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WHO IS THE JESUS OF THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY?
From: leonard_fabio@hotmail.com
Jesus Christ: Angel, a Lessor God, The Almighty God? | His Bodily Resurrection
A central feature of Watchtower theology is that Jesus is not
Jehovah. The Jehovah's Witnesses concede that Jesus is a
"mighty god," but they deny that he is God Almighty like
Jehovah is.[1] THE WATCHTOWER magazine asks: "If Jesus of the
'New Testament' is Jehovah of the 'Old Testament,' as many
claim, should there not at least be one biblical reference
saying that Jesus is Jehovah? Yet there is not one."[2]
The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is a mere angel -- the first
being God created in the universe. As THE WATCHTOWER magazine
puts it, "there is Scriptural evidence for concluding that
Michael was the name of Jesus Christ before he left heaven [to
become a man] and after his return [to heaven following his
'resurrection']."[3]
Jehovah's Witnesses argue that it was through this created
angel that God brought "all other" things into being (they
mistranslate Colossians 1:16 toward this end). The Watchtower
book, AID TO BIBLE UNDERSTANDING, explains: "Jehovah's first
creation was his 'only-begotten Son' (John 3:16), 'the
beginning of the creation by God' (Revelation 3:14). This one,
'the first-born of all creation,' was used by Jehovah in
creating all other things, those in the heavens and those upon
the earth, 'the things visible and the things invisible'
(Colossians 1:15-17)."[4]
The Witnesses say that Michael (Jesus) conceivably existed in
his prehuman state for billions of years. At the appointed
time, he was born on earth as a human being -- ceasing his
existence as an angel. In order to "ransom" humankind from sin,
Michael willingly gave up his existence as a spirit creature
(angel) when his life force was transferred into Mary's womb by
Jehovah.
This was not an incarnation (God in the flesh). Rather, Jesus
became a perfect human being -- nothing more and nothing less.
He was equal in every way to Adam prior to the Fall. He lived
his life as a human being, fulfilled the ministry appointed to
him by Jehovah, and died faithfully for the ransom of
humankind.
The Jehovah's Witnesses often appeal to a set of proof texts to
demonstrate that Jesus is lesser than the Father (Jehovah). For
example, Jesus Himself said "the Father is greater than I"
(John 14:28). First Corinthians 11:3 tells us that "the head of
Christ is God." Jesus is called "the firstborn over all
creation" in Colossians 1:15. He is also referred to as "a God"
in John 1:1 and a "mighty God" (as opposed to God Almighty) in
Isaiah 9:6. Clearly, the Jehovah's Witnesses say, Jesus is not
God in the same sense Jehovah is.
In keeping with this, the Watchtower Society teaches that Jesus
was not worshipped in the same sense that the Father (Jehovah)
was worshipped. "It is unscriptural for worshippers of the
living and true God to render worship to the Son of God, Jesus
Christ."[5] Even though the same Greek word used for
worshipping Jehovah (PROSKUNEO) is used of Jesus, the
Watchtower Society says the word should be translated
"obeisance" and not "worship" when used of Christ. Hence, the
NEW WORLD TRANSLATION renders Hebrews 1:6b: "Let all God's
angels do obeisance to him."
When Jesus died on the stake (not a cross), He allegedly became
nonexistent and was raised (or, more accurately, recreated)
three days later as a spirit creature (that is, as Michael the
Archangel). A physical resurrection did not occur. "We deny
that He was raised in the flesh, and challenge any statement to
that effect as being unscriptural."[7]
One reason Jesus didn't raise from the dead in a body of human
flesh is related to his work of atonement. The Watchtower
publication YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER IN PARADISE ON EARTH says that
"having given up his flesh for the life of the world, Christ
could never take it again and become a man once more."[8]
Christ forever sacrificed his human flesh at the cross. Hence,
at the "resurrection" he became not a glorified human being but
rather was recreated as the Archangel Michael.
In keeping with this, the Watchtower Society teaches that Jesus
did not appear to his disciples in the same body in which he
died. In "THE KINGDOM IS AT HAND" we read: "Therefore the
bodies in which Jesus manifested himself to his disciples after
his return to life were not the body in which he was nailed to
the tree."[9] In order to convince Thomas of who He was, "He
used a body with wound holes."[10]
What, then, happened to the human body of Jesus that was laid
in the tomb? THE WATCHTOWER magazine reports that it "was
disposed of by Jehovah God, dissolved into its constituent
elements or atoms."[11] Indeed, "the human body of flesh, which
Jesus Christ laid down forever as a ransom sacrifice, was
disposed of by God's power."[12]
However, the Word of God is clear in saying, "He seeing this before spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in Hell,
neither His flesh did see CORRUPTION." [Acts 2:31]
So we see that His body was not "disposed" of at all.
Regarding the BODILY resurrection of true Christians the Bible says:
"... How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" [1 Cor 15:35]
"... There is a natural body, and there is a SPIRITUAL body." [1 Cor 15:44]
"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image
of the Heavenly." [1 Cor 15:49] "... When He shall appear, we shall be
like Him ..." [1 Jn 3:2]
We can see in First John chapter three, verse two (above) that we'll
one day be like Jesus, and since the above references from First Corinthians
say that we have a spiritual body, then Jesus also has a spiritual BODY.
He is not disembodied; nor does He merely APPEAR like a body, but He has a
body that can eat fish [Luke 24:41-43] and He will drink the new wine with us
in our Father's Kingdom. [Mat 26:29]
Now, it is quite clear from the above that the Jehovah's
Witnesses offer us a Jesus completely unlike the one espoused
by historic Christianity. In what follows I will briefly
respond to some of the more blatant Christological distortions
of the Watchtower Society.
Was Jesus Really a "Created Creator"?
In Isaiah 44:24 God Almighty said, "I, the LORD [Yahweh], am
the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself,
and spreading out the earth all alone." This verse makes it
impossible to argue that Christ was created first by Jehovah
and then Jehovah created all other things "through" Christ. The
fact that Jehovah is the "maker of all things" who stretched out
the heavens "by myself" and spread out the earth "all alone"
(Isaiah 44:24) -- and the accompanying fact that Christ Himself
is the Creator of "all things" (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16;
Hebrews 1:2-10) -- proves that Christ is God Almighty, just as
the Father is. As Norman Geisler put it, "There is no doubt
that the Old Testament presents God alone as Creator of the
universe (Genesis 1, Isaiah 40, Psalm 8). And when the
disciples of Christ declare Jesus to be the one through whom
all things were created, the conclusion that they were thereby
attributing deity to him is unavoidable."[13]
How Can We Answer the Watchtower Claim that Jesus Was the
Archangel Michael in the Old Testament?
Jesus was most certainly not the Archangel Michael in the Old
Testament. For one thing, Michael in Daniel 10:13 is
specifically called "one of the chief princes." The fact that
Michael is "one of" the chief princes indicates that he is one
among a group of chief princes. How large that group is, we are
not told. But the fact that Michael is one among equals proves
that he is not unique. By contrast, the Greek word used to
describe Jesus in John 3:16 is MONOGENES -- meaning "unique" or
"one of a kind." He is not a "chief prince" but is rather the
"King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16).
Moreover, in Hebrews 1:5 we are told that no angel can ever be
called God's son: "To which of the angels did He [God] ever
say, 'Thou art My Son....'" Since Jesus is the Son of God, and
since no angel can ever be called God's son, then Jesus cannot
possibly be the Archangel Michael.
Further, we are explicitly told in Hebrews 2:5 that the world
is not (and will not be) in subjection to an angel. The
backdrop to this is that the Dead Sea Scrolls (discovered at
Qumran in 1947) reflect an expectation that the Archangel
Michael would be a supreme figure in the coming messianic
kingdom. It may be that some of the recipients of the Book of
Hebrews were tempted to assign angels a place above Christ.
Whether or not this is true, Hebrews 2:5 makes it absolutely
clear that no angel will rule in God's kingdom. This being so,
Christ cannot be Michael since He is said to be the ruler of
God's kingdom over and over again in Scripture (Genesis 49:10;
2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 2:6; Daniel 7:13-14; Luke 1:32-33; Matthew
2:1-2; 9:35; Revelation 19:16).
In addition, Scripture portrays Christ as being immutable.
Immutability refers to the fact that Christ as God is
unchangeable in His being. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that "Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." If Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then He couldn't
have been an angel, become a man, and then been recreated as an
angel.
Finally, we must note that the Archangel Michael does not have
the authority in himself to rebuke Satan. In Jude 9 we read,
"But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and
argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against
him a railing judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you.'" By
contrast, Jesus rebuked the Devil on a number of occasions
(e.g., Matthew 17:18 and Mark 9:25). Since Michael could not
rebuke the Devil in his own authority and Jesus could (and did)
rebuke the Devil in His own authority, Michael and Jesus cannot
be the same person.
It is highly revealing that Jesus is often called "Lord"
(Greek: KURIOS) in the New Testament (e.g., Philippians
2:9-11). So when Michael said "the Lord [KURIOS] rebuke you,"
he was directly appealing to the authority of Jesus Christ, the
King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).
How Can We Answer Jehovah's Witnesses on John 1:1?
John's Gospel is the richest book in the New Testament in
regard to various evidences for Christ's deity. In this Gospel
Jesus claims to be God (John 8:58), is recognized by others as
being God (20:28), is portrayed as being preexistent and
eternal (1:15, 30; 3:31), self-existent (1:4; 5:26),
omnipresent (1:47-49), omniscient (2:25; 16:30; 21:17),
omnipotent (1:3; 2:19; 11:1-44), and sovereign (5:21-22, 27-29;
10:18). He is recognized as being the Creator of the universe
(1:3), and He claims to be the theme of the entire Old
Testament (5:39-40).
Obviously, the Watchtower Society must do something to take the
wind out of the sails of John's Gospel. They do this by
mistranslating key verses in this Gospel. The most blatant
example of this is their mistranslation of John 1:1 in the NEW
WORLD TRANSLATION: "The Word [Christ] was a god".
They add the indefinite article "a" to try to make
Jesus one of many lesser gods or angels.
THE WATCHTOWER magazine states that "because there is no
definite article 'the' (HO) in John 1:1, it means Christ is
only a god, not the God."[14] The Greek of John 1:1 "is not
saying that the Word (Jesus) was the same as the God with whom
he was but, rather, that the Word was godlike, divine, a
god."[15]
In response, if John had intended an
adjectival sense in John 1:1 ("godlike" or "divine") he had an
adjective (Greek: THEIOS) ready at hand that he could have
used. Instead, John emphatically says the Word is God (THEOS)!
I must emphasize that it is not necessary to translate Greek
nouns that have no definite article as having an indefinite
article. In other words, THEOS ("God") without the definite
article HO ("the") does not need to be translated as "a God" as
the Jehovah's Witnesses have done in reference to Christ in John
1:1. It is significant that THEOS without the definite article
HO is used of Jehovah-God in the New Testament (Luke 20:38).
Because the lack of the definite article in Luke 20:38 in
reference to Jehovah does not mean He is a lesser God, neither
does the lack of the definite article in John 1:1 in reference
to Jesus mean He is a lesser God. The fact is, the presence or
absence of the definite article does not alter the fundamental
meaning of THEOS.
Let us further note that some New Testament texts do use the
definite article and speak of Christ as "the God" (HO THEOS).
One example of this is John 20:28 where Thomas says to Jesus,
"My Lord and my God." The verse reads literally from the Greek:
"The Lord of me and the God [HO THEOS] of me" (see also Matthew
1:23 and Hebrews 1:8). So it does not matter whether John did
or did not use the definite article in John 1:1 -- the Bible
clearly teaches that Jesus is God, not just a god.
How Can We Answer the Watchtower Claim that Christ Is a
What about all the supporting verses -- Colossians 1:15, John
14:28, 1 Corinthians 11:1, and Isaiah 9:6, for example -- that
the Watchtower cites to "prove" Jesus is a lesser deity? Do
they not make a convincing case? It may appear so to the
biblically illiterate, but not to those familiar with these
verses in context.
CHRIST THE "FIRSTBORN." It is true that Jesus is called the
"firstborn" in Colossians 1:15. But "firstborn" (Greek:
PROTOTOKOS) does not mean "first-created" (PROTOKTISIS). (The
latter term is never used of Christ in the New Testament.)
Rather, "firstborn" means "first in rank, preeminent one,
heir."[16] The word carries the idea of positional preeminence
and supremacy (see Genesis 41:50-51 [cf. Jeremiah 31:9] and
Psalm 89:27 for proof of this). Christ is the "firstborn" in
the sense that He is positionally preeminent over creation and
is supreme over all things.
THE FATHER GREATER THAN JESUS? In John 14:28 Jesus acknowledged
that the Father was "greater" (Greek: MEIZON) than He was. It is
critical to recognize, however, that Jesus was not speaking
about His nature (Christ had earlier said "I and the Father are
one" in this regard -- John 10:30), but is rather speaking of
His lowly position in the Incarnation.[17] The Athanasian Creed
affirms that Christ is "equal to the Father as touching his
Godhood and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood."[18]
It is important to keep in mind that the Father was seated upon
the throne of highest majesty in heaven; the brightness of His
glory was uneclipsed as He was surrounded by hosts of holy
beings perpetually worshipping Him with uninterrupted praise.
Far different was it with His incarnate Son -- despised and
rejected of men, surrounded by implacable enemies, and soon to
be nailed to a criminal's cross.
THE FATHER THE "HEAD" OF CHRIST? While the Father is indeed
called the "head" of Christ in 1 Corinthians 11:3, this does
not mean Jesus is an inferior deity. A close examination of
this verse shows that it has nothing to do with inferiority or
superiority of one person over another; rather, it has to do
with patterns of authority. Notice that Paul says the man is
the head of the woman, even though men and women are utterly
equal in their essential being. Men and women are both human,
both created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-28), and are one in
Christ (Galatians 3:28). These verses, taken with 1 Corinthians
11:3, demonstrate that equality of being and social hierarchy
are not mutually exclusive. Even though men and women are
completely equal in terms of their nature, there is
nevertheless a functional hierarchy that exists between them.
In the same way, Christ and the Father are utterly equal in
their divine nature (John 10:30), though Jesus is functionally
under the Father's headship (1 Corinthians 11:3). There is no
contradiction in affirming both an equality of being and a
functional subordination among the persons in the Godhead.
JESUS A "MIGHTY GOD"? The Watchtower Society is correct in
stating that Jesus is called 'mighty God' in some Bibles (Isa.9:6)
and they do this as if they've dealt a fatal blow to the view of
orthodox Christians. What they fail to recognize is that in the
very next chapter in Isaiah (Isaiah 10:21) Jehovah Himself is
called "mighty God." The fact that Jehovah is called "mighty
God" obliterates the Watchtower argument that the expression
must refer to a lesser deity. Because Jehovah is called "mighty
God," the fact that Jesus too is called "mighty God" points to
His equality with God the Father.
The King James Bible speaking of the Son says: "The mighty God"
[Isaiah 9:6]
Psalms alone calls Jehovah "a God" three times [58:11],[86:15],[99:8].
SHOULD WE OR SHOULD WE NOT WORSHIP JESUS?
It is highly revealing that at one time the Watchtower Society
actually endorsed the worship of Jesus. An early issue of THE
WATCHTOWER magazine said that "to worship Christ in any form
cannot be wrong."[19] Indeed, "We believe our Lord Jesus while
on earth was really worshipped, and properly so."[20]
Many years later, however, THE WATCHTOWER magazine dogmatically
asserted that "it is unscriptural for worshippers of the living
and true God to render worship to the Son of God, Jesus
Christ."[21] The magazine warned, "Do not erroneously conclude
that Christians are to worship Christ; that is not what he
taught."[22]
The fact is, Christ was worshipped as God many times according
to the Gospel accounts -- and He always accepted such worship
as appropriate. Jesus accepted worship from Thomas (John
20:28); the angels (Hebrews 1:6); the wise men (Matthew 2:11);
a leper (Matthew 8:2); a ruler (Matthew 9:18); a blind man
(John 9:38); an anonymous woman (Matthew 15:25); Mary Magdalene
(Matthew 28:9); and the disciples (Matthew 28:17). In the Book
of Revelation, God the Father (4:10) and Jesus Christ (5:11-14)
are clearly portrayed as receiving the exact same worship. Why?
Because both are equally divine.
How Can We Prove to the Jehovah's Witnesses that Jesus
Truly Is Yahweh?
A comparison of the Old and New Testaments provides powerful
testimony to Jesus' identity as Yahweh. Support for this is
found, for example, in Christ's crucifixion. In Zechariah
12:10, Yahweh is speaking prophetically: "They will look on me,
the one they have pierced." Though Yahweh is speaking, this is
obviously a reference to Christ's future crucifixion.[23] We
know that "the one they have pierced" is Jesus, for He is
described this same way by the apostle John in Revelation 1:7.
The Septuagint -- a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old
Testament that predates Christ -- provides additional insights
on Christ's identity as Yahweh. It renders the Hebrew phrase
for "I AM" (God's name) in Exodus 3:14 as EGO EIMI.[24] On a
number of occasions in the Greek New Testament, Jesus used this
same term as a way of identifying Himself as God.[25] For
example, in John 8:24 Jesus declared: "If you do not believe
that I AM [EGO EIMI] He, you shall die in your sins." The
original Greek for this verse does not have the word he. The
verse is literally: "If you do not believe that I AM, you shall
die in your sins."
Then, according to John 8:28, Jesus told the Jews: "When you
lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM [EGO EIMI]
He." Again, the original Greek reads: "When you lift up the Son
of Man, then you will know that I AM" (there is no he). Jesus
purposefully used the phrase as a means of pointing to His
identity as Yahweh.[26]
In keeping with this, it is highly revealing that Old Testament
passages about Yahweh were directly applied to Jesus in the New
Testament. For instance, Isaiah 40:3 says: "In the desert
prepare the way for the Lord [Yahweh]; make straight in the
wilderness a highway for our God [Elohim]." Mark's Gospel tells
us that Isaiah's words were fulfilled in the ministry of John
the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus Christ (Mark 1:2-4).
In Isaiah 6:1-5 the prophet recounts his vision of Yahweh
"seated on a throne high and exalted" (verse 1). He said,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord [Yahweh] Almighty; the whole
earth is full of his glory" (verse 3). Isaiah also quotes
Yahweh as saying, "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not
give my glory to another" (42:8). Later, the apostle John --
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit -- wrote that Isaiah
"saw Jesus' glory" (John 12:41). Yahweh's glory and Jesus'
glory are equated.
Christ's deity is further confirmed for us in that many of the
actions of Yahweh in the Old Testament are performed by Christ
in the New Testament. For example, in Psalm 119 we are told
that it is Yahweh who gives and preserves life. But in the New
Testament, Jesus claims this power for Himself: "For just as
the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son
gives life to whom he is pleased to give it" (John 5:21).
In the Old Testament the voice of Yahweh was said to be "like
the roar of rushing waters" (Ezekiel 43:2). Likewise, we read
of the glorified Jesus in heaven: "His voice was like the sound
of rushing waters" (Revelation 1:15). What is true of Yahweh is
just as true of Jesus.
Further, in the Old Testament Yahweh is described as "an
everlasting light," one that would make the sun, moon, and
stars obsolete (Isa. 60:19-20). The same is said of Jesus in
regard to the future eternal city: "The city does not need the
sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it
light, and the Lamb is its lamp" (Revelation 21:23).
When all the facts are known, it becomes undeniably clear that
Jesus is not the lesser God of the Watchtower Society but is
rather God Almighty, He who is the First and the Last, the
Alpha and the Omega, the God of glory who is infinite in
perfections. With the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus is
everlastingly the Living God. (return to page top)
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E N D N O T E S :
[1] REASONING FROM THE SCRIPTURES (Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society, 1989), p. 150.
[2] THE WATCHTOWER, 15 March 1975, p. 174.
[3] THE WATCHTOWER, 15 May 1969, p. 307, inserts added.
[4] AID TO BIBLE UNDERSTANDING (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society, 1971), p. 391.
[5] THE WATCHTOWER, 1 November 1964, p. 671.
[6] REASONING FROM THE SCRIPTURES, p. 308.
[7] STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, vol. 7 (Brooklyn: Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society, 1917), p. 57.
[8] YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER IN PARADISE ON EARTH (Brooklyn:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1982), p. 143.
[9] "THE KINGDOM IS AT HAND" (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society, 1944), p. 259.
[10] YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER IN PARADISE ON EARTH, p. 145.
[11] THE WATCHTOWER, 1 September 1953, p. 518.
[12] "THINGS IN WHICH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO LIE"
(Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1965), p. 354.
[13] Norman Geisler, CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1976), p. 338.
[14] THE WATCHTOWER, 7 December 1995, p. 4.
[15] REASONING FROM THE SCRIPTURES, p. 212.
[16] Robert L. Reymond, JESUS, DIVINE MESSIAH: THE NEW
TESTAMENT WITNESS (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed,
1990), p. 247.
[17] Leon Morris, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 658.
[18] Robert M. Bowman, WHY YOU SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989), pp. 14-15.
[19] THE WATCHTOWER, March 1880, p. 83.
[20] THE WATCHTOWER, 15 May 1892, p. 1410.
[21] THE WATCHTOWER, 1 November 1964, p. 671.
[22] THE WATCHTOWER, 15 July 1959, p. 421.
[23] Robert L. Reymond, JESUS, DIVINE MESSIAH: THE OLD
TESTAMENT WITNESS (Scotland, Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications, 1990), pp. 78-84.
[24] Jon A. Buell and O. Quentin Hyder, JESUS: GOD, GHOST OR
GURU? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978), p. 27.
[25] Reymond, JESUS, DIVINE MESSIAH: THE NEW TESTAMENT WITNESS,
pp. 92-94.
[26] Millard J. Erickson, THE WORD BECAME FLESH: A CONTEMPORARY
INCARNATIONAL CHRISTOLOGY (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1991), pp. 28-29.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God Bless You,
PASTOR LEONARD A. FABIO
Lamplighter Ministries
leonard_fabio@hotmail.com
JESUS IS LORD, PRAISE HIM, EVEN SO, COME QUICKLY LORD.
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