# Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God ## Intro Jehovah's Witnesses take the Bible seriously, use God's name, live disciplined lives and are willing to knock on doors and talk about God. Many stood firm under real persecution in the twentieth century rather than give up their convictions. Christians can respect all of that. The disagreement is about **who Jesus is**, and so about **who God is**. Here is the heart of it: - **Jehovah's Witnesses** teach that Jehovah alone is God. Jesus is His first and greatest creation, the one through whom everything else was made, and before coming to earth he was Michael the archangel. The holy spirit is God's active force, not a person. - **The Christian God** is one God in three persons. Jesus is not a creature but the eternal Son, who is God with the Father and who became man. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force. That difference changes the whole story of salvation. On the Witness view, God sent someone else to save us. On the Christian view, **God came Himself**. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" ([John 3:16](/codex/john-3-16/), ASV), and the Son "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" ([Philippians 2:7](/codex/philippians-2-7/), ASV). When the two are compared question by question, the Christian God is the greater God and the greater love. He does not stay at a distance and send a creature. He comes down, takes on our flesh, and receives the worship the Bible gives to God alone. Quick reply for a live conversation: *"I agree with you that only Jehovah is God and only God may be worshipped. That's exactly why I believe Jesus is God. The Bible tells angels to worship Him ([Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/)) and tells us to honor the Son just as we honor the Father ([John 5:23](/codex/john-5-23/)). You don't give that to a creature."* ## Cheatsheet **The 30-second reply:** > Jehovah says, "I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God" ([Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/)), and "my glory will I not give to another" ([Isaiah 42:8](/codex/isaiah-42-8/)). Then Jesus says, "I am the first and the last" ([Revelation 1:17](/codex/revelation-1-17/)), angels are told to worship Him ([Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/)), and all creation gives the same glory to Him as to the Father ([Revelation 5:13](/codex/revelation-5-13/)). Either the Bible gives God's glory to a creature, or Jesus shares the one identity of Jehovah. The second is the Christian God, and it means God came to save us Himself. **The fast facts:** 1. **God.** Witnesses: Jehovah alone is God, one person. Christianity: one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Both agree there is only one true God ([John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/)). See [Trinity](/codex/trinity/) and [Monotheism](/codex/monotheism/). 2. **Jesus.** Witnesses: God's first creation, identified with Michael the archangel. Christianity: the uncreated Word, through whom "all things were made" ([John 1:3](/codex/john-1-3/), ASV). See [Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ](/codex/cumulative-case-for-the-deity-of-christ/). 3. **The Holy Spirit.** Witnesses: God's active force. Christianity: a person who speaks, teaches and can be grieved and lied to ([Acts 13:2](/codex/acts-13-2/); [John 14:26](/codex/john-14-26/); [Ephesians 4:30](/codex/ephesians-4-30/); [Acts 5:3-4](/codex/acts-5-3-4/)). 4. **Worship.** Witnesses honor Jesus but reserve worship for Jehovah. Scripture says "let all the angels of God worship him" ([Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/), ASV). 5. **Translation.** The New World Translation renders [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/) "the Word was a god" and adds "other" in [Colossians 1:16-17](/codex/colossians-1-16-17/). Neither reading is required by the Greek, and the second has no Greek word behind it. 6. **The hope.** Witnesses: 144,000 rule in heaven; a great crowd lives forever on a paradise earth. Christianity: one flock, one shepherd ([John 10:16](/codex/john-10-16/)), God dwelling with all His people ([Revelation 21:3](/codex/revelation-21-3/)). See [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/). 7. **The historical parallel.** The Witness view of Christ is closest to the fourth-century teaching of Arius, which the church rejected at Nicaea in 325. See [Arianism](/codex/arianism/). **The 4 strongest counter-moves:** - *"Jesus said, 'the Father is greater than I' ([John 14:28](/codex/john-14-28/))."* The Son became man and took the role of a servant; in that role the Father is greater. Greater in role is not better in nature. [Hebrews 1:4](/codex/hebrews-1-4/) uses a different word when it says the Son is "better" than the angels. See [Jesus Has a God Therefore Not God Objection Defeater](/codex/jesus-has-a-god-therefore-not-god-objection-defeater/). - *"[Colossians 1:15](/codex/colossians-1-15/) calls him 'the firstborn of all creation.' Firstborn means first created."* In Scripture "firstborn" often means rank: God says of David, "I also will make him my first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth" ([Psalm 89:27](/codex/psalms-89-27/), ASV). The next verse explains why the Son is firstborn: "for in him were all things created" ([Colossians 1:16](/codex/colossians-1-16/), ASV). The Creator of all things cannot be one of the things created. - *"The Trinity is a pagan idea brought in at Nicaea."* The texts behind it are first-century and Jewish. Christians were praying to Jesus ([Acts 7:59](/codex/acts-7-59/)) and calling Him God ([John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/)) centuries before Constantine. See [Trinity Invented at Nicaea Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-invented-at-nicaea-objection-defeater/). - *"A perfect man was enough to pay the ransom for Adam's sin."* "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him" ([Psalm 49:7](/codex/psalms-49-7/), ASV). And the New Testament presents the cross as God's own love in action: "God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" ([Romans 5:8](/codex/romans-5-8/), ASV). **Reciprocal concessions (grant the small point, then collect a bigger one):** - *Grant:* God has a personal name, and the Old Testament uses it thousands of times. *Now collect:* the New Testament applies Jehovah's own words to Jesus. "Whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered" ([Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/), ASV) becomes Paul's promise about calling on the Lord Jesus ([Romans 10:9-13](/codex/romans-10-9-13/)). - *Grant:* Jesus is distinct from the Father. He prays to Him and is sent by Him. *Now collect:* that is exactly what the Trinity teaches. Christians do not say Jesus is the Father. They say the Son is God with the Father, "the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ([John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/), ASV). - *Grant:* only God should be worshipped. *Now collect:* then [Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/), [John 5:23](/codex/john-5-23/) and [Revelation 5:13-14](/codex/revelation-5-13-14/), which direct worship and equal honor to the Son, settle that the Son is God. **The closing line:** > In the Watchtower's story, God sent His best creature. In the Bible's story, God came Himself. Only one of those is the greatest love. ## In full Jehovah's Witnesses trace their origin to the Bible Student movement of Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916), who began publishing *Zion's Watch Tower* in 1879. Under Joseph F. Rutherford the movement took the name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931. It is led today by a Governing Body and publishes its own Bible, the *New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures*, first issued between 1950 and 1961 by an anonymous committee and revised several times since. See [Jehovahs Witnesses](/codex/jehovahs-witnesses/) for the history and wider discussion. Witness teaching holds that Jehovah is the only true God, a single person, eternal and almighty. Jesus is Jehovah's "only-begotten Son" in the sense that Jehovah created him directly and then created all other things through him. Before his human life he was Michael the archangel. He died on a stake as a ransom corresponding to the perfect man Adam, was raised as a spirit, and now rules as King. The holy spirit is God's active force, the energy by which He accomplishes His will. A limited number, 144,000, are anointed to rule with Christ in heaven; most faithful people will live forever on a restored paradise earth; the wicked are destroyed rather than tormented. The Christian doctrine of God holds that there is one God, eternally existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each fully God, not three Gods. The Son is "begotten, not made," eternally from the Father (see [Eternal Generation](/codex/eternal-generation/)), and in the incarnation became fully man without ceasing to be God (see [Incarnation](/codex/incarnation/) and [Hypostatic Union](/codex/hypostatic-union/)). The church confessed this against Arius at Nicaea in 325, drawing on texts the New Testament already contained. Christians and Witnesses agree on far more than either sometimes admits: one true God, the authority of the Bible, the reality of sin, the ransom value of Christ's death, a coming Kingdom, and a resurrection of the dead. Christians also differ among themselves on some questions Witnesses raise, such as whether the lost suffer forever or are finally destroyed (see [Hell and Eternal Punishment](/codex/hell-and-eternal-punishment/) and [Conditional Immortality](/codex/conditional-immortality/)). This page focuses on the question that divides the two most sharply: is Jesus Jehovah's creature or Jehovah's eternal Son, God with Him? ## Side by side | Question | Jehovah's Witness teaching | The Christian God | |---|---|---| | **Who is God?** | Jehovah alone, a single person | One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit | | **God's origin** | Jehovah is eternal and uncreated (agreed) | God is eternal and uncreated (agreed); this includes the Son | | **Trinity** | Rejected as unscriptural | Confessed as the Bible's own picture of the one God | | **Who is Jesus?** | Jehovah's first creation, formerly Michael the archangel, "a god" but not God Almighty | The eternal Son, uncreated, God with the Father, who became man | | **The Holy Spirit** | God's active force, not a person | A divine person, fully God | | **Creation** | Jehovah created the Son first, then all other things through him | The Father created all things through the Son and by the Spirit; the Son is not among them (John 1:3) | | **Salvation and grace** | Through faith in Christ's ransom, an undeserved kindness, with faithful obedience and association with Jehovah's organization to the end | By grace through faith in the crucified and risen Son, a finished gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) | | **Assurance** | Salvation is not settled until one endures to the end | Present knowledge of eternal life for those who believe (1 John 5:13) | | **The ending** | 144,000 in heaven; a great crowd on paradise earth; the wicked destroyed | One flock with one shepherd; God dwelling with His people in a new creation (Revelation 21:3) | ## Argument structure | | Premise | Notes | |---|---|---| | **P1** | **Jehovah is the only God and the only Savior, and the New Testament gives that identity to Jesus.** Titles, words and acts that Isaiah reserves for Jehovah are applied to the Son. | Identity | | **P2** | **Worship belongs to God alone, and the Son receives it.** Angels refuse worship; the Son is given it by the Father's command. | Worship | | **P3** | **The Son is the Creator, not the first creature.** All created things were made through Him, and Jehovah made the heavens "alone." | Creation | | **P4** | **A God who comes Himself is greater than a God who sends a creature.** The incarnation shows a love and a revelation no creature could supply. | Incarnation, love | | **P5** | **The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force.** He speaks, teaches, can be grieved and can be lied to, and lying to Him is lying to God. | Pneumatology | | **P6** | **The Christian hope is one people with God, not a divided hope.** Jesus promised one flock, and Revelation shows the great multitude before the throne. | Eschatological | | **C** | On every question where the two differ, the Christian God is the greater God and the greater love. Witness teaching keeps one God and a high regard for Scripture, but it makes the Savior a creature and the Spirit a force. | | ## Master objections to the whole argument **MO1: "The word 'Trinity' is not in the Bible."** - Neither is "theocracy" or "Governing Body," as Witnesses would agree. The question is whether the teaching is there: one God ([Deuteronomy 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/)), the Father called God ([John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/)), the Son called God ([John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/); [20:28](/codex/john-20-28/); [Hebrews 1:8](/codex/hebrews-1-8/)), the Spirit treated as God and as a person ([Acts 5:3-4](/codex/acts-5-3-4/)). See [Trinity](/codex/trinity/) and [Trinity Common Objections](/codex/trinity-common-objections/). **MO2: "Your argument depends on biased translations."** - This page quotes the American Standard Version of 1901, which Witnesses may appreciate because it uses the name Jehovah throughout the Old Testament. It does not depend on any one translation, and where the Greek is genuinely open or a text has a variant, the page says so (see Grammar and hermeneutics below). **MO3: "The early church was not Trinitarian until the fourth century."** - The language was refined in the fourth century, but the practice and the claims were there from the start. Thomas calls Jesus "My Lord and my God" ([John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/), ASV), Stephen prays to Him ([Acts 7:59](/codex/acts-7-59/)), and Pliny the Younger reported around AD 112 that Christians sang hymns to Christ "as to a god." See [Trinity Invented at Nicaea Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-invented-at-nicaea-objection-defeater/) and [Council of Nicaea](/codex/council-of-nicaea/). **MO4: "If Jesus is God, who was running the universe when He died?"** - Christians do not say God ceased to exist on the cross. The Son died in His human nature; the Father and the Spirit, and the Son in His divine nature, were never extinguished. See [How Can Jesus Be God Objection Defeater](/codex/how-can-jesus-be-god-objection-defeater/) and [Hypostatic Union](/codex/hypostatic-union/). ## Premise 1, Jehovah is the only God and the only Savior, and Jesus shares that identity ### Affirmative case 1. "Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour" ([Isaiah 43:10-11](/codex/isaiah-43-10-11/), ASV). 2. "I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God" ([Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/), ASV). See also [Isaiah 48:12](/codex/isaiah-48-12/). 3. Jesus says, "Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore" ([Revelation 1:17-18](/codex/revelation-1-17-18/), ASV). The one who was dead is Jesus. The title is Jehovah's. 4. [Isaiah 45:23](/codex/isaiah-45-23/), "unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear," is applied by Paul to Jesus: "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" ([Philippians 2:10-11](/codex/philippians-2-10-11/), ASV). 5. Titus speaks of "God our Saviour" ([Titus 3:4](/codex/titus-3-4/), ASV) and, two verses later, of "Jesus Christ our Saviour" ([Titus 3:6](/codex/titus-3-6/), ASV), and speaks of "the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" ([Titus 2:13](/codex/titus-2-13/), ASV). Isaiah says there is no Savior besides Jehovah. 6. [Isaiah 9:6](/codex/isaiah-9-6/) calls the coming child "Mighty God" (Hebrew *el gibbor*); [Isaiah 10:21](/codex/isaiah-10-21/) uses the identical phrase of Jehovah: "unto the mighty God" (ASV). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"Jesus is 'a mighty god,' not 'God Almighty.' Jehovah alone is Almighty."* 2. *"Others are called saviors in the Bible (for example the judges), so the title does not prove deity."* ### Rebuttals 1. Isaiah uses the same two Hebrew words, *el gibbor*, for the child in 9:6 and for Jehovah in 10:21, one chapter later. A Hebrew reader would not split them into a lesser and a greater God, and [Isaiah 43:10](/codex/isaiah-43-10/) and 44:6 deny there is any lesser god to be. 2. Human deliverers are called saviors in a limited sense. But [Isaiah 43:11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/) makes a categorical claim about the ultimate Savior, and Titus uses "our Saviour" interchangeably for the Father and for Jesus within a few verses. The pattern is the issue, not one word. ## Premise 2, Worship belongs to God alone, and the Son receives it ### Affirmative case 1. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" ([Matthew 4:10](/codex/matthew-4-10/), ASV). "My glory will I not give to another" ([Isaiah 42:8](/codex/isaiah-42-8/), ASV). 2. When John falls before an angel, the angel refuses: "See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee ... worship God" ([Revelation 22:8-9](/codex/revelation-22-8-9/), ASV). 3. The Father commands the reverse for the Son: "And let all the angels of God worship him" ([Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/), ASV). If the Son were the archangel Michael, this would be an angel receiving the worship of angels. 4. "That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him" ([John 5:23](/codex/john-5-23/), ASV). The same honor, not a lesser one. 5. All creation gives identical worship to both: "Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever ... And the elders fell down and worshipped" ([Revelation 5:13-14](/codex/revelation-5-13-14/), ASV). 6. Jesus accepts worship without rebuke ([Matthew 28:9](/codex/matthew-28-9/); [John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/)), unlike the angel, and unlike Peter in [Acts 10:25-26](/codex/acts-10-25-26/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"The Greek word* proskyneō *can mean bowing in respect, as to a king. Jesus receives 'obeisance,' not the worship due to Jehovah."* ### Rebuttals 1. The word does have that range. The ASV itself uses "worshiped" for a servant bowing to a king in [Matthew 18:26](/codex/matthew-18-26/). So the word alone does not settle it, and Christians should not pretend it does. Context settles it. In [Hebrews 1](/codex/hebrews-1/) the author is contrasting the Son with all angels, quotes an Old Testament text about worship of God (the Greek Old Testament of [Deuteronomy 32:43](/codex/deuteronomy-32-43/); compare [Psalm 97:7](/codex/psalms-97-7/)), and then calls the Son God and Creator ([Hebrews 1:8-12](/codex/hebrews-1-8-12/)). In [Revelation 5](/codex/revelation-5/) the Lamb receives exactly what the One on the throne receives, in the same sentence. And in [Revelation 22](/codex/revelation-22/) an angel refuses even the bowing. Whatever the Son receives, an angel may not. ## Premise 3, The Son is the Creator, not the first creature ### Affirmative case 1. "All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made" ([John 1:3](/codex/john-1-3/), ASV). If the Son were made, He would have made Himself. 2. "For in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist" ([Colossians 1:16-17](/codex/colossians-1-16-17/), ASV). 3. [Hebrews 1:10-12](/codex/hebrews-1-10-12/) applies [Psalm 102:25-27](/codex/psalms-102-25-27/), a prayer addressed to God, to the Son: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of thy hands ... But thou art the same, And thy years shall not fail" (ASV). 4. Jehovah says He made all things without a helper: "I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth (who is with me?)" ([Isaiah 44:24](/codex/isaiah-44-24/), ASV). If the Son made all things and Jehovah made them alone, the Son is not someone other than Jehovah. He is the one God's own Word. 5. See [Logos Christology](/codex/logos-christology/) and [Christ Was Made (Misread Proof-Texts)](/codex/christ-was-made-misread-proof-texts/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"[Proverbs 8:22](/codex/proverbs-8-22/) says, 'Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way.' That is the Son, created first."* 2. *"[Revelation 3:14](/codex/revelation-3-14/) calls Jesus 'the beginning of the creation of God.'"* ### Rebuttals 1. [Proverbs 8](/codex/proverbs-8/) is a poem in which wisdom is personified as a woman calling in the streets (8:1-4). The Hebrew verb *qanah* most often means "acquire" or "possess," and is used of God as "possessor of heaven and earth" ([Genesis 14:19](/codex/genesis-14-19/), ASV). In fairness, the Greek Old Testament does render the verse "created," and fourth-century Arians used it. But God was never without His wisdom, and the New Testament never quotes [Proverbs 8:22](/codex/proverbs-8-22/) about Jesus. 2. The Greek word is *archē*, which can mean "beginning," "origin" or "ruler." In Revelation itself God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" ([Revelation 21:6](/codex/revelation-21-6/), ASV), using the same word of Himself, and Jesus says the same of Himself in 22:13. In Revelation, the *archē* is the source of all things, not their first item. See [archē](/codex/g0746-arche/). ## Premise 4, A God who comes Himself is greater than a God who sends a creature ### Affirmative case 1. Love is measured by what it gives. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" ([John 15:13](/codex/john-15-13/), ASV). 2. On the Witness view, Jehovah gives a creature, His most precious creature, but not Himself. On the Christian view, the Father gives the Son, and the Son, being God, gives Himself: "the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me" ([Galatians 2:20](/codex/galatians-2-20/), ASV). 3. The Son did not reach upward to equality with God; He came down from it: "who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself" ([Philippians 2:6-7](/codex/philippians-2-6-7/), ASV). See [Kenosis](/codex/kenosis/) and [Incarnation](/codex/incarnation/). 4. Only God can fully show God: "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" ([John 14:9](/codex/john-14-9/), ASV); "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" ([Colossians 2:9](/codex/colossians-2-9/), ASV). A creature, however high, could show us something about God. Only God can show us God. 5. No creature can ransom another before God: "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him" ([Psalm 49:7](/codex/psalms-49-7/), ASV). God therefore provides the ransom from Himself: "the propitiation for our sins" is the Son He sent in love ([1 John 4:10](/codex/1-john-4-10/)). 6. See [Atonement](/codex/atonement/) and [Argument from Love](/codex/argument-from-love/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"It cost Jehovah dearly to give His Son. That is great love. And [1 Timothy 2:5-6](/codex/1-timothy-2-5-6/) calls Jesus a 'man' who gave himself a ransom, a corresponding price for Adam."* ### Rebuttals 1. Christians agree that the Father's gift is costly, and that Jesus is truly a man; [1 Timothy 2:5](/codex/1-timothy-2-5/) says so, and Christians confess His full humanity. The question is what else He is. The same chapter says there is "one God" (2:5), and the New Testament elsewhere calls this man "God over all, blessed for ever" ([Romans 9:5](/codex/romans-9-5/), ASV) and "the true God" ([1 John 5:20](/codex/1-john-5-20/), ASV). A ransom that equals Adam would match one man; the New Testament presents a ransom "for all" ([1 Timothy 2:6](/codex/1-timothy-2-6/)) given by God's own love. The greater the giver, the greater the gift, and no gift is greater than God giving Himself. ## Premise 5, The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force ### Affirmative case 1. The Spirit speaks in the first person: "the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" ([Acts 13:2](/codex/acts-13-2/), ASV). 2. He teaches and reminds: "the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit ... he shall teach you all things" ([John 14:26](/codex/john-14-26/), ASV). 3. He can be grieved: "grieve not the Holy Spirit of God" ([Ephesians 4:30](/codex/ephesians-4-30/), ASV). Forces cannot be grieved. 4. He can be lied to, and lying to Him is lying to God: "why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit ... thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God" ([Acts 5:3-4](/codex/acts-5-3-4/), ASV). 5. He bears witness with believers ([Romans 8:16](/codex/romans-8-16/)). See [Pneumatology](/codex/pneumatology/) and [Witness of the Holy Spirit](/codex/witness-of-the-holy-spirit/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"The Bible personifies many things, like wisdom and sin. And the Greek word for spirit,* pneuma, *is neuter."* ### Rebuttals 1. Personification is a figure of speech used for a passage. The Spirit is spoken of as a person across many books and genres, in plain narrative as well as poetry. On grammar, honesty matters: the neuter gender of *pneuma* proves nothing either way, and the masculine "he" in [John 14:26](/codex/john-14-26/) partly reflects the masculine noun for "Comforter" (*paraklētos*). The case does not rest on pronouns. It rests on what the Spirit does: speaks, calls, teaches, grieves, and is someone to whom one can lie. ## Premise 6, The Christian hope is one people with God ### Affirmative case 1. Jesus promised one people: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring ... and they shall become one flock, one shepherd" ([John 10:16](/codex/john-10-16/), ASV). The "other sheep" join the flock; they are not a second, lower flock. 2. After the 144,000 are sealed, John sees "a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation ... standing before the throne and before the Lamb" ([Revelation 7:9](/codex/revelation-7-9/), ASV), serving God "day and night in his temple" (7:15). 3. The final picture is God with all His people: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them ... and God himself shall be with them" ([Revelation 21:3](/codex/revelation-21-3/), ASV), and heaven and earth are joined in the new creation ([Revelation 21:1-2](/codex/revelation-21-1-2/)). 4. See [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/) and [Heaven](/codex/heaven/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"[Revelation 7:4](/codex/revelation-7-4/) gives a precise number, 144,000. That class is literal and limited."* ### Rebuttals 1. [Revelation 7:4](/codex/revelation-7-4/) says the 144,000 are sealed "out of every tribe of the children of Israel," 12,000 from each named tribe (7:5-8). Reading the number literally while reading the tribes as spiritual Israel is at least uneven. And [Luke 12:32](/codex/luke-12-32/)'s "little flock" is addressed to Jesus' disciples in general, not to a heavenly class. The great multitude of 7:9 stands "before the throne," in God's temple. The Bible holds out one hope to all who belong to Christ: to be with Him ([John 14:3](/codex/john-14-3/)) and to see God's face ([Revelation 22:4](/codex/revelation-22-4/)). ## Grammar and hermeneutics These are the texts the disagreement turns on. Each is read for what its grammar and context actually allow, including where the Witness reading has a fair point. 1. **[Isaiah 43:10](/codex/isaiah-43-10/) and 44:6-8, no God before or after.** [Isaiah 43:10](/codex/isaiah-43-10/) uses the passive of *yatsar* ("formed") with the word *el* (god): no god was ever formed before Jehovah, and none will be after. A created "mighty god" formed by Jehovah at the beginning would be precisely a god formed after Him. [Isaiah 44:8](/codex/isaiah-44-8/) adds, "Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any" (ASV). In Isaiah there are only two categories, the one true God and false gods. There is no third category of a true but lesser god. 2. **[John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/), "and the Word was God."** The clause is *kai theos ēn ho logos*. *Theos* stands first and has no article; *ho logos* has the article, which marks it as the subject. - Greek has no indefinite article, so an anarthrous noun can sometimes be translated with "a." The New World Translation's "a god" is not grammatically impossible in itself. [John 4:19](/codex/john-4-19/), "thou art a prophet" (ASV), is a comparable construction translated with "a." - **Colwell's rule** (1933) observed that definite predicate nouns placed before the verb usually lack the article. It does not prove that *theos* here is definite, and careful writers do not use it that way. It only shows that the missing article does not make the noun indefinite. - Philip Harner (1973) and Daniel Wallace argue that the best reading is **qualitative**: the Word has the nature of God, what God was, the Word was. If John had put the article on *theos*, he would have said the Word is the same person as the God just mentioned, which is not his point, since the Word was "with God." - Context decides against "a god." John's Gospel is strictly monotheistic, the Word made "all things" (1:3), and the Gospel ends with Thomas's "My Lord and my God" (20:28). The New World Translation also renders other anarthrous uses of *theos* in this same chapter as "God" (1:6, 1:12, 1:13, 1:18). These are not predicate nominatives, so the parallel is not exact, but it shows the absence of the article is not treated as indefinite elsewhere in the passage. 3. **[John 8:58](/codex/john-8-58/), "Before Abraham was born, I am."** The contrast is between Abraham's coming into being (*genesthai*, an aorist infinitive) and Jesus' present-tense *egō eimi*. The New World Translation renders "I have been." Greek can use a present tense for something begun in the past and still going on, usually with a time phrase, and Witnesses argue that "before Abraham was born" supplies one. That reading is possible. What makes the Christian reading more likely is the deliberate contrast between "came to be" for Abraham and a bare "I am" for Jesus, with no predicate. The response confirms the sense: "They took up stones therefore to cast at him" (8:59, ASV). Honesty note: the closest verbal parallel is not [Exodus 3:14](/codex/exodus-3-14/), whose Greek Old Testament form is *egō eimi ho ōn*, but Isaiah's "I am he" sayings ([Isaiah 41:4](/codex/isaiah-41-4/); [43:10](/codex/isaiah-43-10/); [46:4](/codex/isaiah-46-4/)), which in the Greek Old Testament use *egō eimi*. Compare [John 13:19](/codex/john-13-19/). 4. **[Colossians 1:15-17](/codex/colossians-1-15-17/) and the inserted "other."** The Greek has *ta panta*, "all things," in verses 16 and 17. The New World Translation reads "all other things" each time. Earlier editions printed "other" in brackets to mark it as supplied; the word has no counterpart in the Greek text. "Firstborn" (*prōtotokos*) is explained by the very next clause, "for in him were all things created" (*hoti*, "because"). The verse gives the reason He is firstborn, and the reason is that He created everything, not that He was created first. Paul did not use a word meaning "first created." See [prōtotokos](/codex/g4416-prototokos/) and [ktisis](/codex/g2937-ktisis/). 5. **[Hebrews 1:6-8](/codex/hebrews-1-6-8/), worship and "O God."** Verse 6 commands angels to worship the Son. The New World Translation now renders the verb "do obeisance"; earlier editions read "worship." The verb's range is real (see Premise 2), but the chapter's argument is the contrast between the Son and every angel (1:5, 13). Verse 8 quotes [Psalm 45:6](/codex/psalms-45-6/): "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever" (ASV). The New World Translation reads "God is your throne." The Greek *ho theos* can be a nominative used as a vocative, which is common in the Greek Old Testament; the Hebrew of [Psalm 45:6](/codex/psalms-45-6/) is most naturally a direct address; and [Hebrews 1:10](/codex/hebrews-1-10/) continues with another direct address to the Son, "Thou, Lord." Murray Harris examines the verse at length in *Jesus as God* (1992) and concludes it is vocative. 6. **[Titus 2:13](/codex/titus-2-13/) and the Granville Sharp construction.** The Greek is *tou megalou theou kai sōtēros hēmōn Iēsou Christou*: one article governs two singular, personal, non-proper nouns ("God" and "Savior") joined by "and." In that construction, identified by Granville Sharp in 1798, both nouns refer to the same person: "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." The New World Translation renders it so as to separate the two. Honesty note: the ASV's "the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" can be read either way in English, and in [2 Peter 1:1](/codex/2-peter-1-1/) the ASV actually reads "our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ." But 2 Peter uses the identical Greek pattern with "Lord" in place of "God" in 1:11 and 3:18, "our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (ASV), where no one doubts that one person is meant. 7. **[Revelation 3:14](/codex/revelation-3-14/), "the beginning of the creation of God."** As noted under Premise 3, *archē* is used of God Himself in [Revelation 21:6](/codex/revelation-21-6/) and of Jesus in 22:13. A title God shares cannot mean "first creature." 8. **A note on [Acts 20:28](/codex/acts-20-28/).** Christians sometimes cite "the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." The manuscripts are divided, and the ASV itself reads "the church of the Lord." It is better left out of a debate than pressed. 9. **[Jude 9](/codex/jude-9/) and the archangel.** Witnesses identify Jesus with Michael, citing [1 Thessalonians 4:16](/codex/1-thessalonians-4-16/), "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel" (ASV). The same verse says "with the trump of God," which does not make the Lord a trumpet; the archangel's voice accompanies His coming. [Daniel 10:13](/codex/daniel-10-13/) calls Michael "one of the chief princes" (ASV), one of a group, while the Son is unique. Michael "durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee" ([Jude 9](/codex/jude-9/), ASV), while Jesus rebukes Satan on His own authority: "Get thee hence, Satan" ([Matthew 4:10](/codex/matthew-4-10/), ASV). And Hebrews asks, "unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son?" ([Hebrews 1:5](/codex/hebrews-1-5/), ASV), expecting the answer, none. ## Live-cite kit **Scripture:** - [Isaiah 43:10-11](/codex/isaiah-43-10-11/), no God formed before or after; "besides me there is no saviour" (ASV). - [Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/) with [Revelation 1:17](/codex/revelation-1-17/), "the first and the last." - [Isaiah 45:23](/codex/isaiah-45-23/) with [Philippians 2:10-11](/codex/philippians-2-10-11/), every knee bows to Jesus. - [Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/), "let all the angels of God worship him" (ASV). - [John 5:23](/codex/john-5-23/), "honor the Son, even as they honor the Father" (ASV). - [John 1:3](/codex/john-1-3/), "without him was not anything made that hath been made" (ASV). - [John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/), "My Lord and my God" (ASV). - [Acts 5:3-4](/codex/acts-5-3-4/), lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. **Scholarly:** - **E. C. Colwell**, "A Definite Rule for the Use of the Article in the Greek New Testament," *Journal of Biblical Literature* (1933). - **Philip B. Harner**, "Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns: [Mark 15:39](/codex/mark-15-39/) and [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/)," *Journal of Biblical Literature* (1973). - **Daniel B. Wallace**, *Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics* (1996): [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/) as qualitative; the Granville Sharp construction. - **Murray J. Harris**, *Jesus as God* (1992): every New Testament text where Jesus may be called *theos*. - **Robert M. Bowman Jr.**, *Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel of John* (1989). - **Athanasius**, *Against the Arians*: the fourth-century answer to the claim that the Son is a creature. **Aphorisms:** - *"Only God may be worshipped. The Father commands the angels to worship the Son."* - *"If He made all things, He is not one of the things made."* - *"A creature can tell you about God. Only God can show you God."* - *"In their story, God sent His best creature. In the Bible's story, God came Himself."* ## Tactical notes - **Be honest about the Greek.** Witnesses are often well trained on [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/). Concede what is true (Greek has no indefinite article; *proskyneō* has a range) and then show why context decides. Overclaiming loses the room. - **Use the hard texts together.** One verse can be argued around. [Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/) beside [Revelation 1:17](/codex/revelation-1-17/), [Isaiah 45:23](/codex/isaiah-45-23/) beside [Philippians 2:10-11](/codex/philippians-2-10-11/), and [Psalm 102:25-27](/codex/psalms-102-25-27/) beside [Hebrews 1:10-12](/codex/hebrews-1-10-12/) form a pattern that is hard to explain away. - **Ask about worship.** "Is it right to worship a creature?" They will say no. Then read [Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/) and [Revelation 5:13-14](/codex/revelation-5-13-14/) together. - **Ask about love.** "Did God come Himself, or did He send someone else?" Then read [Philippians 2:6-8](/codex/philippians-2-6-8/) and [Galatians 2:20](/codex/galatians-2-20/). - **Do not fight about hell.** Christians disagree among themselves on whether the lost are destroyed or punished forever. Keep the conversation on who Jesus is. - **Be patient and kind.** Many Witnesses are discouraged from reading material critical of their organization. Stay in the Bible, ask questions, and leave them with a verse to look up. ## See also - [Jehovahs Witnesses](/codex/jehovahs-witnesses/), the movement's history, practices and doctrine - [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/), every worldview's ending side by side - [Arianism](/codex/arianism/), the ancient view the Witness position most resembles - [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), one God in three persons - [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/), the main alternatives compared - [Eternal Generation](/codex/eternal-generation/), why "begotten" does not mean "created" - [How Can Jesus Be God Objection Defeater](/codex/how-can-jesus-be-god-objection-defeater/), answering the objections Witnesses raise most - [Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ](/codex/cumulative-case-for-the-deity-of-christ/), the full biblical case - [Christ Was Made (Misread Proof-Texts)](/codex/christ-was-made-misread-proof-texts/), the texts used to argue Christ was created - [Logos Christology](/codex/logos-christology/), the Word as eternal Creator - [Incarnation](/codex/incarnation/), God the Son made man - [Mormonism vs the Christian God](/codex/mormonism-vs-the-christian-god/), the companion comparison - [Aseity](/codex/aseity/), God's self-existence, which the Son shares ## Common questions this page answers **Q: What is the difference between Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians about God?** Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jehovah alone is God, that Jesus is His first creation (formerly Michael the archangel), and that the holy spirit is God's active force. Christianity teaches one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, who is uncreated and became man, and the Holy Spirit, who is a person. Both agree there is only one true God; they disagree about whether Jesus shares that one identity. **Q: Why does the New World Translation say "the Word was a god" in [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/)?** Because the Greek *theos* in the last clause has no article, and Greek has no indefinite article. But an anarthrous noun before the verb is usually qualitative or definite, not indefinite, and the context (one true God, the Word making all things, Thomas's "My Lord and my God") rules out a second, lesser god. Most Greek scholars read it as "the Word was God" in nature. **Q: Is Jesus Michael the archangel?** The Bible never says so. Michael is "one of the chief princes" ([Daniel 10:13](/codex/daniel-10-13/)) and does not rebuke Satan on his own authority ([Jude 9](/codex/jude-9/)). The Son is unique, is worshipped by angels ([Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/)), and is set above every angel: "unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son?" ([Hebrews 1:5](/codex/hebrews-1-5/), ASV). **Q: Should Jesus be worshipped?** Yes. The Father commands the angels to worship Him ([Hebrews 1:6](/codex/hebrews-1-6/)), Jesus says all should "honor the Son, even as they honor the Father" ([John 5:23](/codex/john-5-23/), ASV), and all creation gives Him the same glory as the One on the throne ([Revelation 5:13-14](/codex/revelation-5-13-14/)). Since worship belongs to God alone ([Matthew 4:10](/codex/matthew-4-10/)), this shows the Son is God. **Q: Is the Holy Spirit a person or a force?** A person. He speaks in the first person ([Acts 13:2](/codex/acts-13-2/)), teaches ([John 14:26](/codex/john-14-26/)), can be grieved ([Ephesians 4:30](/codex/ephesians-4-30/)), and can be lied to, and Peter says lying to Him is lying to God ([Acts 5:3-4](/codex/acts-5-3-4/)). A force can do none of these things. **Q: What does "firstborn of all creation" mean in [Colossians 1:15](/codex/colossians-1-15/)?** In the Bible "firstborn" often means preeminent in rank, as when God makes David His "first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth" ([Psalm 89:27](/codex/psalms-89-27/), ASV). Paul explains the title in the next verse: "for in him were all things created." The Son is firstborn because He is the Creator of all things, not because He was created first. **Q: Why does it matter whether Jesus is God or a creature?** Because it decides whether God came to save us Himself. If Jesus is a creature, God sent someone else. If Jesus is God the Son, then God Himself took on flesh, died and rose, and "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" ([John 14:9](/codex/john-14-9/), ASV). That is a greater love and a fuller revelation.