God shall be all in all - I Cor 15:28 -
What part of ALL don't you understand?
What part of "corresponding ransom" do you not understand ? When you buy a car part at an auto parts store or dealer, do you not want a "corresponding" part so that it fits your car exactly and the car continues to function as it should.
So, when the apostle Paul wrote that "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself
a corresponding ransom for all—this is what is to be witnessed to in its own due time," he made clear that Jesus is "a corresponding ransom", the exact fit for Adam who rebelled against God, a perfect man for a perfect man (1 Cor 15:45), and that Jesus is the "mediator between God and men", not God between God and men. This is as clear as the nose on a person's face, well to reasonable people it is.
Have you not read 1 Corinthians 8:5, 6, whereby the apostle Paul wrote: "For even though there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords,” there is actually to us
one God, the Father, from whom all things are and we for him; and there is
one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and we through him."
Again, "clear as a bell", for Paul makes a clear distinction between God the Father and Jesus Christ. And at John 17:1-3, Jesus makes transparent who God is and who he is, saying in prayer to Jehovah God: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you, just as you have given him authority over all flesh, so that he may give everlasting life to all those whom you have given to him. This means everlasting life, their coming to know
you (not me),
the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ."
Hence, Jehovah is "the only true God" while Jesus is the one who "you sent", subservient to Jehovah.(see John 12:49, 50) And when a person is sincere in their examination of the Bible, they can also see that John 1:1, 2 does
not teach that Jesus is God, for when looked at it through an interlinear, it can be seen that Jesus is "a god", not "the God".
Note this about John 1:1, 2, whereby the apostle John clearly distinguished Jesus as "the Word" from "the God", for John used the Greek definite article of "ho" and "ton" (that means "the") to show what was what, for it reads according to a Greek interlinear,
Scripture4all: "In beginning was
the (definite article to show a specific individual, such as "the man" as opposed to "a man") Word and
the (definite article) Word was toward (or with)
the (definite article) God and god (
no definite article, showing "god" as indefinite and as being any god) was
the (definite article) Word. This was in beginning toward (or with)
the (definite article) God."(Note: Koine Greek in which the Christian Greek Scriptures was written, commonly referred to as "the New Testament", did not have an indefinite article, such as "a", like languages such as English has)
John clearly differentiated "The Word" from "The God" by saying that "the Word was a god". This is confirmed in an ancient manuscript written in Sahidic Coptic, written some 1,000 years before the
King James Bible. Regarding the earliest Coptic translations of the Bible,
The Anchor Bible Dictionary says: “Since the [Septuagint] and the [Christian Greek Scriptures] were being translated into Coptic during the 3d century C.E., the Coptic version is based on [Greek manuscripts] which are significantly older than the vast majority of extant witnesses.”
Scholar Thomas O. Lambdin (leading scholar of Semitic and Egyptian languages, 1927-2020 C.E.) in his work
Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, says: “The use of the Coptic articles, both definite and indefinite, corresponds closely to the use of the articles in English.”
Hence, the Coptic translation supplies interesting evidence as to how John 1:1 would have been understood back then. What do we find ? The Sahidic Coptic translation uses an indefinite article with the word “god” in the final part of John 1:1.
Thus, when rendered into modern English, the translation reads: “And the Word was a god.” Evidently, those ancient translators realized that John’s words recorded at John 1:1 did not mean that Jesus was to be identified as Almighty God. The Word was a god,
not Almighty God.
The text of John 1:1 in Sahidic Coptic reads: "In the beginning existed the Word
and the Word existed with
the God and a god was
the Word".(SAHIDIC COPTIC TEXT; P. CHESTER BEATTY-813; WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION, at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland)
