Ancient Jewish translations/paraphrases of the Hebrews scriptures were written in Aramaic, which was the universal language of the East, like Greek was the universal language of the West. If folks from different countries wished to communicate with one another for business or political purposes, they used one of these two languages. Aramaic was the language of Mesopotamia, and Jews in Judea used Aramaic to the extent that many Jews knew it, but not Hebrew. The ancient Jewish translations of the Old Testament were either the Targum (Targumim, plural) used in Jewish lands and in the East, or the Septuagint (the Greek Translation of the Hebrew scriptures) used both in Jewish lands and in the West.
Whenever the Tetragammaton (YHWH) was found in the Hebrew scriptures, it was translated by the targumist into the Memra (Aramaic for Word) of the Lord. If it appeared in the Hebrew scriptures that the Lord appeared to someone, the targumist would translate “the Lord” (or God) in the text into the Memra (Word) of the Lord. In this tradition the writer of John’s Gospel began his record with: “In the beginning was the Word…” (the Greek is Logos, for the Aramaic, Memra). He meant for us to understand that the Word is YHWH in the Hebrew scriptures. This is how the ancient Jews would have received the words: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1).
Nevertheless, however we may receive this explanation, the Word in the text is identified as being both with God and God (John 1:1). Does this mean there are at least two Gods? No, the original Jewish audience would never have accepted this, nor is this what the text, itself, claims. That said, there are sects of the Christian faith who reject the deity of the Word, and they do claim there are more than one God (a big God and a little god), but this is not the case here. The word God in the third phrase of John 1:1 is emphasized by placing it first in order of the words. In the Greek it is: theos en ho logos or “God was the Word!” The actual subject, however, is Word : “the Word was God!” but the word God is emphasized in the clause. In other words, there is only one authority: God, as “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1),[1] but the text in Genesis also says: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26), thus indicating there is but one God, or Authority, but that authority isn’t a singularity. The Father and the Son (the Word) operate in complete unity (one authority). They are Two in One Spirit, as their image was intended to reflect (cp. Genesis 2:24).
We might put this another way. Paul tells us that Christ is:
“…the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who alone has immortality, dwelling in Light which cannot be approached, whom no one of men have seen, nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
In this context, the dwelling place of Christ is the Light which cannot be approached, and, since God is Light (1John 1:5), Christ dwells in the Father, and comes out from the Father (cp. John 16:27-28). So, when the text claims: “…the Word was with God, and the Word was God, we can view this as Paul says: the Word, vis-à-vis Jesus, the Christ, was with God or the Supreme Authority, in the context of Psalm 82. God or the Supreme Authority is the Father (the Light of 1John 1:5 and 1Timothy 6:16), and the Word was God, or the Supreme Authority (viz. “…only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords”). In other words, Jesus, the Word, is the Being who comes out from the Father (cp. John 16:27-28).
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[1] Although I don’t believe “In the beginning… points to Genesis 1:1, we may still use Genesis 1:1 to help explain the text of John 1:1, because the Word is in the same position no matter which creation is referenced, the physical creation or either of the spiritual ones.
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