The NWT of the Jehovah's Witnesses
Teaches that Jesus
is Jehovah
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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 will shepherd his own drove. With his arm he will collect together the lambs.
John 10:11: I 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 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 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.