Sometimes it is important to be specific rather than general. For instance, one man said to his friend, “Hey, look at that ugly lady over there.” To which his friend replied, “that’s no lady – that’s my wife!”
The Apostle John was being very specific when in the first verse of his gospel he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John was specifically saying that “the Word” (whom he later says is Jesus Christ) was really God. He existed in the beginning before there was time. And he was one with God—in fact He was God. Now that is the whole point of John’s gospel: that Jesus is God. And that is why he begins that way.
The word “God” is used three times in the first verse, and it is the Greek word, theos, from which we get our English word “theology,” – the study of God’s Word. It is the Greek word for a divine being – a reference to deity. And in the Bible, it is a reference to the One True God. So John says, (using this word), “And the Word was God.”
Now there are groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses that like to point out that the article isn’t used with the word “God.” So they assume it has an indefinite meaning. Groups like this translate the verse, “And the Word was a god.” They say that Jesus wasn’t really the God—He was only a little god.
But here they show their ignorance of Greek grammar. The Greeks had no indefinite article like “a” or “an.” When there was no definite article (the) with the noun, that simply meant the emphasis was being put on the quality of that noun (the essence of its meaning). So John was really saying, “And the Word was God” (in the sense of everything that the Word “God” means). In other words, Jesus had the qualities of “God-ness.” Now that makes it an even stronger statement—that Jesus (the Word) is really God.
Now you know the real meaning of the word.
Hey — Forget what the cults say. John is very specific. JESUS IS GOD!