"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John 1:1,14).

These verses from John's Gospel are frequently offered as an explanation of the doctrine of the trinity, but two questions regarding the translation must put this in doubt.

1. The beginning

Is the 'beginning' referred to by John the beginning of the creation of the world, or the beginning of the work of God in Christ in the proclamation of the gospel?

By looking at all the other uses of this word in the New Testament, we find that 'beginning' usually refers to the beginning of the proclamation of the gospel, for instance the first verses of John's First Letter: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen…and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us." (1 John 1:1-2).

"The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1:1).

"Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word." (Luke 1:1-2, KJV).

2. The 'Word'-He or It?

Why should 'word', which is abstract, be translated 'he' making it masculine? In the Greek language 'word' is masculine, but so are many other abstract nouns. In English 'word' is a neuter noun, a thing, and should not be made into a person. The translators are not consistent because in the verses quoted above, from 1 John 1, 'Word of life' is referred to as 'it'!

John and the other disciples had seen and heard Jesus "from the beginning" of the preaching of the gospel, but it was the word of eternal life which was with the Father which appeared to the apostles and which they proclaimed. Consider the introduction to Paul's letter to Titus: "...the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at His appointed season [the beginning of the preaching of the gospel] He brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior." (Titus 1:2-3).