“Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος” is the opening phrase to the Gospel According to John. John’s intentional choice of words in the Greek puts an end to any notion that Jesus, the Word (ὁ λόγος), is “a god” or not God at all (Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints all come to mind). The preposition Ἐν + the dative case of the noun ἀρχῇ, which is normally translated “In the beginning,” indicates that John is talking about eternity past before anything was created, including time. This means that, the Word, has eternally existed, meaning that the Word has no beginning and that the Word can be none other than God because only God is eternal. So John states here in the first part of John 1:1, “In the beginning (eternity past before the creation of time or anything else) was (existed) the Word.” John then intentionally uses another very specific choice of words in the next phrase “καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν.” Most translations translate this phrase “and the Word was with God.” Here, John uses the preposition πρὸς + the accusative case of the noun τὸν θεόν. With this combination John is communicating that the Word was or existed in company with God. Here John begins to introduce the concept of the Trinity. For someone to exist eternally and in company with God there must be at least two persons who have existed eternally in one another’s company. Additionally, it is important to note that in this phrase that ὁ λόγος is the Nominative subject and τὸν θεόν is the object noun in the accusative case. This follows the typical “subject, verb, object (SVO)” sentence structure. This is important because in the last phrase of verse 1, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος,” John once again is very intentional with his word choice and order. All throughout John 1:1, “ὁ λόγος,” the Word, is the subject of each phrase and always in the nominative case. However, in this last phrase, John switched up the word order and fronts the predicate nominative “θεὸς,” God and places it before the copulative verb “ἦν,” from the word “εἰμί” meaning to be or to exist. John could have continued in the typical SVO pattern and placed θεὸς after ἦν in the accusative case. But he didn’t. And so, because θεὸς is in the nominative case but doesn’t have the definite article “ὁ” accompanying it Jehovah’s Witnesses make the claim that John must have meant “a god” instead of God since the definite article is missing. However, and this only bolsters John claims throughout John 1:1 that “the Word” is God. God is eternal, the Word is eternal. The Word is in company with God in eternity past but there is only one God so the Word must also be of the same divine essence as God while being distinct persons of that same divine essence. Here in the last phrase, John’s word order choice is significant. By placing θεὸς in the nominative case and θεὸς remaining the object of the sentence John has made θεὸς to be the predicate nominative in this last phrase of John 1:1. There is a rule in Greek called Cowells Canon which states, “when a predicate nominative proceeds a copulative verb the predicate nominative will usually be anarthrous (without the definite article). When the predicate nominative follows the copulative verb it will normally be accompanied with the definite article.” In the case of the final phrase of John 1:1 the predicate nominative, θεὸς, preceeds the copulative verb ἦν and therefore must be translated as “God”, not “a god” according to Cowells Canon. All the way through John 1:1 he shouts out that the Word is God who has eternally existed in company with God as a second person of the divine essence. John then identifies in v.14, the Word is the “μονογενοῦς” only begotten Son, meaning “of a single kind” the unique Son of God, God the Son. Additionally, the Word, God the Son, took on a human nature with a body of flesh. Then finally, John connects the Word who is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity as Jesus Christ in v. 17 and finishes in v. 18 by reiterating that Jesus is God in the flesh who, at the time when John wrote his Gospel, had already been crucified, buried, was resurrected, and ascended back to the right hand of God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, making a return to what he had written in v. 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus of Nazareth is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He is God in the flesh. He is the only means of salvation as He is both God and Man. Only God could withstand the eternal infinate divine wrath of God on the cross because of our sin. Only a man could be the perfect penal substitutionary sacrifice of atonement to pay the penalty for human sin. Only the God Man, Jesus, who was sinless, could justify (to be declared righteous and innocent by God) sinners before God the Father by His grace alone, through His gift of faith alone because of the perfect obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God demands perfect obedience which sinners are incapable of doing. Don’t rely on your good works and think that they will get you into heaven. The requirement for heaven and eternal life is perfect perpetual obedience which only one person has accomplished, Jesus Christ. And this Jesus Christ is only found in Scripture. He is not the same “god” of the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Isa of Islam. Those false Christ’s cannot save anyone because those false Christ’s are made up in the imaginations of Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russel, and Muhammed. Place your faith and trust in the one and only Jesus Christ, the Word, God the Son, and what He has done on your behalf. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.