Scholarly Quotes on John 1:1

William Barclay: "Theos [in John 1:1c] becomes a description, and more of an adjective than a noun...[John] does not say that Jesus was God"
-Scholar, "Many Witnesses, One Lord"

Hans-Jürgen Becker-"Ein Gott war der Logos (a god was the Logos)
-Bible Translator, Das Evangelium nach Johannes

Jason BeDuhn-"The bottom line is that 'The Word was a god' is exactly what the Greek says. "The Word was divine" is a possible meaning of this Greek phrasing. "The Word was God" is almost certainly ruled out by the phrasing John uses."
-Scholar in his book: "Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament"

Lant Carpenter LL.D-“a God”
-Scholar, in "Unitarianism in the Gospels"

C.H. Dodd-"A possible translation. . . would be, 'The Word was a god’. As a word-for-word translation it cannot be faulted."
-Professor; director of the New English Bible project

S.G. Green-"'The Word' of John 1:1 is not the same god as the God with whom the Word is said to be. Hence, the omitting of the article in the predicate of the simple sentence is shown to be only a general rule, and not one that holds in every case. One such case where that general rule does not hold true is John 1:1. The definite article "the" was there omitted, but not according to that general rule; it was not omitted with the idea that it should be understood by the reader."
-Scholar, "Green's Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek Testament"

Ernst Haenchen-"In this instance, the verb ‘was’ ([en]) simply expresses predication. And the predicate noun must accordingly be more carefully observed: [the·os´] is not the same thing as [ho the·os´] (‘divine’ is not the same thing as ‘God’)
-"Das Johannesevangelium. Ein Kommentar, John 1". (Gospel According to John, A Commentary on John 1)

Murray J. Harris-"From the point of view of grammar alone, [John 1:1c] could be rendered 'the Word was a god'"
-Scholar in his book: "Jesus as God"

Herman Heinfetter-“a God”
-Scholar in his book: "Rules for Ascertaining the Sense Conveyed in Ancient Greek Manuscripts"

George Horner-"[A]nd (a) God was the word."
-Scholar in his book, "The Coptic Version of the New Testament"

A. N. Jannaris, Ph.D-"a god”
-Scholar and Lecturer on Post-Classical and other Greek dialects and author of "An Historical Greek Grammar"

Felix Just-"and god[-ly/-like] was the Word."
-Professor, Loyola Marymount University

William Loader-"a god”
-Scholar, New Testament Lecturer for the Perth Theological Hall and teacher at Murdoch University

Jon Madsen-"the Word was a divine Being"
-"New Testament A Rendering"

Julius R. Mantey-"Instead of translating John 1:1, and the word was deity, this Grammar could have translated it, 'and the word was a god.'"
-Scholar, "A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament"

John L. McKenzie-John 1:1c "should rigorously be translated 'a divine being'"
-Scholar, "A Dictionary Of The Bible"

James Moffatt-"the Word was divine."
-Bible Translator and Scholar, from Moffatt's New Translation of the Bible

Thomas Belsham-"and the word was a god"
-Bible translator in association with Unitarian Bible Translation Committee

Andrews Norton-“a god”
-Scholar, "A Statement of Reasons For Not Believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians"

A.M. Perry-"John 1:1 indefinite with qualitative force...’a god”.
-Theologian, "Journal of Biblical Literature"

Joseph Priestley-“a God”
-Greek Scholar, "A Familiar Illustration of Certain Passages of Scripture..."

Robert Harvey Strachen-"divine, a divine being"
-Scholar, "The Historic Jesus in the New Testament"

Johannes Schneider-"Und Gottlicher Art war der Logos." (and godlike sort was the Logos.)
-Scholar, "Das Evangelium nach Johannes (The Gospel of John)"

Siegfried Schultz-"Ein Gott (oder: Gott von Art) war das Wort." (and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word.)
-Scholar, "Das Evangelium nach Johannes (The Gospel of John)"

Vincent Taylor-"Here, in the Prologue, the Word is said to be God, but as often observed, in contrast with the clause, 'the Word was with God', the definite article is not used (in the final clause). For this reason it is generally translated 'and the Word was divine' or is not regarded as God...In neither passage is Jesus unequivocally called God."
Scholar, "Does the New Testament Call Jesus God?"

C.C. Torrey-"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god."
-Scholar and Bible Translator

J. W. Wenham-"As far as grammar alone is concerned, John 1:1c could mean either, 'The Word is a god', or 'The Word is the god.'"
-Scholar, "Elements of NT Greek"

Paul Wernle-“a God”
-Professor Extraordinary of Modern Church History at the University of Basil, The Beginnings of Christianity

Benjamin Wilson-"and a god was the word."
-Scholar and Bible Translator

Robert Young-"a God”
-Scholar, "Concise Commentary on the Holy Bible"