Did Jesus Claim to Be
God?
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Jehovah’s
Witnesses and the Trinity
I find that
Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain a
view of the Father, Son and the Holy
Spirit (the Trinity) that does
not align with all the Scripture
has to say on the topic. To
support their conclusions, a certain
amount of Scriptural distortion is
necessary (hence their need for a
Bible that favors their views). JW
often say, “The word
“Trinity” is not used in
the Bible. This is true, but neither
are the words “Saturday”
and “millennium” found in
the Bible. Does this mean that
Saturday or the 1,000 years mentioned
in Revelation 20 doesn’t exist?
Of course not.
Jehovah’s
Witnesses believe the Roman Catholic
Church corrupted the truth about God
during the first centuries of
Christian development and they are
convinced they have been “raised
up” by Jehovah God to
exclusively restore His unvarnished
truth. When it comes to the doctrine
of the Trinity, JW interpret verses
from the Bible like, “Hear, O
Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is
one” (Deuteronomy 6:4), and “Have
we not all one Father? Did not one
God create us? (Malachi 2:10) to
mean there is only one God. They
naturally reject the Catholic view of
the Trinity that teaches that there
is one God who is manifested in three
different ways, as in the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. (Note: I also
reject the Catholic version of the
Trinity because I believe the Bible
teaches there are three separate and
distinct, and co-eternal Gods. These
Gods are one in purpose, plan
and action. Even though these Gods
are separate and distinct, they can
be regarded as one God as a
husband and wife are regarded as one
flesh. “For this reason a man
will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and they will
become one flesh.” (Genesis
2:24) As you will learn, my
understanding of the trinity is also
unacceptable to JW.)
Their ”one
Almighty God is Jehovah”
supposition logically forces Jesus
into a position lower than that of
Jehovah. They reason that if there
were two or more co-eternal
God’s in Heaven, having the same
substance in knowledge, authority,
and power, and then this would
constitute polytheism (the worship of
Gods). Incidentally, this why
Orthodox Jews and Muslims consider
Christians to be polytheists. This
also explains why early Christians
favored the one God with three
different manifestations instead of
three Gods. JW believe that the Holy
Spirit is a “spiritual
force” that emanates from
Jehovah as He directs. JW believe
that Jehovah created Jesus, and they
reject the idea that when Jesus was
born on Earth, God was actually
living among man in the form of a
man. They also believe that Jesus was
a perfect man (the second Adam) who
died to redeem the first Adam and his
offspring. Because the curse of sin
came on mankind through the failure
of the first Adam, salvation comes to
us through the redemption of the
first Adam. In other words, the death
of Jesus – the perfect man
– was “an atonement
death” to satisfy Jehovah’s
demand for justice. As I read, JW
believe that Jesus is a separate and
distinct being from Jehovah and that
He is a servant of Jehovah. If you
wish to review a summery of their
views, here is their official
website: http://www.watchtower.org
Getting Acquainted
with the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Paradigm
I would like to
demonstrate how JW can stay within
their belief that Jehovah is God
alone and Jesus is not God. Keep in
mind that I am not an authority on
their views. I am relaying
information that I have read in their
literature and taken from
discussions. My intent is not to
denigrate, but to factually represent
their position:
“Therefore the
Lord himself will give you a sign:
The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son, and will
call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah
7:14) Since the name Immanuel means,
“God with us,” most
Christians interpret this verse to
mean that God would come to Earth in
the form of a baby boy, born of a
virgin. Since Jesus is the only child
born of a virgin, Jesus must be God.
On the other hand, JW interpret this
verse to mean that the virgin birth
of Immanuel was a sign that Jehovah
deeply cared for His people; in other
words, the presence of this miracle
child should be interpreted to mean
that “God has not forgotten
us” instead of “God, in the
form of a human being, is among
us.”
“Then he
said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger
here; see my hands. Reach out your
hand and put it into my side. Stop
doubting and believe.’ Thomas
said to him, ‘My Lord and my
God!’” (John 20:27,28)
In this passage, Thomas called Jesus,
“My Lord and my God.”
Notice that Jesus did not rebuke
Thomas for calling Him “my
God.” How could Thomas escape
censure unless Jesus was truly God?
In other words, how could Jesus
receive adoration that belonged only
to God if Jesus isn’t God? JW
claim that Thomas was referring to
Jesus as “my lord and my
god,” that is, Thomas humbly
regarded Jesus as a superior being
sent from God (something like an
angel). JW have an understanding of
the term “God” that is
different than that of most
Christians and this brings us to the
following text:
“But Jesus
said to them, ‘I have shown you
many great miracles from the Father.
For which of these do you stone
me?’ ‘We are not stoning
you for any of these,’ relied
the Jews, ‘but for blasphemy,
because you, a mere man, claim to be
God.’ Jesus answered them,
‘Is it not written in your Law,
‘I have said you are gods?’
If he called them ‘gods,’
to whom the word of God came –
and the [integrity of] Scripture
cannot be broken – what about
the one whom the Father set apart as
his very own and sent into the world?
Why then do you accuse me of
blasphemy because I said, ‘I am
God’s Son?’” (John
10:32-36, insertion mine) Many
Christians do not understand the
depth or nature of this exchange. The
Jews were about to stone Jesus for
blasphemy. They watched Jesus perform
miracles and that was fine. But they
also understood Jesus to say that He
was, in fact, God, and this aroused
their anger. JW respond by saying,
“True, the Jews made the claim
that Jesus claimed to be God, but
Jesus did not, in fact utter these
words!” JW then proceed to use
this text to show that the term
“god” does not necessarily
have to mean God, having the
substance of Jehovah God.
Here is an explanation
of what happened in John 10. “I
and the Father are one
[equals].” (John 10:30) When
Jesus said these words, the Jews
became outraged because this
statement equates Jesus with
the Father in substance. The Jews
actions prove this is what they
understood Jesus to say by picking up
stones to stone Him for blasphemy.
They said, “…you, a mere
man, claim to be God.” Considering
the behavior of the Jews, it is
reasonable to say that their actions
were consistent with their
understanding of Jesus words.
Jesus momentarily
diffused their anger by bringing up
the subject that requires some
explanation. Jesus said, [why are you
so angry at My words, that I am One
with the Father? Isn’t this
privilege also yours?] ‘Is it
not written in your Law, ‘I have
said you are gods?’ If he called
them ‘gods,’ to whom the
word of God came – and the
Scripture cannot be broken –
what about the one whom the Father
set apart as his very own and sent
into the world? Why then do you
accuse me of blasphemy because I
said, ‘I am God’s
Son’”? [insertion mine]
These words resonated
among the hostile Jews (even
though they do not make sense to most
Christians today). This is the
background: When Moses wrote the book
of
Genesis, he used the
term “sons of God” to
differentiate between born-again
believers in God and non-believers.
The term, “sons of God” or
“gods,” was used to trace
the trustees of the Edenic covenant
that was given to Adam when he was
expelled from Eden. Noah’s flood
became necessary because “The
sons of God [the trustees of the
Edenic covenant] saw that the
daughters of [carnal] men were
beautiful, and they married any of
them they chose [that is,
believers in God (the sons of God)
exchanged their spiritual birthright
for sensual women].” (Genesis
6:2, insertion mine) These mixed
marriages (believers with
non-believers) brought ruin upon the
world, and consequently, Noah’s
flood is history.
The Jews also called
Adam “the son of God.”
(Luke 3:38) If Adam was “the son
of God,” then his offspring can
be called ‘gods” if they
are one in the Spirit with
God. Paul well understood this
ancient language because he wrote, “…because
those who are led by the Spirit of
God are sons of God.”
(Romans 8:14) John underscores this
beautiful relationship, “Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not.” (1
John 3:1, KJV) The point is that when
the Jews accosted Jesus for claiming
to be the Son of God, Jesus responded
by effectively saying, “Why be
angry at my claim that my Father and
I are one? Aren’t you sons of
God, too?” Paraphrasing, Jesus
continued, “Even in your own
law, whose integrity cannot be
broken, the sons of Israel are called
‘gods.’ “Jesus
referring to Psalm 82. “A
psalm of Asaph. God presides in the
great assembly; he gives judgment
among the
‘gods’…’I said,
‘You are ‘gods’; you
are sons of the Most
High.’” (Psalm 82:1,6)
Jesus paralyzed His
accusers for a few moments with a
thoughtful response. How could they
accuse Him of saying “I am one
with God” when they were lawfully
entitled to say the same thing?
Jesus was very clever! Then, He said,
“[Since my Father and I are
one.] ‘Do not believe me
unless I do what my Father does. But
if I do it, even though you do not
believe me, believe the miracles
[are of divine origin], that you
may know and understand that the
Father is in me, and I in the
Father.’ Again they tried to
seize him, but he escaped their
grasp.” (John 10:37-39,
insertion mine)
So, considering John
10 and Thomas’ declaration he
made in John 20 from the supposition
that there is only one God, JW do not
interpret the words of Jesus “I
and the Father are one” as
the Jews did. Instead, they interpret
these texts to mean that Jesus was no
different than human beings in
substance. In this sense, Jesus was a
“sons of God” just like we
can be “sons of God.”
This interpretation protects their
position and keeps Jesus less than
equal with Jehovah.
“In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word
was God. He was with God
in the beginning…. He was in the
world, and though the world was
made through him, the world did not
recognize him. He came to that which
was his own, but his own did not
receive him.” (John
1:1,10,11) Christians claim that John
left no room for debate on the
divinity of Jesus. Here, John simply
said that Jesus, the Word [Logos] was
God. JW distort this verse to change
John’s declaration. They do this
by inserting the article (a) so that
the text reads, “…and
the Word was with God, and the Word
was (a) god.” Since
we have already read from Scripture
that human beings can be “sons
of God,” JW insist that Jesus is
not Jehovah, but a creation of God, a
lesser god, like Adam, a perfect man
(at least for a while) who was the
son of God. The end result, they
claim, is that John did not declare
that Jesus was in fact a God like
Jehovah.
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