Refuting the central claims of Jehovah’s witnesses on the nature of God.
The first thing Jehovah’s witnesses tend to say to whoever they speak to is this, “Do you know God has a name? His name is Jehovah!”. Ignore the technicality that there is no “J” in the original Hebrew and the name of God can literally not be pronounced as it reads, “YHVH”. But for the sake of efficiency, let us go with their framework.
What you want to ask is what their view of Jesus is and specifically if they would agree with the trinity or with the fact that Jesus is God. They would without fail talk about how the trinity is pagan and how Jesus cannot be God but was the first creation of God who participated in creation with God. This is precisely where you want them!
The next question to ask is whether there is anywhere in scripture showing that Jesus shares in the sacred divine name of God — “Jehovah” according to their paradigm. It might also be worth phrasing this question in hypothetical terms and asking what their reaction would be if Jesus hypothetically claimed to be Jehovah. Would they believe Him?
Then proceed to show them the following passages from their own New World Translation (Which no Bible scholar takes seriously by the way…but remember, we are going with their own paradigm),
“This is what Jehovah says, The King of Israel and his Repurchaser, Jehovah of armies: ‘I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but me.”
(Isaiah 44:6)
It might be worth asking who the first and the last is in context of this verse. It would also be worth establishing that it is Jehovah claiming to be those things, now proceed to give them this verse from their own translation,
“When I saw him, I fell as dead at his feet. And he laid his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the living one, and I became dead, but look! I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of the Grave.”
(Revelation 1:17–18)
A couple questions, who is speaking here? And who did John see? Clearly, the answer is Jesus. Why is Jesus claiming to be the first and the last — A name that clearly belongs to Jehovah — here? And if they argue that this reference is to Jehovah, not Jesus then they have to explain when exactly the living one Jehovah became dead according to the above verse.
Alternatively, you can go down another route. In Exodus 20:8–9, their version reads,
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it sacred. You are to labor and do all your work for six days, but the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God”
But Jesus in their own translation says,
“So the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
(Mark 2:28)
If Jehovah God says the sabbath is to him and then Jesus says He is the Lord of the sabbath, what would that make Jesus?
At this point on either approach, the JW may argue that Jesus claimed to be a lesser God and this is where you can pull out a joker from John’s gospel,
“This is why the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.”
(John 5:18)
So even according to their own translation, the Jews understood the claim Jesus was making was not to be a lesser God or smaller Jehovah but that He was EQUAL WITH Jehovah!
The second approach would be to target their claim that Jesus was not Jehovah but rather a creation of Jehovah who participated in creation alongside Jehovah. The first question to ask is whether they believe God alone is responsible for creation. The answer will most likely be no, then you can refer them to this portion of their own translation,
“I am Jehovah, who made everything. I stretched out the heavens by myself, And I spread out the earth. Who was with me?”
(Isaiah 44:24)
Here Jehovah claims to have made everything and in particular stretched out the heavens by Himself and had no one with Him when He spread out the earth. Would the JW agree with this portion of scripture or not?
“This is what Jehovah says, the Holy One of Israel, the One who formed him: “Would you question me about the things coming. And command me about my sons and the works of my hands? I made the earth and created man on it. I stretched out the heavens with my own hands”
(Isaiah 45:11–12)
Jehovah again says He created man and He stretched out the heavens with His own hands. Now the problem here becomes obvious. If Jehovah claims to have created alone and with His own hands and the JW believes Jesus participated in creation, who would that make Jesus?
Now this can lead in to all sorts of further questions and also is the perfect segue into the third approach which refutes their rejection of the trinity. According to their translation,
“God’s own spirit made me…”
(Job 33:4)
Now Jehovah says He created alone. But now we have Jehovah creating, we have Jesus creating and above, we have Job saying that the Spirit of God made him. I thought only Jehovah created? Unless of course somehow, Jehovah God, Jesus and the Spirit of Jehovah are all Jehovah. Is this me making things up? Let us see what their own translation says,
“Come near to me, and hear this. From the very start I have not spoken in secret. From the time it happened I was there.” And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his spirit.”
(Isaiah 48:16)
Jehovah is sending somebody and His spirit. Who is being sent? We go a few verses prior,
“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am the same One. I am the first; I am also the last. My own hand laid the foundation of the earth, And my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand up together.”
(Isaiah 48:12–13)
So Jehovah who claims to be the first and the last and the sole creator of heaven and earth is sending another person who is also the first and the last and the creator of heaven and earth. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but does this not align very well with Jesus claiming to be the first and the last? Does this not align with God sending Jesus and the Spirit of God? Would this not be a trinitarian position?
Now add to this the fact that Jehovah (according to their translation) says,
“I am Jehovah. That is my name; I give my glory to no one else…”
(Isaiah 42:8)
But Jesus not only shares in the title “First and the Last” which is the exclusive preserve of Jehovah but says of Himself (according to their translation),
“So now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was”
(John 17:5)
Why does Jesus have a glory alongside (i.e. equal to) that of Jehovah’s if Jehovah has said he will not give His glory to anyone else?
In Mark 12:36, according to their translation, Jesus says,
“By the holy spirit, David himself said, ‘Jehovah* said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”
So we have here one holy spirit, Jehovah and another person who David himself calls Lord. Note that Jehovah Himself (and his Spirit which inspired David) has no problem with this Lord of David by His side. It is almost like this is trinitarian. Almost like Jesus said Himself (who David calls Lord), the holy Spirit who inspired David and Jehovah whose glory He shares, all share in the name of Jehovah,
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit,
(Matthew 28:19)
Oh snap! Jesus did say that, even according to their own translation, didn’t He? So whatever name God has, Jehovah or otherwise, The Son and the Holy Spirit share in it as well. Hence Jesus uses the singular, “The Name” when talking about all three of them.
In engaging Jehovah’s witnesses, a couple other things to bear in mind include
- Do not let them jump from passage to passage or point to point, pin them down on one passage or point and exegete or deal with it before moving on.
- Beware the first born! They make a big deal about Jesus being the first born of creation meaning he was the first thing created. Make them do the hard work of justifying why that is. How do they conclude Jesus was created first from the fact He is called the firstborn? Remember Jehovah calls Israel his firstborn in Exodus 4:22, would this mean Israel is the first nation ever created? And if it doesn’t, how come with Jesus it MUST mean that He was created first?
- They have a kind of modalist understanding of the trinity. They believe the claim of trinitarians is that God the Father and Jesus are the same person so they tend to believe verses showing that God the Father is different from Jesus disprove the trinity.
- Beware they are brainwashed and are not allowed to research or read anything outside the Watch Tower publications, so it is best to engage with them from their own sources. I initially thought JWs were just this fringe group with a weird and wrong perception of Jesus but it is a full on cult when you look into it!
- Be kind to them. They endure abuse and mistreatment from their door to door evangelism so please be compassionate and engage them with respect as much as possible. Obviously if they are clearly lying and deceptive, that is another matter but discernment would be needed then.
Finally, note that you don’t need to know everything about JW beliefs to engage them (I don’t). You can find one thing, learn it to the best of your ability and keep engaging with every JW you encounter on that one point. My one thing is the fact that Jesus is God (okay make that two!) and that the trinity is at the very core of God’s nature from Genesis through to Revelation. What would yours be?
