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John 1:1-17, literally

(Garth D. Wiebe, March 2015, added John 1:1 comments February 2020, GHT update February 2025)

What follows is a hyper-literal rendition of John 1:1-17. In particular, two points come out of this. First, the typical translation of John 1:1 "...and the word was God" is a disservice to the original rendering, which in the original describes God as continuing to be the word. The second point is that the typical English translation of John 1:14, "the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory," brings to mind an image of the incarnation and ministry of Jesus in the past, whereas the actual text brings to mind the word become flesh who dwells in us (in the plural "us"), whom we now behold the glory of.

Again, it is Koine Greek verb tenses and voices that don't map one for one to English.

The Koine Greek verb tenses:

Future: Hasn't happened yet
Present: Is happening
(Note: There is no Koine Greek past tense!)
Imperfect: Didn't finish happening (incompleted action)
Perfect: Has happened (completed action)
Pluperfect: Had happened (completed action before that)
Aorist: The indefinite, timelesss fact of a happening (see this post)

The Koine Greek verb voices:

Active: Acting upon
Middle: Acting upon and being acted upon
Passive: Being acted upon

The Koine Greek verb moods:

Indicative: Indicates (normal action/fact stated)
Imperative: "Must" (command)
Subjunctive: "May/should/would/could" (desire/hope/option/expectation)
Optative: "Might" (remote possibility)
Infinitive: Unspecific, in principle ("to" + verb, same as English)

The Koine Greek noun/adjective/participle case declensions:

Nominative: Subject, as in English
Genitive: Originating from or based upon
Dative: Directed toward or destination to
Accusative: Object, as in English

Here's my hyper-literal translation of John 1:1-17, keeping faithful to the Greek verbs, at the expense of being unfaithful to proper English grammar and punctuation. There is no punctuation in the original Greek text, although I kept the verse numbers (added in the 16th century, A.D.), to make it easier to follow along. Also, I render the pronoun "auto" as "same," since that is what it means in the Greek, instead of converting it to an English personal pronoun (he/him/etc.) Koine Greek also has no indefinite article ("a/an"), and I tried to leave out implied pronouns of verbs wherever I could. The construction of{} denotes genitive case and to{} denotes dative case:

John 1: [default: indicative mood, active voice]

[1] in to{origin} has-been-being [imperfect tense] the word and the word has-been-being [imperfect tense] toward the God and God has-been-being [imperfect tense] the word

[2] the-same has-been-being [imperfect tense] in to{origin} toward the God

[3] all through of{same} becomes [aorist tense, middle voice] and apart-from of{same} becomes [aorist tense, middle voice] moreover-not one which has-become [perfect tense]

[4] in to{same} being-alive[noun] has-been-being [imperfect tense] and the being-alive[noun] has-been-being [imperfect tense] the light of{the men}

[5] and the light is-revealing [present tense] in to{the darkness-ia} and the darkness-ia not takes-according-to [aorist tense] same

[6] [a] man is-become [aorist tense, middle voice] having-been-sent-off/away [perfect tense, passive voice] beside of{God} name to{same} John

[7] the-same comes [aorist tense] into witness in-which-place he-may-witness [aorist tense, subjunctive mood] about of{the light} in-which-place all may-believe [aorist tense, subjunctive mood] through of{same}

[8] the-there not has-been-being [imperfect tense] the light contrariwise in-which-place he-should-witness [aorist tense, subjunctive mood] about of{the light}

[9] the light the genuine has-been-being [imperfect tense] which is light-izing/illuminating [present tense] every man coming [present tense] into the world

[10] in to{the world} he-has-been-being [imperfect tense] and the world is-become [aorist tense, middle voice] through of{same} and the world not knows [aorist tense] same

[11] he-comes [aorist tense] into the own[plural] and the own[plural] not takes-aside/along/near [aorist tense] same

[12] moreover as-many-as take [aorist tense] same he-gives [aorist tense] to{same} authority to-become [aorist tense, middle voice] offsprings of{God} to{the believing} [present tense] into the name of{same}

[13] who not out of{bloods} nor out of{will-effect} of{flesh} nor out of will-effect of{[a] man} contrariwise out of{God} are-begotten [aorist tense, passive voice]

[14] and the word flesh becomes [aorist tense, middle voice] and tents/lodges/tabernacles [aorist tense] in to{us} and we-spectate [aorist tense, middle voice] the glory of{same} glory as of{only-begotten} aside/beside/near of{[the] father} full of{grace} and of{truth}

[15] John is-witnessing [present tense] about of{same} and has-cried-out [perfect tense] saying [present tense] the-same has-been-being [imperfect tense] whom I-say [aorist tense] the behind of{me} being-come [present tense, middle or passive voice] in-front of{me} has-become [perfect tense] that first of{me} has-been-being [imperfect tense]

[16] and out of{the full-effect} of{same} we all take [aorist tense] also grace/favor in-place-of grace/favor

[17] that the law through Moses is-given [aorist tense, passive voice] the grace/favor and the truth through of{Jesus anointed} becomes [aorist tense, middle voice]

Although this is quite awkward to read in (improper) English, you can see that it brings out more detail. The typical English translation is a discourse mostly in the English past tense. At the end of John 1:1 it has the "word" having been "God" in the past:

...και θεος ην ο λογος
...kai theos en o logos (transliteration)
...and the word was God (past tense, switching the original word order)

First, the Greek word λογος is more general in its semantic range than just "word." See https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=65855 for the full ancient Greek definition of λογος. In such an instance as this where we know it is more than just a verbal utterance, a better translation of λογος might be "expression," taking it above merely the idea of a verbal utterance, which English "word" usually implies by itself in a mundane way. Put another way, it is the "expression/principle/thinking/statement" of God.

Then, John 1:1 is always translated to conform to straightforward English writing conventions but really there are two subtleties left out by doing so. The first is that the verb is in the imperfect tense, so would properly be translated "has been being." The English past tense does it a disservice, since one could always ask, "It was the case but is it still the case?" The imperfect tense conveys something that started and then continues from that point. It is troubling that Bible translators often lump the Greek perfect, imperfect, and aorist tenses together and translate them all so often with English past tense, though they are different, and Greek has no "past tense" to begin with, as English does. But, hyper-literally, we can translate it

"in origin has-been-being [imperfect tense] the word, and the word has-been-being [imperfect tense] toward the God and God has-been-being [imperfect tense] the word"

This also reveals a problem with the habitual English translation flipping of the word order in the last phrase, και θεος ην ο λογος, which really should be "and God has-been-being the expression/principle/thinking/statement." Translated in the original natural word order, it becomes an even more powerful statement of the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It would now be even more difficult and more silly, for example, for the Jehovah's Witnesses' NWT to add an indefinite article: "and a god has-been-being the expression/principle/thinking/statement" or even simply "and a god has-been-being the word." Now we don't even need a debate about "Colwell's Rule". Just look at the previous phrase, which has the definite article, "the God," and it flows right from there: "...has-been-being toward the God and God has-been-being the expression/principle/thinking/statement." Obviously, this later flows to verse 14, where the "expression/principle/thinking/statement" becomes flesh. The Son is the expression of God to begin with. The Son is God come in the flesh.

See my article, John 1:1 is never translated properly, which addresses the above point by itself.

Then, in John 1:14, notice in particular that the typical English translation, "the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory," which brings to mind only an image of the incarnation and ministry of Jesus in the past, whereas the actual text likewise brings to mind the word become flesh that dwells in {us (plural)} that we still now behold the glory of. (Note: This does not imply the deification of man. It is "Christ in {you (plural)}, the expectation of glory" (Col 1:27). He is the deity, not us, even while he dwells in us.)

It's interesting that, once again, it is English that makes things complicated, not the Koine Greek. The Greek word εν (Strong's G1722, "en") means "in" positionally. So, it should be a straightforward meaning that if something is "in us" it is a thing that is positioned "in" the plural group that is being referred to as "us." But the English mind re-interprets "in us" to mean "in each of us."

εσκηνωσεν εν ημιν = "eskenosen en emin = ...tabernacles in us...

The Koine Greek has a word, "each," which is εκαστω (Strong's G1538, "ekasto," dative case inflection). That word could have been used, if it were meant that way, saying

εσκηνωσεν εν εκαστω ημων = "eskenosen en ekasto emon = ...tabernacles in each of us...

But that is not what the text says. The "us" is the one body of Christ, not many bodies of Christ. Neither does he just move around "among" us. He really is "in" us. It's just that the "us" is one body, not many.