www.DoYouKnowWhy.org
Jehovah’s Witness
Teachings on Jesus
Jehovah’s Witness teachings about Jesus are consistent with their non-Christian teaching that there is no Trinity. They teach that Jesus is the savior and that He is a god, a mighty god, but not The Almighty God. Their New World Translation is the only translation to add the letter “a” to the end of John 1:1. The end of the verse becomes,
“the Word was a god”
and not “the Word was God”
as is written in all of the other major translations.
“In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." John 1:1 New World Translation
Jehovah’s Witness teaching is that Jesus is not Jehovah God. He is a separate and lesser god. They teach that Jesus was actually created and was Michael the Archangel before his earthly existence, and they also teach that he is savior.
The following links indicate why adding the word “a” before God in John 1:1 is incorrect:
John 1:1, "The word was a god"
https://carm.org/religious-movements/jehovahs-witnesses/john-11-word-was-god
John 1
Jehovah’s Witness teach that Jesus was created.
As a created being, he cannot be part of the Trinity. John 14:28 “The Father is greater than I am,” said Jesus.
What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102010283?q=jesus+created+being&p=par (Section 3 at this link)
Jehovah’s Witness teach Jesus was Michael the Archangel.
Is Jesus the Archangel Michael?
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2010250?q=jesus+michael&p=par
Jehovah’s Witness teach Jesus was Savior
Jesus Christ He is the Savior, “the Son of God,” and “the firstborn of all creation.”
What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102010283?q=jesus+created+being&p=par (Section 3 at this link)
These are significant claims and challenges to three of the essentials of Christianity about God, about Jesus, and about salvation. If Jesus isn’t the one God, and if the Holy Spirit is not a person, then the Trinity can't exist. And since only God can save, if Jesus is not the one true God, He can’t be the Savior.
Responses To Jehovah’s Witness’ Teachings on Jesus
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is a created angel and is not Jehovah God. They seem to only accept Jesus Christ’s human characteristics indicated in the Bible, and either ignore or try to explain away Jesus' divine characteristics indicated in the Bible. As indicated above in John 14:28 “The Father is greater than I am,”
John 14:28 “The Father is greater than I am”
This is one of the verses they use to justify their teaching that Jesus was a created being. What they don’t seem to consider is that John14:28 is only talking about Christ’s human existence, not his pre-human existence in Heaven.
Look at Philippians 2:5-8
Philippians 2:5-8 "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Philippians 2:5-8 shows that Jesus Christ emptied Himself taking the form of a servant. Adding to Himself a human nature automatically limits aspects of His divinity. One example of this limitation is Jesus Christ as a man not being able to be everywhere at once.
If He emptied Himself to take on human form, He must have been filled prior to taking on human form. Right?
In What Sense Did Jesus Empty Himself?
www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_795.cfm
Colossians 1:15 is also cited by Jehovah’s Witnesses as proof of Jesus creation. They teach that being the firstborn of all creation is the same as being the first created thing.
Colossians 1:15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."
The following link shows the correct understanding of the reference, “Firstborn”.
Jesus Christ: The First of God's Creations?
www.godandscience.org/cults/jesuscreated.html
In John 1:1, they claim that “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus)” is a reference to when time existed. They reason that since God existed before time, Jesus wasn’t eternal because he was at the beginning.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God. (New World Translation)
This conclusion has problems though, as the verse doesn’t state,
“In the beginning, the Word began”.
The Jehovah’s Witness conclusion is the same type of conclusion as those who claim that there is a contradiction between two of the Gospels because John indicates “Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early” (John 20:1), while Matthew indicates “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb” (Matthew 28:1). The claim is that in one verse two women are reference but only one woman is referenced in the second verse. Notice that John doesn’t indicate that only Mary Magdalene visited the tomb. Mary Magdalene was the only woman John references, not the only woman there.
In the same way, Jesus was there at the beginning, but the Bible never claims that Jesus didn’t exist until the beginning of time. If Jesus Christ was (past tense) there at the beginning, then he already existed at the beginning and didn’t come into existence at the beginning. If this reference to The Beginning means the beginning of time then even Almighty God would have been there too, because Almighty God already existed before the beginning of time. By the author’s reasoning, if Jehovah God was there at the beginning He couldn’t then be eternal. This isn’t a logical conclusion, and contradicts the Bible’s teaching on who Jesus is.
Now look at the New World Translation of Colossians 1:16,
Colossians 1:16 because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth. New World Translation
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=colossians+1%3A16
Jehovah’s Witnesses indicate the word "other" is in their accurate translation implying all other translations are not accurate because they do not have the word "other". This is their argument proving that Jesus Christ was created first. However, contrast this Colossians 1:16 verse with John 1:3 out of the Jehovah's Witnesses New World Translation Bible.
John 1:3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=john+1%3A3-4
Verses Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3 from the New World Translation Bible show a clear contradiction with each other. According to the Law of Non-Contradiction, you can’t have the Jesus Christ of Jehovah’s Witness “creating all other things”, implying that He was created first, while at the same time being the same Jesus Christ who “apart from him not even one thing came into existence”. That would be like the contradictory idea of the Universe creating itself. The Universe would by necessity need to exist before it created itself.
Let’s consider other verses and information about Jesus Christ and His identity.
Was Jesus An Angel As Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach?
Consider again John 1:3 of even the New World Translation:
John 1:3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence. (New World Trans.)
If all things came into existence through Christ, and apart from Him not even one thing came into existence, the only logical conclusion is that Jesus Christ has always existed and was responsible for creating the angels. Since He created everything, He created all of the angels, and so he can’t be an angel, unless an angel could create themselves, similar to the self-contradiction of the universe creating itself. As well, while He is not God the Father, He is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Consider these additional verses.
Hebrews 1:5-6 "For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”
Look at the last sentence in this verse.
when He (God) brings the firstborn into the world, he (God) says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
If God is the only one to be worshiped, and God commands his angels to worship Jesus Christ, the only logical conclusion is that Jesus Christ is God. Jesus also can not be another God, because the Bible indicates there is only one God. If both God the Father and Jesus are God, they must be the same God, not another God. Jesus is the second person in the Trinity which is the one true God. And this is true whether or not we understand this. Consider the following verses where Jesus Christ is called God.
Jesus Is Called God
Romans 9:5 "To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen"
Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (which means, God with us)."
Hebrews 1:8 "But of the Son He (God) says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom."
1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."
Colossians 2:9 "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Isaiah 10:20-21 "In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God."
Isaiah 44:6 "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god”.
Titus 1:3-4 "and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior."
Titus 2:13 "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ"
God Does Not Share His Glory With Any Other
Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
But the following verses show that Jesus had glory with His father.
Mark 8:38b when He comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.
If God does not share His glory with any other, and Jesus wasn’t God, the previous verses would not be logical. The only way that the previous verses are logical is if Jesus Christ is the same God as God the Father, and that Jesus Christ and God are separate persons.
Again, when Jesus Christ took on His human nature, it limited his attributes as God. John 17:5 illustrates this, and that Christ would once again be glorified as He had been before.
John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.
If Jesus is God, it is acceptable for Him to not only request the Glory He indicates that He had, it is also fully acceptable for Him to receive glory, and thus, does not contradict the verses stating that God will not give His glory to another.
The Bible Teaches That Only God Is To Be Worshiped.
Exodus 34:14 "for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God"
The Angels of God Refuse Worship
Revelation 22:8-9 “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (also Revelation 19:10)
Even Jesus Stated That Only God Is To Be Worshiped.
Matthew 4:9-11 "And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
Does Jesus accept worship as God?
From the Angels
Hebrews 1:6 "And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all God's angels worship Him.”
From the Disciples
Luke 24:51-52 "While he blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy"
From the Believers
John 9:38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Him.
Commanded by Angels
Revelation 14:7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
(Remind me again, who made everything? ;-)
From Everyone Eventually
Philippians 2:10-11 “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Did Jesus Receive Worship As God?
From the Beginning only God is to be Worshipped
http://letusreason.org/Trin18.htm
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