Colwell's Rule and John 1:1

 E.C. Colwell (1933) wrote an article in JBL concluding that a definite preverbal predicate nominative is usually anarthrous. Lots of words there, and if you do not love language or grammar, let’s break it down.

• Definite: specific entity in reality
• Preverbal: the word in question is written before the verb in the sentence
• Predicate Nominative: In a sentence with “is” or “become” as the verb (usually), there’s a subject and either predicate adjective or predicate noun. The predicate nominative/noun renames the subject. E.g., The painting is a masterpiece.
• Anarthrous: does not have the article

In English, word order is often crucial. The subject is typically before the equative verb/verb of being, and the predicate noun/adjective is after the verb. Greek word order doesn’t matter for syntax, while it may affect emphasis or semantics. 

Colwell noticed that when a definite predicate nominative is in front of the verb, it usually does not have the article. His point was that just because a predicate nominative doesn't have the article, one cannot assume it should be translated with "a" instead of "the." Context must decide the words definiteness. His key illustration was John 1:49, σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, σὺ βασιλεὺς εἶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ (If you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel). Both subjects are the second person pronoun “you.” This leaves “the son of God” and “the king of Israel” as the predicate nouns in the first and second clauses, respectively. The first one has the article, and the second one does not. Jesus is not “a king of Israel,” but “the king of Israel.” One will notice, though, that context indicated the definiteness of the predicate noun "king.”

The problem is that many after Colwell misunderstood what he had concluded and reversed the rule. They stated that an anarthrous preverbal predicate nominative is usually definite.

The key text used for support has always been John 1:1 καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. “And the Word was a god/the God/god”

A couple studies in the 70s (Harper and Dixon, specifically), showed how Colwell restricted his study to passages where predicate nouns were definite. The semantic understanding of the predicate noun, therefore, was already decided by the context before looking at the structure. Harner further argued that 80% of Colwell’s constructions contain qualitative nouns. That is, the noun incorporates some attribute or characteristic of an object or person. These studies also focused on word order and how the structure of a sentence affects the spectrum of indefiniteness to definiteness. Basically, they sharpened Colwell's conclusions so students could use them more practically.

Here is one example of each kind of noun in Colwell’s construction:

• Definite: John 1:49, σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, σὺ βασιλεὺς εἶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ (see above)
• Qualitative: John 1:14, ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (“the word became flesh” --not a flesh or the flesh)
• Indefinite: (most likely one in the NT) θεωρῶ ὅτι προφήτης εἶ συ (“I perceive that you are a prophet”—could be “the prophet” of Deut 18 but debatable)

In light of these studies, we can revise Colwell’s rule to apply to structures as we find them in the Greek NT: "An anarthrous pre-verbal Predicate Nominative is normally qualitative, sometimes definite, and only rarely indefinite." (See Wallace, Greek Grammar, 262)

What about John 1:1?

John 1:1 fits Colwell’s construction, but its semantics must be defined by context. Indefinite is the most rare meaning for this structure, and it would be nearly impossible for John to see Jesus as “a god.” 

Definite is unlikely. Most of the time, definite anarthrous preverbal predicate nouns are in genitive constructions, are proper names, or refer to a one-of-a-kind noun (e.g., sun). Having a definite noun for "god" here would also make "Word" convertible or precisely equal to its predicate. Essentially, the "Word" would be the same being as "the God," which would be difficult to distinguish from "God the Father" in a natural Jewish context. This is modalism, though John does have the strongest statements about Jesus' equality with the Father throughout the book (I and the Father are one; anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father).

A qualitative noun here fits John's theology and the structure of the construction best. Translation: "The Word was divine/deity." This allows balance between the Word's deity and His humanity in 1:14. The Word has the characteristics or nature of God. Their essence is identical, but He is not the Father.

Cf Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 256-70, for a more exhaustive explanation and examples from biblical and extrabiblical sources.