Heres something I wrote in the form of a letter that can be passed on to anyone
who's a Jehovah's Witness. Also, this letter can be very useful for anyone whom is searching
for Biblical evidence on the diety of Christ. Hope you enjoy the letter. And oh please, anyone who
wishes to criticize it, please do. Im interested to see what kind of scripture, if any, people can come
up with to argue this. It is really quite long, so overlook it carefully.
Before I begin sharing some important matters of the Bible, I would first like to get some things out on the table. Let me say, first,
that there are many things about Jehovahs Witnesses that I admire. Your
zeal and involvement in your organization are unequaled by most other religious groups. Also your interest in the Bible is commendable. I know that most Jehovahs witnesses spend several hours each week studying the Bible.
Also you and I have many things in common. I and other Christians share your concern about religious apostasy in much of Christendom, your teaching against evolution, and your belief in the coming battle of Armageddon, when God will destroy the forces of Satan and then establish on earth His kingdom in which there will be universal peace and righteousness. But Rather than discussing many different teachings, I would like suggest that we consider what is the most important issue; the heart of the matter, He being the person of Christ.
You see, you and I both believe that Jesus Christ was a perfect man and that He is a distinct person from God the Father. However, you teach that before His earthly life, Christ was a spirit creature, Michael the archangel, who was created by God and became the Messiah at His baptism. According to the Watchtower publication Let God Be True
(p.33),
Jesus is "a mighty one, although not almighty as Jehovah God is." According to John 1:1 in the The New World Translation, Christ is "a god" but not "the God." So in other words, you teach that Jesus "was and is and always will be beneath Jehovah" and that "Christ and God are not coequal"
(The Watchtower, 15 April 1957)
Dose the Bible teach these statements, or dose it teach the Christ is God? This, and I assume that you agree, is an extremely important question.
I would like to bring to your attention the following points for you to consider and pray about.
1. Several Bible verses specifically affirm the deity ( deity means to be God) of Christ. In Matthew 1:23, Christ is called "Immanuel," which means "God with us." When Thomas touched the wounds of the risen Lord, he said, "My Lord and my God!"(John 20:28). There is no basis whatsoever for saying, as some Jehovahs Witnesses say, that Thomas was referring to Jesus when he said "my Lord" but was referring to God the Father when he said "my God." Instead, Thomas called Christ his Lord and his God, and interestingly Christ did not correct him.
2. In Colossians 2:9 it clearly confirms the deity of Christ when it states that in Him "all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form"
Now in looking at
The New World Translation, youll find that it renders Colossains 2:9 "In Him all the fullness of the
Devine Quality dwells bodily"
Now according to Greek scholars,"Divine Quality" is an incorrect translation. "Divine Quality" would be a correct translation of the Greek word theiotes. But the Greek word that was used in this verse is actually the genitive form of theotes, a stronger word that means "deity divinity" (Bauer-Ardnt-Gingrich-Danker, Greek-English lexicon, p. 358) or as Thayers (a well known Greek scholar) older Greek-English lexicon rightly says, "the state of being God, Godhead."(p.288) So what the apostle Paul is stating to the Colossians is not merely Gods Quality but Gods very Nature, God Himself, dwells in Jesus. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.(Hebrews 13:8)
Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of
a servant, being made in human likeness. And being
found in appearance of a man, He humbled himself and
became obedient to death - even death on a cross.
Philipians 2:5-8
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him
Colossians 2:9
Jesus is Lord
Stephen called Jesus "Lord" (Acts 7:59-60), and we are to confess Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3) "Lord" in these verses is the Greek word Kyrios, which is the same word used for Jehovah in the Septuagint ( the Greek version of the Old Testament.) And I would also like to add that the Septuagint predates Christ by several years. Just from that small bit of information, doesnt seem rather evident that Christ the Lord (Kyrios) is Jehovah God?
Several verses show that the Christ of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah wrote about Jehovah in Isaiah 6:1-6, and John, in John 12:31-41 says Isaiah saw Jesus glory and spoke of Him.
In Exdous 34:14 it is clear that we are to worship no one but Jehovah. But in Hebrews 1:6 the angels worship Christ. In Isaiah 44:6 Jehovah is called the first and the last, but in Revelation 22:13 Christ is the first and the last. Since there can not be two firsts or two lasts, is it not clear that Jehovah and Christ must both be God?
Attributes of Christ show that he is God. Jesus Christ knows all things(John 1:48; 2:25; 6:64; 16:30; 21:17) He is eternal(Micah5:2), all-powerful(Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 1:3) sinless(John 8:46) and unchanging (Hebrews 13:8) Since only God possesses attributes, this indicates that Christ possesses deity.
Certain Works of Christ show that he is God. Jesus Christ has the power to forgive sins(Mark 2:5-7; Ephesians 1:7) control nature (Matthew 8:26) give eternal life(John 10:28; 17:2) and judge the world(John 5:22, 27). Since only God can do these things, dose it not follow that Christ is God?
Christ received worship. Christ is worshiped by angels(Hebrews 1:6)and by man(Matthew 14:33) and yet only Jehovah is to be worshiped (Exodus 34:14). Christ Himself said that worship is due to God alone(Matthew 4:10) and yet he accepted worship. If Christ in his preexistent state were the archangel Michael, how could He have received worship, since angels are not allowed to receive worship(Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9)? If Christ were not God, then worship of him would be idolatrous.
Now one of the most troubling things to me in Watchtower theology is the rendering of John 1:1. You say "Christ the Word is a god according to John 1:1 in the New World Translation." Your translators say the small "g" from the word god is required because the Greek word used for God (theos)
is not preceded by a definite article "the"(ho). (Should you believe in the Trinity? P. 26)
What the Greek Really
Says
You are right in saying that in John 1:1 the Greek word for God is not preceded by a definite article. However, good Greek scholarship agrees that this dose not mean the should be translated "god" with a small "g." The definite article is omitted because of a somewhat technical rule of Greek grammar.
Now dont get me wrong, I dont know all that much about Greek grammar, but I do understand enough to know what these Greek scholars are speaking about, and have enough faith in God that he would inspire these men to translate the Greek manuscripts correctly. Now what Greek scholars say is that a definite predicate nominative (theos) that precedes a verb dose not have to have the definite article(ho). The order of Greek words in the last clause of John 1:1 is "God was the Word" (theos en ho logos). The subject of the sentence is "the Word," the verb is "was," and the predicate nominative is "God." Usually the predicate nominative follows the verb, but in this case it precedes it; and since it precedes the verb no article is necessary. I know that it is very hard to understand, and I tried to give you the best understanding possible.
When a Greek writer wanted to stress the quality of the person or thing that was in the predicate nominative case, he would put it before the verb rather than after it. This is what John did to stress the fact that the Word (Christ) possesses the qualities of Godhood. This fundamental principle of Greek grammar supports the deity of Christ and gives no support whatsoever to the translation "The Word was a god." The intent of John could be rendered in English, "The Word was fully God."
I would like to also point out, too, that even your New World Translation
dose not always follow its no article-small g rule. For example, in John 1:6, 12, 12, the word God dose not have the article in the Greek, but it dose have a capital G in the New World Translation. It is correct to use the capital in those verses, but it is inconsistent with the New World Translation of John 1:1.
You might also be interested in noting that in John 13:3 the word God occurs twice, each time with a capital G. But in the Greek the first occurrence of the word dose not have the definite article (ho,) and the second occurrence dose. Since both obviously refer to the same person- God the Father- it would again be wrong to assume that the no article-small g has any validity in Greek grammar.
Another point I would like to bring out is that without the article, theos signifies divine essence, whereas with the article theos suggest divine personality (see Dana and Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 139). Also theos is a definite noun and therefore cannot have the indefinite article "a".
It is important to keep in mind that when John 1:1 states that "the Word was God," it dose not mean "Jesus is God the Father" or "Jesus is the Trinity." The Watchtower booklet "The Word"-Who is he? according to John(p.6) makes the error of trying to suggest that this is what non-Jehovahs Witnesses mean by their translation "The Word was God." But this is not the case at all. As already shown, this clause stresses the divine quality of the Word. John is telling us that in the beginning the Word existed, was with God the Father, and possesses full deity.
You should also know too that there are verses clearly referring to Christ in which the word God dose have the definite article (the), therefore showing that Jesus is "the God," that is, Jehovah. (Matthew 1:23, for example, which states that Jesus is Immanuel, in the Greek is rendered, "With us is the God." Jesus is therefore the Jehovah God.)
You say Christ is "a god," according to John 1:1 of the New World Translation-one who was created by Jehovah. How could Christ be "a god" when Isaiah 43:10 Jehovah says there is no God before Him or after Him? No god would ever be created by Jehovah because, as he stated, "Before me no God was formed, and after me there continued to be none" (NWT).
John 1:1 says that the Word (Christ) was with God. And yet Deuteronomy 32:39 Jehovah says, "There is no god besides Me." If Christ was not God but "a god," the Deuteronomy 32:39 is contradicted. I have heard the argument by several Jehovahs Witnesses, that in the Bible many people can be referred to as "a god" and still not be God Almighty. They say the same goes for Jesus. To an extent, this is true. But the question is are they a true god or a false god. In Corinthians 8:4-6 states, " So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is not God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live."
Also John 17:3 states, "Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent" So therefore, the fact that there are many "gods" and many "lords" dose not make them true. But to say Jesus Christ is a separate god from the Father would be to say that he is false, because Corinthians8:4-6 and John 17:3 clearly state there is only "One True God".
Isaiah and the Colossians
Im sure you are aware that Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus Christ the "mighty God." No doubt you, like other Jehovahs Witnesses, have a ready answer for this verse. You explain that Christ is the "mighty god" but not "the Almighty." You say that Christ is the mighty, never the Almighty, and that Jehovah is the Almighty God, never the mighty. However, Jeremiah 32:18 shows that Jehovah is the mighty one. Therefore, since Christ is the mighty God (Jeremiah 32:18), they are both God. They both posses full deity.
What about Colossians 1:15-17? Jehovahs Witnesses refer to this passage to support their teaching that Christ was created by Jehovah (e.g., Let God Be True, p. 35). This is based primarily on the words "the firstborn of all creation" in verse 15. However, if this verse were teaching that Jesus Christ is the first created being made by Jehovah, the word "first-created" would have been used of Christ, not the word "firstborn." These are two different words in the Greek, with two different words in the Greek, with two different meanings. "First-created" is protoktistos , and "firstborn" is prototokos.
Colossains 1:15 dose not use the word protoktistos, "first-created." Instead it uses prototokos. This latter word means an heir, a begotten one, the first in rank. The teaching of Colossains 1:15, then, is that Christ is first in rank above all creation; He is the heir of all things. He is prior to all creation and superior over it as the Lord. Your New World Translation adds the word "other" four times in Colossains 1:15-17, so that the passage states that Christ created "all other things," that is, everything except Himself. However, there is no basis for adding the word "other." It dose not occur in the Greek manuscripts. The translators of the New World Translation admit this by putting the word "other" in brackets. Obviously this is done in order to comply with the assumption that firstborn means first-created. But, as weve seen, this is not the meaning of firstborn, and therefore is also wrong to add the word "other." There is no verse in the entire Bible that states that Christ was created by Jehovah!
Some might raise a question about Revelation 3:14. This passage, wrongly translated by the New World Translation " the beginning of the creation of God," should be rendered "the source [or origin] of Gods creation." The Greek word for source or origin is arche. This is consistent with the statement in Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3 that all things were made by or had their origin in Jesus Christ. Since all things were made by Jehovah (Hebrews 3:4), both persons possessing this omnipotent (all-powerful) creative power are God with full deity.
Philippians and John
Now at this point, I hope Im not boring you! But I feel that I need to get everything down on paper so you can know what I believe and why I do as opposed to Watchtower theology. But now im going to move on to Philippians 2:6. Well, what about it? The New World Translation suggests that Christ was not equal with God and did not even want to be: "Although he was existing in Gods form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God."
According to good Greek scholarship, this is a poor translation of the Greek. The New Testament in Modern English (Phillips) gives a much better rendering of he Greek: "He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives (authority;title) as Gods equal." The New American. The New International translates the Greek as follows: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." The New American Standard Bible renders it: "Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." The Living Bible puts the meaning in these words: "Who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God."
It is important to keep in mind that Philippians 2:5-8 is discussing the incarnation of Christ, His act of leaving heavens glory and coming to the earth. By stating that He did not cling to His prerogatives and rights as God, Philippians 2:6 is saying that He willingly came to earth. Also it is important not to overlook the first part of the verse: "He existed in the form of God." The Greek word for form means "essential attributes." Therefore since Christ was in the form of God, that is, possessing the attributes of deity, it is wrong to suggest that He did not want to be equal with God. He already was-and is-God. The view that His being equal to God was something He had to grasp for is excluded by the fact that he already existed in the form of God.
What about John 10:30? I assume that you, like other Jehovahs Witnesses, believe that this verse, "I and the Father are one," means that Christ was not one with God the Father in purpose and not in nature and essence. However, if that were all Christ was saying, why did the Jews want to stone Him? They themselves thought His purpose was the same as Gods. Verse 33 of John 10 explains that they wanted to stone Him because of blasphemy, because He claimed to be God! The New World Translation uses the words "a god" but as explained before, theos is a definite noun and without the article denotes divine essence. As John 5:18 reveals, the fact that Jesus called God his Father meant to the Jews that He was making Himself "equal with God."
Why did Christ Come?
Im sorry if I bored you with all the information, but I felt it necessary to include as much of the crucial evidence as needed to defend what I believe and why. But now IM going to shortly talk about from the Biblical point of view why Christ came. God himself came to save men from their sins. The Bible teaches we are to turn to Christ as Jehovah God for salvation. Pardon from sin comes by (1) recognizing that you are a sinner in need of Gods grace (Romans 3:10, 23; Jeremiah 17:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Ephesians 2:1-2; 1 John 1:8); (2) realizing that Jesus Christ came to earth for the explicit purpose of dying as a substitute for you (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18), bearing the penalty of your sins Himself; and (3) receiving Jesus Christ into your heart as your Savior (Acts 16:30-31; John 1:12; 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47; Acts 4:12: Romans 10:13).
Christ came to do more than just atone for Adams sin and to restore "perfect human life with its rights and earthly prospects" (Let God be True, P. 96). He came to forgive sins (Ephesians 1:17) to give eternal life (John 10:28; 17:2), to justify us (declare us righteous) by His grace (Romans 3:24) to die for our sins (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; Romans 5:6, 8), to reconcile us to Himself (remove the enmity between man and God; Romans 5:10), to redeem (ransom or purchase) us from the penalty and power of sin (Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:7), and to make us children of God (John 1:12).
Forgiveness of sins does not come by trying to pass the test Adam failed or ro maintain "integrity" (as the August 15, 1956, issue of The Watchtower suggests). By attempting to keep integrity or by works of the law, "no flesh will be declared righteous before him" (Romans 3:20, NWT).
How then can a sinful person appear righteous in the sight of God? The Scriptures say "it is as a free gift that they are being declared righteous by his undeserved kindness through the release of the ransom paid by Christ Jesus. God sent him forth as an offering for propitiation through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:24-25, NWT). On the basis of Christs atonement we can be pardoned from all our sin and declared righteous in Christ. "By means of him [Christ] we have the release by ransom through the blood of that one, yes, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of the undeserved kindness" (Ephesians 1:7, NWT)
You can have forgiveness of sins and be perfectly righteous in Gods sight by accepting Christs atonement for you, by receiving Him as your personal Savior. Though you and I are sinners who have fallen short of Gods glory (Romans 3:23), you can be pardoned of your sins and declared righteous in Christ by placing your faith (trust) in Him. Millions who have done this through the centuries have experienced a miraculous change of heart and life as He promised. I am one of them. Christ has blessed me so much, even though I dont always acknowledge it, and I dont always live completely obedient to his word. But theres one thing that I will never forget; his promise to me. His promise to me that I now am a new creation in Him, and I have eternal life, and so shall I be a child of God forever.
If I were to die at this moment, I would be with the Lord forever. I have the assurance of salvation, from a God who will never leave me, never stop loving me, never forget about me, never forsake me. I am saved by the blood of the Lamb! Will you turn to Him now, asking Him to forgive you of your sins and be your Savior?
