About John 1:1／ヨハネの福音書第1章一節について

In the beginning

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
初めに言葉があり、言葉は神とともにあり、言葉は神でした。

John 1:1 from King James Version Bible

As you know, John the Apostle, who was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament, traditionally held to be the author of the Gospel of John. He is called "Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist" in the Roman Catholic Church.

But do you think it's definitely true that the scripture written in John 1:1 ?
Is it the saying is based on the teaching of Jesus?

When I first read this verse in the New Testament, I had a weird feeling intuitively. 

I usually read the King James Version Bible and easily find out which phrases are Jesus' sayings because the words are typed in red. But John 1:1 is done in black, so this phrase is the author's saying, not of Jesus'.

I know that Jesus preached to the masses in parables, but I couldn't find out Jesus preached like that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Furthermore, most of recent mainstream scholars agree that all four gospels from the New Testament are fundamentally anonymous, because the Gospels were written 40-60 years after the death of Jesus.

Regardless of whether it is a historical fact or not, John is just one of the apostles and not Jesus himself.

I just follow Jesus' teachings not other apostles.

One more thing to mention

Well, there is one more thing I'd like to mention.

The New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek, then translated in Latin, then in German or other languages.

During the history of translation, there were some mistranslated in the scriptures. The Gospel of John was not also exception.

John 1:1 was originally written in Koine Greek below.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην

In this verse, the word "λόγος" is the key.
"λόγος" is logos in Latin spelling.

What's the meaning of Logos ?

According to the University of Chicago, Logos has four meanings like below.

❶
🄰 word, speech ‖ mention
🄱 declaration, affirmation | answer | promise ‖ saying, proverb, maxim ‖ decision, resolution | order, command ‖ proclamation, teaching | doctrine or part of a doctrine ‖ philos. definition | hypothesis ‖ condition, agreement ‖ conditioning, limitation
🄲 fame, tradition, legend | renown, reputation (good or bad) ‖ rumor, hearsay, news
🄳 revelation, oracle, response ‖ Jew. and Christ. revealed word | message of Jesus, gospel |with the force of law: | as a creative, vital force: ‖ theol. Logos, Word | Gnost. eon
🄴 argument, subject, object, question | of a literary work theme, argument ‖ also what is being discussed, fact, matter, thing ‖ function
🄵 gramm. discourse, language | phrase | prose
❷
🄰 speaking, faculty of speech, parlance | philos. λ. προφορικός external discourse ‖ use of speech, right to speak
🄱 colloquy, conversation, dialogue, discussion, dispute
🄲 to indicate literary works of various genres fable | imaginary tale, legend, myth ‖ historical narrative, history or part of an historical work ‖ dialogue | oration, discourse ‖ treatise or part of a treatise, work or part of a work, book ‖ Christ. Scripture ‖ letters, literature, studies
❸
🄰 count, calculation | sum, total ‖ amount, account
🄱 account, explanation
🄲 assessment, evaluation
🄳 value, significance
🄴 relationship, relation ‖ gramm. rule, norm
❹
🄰 reasoning, argumentation
🄱 faculty of reasoning or reflection, reason, thought, common sense | philos. | of practical reason (opp. νοῦς, speculative) ‖ philos. and relig. divine Reason personif.; of the angels
🄲 motive, cause, foundation, justification ‖ εἰς λόγον τινός by reason of, for sthg. or s.o. | λόγῳ τινός instead of, for s.o. | pretext ‖ jur. reasons adopted by each party, cause
🄳 plan, project, design, expectation

https://logeion.uchicago.edu/

John 1:1 is mentioned about creation or beginning of the world, ❹ is much appropriate for this verse than  ❶.

Well, although there is no need to quote the etymology of the Greek word, as you know, when uttering a word, there must be some kind of conscious thought or idea underlying it, and that's why the word "reason” is appropriate in this case.

In Conclusion

Then, when we apply the ❹  meaning of logos to the verse in John 1:1, it becomes this below:

In the beginning was the Reason, and the Reason was with God, and the Reason was God.
初めに理性があり、その理性は神とともにあり、その理性は神でした。

It makes more sense for this version, doesn't it ?I think it's important to explore what the Bible really says and what it means behind, rather than blindly believing it just because it's the holiness.

Jesus actually spoke Aramaic, not Greek, and the Gospels were written 40-60 years after Jesus was left, so we probably have no idea what exactly Jesus said at that time, we will never know for sure.

Still, by carefully reading the Bible and meditating on it, removing the inaccuracies, we can get closer to the fundamental essence.

by Aaron Shin