Who Is Jehovah? Who Is Jesus?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
Copyright © 1996 by Phillip R. Johnson. All rights reserved.
ehovah's Witnesses are well-known for their denial of the deity of
Christ. According to their theology, Jesus was an incarnation of the
supreme archangel, not God in human flesh.
The historical name for this teaching is
Arianism. Arius was a fourth-century heretic whose doctrine
was opposed by Athanasius and condemned at the council of Nicea in
325. Arius's doctrine of the Incarnation was virtually identical to
that of modern-day Jehovah's Witnesses. Arius even used many of the
same arguments JWs employ today. Athanasius brilliantly responded to
Arius and exposed his distortions of Scripture. Athanasius's work
entitled On the Incarnation stands as an effective reply to
the Jehovah's witnesses.
But for the moment let's ignore the
writings of Athanasius, the documents of the Nicene Council, and
every other historical and theological source except Scripture itself. Is
it possible to demonstrate conclusively from the Bible alone that
Jesus Christ is set forth in Scripture as God? I believe it is. And
I am convinced that those who reject Christ's deity must therefore
also reject the plain meaning of the Word of God.
At least eight lines of argument combine
to make the biblical case for the deity of Christ:
1. The Old Testament predicted a divine Savior
We need only sample a few key passages
to make the point:Psalm 2 is a Messianic Psalm and was
recognized as such by Jewish scholars centuries before Christ. In
Acts 13:33, Paul affirms that this psalm has a Messianic meaning.
The psalm closes with these verses, "Worship [Jehovah] with
reverence, And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, lest He
become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be
kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" (vv. 11-
12).There the phrases "Worship [Jehovah]
with reverence" and "Do homage to the Son" are parallel. And as is
typical in Hebrew poetic parallelism, this means the two phrases are
logical equivalents. Worship [Jehovah]" means "do homage to the
Son." Moreover, this psalm presents the Son as Someone in whom
believers can take refuge—a Savior who is God's own Son, identical
in character and rank with God the Father.Psalm 110 is identified as a Messianic
Psalm by the writer of Hebrews (Heb. 5:6; 7:17). Here David calls
Him Lord: "The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand,
Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet" (v.1). Jesus
Himself quoted this verse in Matthew 22:43-45 to demonstrate that He
existed before David and was superior to any earthly king. The word
translated "Lord" in that verse does not necessarily designate deity.
It is a Hebrew word that often applies to an earthly Master. So it's
only a single piece in the puzzle—not particularly significant by
itself, but when weighed with the rest of the evidence, its full
meaning becomes clear.Other Messianic prophecies are even more
clear in ascribing deity to the Lord's Anointed One.Isaiah 9:6, for example, is a clear
promise of the Messiah. It gives a string of names that apply to
Him: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father [or, "father of
eternity"], Prince of Peace." An earlier prophecy by Isaiah, found
in Isaiah 7:14, gave Him the name Immanuel, which literally
means, "God with us."Micah 5:2 prophesied that Messiah's
birthplace would be Bethlehem, and it spoke of Him with these
profoundly important words: "From you One will go forth for Me to be
ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days
of eternity."In Malachi 3:1-2 we find one of the
clearest, most vivid prophecies of the coming Messiah. Mark 1:2
identifies this verse as a prophecy of Christ:Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
Notice that it portrays Jesus as Lord (this is the Hebrew word Adonai), who is coming to His temple. And He is coming to do a work of divine judgment.
2. Jesus is called Jehovah
At this point the well-trained Jehovah's
Witness would want to make a distinction between the word
Adonai, which is translated "Lord" in most English Bibles, and
the Word Jehovah (or Yahweh), also translated "Lord" in
most English Bibles. If you want to tell the difference between the
words in most translations, when the original is Adonai, the
word "Lord" will appear in capital and lowercase letters; when the
Hebrew word is Jehovah, the word "LORD"
will appear in capital and small capital letters.Let's suppose our hypothetical Jehovah's
Witness points out that in all the verses I have cited so far, the
word Adonai has been employed, not Jehovah. Since the
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jehovah is the one true name of
God, any passages that apply the term Jehovah to Christ would
conclusively destroy their entire theology. Are there any such
verses?There certainly are. Psalm 23:1, for
example, says, "Jehovah is my shepherd." Jesus very clearly applied
this passage to Himself in John 10:11, 14 when He said, "I am the
good shepherd." And the writer of Hebrews also applied this passage
to Christ in Hebrews 13:20, when he wrote, "The God of
peace . . . brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord"—
Jesus our Jehovah.In Isaiah 6:5, when Isaiah saw his
vision of heaven, with the Lord high and lifted up, he said, "Woe is
me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live
among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the
Lord [Jehovah] of hosts." Yet the apostle John, referring to this
same incident, writes that Isaiah saw Christ's glory, "and he spoke
of Him" (Jn. 12:41).In the famous prophecy of John the
Baptist found in Isaiah 40:3, Jesus is called Jehovah: "A voice is
calling, 'Clear the way for [Jehovah] in the wilderness; make smooth
in the desert a highway for our God."And in Jeremiah 23:5-6, a very crucial
text for the doctrine of justification by faith. This verse
introduces a new name for God, Jehovah Tsidkenu, "Jehovah our
righteousness." Notice to whom it is applied: "Behold, the days are
coming," declares [Jehovah], "When I shall raise up for David a
righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely And do
justice and righteousness in the land. [This is very clearly a
messianic prophecy.] In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel
will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called,
'[Jehovah] our righteousness'" (Jer. 23:5-6).Here's a very familiar passage, Joel
2:32: "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of
[Jehovah] Will be [saved]." Both Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13 quote
that passage, applying the title Jehovah to Christ.The simple fact is that Jehovah's
Witnesses do not witness to the true Jehovah of Scripture. They
reject His own witness and the witness of His Word that Christ
Himself is Jehovah who came to earth in human flesh.
3. Titles reserved for Jehovah are applied to Christ
In Isaiah 10:20, we find the expression,
"Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel." The Holy one is said to be no
less than Jehovah Himself. And in Acts 3:13-4, Peter tells the men
of Jerusalem, "You delivered up [Jesus], and disowned in the presence
of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. You disowned the Holy
and Righteous One."In Isaiah 44:6 we read, "Thus says
[Jehovah], the King of Israel and his Redeemer, [Jehovah Sabaoth]: 'I
am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me."
That verse in and of itself offers strong proof for the Trinity,
because it differentiates between Jehovah and His Redeemer Jehovah.
But it also reserves for Jehovah God this expression "the first and
the last." That title surfaces again in Revelation 1:8, where it is
again applied to Jehovah: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the
Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." No
question about who owns that title. Notice, too that it is a title
that can hardly be shared with any created being: the Alpha and the
Omega, the first and the last, the One who is and who was and who is
to come, the almighty. Yet at the end of the book of Revelation we
read these words again, this time spoken by Jesus Christ: "I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and
the end" (Rev. 22:13).In Isaiah 43:11, God speaks: "I, even I,
am Jehovah; and there is no savior besides Me." Did you realize the
title "Savior" is reserved in Scripture for God? This verse says so
in the plainest possible terms. "I am Jehovah; and there is no
savior besides Me." That is why Paul, writing to Titus, did not
shrink from applying the name God and the word Savior
both to Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13 says this:For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
Zechariah 12:10 includes a most
interesting prophecy. In context, this is Jehovah speaking. Verse 4
tells us so. Then verse 10 says, "I will pour out on the house of
David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of
supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they
will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-
born." Who was the One who was pierced? It was Christ. And John
19:37 specifically applies this text to Christ.Deuteronomy 10:17 says, "[Jehovah] your
God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty,
and the awesome God." Yet Revelation 17:14 applies the title "Lord
of Lords" to the lamb, Jesus Christ: "These will wage war against the
Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords
and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and
chosen and faithful."
4. Jesus possesses all the incommunicable attributes of God
Christ is eternal, as we
noted in Micah 5:2, and in His titles, "the Alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end."He is omnipresent. In
Matthew 18:20, He said, "Where two or three have gathered together in
My name, there I am in their midst"; and in Matthew 28:20, He
promised, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."He is omniscient. On the
night Christ was betrayed, the disciples told Him, "Now we know that
You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by
this we believe that You came from God" (Jn. 16:30). Later, Peter
appealed to Christ's omniscience in his own defense, John 21:17:
"Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you
love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You.'" In Revelation 2:23 Christ describes Himself in
these terms: "I am He who searches the minds and hearts.He is omnipotent.
Philippians 3:21 says He "will transform the body of our humble state
into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the
power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."
Hebrews 1:3 says He "upholds all things by the word of His
power."He is immutable,
unchanging. This attribute could never be true of any created being.
Yet Hebrews 1:10-12 says, speaking of Christ,Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Thy hands; they will perish, but Thou remainest; And they all will become old as a garment, and as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; As a garment they will also be changed. But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end.
Hebrews 13:8 is a familiar affirmation of the immutability of Christ: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever."
In summary, Scripture says Christ
embodies every attribute that is true of Jehovah, Colossians 2:9:
"For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form." And
Hebrews 1:3 says Christ "is the radiance of [Jehovah's] glory and the
exact representation of His nature. Jesus is Jehovah God.
5. Jesus does the works of God
Jesus does works that God alone can do.
For example, Christ created "all things." John 1:3
says, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing
made that was made." If that is true, then He himself could not be a
created being.Colossians 1:16 says the same thing in
more detail, ruling out the possibility He could be any kind of
archangel: "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for
Him." Verse 17 takes it a step further and pictures Him not only as
Creator but also as Sustainer: "And He is before all things,
and in Him all things hold together."He oversees the operation of
divine providence. In John 17:2, Christ prays to the Father,
"Even as Thou gavest [the Son] authority over all mankind, that to
all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life. Ephesians
1:22 echoes that: "And He put all things in subjection under His
feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church."He forgives sin. This was
a huge controversy in Jesus' earthly ministry. Matt 9:2-7 and Mark
2:5-10 give the accounts of how the Pharisees were offended that He
forgave sins. In Mark 2:7 they ask, "Why does this man speak that
way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" They
understood clearly the implications of His authority.He has the power to raise the dead
and judge final judgment. In John 5:22, Jesus said, "For not
even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the
Son." That is a very explicit claim of deity, and in verse 24, Jesus
even makes the basis of judgment the issue of whether someone hears
His word or not. Acts 10:42 says Christ "has been appointed by God
as Judge of the living and the dead." Acts 17:31 says the same
thing. 2 Timothy 4:1 says "Christ Jesus . . . is to judge the living
and the dead."It is He who will bring us into
the fullness of glorification. Philippians 3:21 says He
"will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the
body of His glory." In Revelation 21:5 He says, "Behold, I am making
all things new."
6. Jesus receives worship.
Jesus Himself in Matthew 4:10 said told
the Devil, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the
Lord your God, and serve Him only.'" If Jesus Himself were only a
creature, He would have been guilty of hypocrisy, for He himself
received worship. Not once did Jesus ever rebuke anyone for
worshiping Him. Never did He refuse anyone's worship. In fact, He
corrected those who scolded others for worshiping Him, as in John 10,
when Martha was angry that Mary sat at His feet. And in Matthew 26,
He rebuked the disciples for being indignant that a woman had
anointed Him with expensive ointment.Listen carefully to these verses, and
remember that in every case Jesus welcomed the worship that was
offered to Him:- Matthew 14:33—"And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, 'You are certainly God's Son!'"
- John 9:38—"And [the man born blind] said, 'Lord, I believe.' And he worshiped Him."
- Matthew 28:9—"And behold, Jesus met them and [greeted the women coming from His tomb]. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him."
- Matthew 28:17-18—"And when [the eleven disciples] saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'"
- John 20:28-29—"Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!' [Now listen to Jesus' response to Thomas' calling Him God:] Jesus said to him, 'Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.'"
Contrast Jesus' response to worship with
Peter's response when "Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and
worshiped him" (Acts 10:25). Verse 26 says, "Peter raised him up,
saying, 'Stand up; I too am just a man.'" Acts 14:11-18 tells of a
similar episode in Paul's ministry, when he and Barnabas refused the
worship of an entire crowd. Then in Revelation 19:10 and 22:8-9, we
have angels refusing worship from the Apostle John. In 22:9 the
angel says, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and of
your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this
book; worship God."Scripture explicitly states that the Son
is to be worshiped. John 5:22-23 says, "For not even the Father
judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order
that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who
does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."
Jesus placed Himself on the highest possible level when He made
Himself an object of our faith, John 14:1: "Let not your heart be
troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me."You want ultimate proof that Jesus is
not an angel? Hebrews 1:6 says that when the Father brought the Son
into the world, He said, "And let all the angels of God worship
Him."Let's move on to the two final
lines of argument that prove Jesus is God. I have saved the
strongest for last. For if Jesus is God, you would expect the Bible
to say so in the strongest of terms. And in fact it does.
7. The Bible says Jesus is God.
John 1 is a favorite text of the
Jehovah's Witnesses. The people who come to your door are thoroughly
trained in how to respond if you show them John 1:1. Turn to that
passage and let's look at the first three verses:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
This is a very strong statement on the deity of Christ. Every phrase is significant. "In the beginning" harks back to Genesis 1:1 and sets the beginning of John's gospel in eternity past, before anything or anyone was created. B. B. Warfield wrote,
What is declared is that "in the beginning"—not "from the beginning" but "in the beginning,"—when first things came to be, the Word, not came into being, so that He might be the first of those things which came into being, but already was. Absolute eternity of being is asserted for the Word in as precise and strong language as absolute eternity of being can be asserted. The Word antedates the beginning of things; He already was.1
The next phrase, "the Word was with
God," only strengthens the assertion of deity in this passage. It
means that from all eternity, the Word coexisted with God, alongside
Him, in personal inter-communion with Him. In Warfield's words, "He
has been from all eternity God's Fellow."2This eternal relationship between God
and the Word is underscored by a phrase in John 1:18, "the only
begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father . . . ." Jesus
Christ was eternally in the bosom of the Father, somehow distinct
from God yet at the same time identical to Him. By the way, the New
American Standard translation in v. 18 is accurate; in the Greek, the
literal wording is, "the only-begotten God"—another straightforward
proof of Christ's deity. The whole principle of the Trinity is
wrapped up in this expression, "the Word was with God."But let's return to the third phrase in
John 1:1, for this is the part Jehovah's Witnesses feel they can
answer: "The Word was God." That is precisely and literally what
this text says in the Greek. A well-trained JW will attempt to
convince you that our translation is faulty. In the Greek, they will
tell you, the word God lacks any definite article (quite right).
Therefore, they say, an indefinite article must be supplied:
"The Word was a God." That is bad Greek and totally unwarranted.
Was is what is known as a copulative verb. You may have
called it a "linking verb" in grammar school. It simply connects the
noun on one side with the noun on the other The Word was
God. "God" in that sentence is a predicate nominative. It
can only be translated the way you find it in most Bibles: "The word
was God." To insert the word "a" is both bad Greek and bad
grammar.Jehovah's Witnesses have produced their
own Bible with their own translation. And they have a handful of
Greek scholars who have tried desperately to defend this translation.
But what these JW "scholars" do not tell their own people is that
there are dozens of places in their Bible where they are forced by
common sense to violate the very rule they want to try to impose on
John 1:1. I'll give you two examples from this very same context.
If we followed the JW construction and added the word "a" every time
the definite article is missing, here's how a couple of other verses
from John 1 would read:- v. 6 There came a man, sent from [a] God, whose name was John.
- v. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of [a] God, even to those who believe in His name.
Of course, there are more verses in the
New Testament that explicitly call Jesus God. Remember, as we saw
earlier, that when Thomas exclaimed, "My Lord and My God," Jesus did
not rebuke him, but commended him for his faith (Jn. 20:29).Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 refer to
Jesus as "Our God and Savior." Romans 9:5 says He is over all God,
blessed forever. Philippians 2:6 says He existed from all eternity
in the form of God. And 1 John 5:20 says, "We know that the Son of
God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might
know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus
Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."One of the best verses to challenge JWs
with is Hebrews 1:8, because it is as clear in its affirmation of Jesus' deity as John 1:1, and the typical JW will not have been indoctrinated with a canned answer. This verse quotes God the Father, who is speaking to the Son: "Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever." The quotation comes from Psalm 45:6, where the attribution of deity is absolutely unambiguous in the Hebrew. (Unfortunately, the JWs' New World Translation has heedlessly and deliberately changed the meaning of both texts, translating Hebrews 1:8 as "God is your throne," and artifically forcing their translation of Psalm 45:6 to fit that meaning. But the statement "God is your throne" makes no sense whatsoever in either context. The whole point of Hebrews 1 is to show that Jesus is higher than any angel. That is the point that needs to be pressed when you discuss this text with a Jehovah's Witness.)
8. Jesus Himself claims to be God.
Finally, if Jesus is God, we might
expect Him to say so. Have you ever wondered why He didn't simply
state, "I am God?" and put an end to any possibility of
confusion?Actually, He did. What He says in John
8:58 was to His Jewish audience a far more explicit statement than if
He had merely said "I am God." It is important to see this passage
in its context. In verse 53, we see that the Pharisees were becoming
uncomfortable with Jesus' claims, beginning to suspect that He was
putting Himself on a level of authority no mere man would have any
right to. They said:
53 "Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?"
54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God';
55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know Him, and keep His word.
56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
57 The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.
Notice that these men understood precisely what Jesus was saying.
And because He obviously also understood what they were asking, His
reply is all that much more significant. He was telling them He was
God, using the name Jehovah Himself had revealed to Moses at the
burning bush, "I AM." He could have made no stronger claim of
deity. If that had not been His meaning, if he were claiming
only to be the firstborn angel, He would have said, "before Abraham
was born, I was."
The gospel of John includes a whole
series of statements Jesus made about Himself using this name "I
AM"—I am the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 14:6); I am the good
shepherd; I am the door; I am the bread of life; I am the light of
the world. Each one of these statements, studied in context, reveals
that He was making claim after claim of absolute deity.
The biblical evidence for the deity of
Christ is conclusive. It is overwhelming, irrefutable evidence. In
fact, what we have covered here is only a representative sample. I
haven't even mentioned John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." That,
and many other similar passages could be adduced to prove even more
conclusively that according to Scripture, He is
God.
So much evidence cannot be swept aside
or ignored. You either believe it, or you condemn yourself to an
unthinkable eternity. In fact, Jesus said, "Unless you believe that
I am, you shall die in your sins" (Jn. 8:24). There Jesus holds
forth His "I am"—without a predicate—as the object of our faith.
He is very obviously setting Himself in the place of God, and He can
do that only because He is God. Those who know that Scripture
is the Word of God can only believe, and join in the worship of Him
at whose name every knee shall bow.
NOTES
Phil Johnson
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