In John 1:1~3, the KJV reads, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. (It is always important to take verses in their context~)
You notice in verse 3, the Bible says, 'All things (all creation) were made by him (the Word); and without him (the Word) was not anything made that was made. Who is the Word? John 1:14a, 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us'~ Who was made flesh and dwelt among us? The Lord Jesus Christ. There is no doubt that Jesus Christ is the Word, and Jesus Christ who is the Word, created all things, and nothing was created without Him~ What does this mean? The Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator all things (Jehovah God), just like Paul the apostle writes in Colossians 1:16~ Now, keep this in mind as we go to the Greek for John 1:1.
When we go to the Greek for John 1:1, the Greek says (NL 27, TR and WH), En (In) arche (beginning) en (was) ho (the) logos (Word), kai (and) ho (the) logos (Word) en (was) pros (with) ton (the) Theon (God) kai (and) Theos (God) en (was) ho (the) logos (Word). The JW's will say, 'Look, when it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, 'kai Theos en ho logos', there is no definite article, like there is before kai ho logos en pros ton (the) Theon (God)....
Important to understand, the article in the Greek is not used in the exact same way as in English, but the JW's will say because there is no (definite) article before Theos, which refers to the Lord Jesus, so it should be translated 'a god' instead of 'God'.
The New World Translation says, 'and the Word was a god'~ Their method of translating the scriptures is that if there is no article before Theos (God), then it refers to 'a god', and if it has an article before Theos (God), then it refers to 'Jehovah God'. But as we have seen in the context of John 1:1-3, there is no way you can translate it like the JW's translators have, because we have seen that the Word is the Creator of all things, so the only way it can be translated is, 'and the Word was God' not 'a god'. Remember, it doesn't have to have an article always to refer to the true God (we will look at that soon).
But let us use the method the JW's will use based on John 1:1, and see what we come up with. Remember, if it has an article, then it means '[the] God', and if it has no article, it means 'a god' according to the JW's method. Let us go to John 20:28, and have some fun.
The Greek says in John 20:28 (NL 27, WH), 'apekrithe (answered) Thomas (Thomas) kai (and) eipen (said) auto (to him) ho (the) kurios (Lord) mou (of me or my) kai (and) ho (the) Theos (God) mou (of me or my) ~ (in the TR), kai (and) apekrithe (answered) ho (the) Thomas (Thomas) and the same after as the NL 27 and WH. This is the time when Thomas sees the Lord Jesus after His Resurrection, and says to Him, 'My Lord and my God (KJV)'. Now this gets interesting~ When we go to the Greek, what do we notice? We notice an article before Theos, when Thomas call Jesus 'my God'~ Now remember, by the JW's witnesses method, an article means and refers to ' Jehovah God'.
In the NWT, they do translate it as, 'In answer Thomas said to him [Jesus] "My Lord and my God!", but their meaning behind their translation is not what it seems~ How desperate can you get when your cult is on the line? Answer~ You can get very desperate when you need to keep together your false doctrines. They know they have been caught out by their own method, so they have come up with at least two explanations (what I know of) to explain it away.
One explanation JW's have used~ When Thomas realized it was the Lord Jesus, Thomas by his shock, swore (blasphemed), and said, 'My Lord and my God.' Again, desperation kicks in, but let us just go with that for the moment~ If Thomas had just (swore) blasphemed when he realized it was the Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead, what would have been Jesus' response to him? The Lord Jesus would have rebuked him for his sinful action (blasphemy), but Jesus in the next verse does the complete opposite~ Notice after Thomas said, 'my God', the Lord in v. 29 does not rebuke him, but Jesus says, ' because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'
Another explanation JW's have used~ When Thomas said, 'my God' he doesn't mean Jesus is Jehovah God (the God), but when Thomas said 'my God' he referred to Jesus as his God (a god), even though in the Greek there is an article before Theos~ They can simply look passed the fact that the verse actually says in the Greek (ho Theos), which by their method, refers to Jehovah God, and still say, 'a god.'
There is no question in John 20:28, the Lord Jesus is called Yahweh (Jehovah God), the Creator of heaven and earth, the eternal God, and was worshipped by Thomas, and Jesus accepted his worship.
~just to add, there are places in the NWT, that they have translated as (Jehovah) God, when there is no article before Theos; they include John 1:6 and John 8:54. Again they are caught by their own method. If they were to be consistent with their method, they should have translated John 1:6 and John 8:54 as 'a god', like John 1:1, but for them to do that, their system would simply collapse. Their cult would collapse if they translated John 1:1 as God (Jehovah), because that would go against their satanic doctrine about Jesus being created, or if they translated John 1:6 or John 8:54 as 'a god', they would then reduce Jehovah God to 'a god'~
If you are a JW's then wake up, and leave your false cult, and come to the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Yahweh (Jehovah God) John 1:1 & John 20:28, and be saved.
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