Should "Bible" = "Word of God"?

EDIT: Please could a moderator move this post to the thread " Should “Bible” = “Word of God”?". Many thanks.


Dear Roger, I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that, on this occasion, you are reading your theological view into translation practice. As far as I am aware, there is a simpler reason why translators render ‘λογοσ’ as ‘Word’ or ‘word’: English grammar. Let me explain.

In the first instance, Word is capitalised because it is being deployed as a proper noun, that is, a title for a person. This is further illustrated by the observation that λογοσ is not capitalised in any critical text of John 1 of which I am aware. Again, this appears to make arguments for theological inferences from capitalisation somewhat moot since it again illustrates that the capitalisation is about grammar, not theology. (@Christy knows more about this area than I, so I welcome her correction if I am mistaken).

In the second instance, ‘word’ is not capitalised because it is being used as a noun - a classification of a thing. That is words (spoken or written) whose ultimate source is recognised as being God (the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or generically, God). This noun might refer to the gospel message, the Hebrew scriptures, the writings of an apostle, etc.

TLDR: I do not believe there is any hidden theological meaning imbued by translators in their choice of ‘W’ vs. ‘w’, merely a desire to express good English grammar.

That said, if you wish to prove me wrong, perhaps you’d be kind enough to provide evidence from the prefaces to Bible translations? If they intend to help “us to understand that the Bible is not absolute or divine.” by this translation method, no doubt they would let us know there.