BIBLE ANSWERS for Jehovah's Witnesses -- New Testament

BIBLE ANSWERS
FOR
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

New Testament
Romans though Revelation

David A. Reed

CONTENTS

Romans 10:2-3

Romans 10:9

Romans 10:11-13

1 Corinthians 11:24

1 Corinthians 15:23-28

1 Corinthians 15:45

Ephesians 1:3

Philippians 2:9-10

Colossians 1:16

1 Timothy 2:5

Hebrews 12:2

1 Peter 3:18

Revelation 1:1

Revelation 1:6

Revelation 3:12

Romans 10:2-3

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. (NIV).

A Jehovah's Witness may use this verse when attempting to start a "free home Bible study" with a potential convert who is already a religious person, perhaps even a Christian who knows the Lord Jesus Christ. "Your zeal for God is commendable," the JW may say, "but zeal alone is not enough. God requires that your zeal be based on accurate knowledge."

The relative ignorance of the Scriptures on the part of most people visited in their door-to-door work reinforces in sect members' minds the Watchtower Society's teaching that they are the only ones in possession of that required knowledge. When a householder is similarly impressed with the visiting "minister"'s apparent knowledge of the Bible, a regular weekly study is often started, and the JW begins teaching the new student not from the Bible but from the organization's textbook currently used as a primer. A pocket-size blue book titled The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life was employed when I began studying to become a Witness back in 1968. In 1982 this was replaced by a larger, colorfully illustrated volume, You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. Most recently, in the summer of 1995, Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life was released as a new primary study text.

The teacher generally conducts a study in a second book as well, before the new individual is considered ready for baptism as a full-fledged Witness. (The Watchtower recently announced in its January 15, 1996 issue a new speeded-up study program dispensing with the second book, but it remains to be seen whether this program will remain in effect.) Even after that, the process of studying and taking in knowledge continues for as long as the person remains actively involved with the sect. My wife and I tallied up our reading assignments after we left, and we found that between meetings and personal study we were expected to cover nearly three thousand pages of Watchtower publications during the prior twelve months. (For more information on these, please consult my book Jehovah's Witness Literature: A Critical Guide to Watchtower Publications.)

Bible-readers will recognize this as an anomaly for a group that claims to mirror the first century Church. There was no lengthy study program for the thousands baptized on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:5-41) The Ethiopian eunuch picked up hitchhiker Philip, heard him preach the gospel as they rode together, and parted company a baptized Christian. (Acts 8:26-39) The Gentile friends and relatives of Italian army officer Cornelius became spirit-filled believers so fast, their conversion took their houseguest Peter by surprise. (Acts 10:1-48)

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses offer a lengthy study program as the way of entry into the Church? Partly, because this dependence on an endless stream of printed materials creates a captive audience of consumers for the enormous Watchtower publishing empire, and partly because they fail to consider Romans 10:2 in its context. If they were to read even the next two verses they might come to recognize themselves as mirroring, not the first century Church, but rather unsaved Israelites of whom Paul there writes, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Romans 10:3-4 KJV).

How simple! Becoming a Christian is a simple matter of believing Christ--not a prolonged study of how to be a righteous person. In this regard Jehovah's Witnesses show themselves to be like those spoken of at 2 Timothy 3:7, "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."

Romans 10:9

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (NIV)

If Jehovah's Witnesses turn to this passage during a discussion with Christians, it will likely be to point out that "God raised" Jesus from the dead, from which fact the JWs will conclude that Jesus is not God. After all, how could Jesus raise himself from the dead? However, in making such an argument, the Witnesses ignore the fact that this is precisely what Jesus said he would do: raise up his own body from the dead. Even the JW New World Translation has Jesus saying, "I will raise it up," in reference to his own body. (John 2:19-21) This appears to be an impossibility from the Witness viewpoint, because their organization teaches that Jesus was unconscious and even nonexistent during the interval between his death and resurrection, and hence he depended on the Father to bring him back into existence. Christians, on the other hand, know that Christ's spirit did not pass out of existence when his body died, so he was able to do as he promised when he said, "I will raise it up."

See the discussions of John 10:17-18, Acts 2:24, 1 Corinthians 15:45, and 1 Peter 3:18.

Romans 10:11-13

As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (NIV)

The JW New World Translation boldly renders the last part of this passage, "For 'everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.'" See, you need to use the name Jehovah, a Witness will argue. Verse 13 here quotes from Joel 2:32 (numbered 3:5 in some versions) which does indeed use the Hebrew tetragrammaton YHWH rendered Yahweh or Jehovah. The JW eager to point this out may not realize, however, all the implications: namely, that the preceding verses in Romans had just highlighted the need to confess that Jesus is Lord (vs. 9) and pointed out that there is "the same Lord" over all, who blesses all who call on him, that is, who call "on the name of Jehovah," thus identifying Jesus with Jehovah--a thought abhorrent to JWs.

1 Corinthians 11:24

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. ( KJV)

The JW New World Translation says "this means my body" (emphasis added), so JWs will sometimes use this verse to refute the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. "See! Jesus did not say 'This is my body,'" they may tell their Catholic neighbors, "but rather 'This means my body.'" The problem, however, is that Christ really did say is rather than means. (He evidently said it in a symbolic sense, of course, because his body was still alive and whole when he identified the Passover bread with it hours before his death.)

The verse is cited here, not to argue for the Catholic interpretation, but rather to demonstrate the bias found in the JW version of the Bible. Protestants and Catholics alike are generally content to translate the verse literally and then interpret it, while Watchtower leaders change the verse itself to suit their purposes. Despite their claim that the New World Translation is "no paraphrase" but "as literal a translation as possible," they have taken such liberties throughout the Bible. ("Foreword" to the May 1, 1951, Second Edition) Some of these are discusse d in Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse, but they are outlined in greater detail in The Jehovah's Witnesses' New Testament by Robert Countess (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1982).

1 Corinthians 15:23-28

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.ŠNow when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (NIV)

Jehovah's Witnesses interpret this passage as denying the deity of Christ. However, that is an interpretation imposed from outside; it is not what Scripture says. The key point for the Witnesses is that the Son becomes "subject" to the Father--as if that also implied inferiority or being of a lower rank than the Father. But it does not. According to the Witnesses' own New World Translation, Jesus as a young man "continued subject" to Joseph and Mary. (Luke 2:51) This did not imply that he was of a lower life form than his human parents. No, the three of them were equal in their humanity, but Jesus respected the headship arrangement within the family, an arrangement whereby children are subject to parents and the husband is head of his wife. So, if Jesus could be subject to his parents yet equal to them in his humanity, he could likewise be subject to his heavenly Father while equal in deity.

See also the discussion of John 4:34 and the discussion of headship as it relates to 1 Corinthians 11:3 in Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse.

1 Corinthians 15:45

So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (NIV)

This is the favorite verse Jehovah's Witnesses use to deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, "the last Adam." They say that Scripture here says he became a "spirit." in the resurrection. "God disposed of Jesus' body," The Watchtower says (November 15, 1991, page 31), "dissolved" it "into its constituent elements or atoms." (September 1, 1953, page 518)

The Bible, on the other hand, offers the Easter morning empty tomb as evidence of Christ's resurrection, not as proof that his body was disposed of or dissolved. (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6) "He is not here; he has risen!" (Luke 24:6) It was the enemies of Christianity who imagined the "deception" that would occur if someone disposed of Christ's body and claimed he was resurrected. (Matthew 27:62-64 NIV)

Although he may have existed as a disembodied spirit during the days and nights while his body lay in the tomb, on the third day Christ did with "his body" what he had promised when he said, "in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19-21 New World Translation) Thus he was no longer a disembodied spirit when he appeared to the disciples and invited Thomas to feel the wounds in his body that had caused his death. (John 20:27) On another occasion when the disciples mistook the resurrected Christ for a spirit, he responded with an answer that should have laid the matter to rest for them and for future inquirers: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24:39 KJV)

See also the discussion of John 10:17-18, Acts 2:24, and 1 Peter 3:18.

Ephesians 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (NIV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (KJV)

If the Father is "the GodŠof our Lord Jesus Christ," then how can Jesus be God? Does God have a God? That is the argument Jehovah's Witnesses try to develop using this verse. To respond, see the discussion of John 20:17, above; also the section "Discussing Deity with Jehovah's Witnesses" at the end of this booklet.

Philippians 2:9-10

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (NIV)

"If Christ were God he would already occupy the highest place and would already possess the name that is above every name," a JW may argue, "so his being given these things by the Father proves he is not God." The problem, however, is that the JW has ignored the context. Even in the New World Translation verse 6 says that initially Christ "was existing in God's form." Certainly he could not be exalted higher than that. But then "he emptied himself and took a slave's form" according to verse 7, in which state he further "humbled himself" according to verse 8. So, it was from this lowered position that the Father could exalt him.

Colossians 1:16

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (KJV)

The JW New World Translation renders this differently, most notably inserting the bracketed expression "[other]": "because by means of him all [other] things were createdŠAll [other] things have been created through him and for him."

Clearly Jehovah's Witnesses want to avoid admitting that Christ made all things because "he that built all things is God." (Hebrews 3:4 KJV) The sect teaches instead that Christ was "the only one who was directly created by God" and that he then "shared with Jehovah in creating all other things." (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, page 58) In this view, Christ is not God the Creator, but merely the first angel created--"The foremost angelŠJesus Christ, also called Michael." (The Watchtower November 1, 1995, page 8)

However, did God really create only one angel by himself and then use this angel to create all "other" things? No! God testifies that he himself created the heavens and the earth, "alone," "by myself." Scripture makes it plain: "Thus saith the LORDŠI am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." (Isa 44:24 KJV)

So, the Bible reveals that all things were created by the Son, that the Holy Spirit was present at creation (Genesis 1:2), and that the LORD (Jehovah) was there "alone." This makes sense only if Father, Son and Holy Spirit together comprise the one true God.

See also the discussion of Proverbs 8:22-31 and Isaiah 44:24.

1 Timothy 2:5

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (KJV)

"A mediator between two parties stands in the middle between them and cannot be one of the parties," a Witness may argue, "so if Christ is the mediator between God and man he cannot be God." If that JW argument were true, however, Christ could not be man, either. Yet the scripture calls him the man Christ Jesus. We can agree that in most cases a mediator between two parties is not also one of the parties, but this case is different. The Witnesses' own New World Translation reveals that Christ started out "in God's form" but then "took a slave's formŠthe likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7) So, while most mediators can stand in the middle between parties because they are not on either side, Christ can stand in the middle because he is on both sides, by virtue of being both God and man.

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shameŠ. (NIV)

The Jehovah's Witness claim that Christ died on an upright stake without a crossbeam, rather than on the traditional cross, is addressed in the discussion of John 20:25 in Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse and in Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Subject by Subject. However, JWs use the thought expressed in Hebrews 12:2 to argue against the Christian use of the cross in architecture and artwork as a symbol representing Christ or Christianity. Their argument is that the instrument used to kill Jesus was a shameful thing--something too repulsive to use as an ornament on book covers or church buildings:

How would you feel if one of your dearest friends was executed on false charges? Would you make a replica of the instrument of execution, say a hangman's noose or an electric chair?Š
To the Jews and the Romans the manner in which Jesus died was humiliating and shameful. He was executed like a criminal of the lowest sortŠ His death therefore misrepresented him in the worst way possible. To Christians the instrument of execution itself would therefore have been something very repulsiveŠ
Hence, if we desire God's approval, should we not shun the cross, obeying God's command, 'Flee from idolatry'?Š
--Awake! magazine, November 8, 1972, pages 27-28

Certainly persons who bow down before a golden cross have converted it into an idol, but what of the majority of Christians who simply use the cross as a symbol of Christianity? Is that wrong? Should we view the cross as something repulsive to be shunned?

The Apostle Paul didn't view it that way. He said that he would "gloryŠin the cross." (Galatians 6:14 KJV) The gospel he brought to the nations was "the preaching of the cross" or &Q UOT;the message of the cross." He summed up his entire message as, "we preach Christ crucified." (1 Corinthians 1:18, 21-23 KJV, NIV). We have no evidence as to whether or not Paul ever used a drawn or painted cross on paper as a symbol of Christianity, but he certainly used it here as a word-picture in his writing.

Similarly, Christ himself spoke symbolically of believers as those who would take up their cross and follow him. (Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 4:27)

Watchtower leaders who shun as repulsive the instrument on which Christ died ought to re-examine themselves and their teachings, lest they end up among those Paul spoke of symbolically as "enemies of the cross of Christ." (Philippians 3:18)

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (KJV)

The JW New World Translation has Christ "being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit." (A few other translations also render it this way.) The Watchtower Society interprets in the spirit as meaning, "At his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was brought forth with a spirit body," not the body that died on the cross. (Reasoning from the Scriptures, page 334) Thus the sect denies the bodily resurrection of Christ.

According to The Watchtower, the body that died on the cross "was disposed of by Jehovah God, dissolved into its constituent elements or atoms." (September 1, 1953, page 518) "God disposed of Jesus' body, not allowing it to see corruption and thus preventing its becoming a stumbling block to faith." (November 15, 1991, page 31) "Having given up his flesh for the life of the world, Christ could never take it again and become a man once more." (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, page 143) That would mean taking back what he gave up in sacrifice, Witnesses explain.

Is that what Christ himself taught? Far from it! Jesus said, "I lay down my life for the sheep. ŠI lay down my life--only to take it up again. Š I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." (John 10:14-18 NIV) Would his body be disposed of? No! Speaking specifically about "his body," Jesus said, "I will raise it up." (John 2:19-21 RSV) Even the JW New World Translation at John 2:19 has Jesus saying, "I will raise it up."

On one occasion the disciples mistakenly thought the resurrected Christ was "a spirit," but he responded, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; feel me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you behold that I have." (Luke 24:37-39 New World Translation)

See also the discussion of John 10:17-18, Acts 2:24, and 1 Corinthians 15:45.

Revelation 1:1

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave himŠ (NIV)

How can Jesus be God, since he "received" the revelation from the Father? The point at issue here again concerns knowledge. Does Jesus' choosing not to know the information in the revelation until the Father gave it to him show that the Son is not God? If a JW argues that it does, ask him to open his own New World Translation of the Bible and read Genesis 18:20-21, "ŠJehovah saidŠI am quite determined to go down that I may see whether they act altogether according to the outcry over it that has come to me, and, if not, I can get to know it." If the Father can be God and yet choose to receive certain information from others, so can the Son.

Also, at John 16:15 Jesus says, "All things that the Father has are mine." (NW) "All things" would obviously include all knowledge that the Father has. Indeed, the New Testament makes plain that, like the Father, Jesus too knows "all things." (John 16:30; 21:17)

See also the discussion of Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32.

Revelation 1:6

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Rev 1:6, KJV).

and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (Rev 1:6, NIV).

Jehovah's Witnesses use this verse to argue that Jesus cannot be God because "his God" is the Father. However, this expression merely conforms to Jesus' own use of the expression "my God". See the discussion of John 20:17; also the section "Discussing Deity with Jehovah's Witnesses" at the end of this booklet.

Revelation 3:12

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will wr ite upon him my new name. (KJV)

Please see the discussion of John 20:17, above; also the section "Discussing Deity with Jehovah's Witnesses," below.

Discussing Deity

with Jehovah's Witnesses

JWs eventually need to face up to what Scripture says about God, and Christians need to defend the faith. However, progress with a JW does not usually begin with theological discussions.

I wrote Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse, and now this additional supplementary booklet, to help Christians respond to JW misinterpretations. However, the first step that is usually necessary to help a JW is to shake his faith in the organization, using the organization's own materials. You may find assistance in doing this in my second book, How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watchtower. It outlines strategies and techniques that have proved successful.

In most cases you could go on endlessly discussing scriptures and doctrines with a JW, without converting him or causing him to leave the Watchtower organization. Logically persuasive arguments do not persuade the JW, for the reasons outlined in How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watchtower relating to "brainwashing" or mind control. The organization's stranglehold on the individual's mind must first be broken before effective teaching can be done from the Bible. (Most Christians I meet find this very difficult to believe. In fact, most refuse to believe it and persist in discussing theology anyway, with no results.) It usually takes a lot of solid evidence of false prophecies, back-and-forth doctrinal flip-flops, and outright deception on the part of the Watchtower Society before a JW can even begin to think about Scripture and what it really says. But there are only certain ways that this information about the organization can be presented without causing the JW to fearfully terminate the discussions immediately. How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watchtower offers suggestions as to what to do and what to avoid. It also explains in detail what sort of discussions must usually come FIRST before trying to go into Scripture with a JW. Until the Watchtower mind control is broken, you can play Bible verse ping pong with them for months or years and get nowhere.

When discussing deity with a Jehovah's Witness our aim should be to prove the Watchtower's theological arguments wrong. It is not yet necessary--or even wise--to try to teach orthodox theology at this early stage to the person who is still a JW. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV) Theology can come later.

We should also avoid getting too tangled up in human logic. Our limited logic prevents us from understanding everything about God; as Paul wrote, we see "through a glass, darkly" or "in hazy outline by means of a metal mirror." (1 Cor. 13:12 KJV, NW) For example, suppose someone argues that God is actually a limited being, and tries to prove this erroneous doctrine by leading us through a series of questions:

"Can God do anything he wants to?"

We answer Yes.

"Can God think of anything he wants to?"

Yes, of course.

"Well, then, can God think of something he cannot do?"

A yes answer seems wrong, but so does a no answer. While we puzzle over it, our friend answers for us:

"If not, then there is something God cannot think of. But, if yes, then there is something God cannot do. So, either way, He is limited," our questioner may conclude.

But God is not limited. It is our human logic that is limited.

Our logic cannot fully enclose God, so sometimes we come up with apparent contradictions, such as this one. Our logic has problems when we try to comprehend infinite things, such as unending time, past and future, and unbounded space. God is infinite too, and so beyond our full comprehension.

Of course, JW's cannot fully comprehend God either. But they pretend to have all the answers. If our proving them wrong humbles them, perhaps they will see the difference between knowing God personally and learning a lot of facts about him. Jesus alluded to the difference when he said to certain stubborn people, "You study the scriptures diligently supposing that in having them you have eternal life; yet, although their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life." (John 5:39-40 New English Bible)

If your knowledge of God has been limited to studying "facts" about him, now is the time to progress beyond that by coming to know him personally. Accept Jesus' invitation:

"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me." (Matt. 11:28-29 Today's English Version) He promises, "I will never turn away anyone who co mes to me." (John 6:37 Today's English Version)

For MORE verse-by-verse answers to Jehovah's Witnesses, see Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse by David A. Reed (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House) 1986, ISBN 0-8010-7739-7.