In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. NWT
In answer Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!” NWT
Same Greek word used in both texts, why then does the watch tower insert “a” and change the capital “G” to lowercase in John 1 but performs no edit to John 20?
The difference is in the context. The scholarly community today who are more or less completely trinitarian, who understand the original languages better than any other period throughout history other than the early centuries due to the abundance of resources they have discovered in the last century
agree with NWT translators that John 1:1c, namely
"and the Word was thoes", is qualitative and NOT definite, as the translation reads. The rendering "and the Word was God" is a definite rendering, since the 1970's scholars have been in agreement that John 1:1c is not saying Jesus WAS God by identity (the Word was God), but rather the expression is stating the Word has the same nature as God, (the Word was divine or Godlike). Even trinitarian James White in a debate with a JW, which can be seen on youtube, refused to admit John 1:1c was NOT definite despite him highlighting it is qualitative, the reason why he refused to admit it was because his own translations of John 1:1c are definite in rendering despite him stating its qualitative (See youtube time 1:52:40 - Jehovahs witnesses vs christianity James White vs Greg Stafford).
The reason why its translated the way it is in NWT, among another bible translations, is because if Jesus is God by the rendering 'the word was God', then Jesus is the God he was with implying his is the trinity, trinitarian scholars, even ones who debate JW's immensely admit this:
“The significance of theon being definite in Clause B, then, is to identify the One spoken of there as a specific person-God the Father. If then, theos in Clause C were to be ‘definite’ in the same way that theon is in Clause B, it would then be saying that the Word was God the Father. Such a statement would contradict Clause B and imply some sort of modalistic view of God which of course Trinitarians oppose.” “the point that is being made here is that for theos to be definite in this context-after just using the definite ton theon to refer specifically to the person of the Father- would be modalistics.” “Therefore, those who have argued that in John 1:1 theos is definite were in error…. As surprising as it may seem, arguing that theos is definite in this context actually is inconsistent with the Trinitarian distinction between the Father and the Son. - Rob Bowman (trinitarian), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus Christ, & the Gospel of John, 1989.
“[It] is clear that in the translation "the Word was God", the term God is being used to denote his nature or essence, and not his person. But in normal English usage "God" is a proper noun, referring to the person of the Father or corporately to the three persons of the Godhead. Moreover, "the Word was God" suggests that "the Word" and "God" are convertible terms, that the proposition is reciprocating. But the Word is neither the Father nor the Trinity … The rendering cannot stand without explanation.” - Harris, Murray J
(trinitarian)., Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus, 1992, p. 69
There are many many scholars and translations that render John 1:1c in a qualitative sense, it is not changing the bible, rather its translating the scripture within the parameters of the Greek language, this is irrefutable:
Scholars comments
"a god was the Word" - W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 490 (grammar alone)
"If translation were a matter of substituting words, a possible translation of [John 1:1c] would be, "The Word was a god". As a word-for-word translation it cannot be faulted " - C. H. Dodd, Technical Papers for the Bible Translator, 1977
"In fact the KIT [Appendix 2A, p.1139] explanation [why they have rendered John 1:1c as the Word was "a god"] is perfectly correct according to the best scholarship done on this subject." – Dr. Jason BeDuhn
“
[NWT] translators came to the task of translating John 1:1 with as much bias as the other translators did. It just so happens that their bias corresponds in this case to a more accurate translation of the Greek." – Dr. Jason BeDuhn,
Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2003, chapter 11
"Accordingly, from the point of view of grammar alone, [theós en ho lógos] could be rendered "the Word was a god" - Murray J. Harris, p. 60, Jesus as God, 1992
"and a God was the Word (i.e. a Divine being)" - Robert Young, Young's Concise Critical Bible Commentary
"And the Word was divine" - Dr. Goodspeed, An American Translation, 19th impr, 1975
“the word was with the God [= the Father], and the word was a divine being” – Dictionary of the Bible, pg. 317, John L. Mackenzie
“and the Word was of divine nature” – Ernest Findlay Scott, The Literature of the New Testament, 1932
Bible translations
“and the Word was a divine being” - La Bible du Centenaire, L’Evangile selon Jean, by Maurice Goguel, 1928.
“and the Word was divine” - The Bible—An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed, 1935.
"and he was the same as God" – Good News Bible, 1976, by the American Bible Society
"and what God was, the Word was" – New English Bible NEB
"the Logos [Word] was divine" – A New Translation of the Bible, by James Moffatt
"and the word was a divine being” – The New Testament, by Jon Madsen 2017
"and the Word was a god" – The New Testament in Greek and English, 1822, by A. Kneeland
“and a god was the word” - The Emphatic Diaglott, interlinear reading, by Benjamin Wilson, 1864
“and of a divine kind was the Word” - Das Neue Testament, by Ludwig Thimme, 1946.
“and the Word was a God” - The New Testament, by James L. Tomanek, 1958.
“and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word” - Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Siegfried Schulz, 1975.
“and godlike kind was the Logos” - Das Evangelium nach Johannes, by Johannes Schneider, 1979.
ALL THE ABOVE ARE TRINITARIAN SCHOLARS AND TRANSLATIONS. There was no capitalization in the original languages as it is in English today, there was no difference between a small g and capital G, that is something English translations do for the ease of readers.