Here's a complete article inside the NWT if you'd like it.
1808 and the word was a god
The New Testament, in An
Improved Version, Upon the
Basis of Archbishop Newcomes
New Translation: With a
Corrected Text, London.
1864 and a god was the Word
The Emphatic Diaglott (J21,
interlinear reading), by
Benjamin Wilson, New York and
London.
1935 and the Word was divine
The BibleAn American
Translation, by J. M. P.
Smith and E. J. Goodspeed,
Chicago.
1950 and the Word was a god
New World Translation of the
Christian Greek Scriptures,
Brooklyn.
1975 and a god (or, of a divine
Das Evangelium nach
kind) was the Word
Johannes, by Siegfried
Schulz,Göttingen, Germany.
1978 and godlike sort was
Das Evangelium nach
the Logos
Johannes,by Johannes
Schneider,Berlin.
1979 and a god was the Logos*
Das Evangelium nach
Johannes,by Jürgen Becker,
Würzburg, Germany.
These translations use such words as a god, divine or godlike because the Greek word θεός (
the·os′) is a singular predicate noun occurring before the verb and is not preceded by the definite article. This is an anarthrous
the·os′. The God with whom the Word, or Logos, was originally is designated here by the Greek expression ὁ θεός, that is,
the·os′ preceded by the definite article
ho. This is an articular
the·os′. Careful translators recognize that the articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb points to a quality about someone. Therefore, Johns statement that the Word or Logos was a god or divine or godlike does not mean that he was the God with whom he was. It merely expresses a certain quality about the Word, or Logos, but it does not identify him as one and the same as God himself.
In the Greek text there are many cases of a singular anarthrous predicate noun preceding the verb, such as in
Mr 6:49; 11:32; Joh 4:19; 6:70; 8:44; 9:17; 10:1, 13, 33; 12:6. In these places translators insert the indefinite article a before the predicate noun in order to bring out the quality or characteristic of the subject. Since the indefinite article is inserted before the predicate noun in such texts, with equal justification the indefinite article a is inserted before the anarthrous θεός in the predicate of
John 1:1 to make it read a god. The Sacred Scriptures confirm the correctness of this rendering.
In his article Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: Mark 15:39 and John 1:1, published in Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 92, Philadelphia, 1973, p. 85, Philip B. Harner said that such clauses as the one in Joh 1:1, with an anarthrous predicate preceding the verb, are primarily qualitative in meaning. They indicate that the logos has the nature of theos. There is no basis for regarding the predicate theos as definite. On p. 87 of his article, Harner concluded: In John 1:1 I think that the qualitative force of the predicate is so prominent that the noun cannot be regarded as definite.
Following is a list of instances in the gospels of Mark and John where various translators have rendered singular anarthrous predicate nouns occurring before the verb with an indefinite article to denote the indefinite and qualitative status of the subject nouns:
Scripture Text
New World Translation
King James Version
An American Translation
New International Version
Revised Standard Version
Todays English Version
Mark
Mr 6:49 an apparition a spirit a ghost a ghost a ghost a ghost
Mr 11:32 a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet a real prophet a prophet
John
Joh 4:19 a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet
Joh 6:70 a slanderer a devil an informer a devil a devil a devil
Joh 8:44 a manslayer a murderer a murderer a murderer a murderer a murderer
Joh 8:44 a liar a liar a liar a liar a liar a liar
Joh 9:17 a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet a prophet
Joh 10:1 a thief a thief a thief a thief a thief a thief
Joh 10:13 a hired man an hireling a hired man a hired hand a hireling a hired man
Joh 10:33 a man a man a mere man a mere man a man a man
Joh 12:6 a thief a thief a thief a thief a thief a thief