Footnote

c This Critical Note for John 1:1, found on page 156, says: There are three distinct reasons for believing of God to be the true reading. First, the manuscripts, as stated in that Note; secondly, the logical argument, because if the Evangelist meant ‘was God,’ there would have been no occasion for the next verse; thirdly, the grammatical construction of the sentence: for ‘was God,’ would he not have written ho lógos ēn theós, which would, at any rate, have been more elegant? But if we read it, kai theoû ēn ho lógos, the theoû is in its proper place in the sentence. I have refrained from correcting the text of this passage at the express desire of the late Bishop Westcott.”