Another Letter to a Jehovah's Witness

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, who is eternally begotten of the Father from all eternity. Amen.

Many people today are very confused concerning the nature of Christ and have fallen prey to the teachings of cults and non-Christian religions who understand Christ only according to the flesh. “...even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16b) Many modern organizations originating in the 19^th century have repackaged the Arian heresy that the Son is a mere creature, and in the case of the Watchtower and Tract Society the Son is believed to have existed as the Archangel Michael. To the contrary, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you'?” (Hebrews 1:5a)

This question is of vital importance for we are told “And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) And it is God's will that we come to understand the true nature of the Son. “...who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Unfortunately, there is a great deception that are leading people away from the correct understanding of the Greek of the New Testament which has obscured the true nature of the Son. The Watchtower and Tract Society, starting with the doctrinal assumption that the Son is a creature, has read this preconceived notion into the text and have incorrectly rendered the English in their New World Translation.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) Scripture reveals to us that God is what the Word is. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) The Son is God in the fullest sense which is why the Nicene Creed uses the term 'homoousios' to communicate that God the Son and God the Father are of the same substance. God took on human flesh becoming incarnate... “'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' (which means 'God with us').” (Matthew 1:23) The New World Translation incorrectly renders John 1:1 as saying, 'and the Word was a god'. There are no reasons on the basis of the Greek to rending it into English in this way which is why most translations read 'and the Word was God'. The Greek simply says καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (meaning 'and God was the Word'). ὁ λόγος is in the nominative case so it is rendered as the subject, but it is the order of the Greek which emphasizes that God is the nature of the Word.

This is why it is said of the Son “For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily...” (Colossians 2:9) Likewise, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17) He has all the rights of a first-born, a Son who shares in the power and authority of God through whom all things were created. The Son is not the first to have been created as is argued by the Watchtower and Tract Society, rather the term 'first-born' refers to the rights of the Son in relation to the Father.

Consider the erroneous insertion of the word 'other' in the New World Translation “because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist...” (Colossians 1:16-17) The word other is not found in the Greek text, it was added in order to force the text into a doctrinal bias. The Greek simply states that all things were created by the Son, but since the Watchtower and Tract Society teaches that the Son is a created being they are forced to alter the text in order to obscure the biblical doctrine that the Son created all things.

Thankfully, the New World Translation of John 1:2-3 retains the doctrine that the Word created all things where it says: “All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.” In order to avoid the force of the text it is reasoned by the Watchtower and Tract Society that 'him' is interpreted to be God. But the entire passage is talking about the Word, that all things came into existence through the Word.

Again it says, “...but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:2-3a)

We can see that the Son is God with the following parallel which can still be found in the New World Translation:

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.” But in Revelation 22:12-13 we see that the one who is coming soon, the one who will bring judgment is the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga and we see in verse 16 that this is “I, Jesus...”

Revelation 22: 12-13 “‘Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to repay each one according to his work. I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

The Watchtower and Tract Society only began in the late 19^th century and since its inception it has perpetuated the Arian heresy that the Son is only a creature. The early Christian writings definitively demonstrate that they understood that the Son was God. Even the immediate disciple of the apostle John says concerning the Son: “There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible,— even Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Letter to Ephesians Chapter 7.)

If you would like to learn more about the nature of the Son as demonstrated by the biblical authors and early Church Fathers, please feel free to write me back and we can discuss these sources.