John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – Episode 11, God Is One

“…and the Word was with God…” (John 1:1b)

John is telling us there is a plurality in God, even as the Old Testament hints.  But how does this square with the Biblical, and thus very Jewish, perspective that God is one?  In fact, the Jewish creed is found in Deuteronomy 6:4, which the English Standard Version translates this way:

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.

The Hebrew word translated “one” is the word echad. And in point of fact it can be translated and often is translated “one” in many Old Testament passages. But it does not always represent a numerical oneness, a solitary oneness. There are many passages where it obviously means a oneness of many in unity:

Judges 20:8, And all the people arose as one man
1 Samuel 11:7, they came out with one consent (literally, as one man)
Ezra 2:64, The whole congregation together (literally, as one)
Ecclesiastes 11:6, whether they both shall be alike (literally, as one) good
Isaiah 65:7, Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together (literally, as one)
Isaiah 65:25, The wolf and the lamb shall feed together (literally, as one)

So to say that God is one does not necessarily mean He is a solitary personality who alone possesses deity or the divine nature. It is not unlike Moses’ declaration of the marital
relationship of husband and wife, that the two become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). And we have clearly seen in our examination of the Old Testament passages a suggestion of plurality in the Godhead, that such a oneness in the Godhead is not only plausible, but demanded.

Nevertheless, a more likely translation of Deuteronomy 6:4, consistent with the usage of echad in the Old Testament, would be,

Hear, O Israel, Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone.

Another instance of “one” translated this way would be 1 Kings 4:19, he was the only (literally, one) officer in the land.  This plurality in oneness is why Paul could say,

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:4–6, ESV)

And notice the subtlety of the prepositions (the mighty prepositions). Of the Father it is said that all things are “from” Him and we exist “for” Him. And of the Son it is said that all things are “through” Him and we exist “through” Him. Their equality is affirmed, and yet also their line of authority and distinctiveness is affirmed.

This is the very thing John is seeking to affirm in John 1:1. Jesus, the Word, is the beginner of all things, the Yahweh of Genesis 1:1 who created all things. Yet He is distinct from the Father as a separate personality with whom the Father may have fellowship. In the beginning, the Word was with God.  Jehovah’s Witnesses can affirm the distinction between the Father and the Son, but not the equality.