The Meaning of "True"
We may first note that in English, the word "true" may mean "real, in the sense of an archetype, as distinguished from a copy" or "true contrasted with false."
Alêthinos has the very much the same semantic range in Koine Greek, as BAGD makes clear (p. 37). The question is, which connotation does Jesus intend here? Extending the meaning of a word beyond that required by the context is not a sound exegetical practice. After all, the word "true" has within its semantic range the connotation of "straight," but Jesus is not saying the Father is the only straight-line God!
Which connotation do the lexicons support for
alêthinos in John 17:3? After all, Watchtower apologists have used BAGD and Thayer to support their view, haven't they? BAGD recognizes the semantic range of
alêthinos as containing "true in the sense of reality possessed only by an archetype, not its copies." However, it references this shade of meaning for Hebrews 8:2 and 9:24,
not in reference to John 17:3. When we consult the lexicon with regard John 17:3, BAGD is quite clear: "
of God in contrast to other gods, who are not real." Thus, BAGD recognizes the context of John 17:3 as requiring the "true contrasted with false" connotation.
Stafford notes: "While BAGD does not attribute the archetypal meaning to
alêthinos in John 17:3, we believe this sense best fits the use of 'true' in this and other passages" (IBID, p. 121). He then argues for this connotation in John 17:3 by citing John 1:9, John 6:32-33, Hebrews 8:5, and Hebrews 9:9 (sic; 9:24?). "In all these texts,
alêthinos is not contrasted with something 'false,' but is used to describe that which is the
archetype as opposed to that which is a
copy of the original" (IBID).
Stafford is quite right about the verses he cites, and interestingly, BAGD references these as well for the
archetype connotation. This means that BAGD was fully aware that the verses in question supported the archetypal connotation, and yet believed the "true vs false" connotation applied to John 17:3. Stafford offers no reason why we should consider the archetype connotation in this verse; he merely asserts that Witnesses hold this view. Further, he considers BAGD authoritative with regard to the connotation of
alêthinos he prefers, but does not tell us why he considers them unable to distinguish the proper connotation for John 17:3. It is possible, of course, that the authors got it right in the first case and wrong in the second, but without evidence to demonstrate why their authority should be questioned, we must conclude that Greek scholars who are capable of ascertaining the various connotations of a particular word must also be capable of determining specific usage in a given context.
We may wonder why the authors of BAGD chose the particular connotation they did in John 17:3. Let's take a look at the context of the verses in discussion. In Hebrews 8:2 and 9:24, the writer is clearly referring to the "true Tabernacle" in heaven where Jesus is the High Priest, in contrast to the earthly (and less "real") Tabernacle. However, in context, John 17:3 does not imply a contrast between Jesus and God. Instead, the context is Jesus' concern that the disciples know the Father in an intimate way, that they may thus obtain eternal life. For who gives eternal life, but the true God (as contrasted with false gods)? Thus, context argues for the connotation of "the true God" who give eternal life, as opposed to "false gods," who cannot.
If BAGD is reliable in both their understanding of the various connotation of
alêthinos and their specific definition in John 17:3, we would expect that other authorities would corroborate it. Similarly, if BAGD got it wrong with regard to John 17:3, we would expect other authorities to disagree.
Grimm/Thayer defines
alêthinos as "contrasts realities with their semblances" for Hebrews 8:2 and 9:24, but "opposed to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated, pretended" for John 17:3 (p. 27). So, Grimm/Thayer, too, recognizes the correct connotation of
alêthinos in John 17:3 as "true contrasted with false."
In his
Expository Dictionary, Vine recognizes Hebrews 8:2 and 9:24 as requiring the meaning: "the spiritual, archetypal tabernacle," but defines
alêthinos in John 17:3 as: "'very God,' in distinction from all other gods, false gods" (p. 645).
Louw and Nida similarly recognize several connotations for
alêthinos, including those discussed. They define
alêthinos in John 17:3 as: "pertaining to being real and not imaginary ... 'that they may know you, the only one who is really God'" (p. 667).
Moulton and Milligan list a number of contemporary extra-biblical examples of
alêthinos, including several by Christians in reference to God, and all carry the meaning 'real'; 'genuine'; 'true, as opposed to false' (p. 22).
Finally, the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) does not specifically reference John 17:3 in its discussion of
alêthinos, but says "As a divine attribute it has the sense of 'reliable,' 'righteous,' or 'real,'" and cites 1 John 5:20, a verse Stafford relates to John 17:3 (IBID, p. 120). This meaning is contrasted with the archetype connotation: "In Heb 8:2 the heavenly tabernacle is 'true' in contrast to the earthly, and in Heb. 9:24 the human sanctuary is a copy of the true one, which is genuine as divine" (Abridged edition, p. 39).
So, we see that the standard lexical works specify the connotation of
alêthinos in John 17:3 as "the only true God (as distinguished from all other gods, who are false)." This definition of
alêthinos presents serious problems for Watchtower theology, for by saying "the only true God," Jesus states quite clearly that any other who is termed "a god," must be a false god.
Origen's Understanding of the True God
Stafford cites Origen in support of his view that
alêthinos in John 17:3 should be read with the archetype connotation:
In his Commentary on John he wrote:
God on the one hand is Very God (Autotheos, God of Himself); and so the Savior says in His prayer to the Father, "That they may know Thee the only true God;" but that all beyond the Very God is
made God by participation in His divinity, and is not to be called simply God (with the article), but rather God (without the article).
And thus the first-born of all creation, who is the first to be with God, and to attract to himself divinity, is a being of more exalted rank than the other gods beside Him, of whom God is the God, as it is written, "The God of gods, the Lord [Jehovah], hath spoken and called the earth." [Ps. 136:2] It was by the offices of the first-born that they became gods, for they drew from God in generous measure that they should be made gods, and He communicated it to them according to His own bounty.
The true God, then is "The God," and those who are formed after him are gods, images, as it were, of Him the prototype [ANF 10, Book 2, p. 323. emphasis added].
Origen evidently understood that the reference to the Word as theos was not intended to make him equal to God the Father, for he wrote: "Nor must we omit to mention the Word, who is God
after [hexes] the Father of all" (IBID, pp. 120-121).
Origen's theology is complex, to say the least. Drawing conclusions from a few scattered passages does little justice to what Origen actually taught, and what his terminology meant to his contemporaries, as opposed to what it may be thought to signify today, looking back as it were through the lens of the Arian controversy which raged some hundred years after Origen died.
Stafford is correct that Origen does appear to apply the archetype connotation to
alêthinos in his Commentary on John 1:1. But we may ask exactly what does Origen mean by this usage? Is it the same as that expressed by Stafford and the Watchtower? What may have led him to view the "true" God in an archetypal way? Finally, we must also consider whether Origen bases his view of
alêthinos on grammar or on theology.
Let's first consider what Origen means by the "true God." It would be a mistake to read a post-Arian meaning into Origen's use of
autotheos or the distinction his draws between
theos with the article and without. In terming the Father
autotheos, Origen does not mean that the Father possesses a "true" divine nature, and the Son a "lesser" divine nature. Origen taught that the "begetting" of the Son by the Father cannot be compared to human begetting (
First Principles 1:2:4), that the Son and Father share the same nature (
Commentary on John 2:2:16; 2:10:76; 19:2:6
, and that there was never a time when the Son did not exist (
Commentary on Romans 1:5;
First Principles 1:2:9; 4:4:1 in both Rufinus' Latin translation and Athanasius' Greek). The begetting of the Son is a part of the Divine Being and is from all eternity (
First Principles, 1:2:9; 4:41, again in both Rufinus and Athanasius) and is also continual (
Homily on Jeremiah 9:4); the Father is the "source" of divinity, and the Son "attracts" that same divinity to Himself through his eternal contemplation of the Father (
Commentary on John 2:2:18). (2)
It is true that for Origen, the Son's Deity is derivative, and at times speaks of the Son as a "secondary God (
Against Celsus 5:39;
Commentary on John 6:39:202); but it is also true that Origen was strongly influenced by Middle Platonism in this regard, as numerous scholars have recognized:
"The parallel with Albinus, who believed in a supreme Father Who organized matter through a second God (Whom he, however, identified with the World Soul) is striking; as is the fact that both thinkers envisaged the generation of the Son as the result of His contemplation of the Father" (Kelly, p. 128).
"Thus, Origen understands that the Word is God by derivation....Here Origen is directly indebted to the Platonism of his day" (Rusch, p. 14)
"This distinction also has its origin in Philo (quod a deo somnia, Mangey 1.655 line 20), and it is again Origen who takes it up and imports it into Christian theology" (Prestige, p. 144).
Origen's apologetic arguments against Gnosticism and Modalism, in which he sought forcefully to affirm the true Human nature of the Son and the distinction between Father, Son, and Spirit, and his use of Platonic concepts and language, have led some to conclude, as apparently has Stafford, that Origen taught that the Son was different in nature from the Father, truly a "second god" in the sense later argued by Arius. However, a careful reading of Origen leads one to conclude that while complex and couched in philosophical terminology, Origen taught the essential unity of Father and Son in categories not incompatible with later creedal statements. Indeed, this can be seen in the passage from the Commentary on John, which Stafford quotes, above.
Immediately preceding the quote provided by Stafford, we read:
Now there are many who are sincerely concerned about religion, and who fall here into great perplexity. They are afraid that they may be proclaiming two Gods, and their fear drives them into doctrines which are false and wicked. Either they deny that the Son has a distinct nature of His own besides that of the Father, and make Him whom they call the Son to be God all but the name, or they deny the divinity of the Son, giving Him a separate existence of His own, and making His sphere of essence fall outside that of the Father, so that they are separable from each other (Commentary on John 2:2:10-13).