1 In [a] beginning the Word was and the Word was toward [proj] the God and the Word was [a] God.
2 This one was in [a] beginning toward [proj]
the God.
3 All [neuter] came into existence through him, and without [cwrij] him not even one [neuter] came into existence.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men
5
And the light,
is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it. (John 1).
The translation above follows the Greek precisely as regards definite and indefinite articles. If only we could understand just these five verses of the bible completely, then we could begin to say that we are approaching the spiritual comprehension of the apostle John. For even though prophets in general do not understand what they are saying, Gordon believes that John did in these verses (and Gordon may well of course be wrong).
The Lords' Witnesses have tried and failed many times before with this attempt. But now, we do know. First of all we must recognize that 'the Word was toward God' is recited twice and so is true in two different ways and that all things came into existence through the word is likewise recited twice and so is also true in two different ways.
Jesus was toward God in his spirit. He was on his side. That was the first way in which Jesus was toward God. But he also made a covenant with him, the Angelic Ransom Covenant, to ransom Adam angelically and gives his sons the angel that Adam lost. This was the second manner in which Jesus was toward God. The entire world, after Adam's fall, came into existence through Jesus. For without his agreement to ransom Adam, the game would have been over. So the entire world is the first group of all things that came into existence through Jesus. But then all salvation from adamic death, even as far as everlasting life, came into existence through him. So everybody comes into real permanent non dead existence through him. That is the 2nd way in which all come into existence through him.
So we are interpreting 'all things' as being firstly all the dead adamic people in the world and then secondly all the people who escape from adamic death and come into a more permanent existence. To justify these qualifications of the phrase: All things came into existence through him, we consider some other incidences of biblical usage of 'all things'.
27 For [God] subjected all things under his feet. But when he says that 'all things have been subjected,' it is evident that it is with the exception of the one who subjected all things to him.
28 But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone (1 Corinthians 15).
4 What is mortal man that you keep him in mind, And the son of earthling man that you take care of him?
5 You also proceeded to make him a little less than godlike ones, And with glory and splendour you then crowned him.
6 You make him dominate over the works of your hands. Everything you have put under his feet (Psalm 8).
From these two it is apparent that the global phrases 'everything', or 'all things', needs to be taken in context. It does need to be qualified. Incidentally Hebrew has no word for 'except' but Greek does its cwrij of verse 3.
Please visit Intro19 for an explanation of how we first deduced that Satan/Lucifer was the firstborn angel of Jehovah, his first CEO (the one who put into effect the command: Let there be light, the one who initiated the big bang).
So now we can revisit the majestic words of John...
1
In [a] beginning [of the world, which began with Michael agreeing to ransom Adam]
the Word [the Angel Michael]
was
[in existence and therefore able to offer to fix the problem with a ransom and a covenant], and the Word was toward the God [In his heart and his outlook and his actions, he was on God's side rather than Satan's side. For he was the beginning of the Way of Jehovah according to Proverbs 8],
and the Word was [a] God [Yes,
for unbeknown to him, when he offered his angel and expected to have to become human, God upgraded his angel to have everlasting life, then he gave him a non adamic human body, then he required him to offer that as a sacrifice as well,
then he promised him a divine body after both ransoms were paid, since he had run clear out of alternative body types. On the day that the world began, God promised Jesus that he would become a God. And God's promise is bankable. So the Word was indeed a God from that day onwards].
2
This one was in [a] beginning [of the world] toward the God [All scripture must have power so this verse has a different meaning to verse 1.
Michael entered into a covenant arrangement with God, the Angelic Ransom Covenant, by which he agreed to ransom Adam angelically. So he was toward God by covenant. The ARC gave him everlasting life which put him towards God in longevity!].
3
All [worldly things - neuter] came into existence [all sons of Adam came into temporary physical existence and all sons of God came into everlasting or permanent existence, rather than a temporary existence. the one picturing the other. There would be no humans in physical existence were it not for the ransom of Jesus and there would be no angels in permanent existence were it not for that ransom]
through him, and apart from him not even one [person] came into [everlasting or permanent]
existence.
4
In him was life [everlasting life, permanent life, unstoppable life], and the life [Jesus,
the way the truth and the life, and TCC4 is called the life]
was the light of men.
5
And the light
[TCC2 and Jesus, the light of the world],
is shining in the darkness [The Roman Catholic Church and the lies, ignorance and wickedness of the world. TCC2 was shining in the RC church and Jesus is shining in the darkness of the world], but the darkness has not overpowered it. (John 1).
The order of play was as follows.
1. God made the first Holy Spirit Covenant, the 1HSC, with Satan. The blessing of this covenant was salvation from angelic first death, which was Tartarus.
2. Satan committed adultery with Eve, dissolving the first Holy Spirit Covenant.
3. Adam sinned on 3993Nisan14
4. Michael agreed to ransom Adam angelically through the ARC and humanly through the LRC, on 3993Nisan14.
5. God promised to make Jesus into a God, the only begotten God, on 3993Nisan14,
since he could not be an angel and he could not be a human.
6. Michael purchased the firstborn angelic rights from Satan for a 6,000 year lease on Adam, the greater bowl of soup deal on 3993Tishri14 (Nisan1 years).
7. Michael was now in a position to make the 2nd Holy Spirit Covenant (for which he needed the angelic firstborn rights) and he made it with God who upgraded his angel to have everlasting life as a tem in this covenant since the blessing of the 2HSC is everlasting life.
The Greek says literally: The word was God (John 1:1). But Greek has no indefinite article, no word 'a'. So the translation: the word was [a] God, is a possible translation of the Greek (although the scripture could have said: The word was one God - Greek does use 'one' as the indefinite article). Jesus was not Jehovah himself because we read ins verse 18 that he is the only begotten God and Jehovah is not begotten...
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten God who is in the bosom [position] with the Father is the one that has explained him. (John 1 NWT)
18 God no one has seen at any time; only-begotten God the (one) being into the bosom of the Father that (one) explained. (John 1 KIT)
18 qn oudeij ewraken pwpote monogenhj qeoj o wn eij ton kolpon tou patroj ekeinoj exhghsato (John 1 VatB)
Incidentally, the fact that 'was' is used everywhere in John 1:1, indicates that the status of 'the Word' has changed since the 'beginning' referred to by John. And since the status of God almighty cannot change, the Word cannot be God almighty himself.
In the literal meaning we have the Word of God, who is Jesus. 'In a beginning' he is said to be 'with God'. But what 'beginning' is John referring to here? Is it the beginning of creation by God? Is it the beginning of Genesis 1:1 in the literal meaning? Well it cannot be the beginning of creation by God or the beginning of Genesis 1:1 because 'All things' did not come into existence through Jesus after those beginnings. All things came into existence through Satan after those beginnings. The only beginning after which all things came into existence by means of Jesus was the beginning of the world.
Once Adam had sinned, then without Jesus' agreement to the Angelic Ransom covenant (ARC), everything would have ground to a halt. So after the fall of Adam, everything came into existence through Jesus. So now we finally understand John 1:1-5. Jesus was the way the truth and the life, and the life, TCC4, is the light of men today. Jesus is our light, for he is the word of God.
So to understand John 1, one has to realise that Michael is the word, that a beginning is the beginning of the world, and that the world would have ended as soon as it began were it not for the ARC and that Jehovah promised Micahel that he would become a God after giving his ransoms. So the word was constructively a God from that point forward. The ARC gave the world a permanent future. So everything, after the world began, came into existence through the ARC, which is through the mediation of Jesus. This is why the scripture says both that all things came into existence through him and that what came into existence by means of him was life. His giving us the opportunity for everlasting life was the next stage towards divinity, or towards God, for both men and angels.
Now whereas what came into existence by means of Jesus was life, of course, what came into existence by means of Satan, was death. Hence his name is death. For Paul says...
14 Nevertheless, death ruled as king from Adam down to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of the transgression by Adam, who bears a resemblance to him that was to come (Romans 5 NWT)
12 For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart (Hebrews 4).
The power of the bible to discern the intentions of the hearts lies in its deliberate ambiguity. This makes the book a mirror of your heart.
5 And the light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it (John 1) Amen.
The darkness, the evening, Satan, comes first the Hebrew day and in the day of Genesis 1. The light, the morning star, Michael,
comes second.
Jesus was able to say to his disciples after his resurrection:
18 And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth (Matthew 28).
Whereas before his death he said:
1 Jesus spoke these things, and, raising his eyes to heaven, he said: Father, the hour has come; glorify your son, that your son may glorify you
2 according as you have given him authority over all flesh, that, as regards the whole [number] whom you have given him, he may give them everlasting life (John 17).
Before he died he had a limited authority over all flesh, but after he died he had total authority over all creation. Satan was originally God's CEO, God's chief executive officer, God did not move other than through Satan before Adam's sin. After this sin, Satan lost his firstborn right, but Michael did not gain it until after his death - see U17. At this point Jesus was God from an action point of view.
So now we understand the words of Bildad to Job:
13 It will eat the pieces of his skin. The firstborn of death will eat his limbs (Job 18).
"The firstborn of death" is Satan. Satan in the sense that he was the first to be condemned to death yes, but also in the sense that Jesus is the firstborn of life, and Satan is the firstborn of death. Both are firstborns of God, but they champion rather different outcomes for their followers. Whereas John blessed the 7 congregations and called Jesus Christ:
5 The firstborn from the dead (Revelation 1).
Jesus was not the first man ever to be resurrected, for he himself resurrected Lazarus. He became the firstborn of God through his angelic resurrection. He was the first angel to die and be resurrected, and Satan was the second. So Jesus became God's firstborn from the dead, being resurrected by God himself. But Satan was the firstborn originally which is why we read in Revelation:
9
kai eblhqho drakwn o megaV o ofiV o arcaioV o kaloumenoV DiaboloV kai O SatanoV
And was thrown the dragon, the great [one], the serpent, the archaic [one], the [one] called [the] Devil and the Satan (Revelation 12).
He was the most archaic angel and he was the greatest angel until Adam's fall. Satan was resurrected by Michael, since only Michael is resurrected by God himself.
For more on the decoding of John please see U83.