHER--The SON+ -- and The HOLY SPIRIT. In Ecclesiastical terms, the Trinity.

~  ~  ~
oudeis = not  even one . The separate word EIS is the cardinal number one, when it has a diacritical mark , the circumflex, above the iota ( like a bird's eye).

~ ~ ~
the ONE+ being unto the bosom of The FATHER . . .

The word ONE+ at the beginning of this phrase is really # 3588 ho =  "the".  It is frequently translated in the KJV as "which or who was.... "  It is grammatical to translate "the" as "the one"  or "the one who... ".

being = a verb, participle of EIMI ( to be ), present , active, Nominative, masculine, singular

+  +  +

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