Discussion/Debate With a Jehovah Witness

Question: If I can show you from the Bible that there are three persons in the New Testament each called God, and if I can show you that there is only one God, will you agree that these three persons have to be the one God?

(Though the word “trinity” doesn’t appear in the Bible, the concept does. By “trinity” is meant that within the nature of the one God, there are three eternal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.).

Is the Father called God?

Ø In 2 Pet. 1:l7 it says, “… God the Father …”

Is the Son called God?

Ø In John 1:1 it says, “…the Word was God.” And the “Word” is Jesus Christ, as can be seen from verses 14-18. Jehovah Witnesses translate “θeùs” as “a god” in verse 1, yet they inconsistently translate it “God” in verses 6, 12, and 18. The absence of the definite article before “θeùs” in Greek here emphasizes quality of character – namely Jesus’ Deity here. Also, the “a god” translation of the J.W.’s conflicts with Exodus 20:3, “…to have no other gods before (besides) Me.” And it conflicts with Isa. 44:6, “Besides Me there is no God.”

Ø In Heb. 1:8, 9 God the Father calls His Son (Jesus) “God.”

In Col. 2:9 it states that “in Him (Jesus) all the fulness of Deity (God) dwells in bodily form.”

In John 10:33 it states that the Jews said that Jesus was “making Himself out to be God.”

In John 5:18 it says that Jesus “was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”

In John 14:9, 10 it says that “he that has seen Me (Jesus) has seen the Father.”

In Rev. 1:8 Jehovah God is called the “Alpha and Omega.”

21:5-7 “ “ “ “ ” ” ” ”

Then, in 22:12-16 Jesus is the “Alpha and Omega” who’s coming quickly (7, 12, and 20).

In Rev. 22:13 the “Alpha and Omega” is also “the first and the last”.

In Isa. 44:6 Jehovah God is called “the first and the last.”

Then, in Rev. 1:12-18 it says that, “…the first and last … was dead … and is alive forevermore…” (referring, obviously to Jesus).

So, both Jehovah God and Jesus are called “the Alpha and Omega” and “the first and the last.”

Therefore, Jesus is God.

Ø In Ex. 3:6 Jehovah is called the “God of Jacob”.

In Isa. 10:21 the “God of Jacob” is called “mighty God”.

In Isa. 9:6 “Mighty God” is one of the names given to Messiah Jesus.

Therefore, Jesus is Jehovah God.

Ø In Deut. 6:13, 14 it states to worship God only.

In Ex. 20:3-6 worship of anything else is forbidden.

In Lk. 4:8 Jesus tells Satan that only God is to be worshipped.

In Heb. 1:6 the Father tells the angels to worship the Son (Jesus).

Therefore, Jesus has to be God.

Ø In John 8:58 Jesus said, “…before Abraham was born, I Am.”

In Ex. 3:13-15 Jehovah God calls Himself “I Am”.

Therefore, Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah God (which the Jews realized, so they tried to stone Jesus because they didn’t believe Him and considered it blasphemy, the penalty of which was death by stoning – Lev. 24:16). The word “I Am” of Jn. 8:58 in the Greek language is in the present indicative tense, meaning that He (Jesus) – always existed and never came into being.

Ø In Mark 2:7 and Isa. 43:25 it says that only God can forgive sins.

In Mk. 2:5 it says that Jesus forgave sins.

Therefore, Jesus is God.

Ø In Gen. 1:1-25 it says that God created the heavens and the earth and the things in them.

In Col. 1:13-16 it says that Jesus created all things in the heavens and earth.

Therefore, Jesus is God.

Is the Holy Spirit called God?

Ø In Acts 5:3 it says that Ananias “lied to the Holy Spirit.” And in verse 4 it says that he “lied to God.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit is called God.

Is the Holy Spirit a person?

Ø The Holy Spirit has emotions – He grieves (Eph. 4:30) ; He loves (Rom. 15:30).

Ø The Holy Spirit has a will – distributes spiritual gifts as He wills (1 Cor. 12:11).

Ø The Holy Spirit has intellect – He teaches (Jn. 14:26) ; He knows the thoughts of God (1 Cor. 2:10, 11) ; He intercedes for Christians (Rom. 8:27).

Ø Personal pronouns are used when referring to Him – Jn. 14:26; Acts 13:2.

Ø There is only one God – 1 Tim. 2:5; Gal. 3:20; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6

Ø Trinitarian texts –

1) Matt. 28:19 “baptizing them in the name (singular) of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” – shows the one God in three persons.

2) Matt. 3:16, 17 Jesus is baptized, the Holy Spirit descending as a dove upon Jesus, and the Father speaks out of the heavens about Jesus.

3) 2 Cor. 13:14 The 3 persons of the Godhead are mentioned in the benediction.

4) John 14:23, 26; 1 Cor. 6:19 The 3 persons of the Godhead live within the believer.

5) 1 Thes. 1:8, 9; Jn. 2:19-21; 10:17, 18; Rom. 8:11; Acts 17:30, 31shows each of the persons of the Godhead raising Jesus from death.

Ø The soul – has several meanings:

1) a person (Acts 2:41).

2) the spiritual and immortal part of our being (Matt. 10:28). (The Gk. word “apollumi” means “destroy” / “ruin” / “loss of well-being”, but not annihilation, as can be seen in its usage in Lk. 5:37).

3) the seat of will and purpose ( Acts 4:32 ).

4) the natural life of the body ( Lk. 12:22 ).

Ø The spirit – means a conscious, immaterial, spiritual entity or nature created in the image of God (Acts 7:59; Lk.23:46; Jn. 4:24; Gen. 1:26, 27).

Is Jesus the archangel Michael?

In l Thes. 4:16 it says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

The Jehovah Witnesses want to use this verse to prove that Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel. However, the passage doesn’t say the archangel is Michael (and Dan. 10:13 implies that there may be other archangels or “chief princes” besides Michael). Second, the “shout” is left undefined, no definitive genitive being added. Nothing is said as to who gives the shout, or to whom it is directed. Third, the phrase “the voice of the archangel” in the original Greek language has no definite article with either “voice” or “archangel”. Both are qualitative. It may be rendered, “a voice (or tone) such as an archangel uses.” So, 1 Thes. 4:16 cannot be used to prove that Jesus is Michael the archangel, because the verse doesn’t make clear: (1) who “shouted”; (2) whether the one who shouted was also the one with “the/a voice of the/an archangel”; (3) or if it was a voice such as an archangel uses or an archangel’s voice. (Dr. D. E. Hiebert’s The Thessalonian Epistles, pp. 198-200.)

Also, Jesus Christ couldn’t be Michael the archangel because angels are created spirit beings (Col. 1:13-16 with Eph. 6:12; Eph. 3:9) and Jesus wasn’t created but was eternal (Isa. 7:14; 9:6 with Matt. 1:20-23; Micah 5:2 with Lk. 2:4-11; Jn. 8:58 with Ex. 3:13-15; Rev. 1:8, 17, 18 with 22:12-16, 20) and, in fact, the creator of all things (Col. 1:13-16; Jn. 1:1-3; Heb. 1:2; Gen. 1:1, 26, 27: Eph. 3:9) as He is God the Son (Jn. 10:30, 33, 36; 19:7; 5:18; 14:9; 20:25-28; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:8, 9). And God the Father never calls an angel Son (Heb. 1:4, 5).

In John 1:18 it says, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” The phrase “God the One and Only” obviously refers to Jesus (Heb. 1:3). So, Jesus is called God.

Tricks Jehovah’s Witnesses Try To Use

Ø In John 3:16 some translations say that Jesus is the “only begotten Son”. The J.W.’s say that the word “begotten” means “generated” or “created”. But the Greek word is “monogenes” – meaning “unique”, “only”, or “one of a kind”, but not “generated” or “created”. Further proof is found in Heb. 11:17 where Isaac is said to be the only begotten son of Abraham, but Isaac was not the only generated son of Abraham, as Gen. 16:15 says that Ishmael was also a son of Abraham. But Isaac was a unique or precious son as Abraham loved him in a unique way (Gen. 21:8).

Ø In John 14:28 it says that, “…the Father is greater than I (Jesus).” The J.W.’s say that this proves that Jesus can’t be equal with God or that Jesus was God. But what this verse is actually saying is that the Father was “greater” in position/office (as this is what the Greek word “meizon” means) than Jesus, who was the servant/man and Son. Jesus willingly submitted Himself to the Father for the time that He became a man (Phil. 2:5-8), but the Father was not “better” than Jesus as Jesus was to the angels (Heb. 1:4; Jn. 5:18), since the Greek word for “better” is “kreitton”, meaning better in quality or nature. So, the Father was “greater” than Jesus in position as Father to the Son Jesus, but was not “better” than Jesus in quality or nature. John 5:22 states that Jesus is to be “honored” as much as God the Father. And Heb. 1:6 says that God the Father (Jehovah) tells the angels to worship His Son (Jesus). And God states that worship is only to be given to God. Therefore, Jesus is God. (See Matt. 14:33 also.)

Ø In Rev. 3:14 it says that Jesus (“the faithful and true Witness” – 1:5; 2:18) is “the Beginning of the creation of God”. The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that this proves that God created Jesus and therefore Jesus is not God or equal to God. But the word “Beginning” is the Greek word “arche”, meaning “origin” or “source”. So, Jesus is the origin or source of creation (which Heb. 1:2 affirms, as does Col. 1:16). Even the 1950 edition of the J.W.’s New World Translation of the Bible translates “arche” in John 1:1 as “originally” instead of “beginning”.

Ø In Phil. 2:11 it says that “Jesus Christ is Lord”. The Jehovah Witnesses say that when the word “lord” is used in reference to Jesus it merely means “master” and not “God”. However, in the “Introduction” of the Jehovah Witnesses’ Kingdom Interlinear Translation, page 18, it translates the Greek word “kurious” as “Lord”, referring to Jehovah God since Phil. 2:10 is a quote from Isa. 45:23 where Jehovah is speaking. And since “kurious” refers to Jehovah God (Mk. 11:29, 30; Lk. 4:8) and Jesus is called the “kurious”, therefore Jesus is God.

Ø In Co1. 1:15 it calls Jesus “the first-born of all creation”. The Jehovah Witnesses say that this proves that Jesus was the first one created by God. However, the word “first-born” does not always mean first born (Gen. 41:51, 52) or first one created. Though Manasseh was born first before Ephraim, Ephraim was first in privilege/position/rank as seen in Gen. 48:13-19 and Jer. 31:9. These verses show that the word “first-born” can and does mean “preeminent”. This can also be seen from Co1. 1:18 where Jesus is called “the first-born from the dead”. Yet we know that Jesus was not the first one raised from the dead, since both Lazarus and the widow’s son were raised from the dead before Jesus (Jn. 11:44; 12:1; Lk. 7:12-15). Jesus’ being the “first-born” from the dead means that He is the “preeminent one” from the dead in that He rose immortal. And Jesus’ being the “first-born” of all creation – means that – He is above all creation in rank/position/privilege. Jesus is preeminent above all creation.

Ø In Jn. 5:26 it says, “For Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” The J.W.’s say that this verse proves that God created Jesus. However, this verse is merely saying that the Father gave the Son life in the sense that He created Jesus’ body in the womb of the virgin through the Holy Spirit, to exhibit Christ’s essential life that Christ always had. Jesus, the “Word”, had already existed from eternity past (Jn. 1:1, 14-18; Micah 5:2). “In Him was life” (Jn. 1:4), and He always had life.