JW Notes: “Annihilation?”

                                                                                                                                                      

According to Watchtower theology, there is no punishment after death because, as is taught in the Watchtower, the dead “cease to exist.” They are gone, and vanish without a trace. In other words, there is no soul or spirit remaining to experience punishment.

Turn to Luke 12:4-5 (NWT):

Moreover, I say to YOU, my friends, Do not fear those who kill the body and after this are not able to do anything more. But I will indicate to YOU whom to fear: Fear him who after killing has authority to throw into Gehenna. Yes I tell YOU, fear this One.

Q. If what the Watchtower says is true, that there is no existence whatsoever after death, then what sense would there be to this warning of Jesus Christ? Is not Jesus warning us that there is indeed more that God can do to a person after the person has been killed? (i.e. God can throw the person into Gehenna)

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The Watchtower magazine attempts to provide comfort and reassurance to its readers that this doesn’t involve anything unpleasant happening to a person after death, but rather what will happen will be “complete and everlasting destruction” or “death from which there is no resurrection.” (Source: You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, p. 87).

Q. If this is so, what reason would a person have to “fear” being thrown there after being killed (or, as the WT interpretation says “ceasing to exist”)?

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Turn to Hebrews 10:28-31 NWT:

Any man that has disregarded the law of Moses dies without compassion, upon the testimony of two of three. Of how much more severe a punishment, do YOU think, will the man be counted worthy who has trampled upon the Son of God and who has esteemed as of ordinary value the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the spirit of undeserved kindness with contempt? For we know him that said: “Vengeance is mine; I will recompense”; and again: “Jehovah will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of (the) living God.

Q. How does mere “non-existence” fit this description?

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The Watchtower Society views the account of the rich man and Lazarus as a fanciful illustration that doesn’t say anything at all about the afterlife. All the elements of this account are purely symbolic:

Abraham represents God, the rich man represents the Jewish religious leaders, Lazarus represents followers of Jesus, and their deaths represent the changes that took place when God removed his favour from the Jewish leaders and bestowed it upon the followers of Jesus.

As one of the Watchtower publications states, the Jewish leaders “suffered torments when Christ’s followers exposed their evil works.” (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, p. 89).

Q. Even if this account was meant to convey such a symbolic meaning, what about the story itself? Jesus’ other parables all use true-to-life circumstances to illustrate a point or to teach a lesson. People really did dig in fields and hide buried treasure, prodigal sons really did leave home and squander their money, employers really did hire men to work in vineyards, and so on. Therefore, to maintain consistency with all the other of Jesus’ parables, regardless of any symbolic meaning attached to the individual elements, the account of the rich man and Lazarus would also be based on realistic events: i.e. some people such as Abraham and Lazarus are rewarded in the afterlife, while other such as the rich man find themselves in a place of torment – in the afterlife.

And this would actually then fit with what Revelation 20:10 states:

And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were]; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10 NWT).

JW Notes: “Jesus and Michael the Archangel”

Jesus Christ further deserves honor because he is Jehovah’s chief angel, or archangel (The Watchtower, Feb. 1, 1991, p. 17).

[The Son of God is] Jesus Christ, whom we understand from the Scriptures to be Michael the archangel … (The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1979, p. 31.)

Q. Does that understanding really come “from the Scriptures,” or is it, rather, a teaching that Watchtower leaders superimpose on Scripture?

God’s inspired Word mentions Michael five times as:

“one of the foremost princes” (Dan. 10:13 NWT)

“the prince of [Daniel’s] people” (Dan. 10:21 NWT)

“the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of [Daniel’s] people” (Dan. 12:1 NWT)

“the archangel” who “had a difference with the devil and was disputing about Moses’ body” but “did not dare to bring a judgment against him in abusive terms” (Jude 9 NWT)

And as a participant in heavenly conflict when “Michael and his angels battled with the dragon” (Rev. 12:7 NWT).

Q. Does any of these verses actually say that Michael the archangel is Jesus Christ?

No. So it is necessary to read Scripture plus a Watchtower argument to reach that conclusion.

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Why do we conclude that Jesus is the archangel Michael? God’s Word mentions only one archangel, and it speaks of that angel in reference to the resurrected Lord Jesus: “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet.” (I Thess. 4:16). At Jude 9 we find that this archangel’s name is Michael. (Watchtower, April 15, 1991)

Q.  Notice the Watchtower emphatically states that there is “only one” archangel. What makes the WT so sure about that?

Turn to Daniel 10:13.

But the prince of the royal realm of Persia was standing in opposition to me for twenty-one days, and, look! Michael, one of the foremost princes, came to help me; and I, for my part, remained there beside the kings of Persia (Dan. 10:13 NWT).

Notice in the text that Michael is, though he is the only named archangel in the Bible, Daniel 10:13 refers to him as “one of the foremost princes” – and yet the Watchtower explicitly stated in 1991 that there is “only one” archangel.

Daniel 10:13 therefore leaves open the possibility that there are other unnamed archangels besides Michael.

Note: This doesn’t necessarily refute the idea that Jesus is an archangel, but this does say something about the Watchtower magazine itself: It makes false claims, claims that are easily refuted. And if it is wrong there, how do you know that it is not wrong anywhere else?

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Turn to I Thessalonians 4:16:

… because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who dead in union with Christ will rise first (I Thess. 4:16 NWT).

Q. Using a simple law of logic, if, as the Watchtower says, the words “with an archangel’s voice” mean that Jesus is an archangel, then logically the words “with God’s trumpet” makes Him God. Because if you are going to apply the law of logic to one part of the verse, then you also have to apply it to the other part as well.

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The Bible elsewhere teaches us that Jesus Christ is not a mere angel, but that He has a *superiority* compared with angels:

“For example, to which one of the angels did he ever say: ‘You are my son; I, today, I have become your father’?” (Heb. 1:5 NWT)

The Son is “the reflection” of the Father’s glory “and the exact representation of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3 NWT).

Also, angels consistently refuse to accept worship:

e.g. Revelation 22:8-9 NWT: “Be careful! Do not do that! … Worship God.”

And yet, the Father’s command concerning the Son in Hebrews 1:6 (NWT – 1950/1961 ed.) is “let all God’s angels worship him.”

Now, the Watchtower society has changed the translation from “worship” to “obeisance” in the 1984 “revision,” but the Greek word behind those words is the same in both Hebrews 1:6 and Revelation 22:8-9: proskuneo.

To put it another way, the proskuneo (worship/obeisance) that the angels refuse to accept (for they say only God must receive this) is the very same proskuneo (worship/obeisance) that the Father commands to be given to the Son in Hebrews 1:6.

This idea of worship is also implied elsewhere in, John 5:23:

… in order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him (John 5:23 NWT).

Q. What sort of honor are we to give to the Father? How do we honor Him? (Answer: by worshipping Him, praising Him, praying to Him, and doing all things to His glory). And yet Jesus says in that verse that Son must be honoured in the very same way (“just as”).

Therefore, Jesus also must receive glory, praise, petitions and also worship – otherwise you are not honouring the Father, as Jesus clearly says in that verse.

Resources on the Trinity

Herman Bavinck on the Trinity

Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Name of God

Rev. Martyn McGeown

(I)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society charge the Christian church with colluding in removing the name “Jehovah” from the Bible, since, e.g., the Authorized Version (AV) renders the name “Jehovah” over 7,000 times as “Lord.” Moreover, they claim that, since their New World Translation (NWT) retains the original name “Jehovah,” they alone are God’s faithful followers.

It is true that in the AV the word “Jehovah” does not appear in the New Testament and occurs in only a few places in the Old Testament (e.g., Ps. 83:18); otherwise, it is translated Lord in upper case letters. But the issue here is not the translation of the Hebrew word, rendered Jehovah (AV), but the meaning of the name itself. For example, a man might use the word, “Jesus,” and sing enthusiastically, “JESUS, He’s the one for me,” but if he does not believe that

“Jesus” is the only, complete, all-sufficient, effectual Saviour of His people (Matt. 1:21), he does not really believe in “Jesus” at all. Or a person might call Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” but unless by “Lord” he means Master, Owner, Redeemer, and lives in submission and obedience to Him, his using the word “Lord” is vain hypocrisy (Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:46).

What, then, does the name Jehovah mean? God Himself explained it to Moses in Exodus 3:14: “I AM THAT I AM ... Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” The JWs’ translation, the NWT, mistranslates it this way, “I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.” The Hebrew verb is hayah which means “to be” and in its verb form (qal imperfect) it may, in itself, be translated as “I am,” “I shall be” or “I was.” In the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation, used by the Jews in Christ’s day and quoted by the apostles in the inspired New Testament, it is rendered in words which can only mean “I am” (ego eimi). The NWT’s “I SHALL PROVE TO BE” is, therefore, hardly an accurate translation.

That God identifies Himself with a name derived from the Hebrew verb meaning “to be,” best translated “I am,” teaches us important truths about the Being of God. First, God is absolutely independent. He derives His Being from Himself and maintains His Being of Himself. He needs nothing outside of Himself (Rom. 11:33-36). Second, God is eternal or timeless: God is. No creature can say, “I AM.” To be accurate, every creature must say, “I am becoming.” In the short time that you have taken to read these lines, a large number of cells in your body have died, your blood has circulated around your body and the air in your lungs has been exchanged for fresh supplies. That is not true of God. He does not need air, food or anything else, and His divine essence never changes. Third, the name Jehovah, I AM, tells us that God is absolutely dependable. He never reneges on His promises. He is the God we can trust fully, whose purposes are always the same. Thus He came to Moses at the burning bush and declared that the lapse of over 400 years had not caused Him to change His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. One Watchtower publication says of the name Jehovah that it means “He can become whatever He pleases in order to fulfil whatever role is necessary.” The same publication says that Jehovah is a God of “innumerable roles.” This is not the meaning of Jehovah, I AM or ego eimi.

The JWs claim to believe the divine, verbal inspiration of the Old and New Testaments. They complain that God’s name, Jehovah, has been removed from the Old Testament, and they claim that they have restored the word to its proper place. But here is a startling fact: the word Jehovah never appears in the New Testament Greek, even when the writers are quoting from the Old Testament where the Hebrew text has the word rendered Jehovah. Every time the writers of the New Testament Scriptures quote the Old Testament, they use the Greek word kurios, which means “Lord.” If the Holy Spirit thought that the word “Lord” was an unacceptable translation of Jehovah, would He have not “corrected” that in the New Testament? After all, there are times when the writers of the New Testament modify the Septuagint translation from which they quote (the Septuagint translation is not inspired, you know). Why, then, did the Holy Spirit not have the New Testament writers substitute the word Jehovah for kurios, as the JWs’ translation, the NWT, has done?

Let me give some examples. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:13, Christ says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God” (Matt. 4:10). The Hebrew of Deuteronomy has Jehovah; the Septuagint has kurios (Lord). What does Matthew write, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Kurios (Lord)—not Jehovah! In Acts 2:21, Peter quotes Joel 2:32, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord.” The Hebrew of Joel has Jehovah; the Septuagint has kurios (Lord). What does Luke, the human penman of Acts, write, by the Holy Ghost? Kurios (Lord)—not Jehovah! In Romans 10:16, Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1, “Lord, who hath believed our report?” The Hebrew of Isaiah has Jehovah; the Septuagint has kurios (Lord). What does Paul write, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Kurios (Lord)—not Jehovah! If the word Jehovah must be used, why does the Holy Spirit never use it in the New Testament?

Moreover, the JWs’ translation, the NWT, adds to the New Testament the name Jehovah, even when the Old Testament is not being quoted. For example, the NWT translates kurios (Lord) as Jehovah in the following passages: II Peter 3:9, “Jehovah [kurios] is not slow respecting his promise;” Acts 13:48, “they began to rejoice and to glorify the word of Jehovah [kurios];” Revelation 1:8, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says Jehovah [kurios] God.” Other examples could be given. In the book of Revelation alone, Jehovah is added at least ten times (4:8, 11; 11:17; 15:3-4; 16:7; 18:8; 19:6; 21:22; 22:5-6). However, when kurios refers to Jesus Christ, it is never translated Jehovah (e.g., Phil. 4:5; I Thess. 4:15-17). This shows the bias of the NWT version. I Thessalonians 4 is a particularly interesting example in the NWT: “For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s [kurios] word that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord [kurios] shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death, because the Lord [kurios] himself shall descend ... be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord [kurios] in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord [kurios]” (vv. 15-17). Notice, the first kurios is translated Jehovah, but the other examples of kurios in the same context are translated Lord. Why? Because clearly they refer to Jesus Christ and the JWs will not recognise His Deity, that Christ is Jehovah God!

(II)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) claim that, when Jesus proclaimed the name of God in Israel (John 17:26), He taught the JW (and Unitarian) view of the divine name “Jehovah.” Instead, Christ taught them who God is and what kind of God He is, through His words and deeds, for He, as the incarnate Son, is the revelation of the Triune God (1:14; 14:9). To know God’s name is not merely to know the letters which make up the word “Jehovah,” but to know God Himself, His attributes, wonders, works and promises in Christ, and to fellowship with Him in His Son (John 17:3; I John 1:3; 5:20). Nowhere in the gospels do we read of Jesus calling God “Jehovah.” Even in John 17, the greatest of Christ’s recorded prayers, He addresses God as “Father” (vv. 1, 5, 21, 24), “holy Father” (v. 11) and “righteous Father” (v. 25). In the prayer which He taught His disciples, He has us address God as “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). Why not “Jehovah,” if that is the preferred, if not the only acceptable, name of God?

The essence of the name “Jehovah” appears in the New Testament. Five times in Revelation, God is addressed as Him “which is, and which was, and which is to come” (1:4, 8) or “which was, and is, and is to come” (4:8) or “which art, and wast, and art to come” (11:17) or “which art, and wast, and shalt be” (16:5). These allusions to Exodus 3:14 and the name “Jehovah” clearly refer to God’s unchangeable eternity and faithfulness.

In John 8, Jesus affirms, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (v. 56), to which the unbelieving Jews retort in scorn, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” (v. 57). Christ’s response so shocks the Jews that they pick up stones to put Him to death on the spot for blasphemy. Here is the JWs’ New World Translation (NWT) of what Jesus said: “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.” The KJV rightly translates, “Before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58). Why does the NWT mistranslate the Greek (ego eimi) as “I have been,” instead of “I am”? Because the JWs refuse to believe that Jesus is Jehovah and they want to sever the obvious link between John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14, where ego eimi is used in the Septuagint (LXX)!

As we have seen, though the New Testament does not contain the word “Jehovah,” the truth of Jehovah is writ large all over the New Testament. It is found even in the name “Jesus,” which means Jehovah-salvation, Jehovah is salvation or Jehovah Saviour. That is why Peter declares of Jesus that “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). That, too, is why Paul can state, in obvious allusion to Isaiah 45:23, that God has given Christ “a name which is above every name,” so that “every knee should bow ... [and] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

The JWs use the word “Jehovah” in their prayers, worship, Bible perversion and proselytizing, but they do not truly confess Jehovah, because their “Jehovah” is not the sovereign, unchanging, faithful, Triune God of Scripture. The Jehovah’s Witnesses could more accurately be called the False Witnesses for they are guilty of taking God’s name in vain.

Questions to Ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses

[PDF version HERE]

Rev. Martyn McGeown

(Some quotations are from the Jehovah Witnesses’ [JW] New World Translation [NWT])

1. In John 20:28, Thomas refers to Jesus (in Greek) as ho kurios moi kai ho theos moi. This translates literally as “the Lord of me and the God of me.” Why does Jesus in John 20:29 affirm Thomas for having come to this realization (“thou hast believed”)? If Jesus really wasn’t the Lord and the God of Thomas, why didn’t Jesus correct him for making either a false assumption or a blasphemous assertion?

2. Jehovah says in Isaiah 44:24, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.” How do you reconcile this with the Watchtower teaching that Jehovah first created Christ and then Christ created everything else?

3. If, as the Watchtower teaches, the title of the Lord Jesus as the “firstborn” in Colossians 1 refers to “first created” and is not a term of pre-eminence, how do you explain Jeremiah 31:9 where God declares that Ephraim is His firstborn? It is clear from Scripture (Gen. 41:51-52) that Manasseh, not Ephraim, was the firstborn in time. Is Jesus not therefore, as Creator, supreme over His creation and not the first created being produced by Jehovah?

4. If only God can save—and there is no other Saviour than God (Isa. 43:11)—then doesn’t that mean that the New Testament references to Jesus as “Saviour” point to His deity? If not, then how do you reconcile Jesus’ role as Saviour with Isaiah 43:11 and Hosea 13:4?

5. If Jesus placed Himself on an equal par with the Father as the proper object of man’s trust (as He did in John 14:1), then wouldn’t this have been blasphemous unless Jesus Himself truly is God and Saviour? Similarly, how can it be the Father’s will that “all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John 5:23), if God says in Isaiah 48:11 that He “will not give [His] glory unto another.” Also how do you explain Jesus’ words in John 17:5 in the light of the above considerations?

6. How do you reconcile Jehovah’s statement in Deuteronomy 32:39 that “there is no god with” Him, as well as the statement in Isaiah 45:5 that “there is no God beside” Him, with the Watchtower teaching that Jehovah is God and Jesus is a god beside Him? (See John 1:1 in the NWT.)

7. In Luke 20:38 we read that Jehovah “is not a God of the dead but of the living.” The Greek word theos (“God”) is used without the definite article ho (“the”). Since Jehovah’s deity is not diminished by this Greek construction in Luke 20:38, why does the Watchtower seek to diminish Christ’s deity in John 1:1 which uses the same Greek construction?

8. If Jesus is merely “a god” according to the NWT version of John 1:1, is he a true God or a false god?

9. Since all the “I am” sayings of Christ in the Gospel according to John (“I am the bread of life;” “I am the good shepherd,” etc.) are clearly intended to be related to one another, why does the NWT correctly translate ego eimi as “I am” throughout John’s Gospel except in John 8:58 where it translates ego eimi as “I have been?” Why did the Jews want to stone Christ in John 8 if all He said was “Before Abraham was, I have been,” and did not use the Divine Name, “I AM,” from Exodus 3:14?

10. Since Jehovah is called “mighty God” in Isaiah 10:21, just as Jesus is called “mighty God” in Isaiah 9:6, does this not mean that the Watchtower is wrong when it claims that “mighty God” refers to a lesser deity (cf. Jer. 32:18)?

11. Since Jesus is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), how can the JWs claim that Jesus was an angel, who became a man, and then became an angel again?

12. Since Michael the archangel could not rebuke the devil by his own authority (Jude 9) and Jesus could and did (Matt. 4:10), doesn’t this prove that Jesus cannot be Michael the archangel?

13. Jesus said in Luke 24:39 that He was not a spirit and proved this by the fact that He had a flesh-and-bones body. How does this fit with the Watchtower teaching that Jesus was raised as a spiritual creature without a physical body?

14. Since Jesus declares that He would raise “this temple” (John 2:19) and by “this temple” He means His own body, as John 2:21 teaches (“he spake of the temple of his body”), isn’t Jesus teaching His bodily resurrection in this passage?

15. How can Jehovah be “Lord of lords” (Ps. 136:3; Deut. 10:17) and share this title with Jesus in Revelation 17:14?

16. How can Jehovah be “the first and the last” (Isa. 44:6) whereas Jesus possesses this title in Revelation 1:17?

17. How can Jehovah be the One before whom every knee shall bow (Isa. 45:22-23) and Jesus also have this honour (Phil. 2:10-11)?

18. If in Isaiah 40:3 a way is prepared for “Jehovah,” why does Mark 1:1-3 apply this to Jesus Christ? Was not John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus Christ? How then can we escape the conclusion that Jesus is Jehovah?

19. In Revelation 22:12-13 the One who is coming is clearly the Lord Jesus, who is here designated “Alpha and Omega.” How then can we escape the conclusion that Revelation 1:8 also refers to Jesus Christ (“Alpha and Omega”) and calls Him the “Almighty,” thereby teaching that Jesus Himself is Almighty God?

20. If in I Corinthians 8:6 there is “one Lord,” namely Jesus Christ, does this mean that God the Father is not Lord? How, then, can the Watchtower claim that the Father’s title of “one God” rules out Jesus’ being God?

21. If the name of Jehovah is the only name for salvation (Isa. 43:11), why does Acts 4:12 say of Jesus Christ: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved?” Is it not true that Jesus is Jehovah salvation, “God with us” (Matt 1:23) as our Saviour?

22. In the NWT, every time the Greek word proskuneo is used in reference of God it is translated “worship” (e.g., Rev. 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4: John 4:20 etc.). However, every time proskuneo is used in reference to Jesus Christ it is translated as “obeisance” (Matt. 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; Heb. 1:6 etc.) even though it is the same word in the Greek. What is the reason for this inconsistency?

23. Colossians 1:16, speaking of Jesus, teaches that “all things were created by him, and for him.” The Watchtower claims that Jesus was Michael the archangel at the time of the creation. Would an angel create all things for himself? How do you explain this since God Almighty is said to have created all things for His own pleasure in Revelation 4:11?

24. If the righteous dead have no consciousness how can Revelation 14:13 describe them as “blessed” and enjoying “rest?” Similarly, how can the wicked dead have “no rest day and night” “forever” (Rev. 14:11), if they are annihilated and no longer exist?

25. If the Holy Spirit is God’s impersonal active force, how can He be lied to and called God in Acts 5:3-4? How can an impersonal force be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31)? How can an impersonal force be grieved (Eph. 4:30)? How can an impersonal force have a will (I Cor. 12:11)? How can an impersonal force have a mind since He “searches” (the same word is used in John 5:39) the deep things of God and knows the mind of God (I Cor. 2:10-11)? How can an impersonal force teach (John 14:26), command (Acts 8:29; 13:2) and intercede or pray (Rom. 8:26)?

26. The Bible uses impersonal things to describe the Holy Spirit such as water and fire. The Watchtower argues from this that He is thereby not a person. What then of God who is called “a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), an impersonal thing?

27. Since Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, which faith is not of ourselves but is the gift of God (cf. Titus 3:5; Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16), why does the Watchtower teach salvation by works?

28. Paul says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). What do you glory in? Can you truly make Paul’s confession and still retain the JW doctrine of salvation?

The NWT of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Teaches that Jesus is Jehovah

[PDF Version HERE]

Rev. Martyn McGeown

We do not endorse the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but all members of the Watchtower should examine the verses listed below in their own version.

THE CREATOR

The Watchtower contends that Jehovah first created Christ and then used Christ as an instrument to create the world.  That is not what the NWT teaches.

Isaiah 44:24: This is what Jehovah has said, your Repurchaser and the Former of you from the belly: “I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth. Who was with me?''

Job 9:8: Stretching out the heavens by himself, and treading upon the high waves of the sea.

Revelation 4:11: You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.

John 1:3: All things came into existence through him (Jesus), and apart from him (Jesus) not even one thing came into existence.

Colossians 1:16: Because by means of him (Jesus) all things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him.

Hebrews 1:1-2: God, who long ago spoke on many occasions and in many ways to our forefathers by means of the prophets, has at the end of these days spoken to us by means of a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he (Jehovah) made the systems of things.

Hebrews 3:4: Of course, every house is constructed by someone, but he that constructed all things is God.

THE MIGHTY GOD

The Watchtower contends that, although Jesus is “mighty” God, he is not the “Almighty” God.  The NWT teaches the opposite.

Isaiah 9:6: For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 10:20-21: They will certainly support themselves upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in trueness, a mere remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.

Jeremiah 32:17-18: Alas, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah! Here you yourself have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. The whole matter is not too wonderful for you yourself, 18 the One exercising loving-kindness toward thousands, and repaying the error of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, the [true] God, the great One, the mighty One, Jehovah of armies being his name.

Nehemiah 9:32: And now, O our God, the God great, mighty and fear-inspiring, keeping the covenant and loving-kindness, do not let all the hardship that has found us, our kings, our princes and our priests and our prophets and our forefathers and all your people from the days of the kings of Assyria down to this day, seem little before you.

LORD of LORDS

Psalm 136:3: Give thanks to the Lord of the lords (Jehovah), for his loving-kindness is to time indefinite.

Deuteronomy 10:17: For Jehovah YOUR God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the God great, mighty and fear-inspiring, who treats none with partiality nor accepts a bribe.

Revelation 17:14: These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him [will do so].

FIRST and LAST

Isaiah 44:6: This is what Jehovah has said, the King of Israel and the Repurchaser of him, Jehovah of armies, ''I (Jehovah) am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.''

Revelation 1:17: And when I saw him (Jesus), I fell as dead at his feet, and he laid his right hand upon me and said: "Do not be fearful. I (Jesus) am the First and the Last."

ALPHA and OMEGA

Revelation 1:8: I am the Alpha and the Omega, says Jehovah God, the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.

Revelation 22:17-18: Look! I (Jesus) am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to render to each one as his work is. I (Jesus) am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (see 1:17 above).

Revelation 21:5-6: And the One seated on the throne said: Look! I am making all things new." Also, he says: "Write, because these words are faithful and true. And he said to me: They have come to pass! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To anyone thirsting I will give from the fountain of the water of life free.

THE NAME

Isaiah 44:22-23: Turn to me and be saved, all YOU [at the] ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one else. By my own self I have sworn—out of my own mouth in righteousness the word has gone forth, so that it will not return—that to me (Jehovah) every knee will bend down, every tongue will swear.

Philippians 2:9-11: For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

THE JUDGE

John 5:22: For the Father judges no one at all, but he has committed all the judging to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

Revelation 16:7: And I heard the altar say: "Yes, Jehovah God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judicial decisions."

Romans 14:10-12: For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written: As I live,’ says Jehovah, to me every knee will bend down, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God. So, then, each of us will render an account for himself to God.

THE SAVIOUR

Isaiah 43:10-11: YOU are my witnesses, is the utterance of Jehovah, even my servant whom I have chosen, in order that YOU may know and have faith in me, and that YOU may understand that I am the same One. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none. I—I am Jehovah, and besides me (Jehovah) there is no savior.

John 4:24: And they began to say to the woman: We do not believe any longer on account of your talk; for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man (Jesus) is for a certainty the savior of the world.

Acts 4:12: Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else (apart from Jesus), for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.

Titus 1:3-4: Whereas in his own due times he made his word manifest in the preaching with which I was entrusted, under command of our Savior, God [...] may there be undeserved kindness and peace from God [the] Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Titus 2:13: While we wait for the happy hope and glorious manifestation of the great God and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus.

FROM TIME INDEFINITE

The KJV says that Jesus is “from everlasting.” Although the NWT translates the phrase “from time indefinite” it uses the same phrase to describe the eternity of Jehovah. The implication is obvious.

Micah 5:2: And you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, the one too little to get to be among the thousands of Judah, from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel, whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.

Psalm 90:2: Before the mountains themselves were born, or you proceeded to bring forth as with labor pains the earth and the productive land, Even from time indefinite to time indefinite you (Jehovah) are God.

Habakkuk 1:12: Are you not from long ago (same Hebrew phrase) O Jehovah? O my God, my Holy One, you do not die. O Jehovah, for a judgment you have set it; and, O Rock, for a reproving you have founded it.

UNCHANGING

James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the Father of the [celestial] lights, and with him (Jehovah) there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.

Malachi 3:6: For I am Jehovah; I have not changed.

Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.

PREPARING FOR WHOM?

Isaiah 40:3: Listen! Someone is calling out in the wilderness: Clear up the way of Jehovah, YOU people! MAKE the highway for our God through the desert plain straight.

Mark 1:1-3: The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: (Look! I am sending forth my messenger before your face, who will prepare your (Jesus’) way;) listen! someone is crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of Jehovah, YOU people, make his roads straight).

THE SHEPHERD

Psalm 23:1: Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing.

Psalm 80:1: O Shepherd of Israel, do give ear.

Isaiah 40:10-11: Look! The Sovereign Lord Jehovah [...] Like a shepherd he (Jehovah) will shepherd his own drove. With his arm he will collect together the lambs.

John 10:11: I (Jesus) am the fine shepherd; the fine shepherd surrenders his soul in behalf of the sheep.

Hebrews 13:20: Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus.

I Peter 2:25: For YOU were like sheep, going astray; but now YOU have returned to the shepherd and overseer of YOUR souls.

I Peter 5:4: And when the chief shepherd has been made manifest, YOU will receive the unfadable crown of glory.

WHOSE GLORY DID ISAIAH SEE?

Isaiah 6:1, 10: In the year that King Uzziah died I, however, got to see Jehovah [...] make the heart of this people unreceptive, and make their very ears unresponsive, and paste their very eyes together, that they may not see with their eyes and with their ears they may not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves.

John 12:37-41: But although he had performed so many signs before them, they were not putting faith in him (Jesus), so that the word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled [...] He has blinded their eyes and he has made their hearts hard, that they should not see with their eyes and get the thought with their hearts and turn around and I should heal them." Isaiah said these things because he saw his (Jesus') glory, and he spoke about him (Jesus').

FORGIVENESS OF SINS

Isaiah 43:25: I (Jehovah) am the One that is wiping out your transgressions for my own sake, and your sins I shall not remember.

Mark 2:7-10: Who can forgive sins except one, God?" [...] But in order for YOU men to know that the Son of man has authority to forgive sins upon the earth [...].

OMNISCIENCE

I Kings 8:39: You know his heart (for you (Jehovah) yourself alone well know the heart of all the sons of mankind).

Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it? I, Jehovah, am searching the heart, examining the kidneys, even to give to each one according to his ways, according to the fruitage of his dealings.

Revelation 2:23: [...] all the congregations will know that I (Jesus) am he who searches the kidneys and hearts, and I will give to YOU individually according to YOUR deeds.

John 2:24-25: But Jesus himself was not entrusting himself to them because of his knowing them all, and because he was in no need to have anyone bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

John 21:17: Lord (Jesus), you know all things; you are aware that I have affection for you.

WORSHIP

Revelation 5:12-14: The Lamb that was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth and on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying: To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever. And the four living creatures went saying: Amen! and the elders fell down and worshiped.

GIVER OF LIFE

Deuteronomy 32:39: SEE now that I—I am he, and there are no gods together with me. I put to death, and I make alive. I have severely wounded, and I—I will heal, And there is no one snatching out of my hand.

John 5:21: For just as the Father raises the dead up and makes them alive, so the Son also makes those alive whom he wants to.

THE VOICE OF MANY WATERS

Ezekiel 43:2: And, look! the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the direction of the east, and his (Jehovah’s) voice was like the voice of vast waters; and the earth itself shone because of his glory.

Revelation 1:15: And his (Jesus') feet were like fine copper when glowing in a furnace; and his (Jesus') voice was as the sound of many waters.

LIGHT

Isaiah 60:20: No more will your sun set, nor will your moon go on the wane; for Jehovah himself will become for you an indefinitely lasting light.

Revelation 21:23: And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God lighted it up, and its lamp was the Lamb.

John 8:12: Therefore Jesus spoke again to them, saying: I am the light of the world. He that follows me will by no means walk in darkness.

THE HOLY ONE

Hosea 11:9: I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of you; and I shall not come in excitement.

Acts 3:14-15: Yes, YOU disowned that holy and righteous one (Jesus), and YOU asked for a man, a murderer, to be freely granted to YOU, whereas YOU killed the Chief Agent of life. But God raised him up from the dead, of which fact we are witnesses.

THE RIGHTEOUS ONE

Psalm 11:7: For Jehovah is righteous; he does love righteous acts.

I John 2:1: My little children, I am writing YOU these things that YOU may not commit a sin. And yet, if anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one.

Romans 3:10: There is not a righteous [man], not even one; there is no one that has any insight, there is no one that seeks for God.

WHO RAISED JESUS?

Acts 2:32: This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses.

John 2:19: In answer Jesus said to them: "Break down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." [...] But he was talking about the temple of his body.

CALMS THE SEA

Psalm 107:29: He (Jehovah) causes the windstorm to stand at a calm, so that the waves of the sea keep quiet.

Psalm 89:9: You (Jehovah) are ruling over the swelling of the sea; when it raises up its waves you yourself calm them.

Mark 4:39: With that he (Jesus) roused himself and rebuked the wind and said to the sea: "Hush! Be quiet!" And the wind abated, and a great calm set in.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit has the attributes of a person, not an impersonal force.

Acts 13:2: As they were publicly ministering to Jehovah and fasting, the holy spirit said: Of all persons set Barnabas and Saul apart for me for the work to which I have called them.

Acts 5:3-4: But Peter said: "Ananias, why has Satan emboldened you to play false (Gk. to lie) to the holy spirit [...] You have played false (Gk. lied), not to men, but to God.

Ephesians 4:30: Also, do not be grieving God’s holy spirit, with which YOU have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom.

THE ROCK of OFFENCE and STONE of STUMBLING

Isaiah 8:13-14: Jehovah of armies—he is the One whom YOU should treat as holy, and he should be the object of YOUR fear, and he should be the One causing YOU to tremble. And he must become as a sacred place; but as a stone to strike against and as a rock over which to stumble to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and as a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem

I Peter 2:7-8: It is to YOU, therefore, that he (Jesus) is precious, because YOU are believers; but to those not believing, the identical stone that the builders rejected has become [the] head of [the] corner, and a stone of stumbling and a rock-mass of offense.

THE FIRSTBORN

Neither Israel, nor David, nor Ephraim were firstborn in time, but in pre-eminence, so why should Jesus be in Colossians 1:15?

Exodus 4:22: And you must say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: "Israel is my son, my firstborn."'

Psalm 89:27: Also, I myself shall place him [David—see v.20] as firstborn, the most high of the kings of the earth.

Jeremiah 31:9: For I have become to Israel a Father; and as for Ephraim, he is my firstborn.