Skip to main content

The Trinity/Binity, Part 3: What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe About God And Jesus?

As a result of careful study by the early Bible Students in the 19th century, Jehovah’s Witnesses, as the Bible Students became known in 1931, believe that the Scriptures contain all the means of learning the truth essential to salvation. (Joh 18:37 [pa|in]; 1Ti 2:3-6 [pa|in]; 2Ti 3:16-17 [pa|in]) As such, they learned from the Scriptures alone that Jesus is not God, but has a divine origin in heaven, a created being, having been known as "the power of God and the wisdom of God", (Pr 8:12 [pa|in]; 22-31 [pa|in]; 1Co 1:24 [pa|in]) through whom God made all things (Joh 1:3 [pa|in]; Col 1:15, 16 [pa|in]). We believe that he served the only true God, Jehovah (Ex 3:15 [pa|in]; Joh 17:3 [pa|in]) as the archangel Michael. (See the heading Evidence that Jesus Is the Archangel below.) He "emptied himself", (Php 2:5-7 [pa|in]) abdicating all his power and authority as an archangel, and God set that one’s consciousness into the womb of a human Jewess named Mary as a human infant whom God named Jesus. (Php 2:7 [pa|in]; Lu 1:35 [pa|in]) No longer was he a heavenly being, and did not remember his position in heaven until his memory of the heavens was opened up to him at his baptism. (Mt 3:16, 17 [pa|in]) He never once claimed to be God.

The perfect man, Jesus, gave his life as a ransom for imperfect humanity who could do nothing to buy back perfection. (1Pe 2:24 [pa|in]) After his death, God resurrected Jesus, conquering death for all who put faith in him, (Joh 11:25 [pa|in]) and he was once again made into a heavenly spirit being. At that time he was granted all authority over heaven where he was installed as king. (Mt 27:45-50 [pa|in]; 28:17, 18 [pa|in]) And when he has accomplished the entire plan laid out in the Scriptures, he will hand the kingship back to Jehovah, once again making Jehovah, alone, ruler of all things. (1 Co 15:28 [pa|in])

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God nor "a god" in the sense that they belong to a pantheon as some try to accuse us. But Jesus is merely God’s judge and representative just as Moses was, (Ex 4:15, 16 [pa|in]; Ps 82:1-8 [pa|in]) but in a greater sense, having become heir to the kingdom of God in order that he might subject all things to the only true God, his Father, and the Father of the heavenly adopted holy ones, Jehovah. (Joh 20:17 [pa|in]; Heb 1:2 [pa|in])


Return to the beginning of the Salvation vs. the Trinity/Binity series

Go back to: Part 2: A Brief History of the Trinity and Binity

Go to: Part 4: How the Trinity/Binity Affects the Salvation Message

Comments

Robert Murphey said…
[Originally posted October 26, 2016 at 6:12 PM]

And the truth that we've come to know about Jehovah and Jesus came well before the New World Translation was produced, well before. Jehovah's spirit obviously guided the Bible Students, and individuals before them, who were seeking truth and as a result, saw through the Trinity falsehood.(Matt 20:28)

Truth is available to those who want it, but sadly, many would rather stay in darkness for convenience sake. (Matt 7::13-14)

Popular Posts

The Trinity/Binity, Part 15: Definitive Proof That Holy Spirit Is Not a Distinct Personage

Missing Where It Would Be Expected The holy spirit lacks any significant mention in relationship with Jesus' and the Father. At  Matthew 24:36   [ pa | in ]  Jesus said, "Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father." Where is the mention of the holy spirit here? Nobody else knows the day and hour, but "only the Father", and it mentions the Son, but why did Jesus not specify the holy spirit? Does it know or does it not? Well, nobody knows but the Father. Thus, only the Father is God. Holy spirit does not appear as a personage on or near the throne of God along with the lamb in heaven in the Revelation. ( Revelation 5:6 , 13   [ pa | in ] ; 6:16   [ pa | in ] ; 7:9, 10   [ pa | in ] , 17   [ pa | in ] ; 22:1   [ pa | in ] ) In fact, at Acts 7:55-56   [ pa | in ] , Stephen also observed Jesus at God's right hand, but again, no third figure. All he saw was Jesus sitting at th...

Non-thinking, Part 4: Deep Research Takes Effort

Updated on August 29, 2022 This information is vital to letting the Scriptures interpret themselves. If you ignore the following counsel, you  will  be misled. Read Your Bible Daily If "nature" was all that we needed, God would not have provided the Scriptures, nor the sacrifice of his Son. Not one word in the Bible is without purpose. So read your Bible  daily . ( Ps 1:1-3   [ pa | in ] )  Do not  neglect your Bible reading. Do not read with a preexisting bias. Get familiar with the accounts in the Bible. Read the accounts, read about the accounts. Study, research, meditate. Identify the subject under discussion and the point being made. Consider various viewpoints. This is not obsession, but is the means by which you can gain the knowledge to live the life God wants for us and the foundation upon which you can seek and find the one and only truth. Confusion Comes from Indoctrination Colossians 2:8 warns: "Look out that no one takes you captive...

Hellfire and the Underworld

Fear of punishment in an afterlife has haunted the dreams of mankind for millennia. Many ideas about this punishment have been put forth by various religions. But it might surprise you to know that the fear of the dark underworld where souls undergo judicial punishment by fire did not begin with Abrahamic religions, but from other religions and national groups. The fact that the earth's core is molten is indeed associated with the destruction in the lake of fire with  Deuteronomy 32:22 , but that is merely an illustration of its destructiveness. (See DOES DEUTERONOMY 32:22 BURNING ALIVE IN HELLFIRE? below.) However, unlike the Trinity, or inherent immortality of the soul, it is understandable how hellfire could be read into the Scriptures given all the references to souls being tossed into the fire and certain entities being "tormented". In fact,  Luke 16:19-31  and  Revelation 14:9-11  understandably seem to provide a very clear representation...