The Incomprehensibility of God
We should first understand the doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God. God cannot be understood absolutely exhaustively. A comprehensive ability to understand God is restricted by our finite minds. God is the infinite being and we are finite beings. Since we are finite beings, is it possible to understand things about God? Of course we can. But how does the finite understand the infinite? The doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God seems to suggest the implication that the finite have no way of understanding the infinite. This is hardly the case. To suggest this is to out-rightly misunderstand this essential doctrine of the Christian faith. This doctrine of God’s incomprehensibility does not mean we know nothing about Him. Our knowledge of God is limited yet sufficient as revealed in God’s Holy Word. But the doctrine of the Trinity is called mysterious and unexplainable. The doctrine of the Trinity is indeed a true mystery but it is not unexplainable.[i] This balanced approach helps to identify true Christians. They do not hide God’s identity behind a mask of namelessness or behind a mysterious, unexplainable Trinity doctrine. Unknown gods are characteristic of false religion, not of the true (See Acts 17:22-23). Jehovah’s anointed Witnesses truly appreciate the privilege of being “stewards of sacred secrets of God.” (Watchtower, June 1, 1997, p. 12).
The “unexplainability” of the Blessed Trinity rests not with Trinitarians but with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They simply fail at the attempt of any meaningful exegesis about the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. It is without contradiction that Trinitarians maintain and defend their position. God has not left us without any scriptural and historical basis for the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. Therefore, Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot say the Trinity is unexplainable and for whatever reason contradictory. The fact is, the Trinity is not unexplainable, but rather, the biblical presentation is misrepresented and rejected.
The depths and riches of the mysteriousness of God can be understood at a child’s level of comprehension. Brilliant minds may occupy the simplest Christian truth and realize its profundity. Christian theologians understand how to explain the Most Holy Trinity. Yet Christian theologians never rise above the comprehension and understanding of the complexity of the mysteries of God Himself. We are not expected to. Jehovah’s Witnesses have misrepresented the Trinity within their own literature. They reject the Trinity because “there is one true God.” If the Trinity is rejected, what then is left for Jehovah’s Witnesses? The most elementary explanation of the Trinity from the Holy Scriptures is, God is one in essence, unity or being but God is revealed in Three Persons; God is true. Who and what then, are Jehovah’s Witnesses worshipping? Is it true that God’s name, that being, Jehovah of Trinitarians is not honored as precious? Certainly not!
“Even in Christendom the majority do nothing to honor God’s precious name. Many have Jehovah hopelessly confused with two other identities in an unexplainable Trinity dogma.” (Watchtower, December 15, 1997, p. 20-21).
How can Trinitarians have a valuable experience in communicating the Trinity if the Jehovah’s Witness understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity are flawed? Jehovah’s Witnesses attempt to refute the Trinity but fail to accurately present what Trinitarians truly profess. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim the Father “is apart of a Trinity.”[ii]
“Why is there a need to come to Jehovah’s defense? Today, our God Jehovah is blasphemed in ever so many ways. It is claimed that he does not exist, that he is part of a Trinity, that he torments people eternally in a burning hell, that he weakly is trying to convert the world, that he does not care about mankind, and so forth.” (Watchtower, March 15, 1996), p. 16). Jehovah’s Witnesses’ literature continues to misrepresent the Trinity: “It is interesting, however, that the three main religions mentioned earlier, although they disagree about many things, all agree on one point: there is only one God. True, Christendom confesses this with her doctrine of the Trinity, teaching that there is one God made up of three persons. But the Bible…does not teach the Trinity. The Bible teaches the oneness of God.” (1983 Submission, Booklet, p. 14).
The Father is not part of the Trinity. The Father is the one true God, the Son is the one true God, and the Holy Spirit is the one true God. There are neither three gods nor three lords but one God in essence revealed in three distinct persons. To believe in the Trinity is not to dishonor God. Rather, to disbelieve the Trinity is to dishonor and offend God Himself. Without the Holy Trinity, there is no creation, salvation and purpose. Jehovah’s Witness literature claims the Trinity is a “Babylonish mystery.” (Watchtower, April 15, 1996, pg. 21). The Most Holy Trinity is most certainly misrepresented as a “Babylonish mystery.” Holy Writ speaks of the Trinitarian nature of God, clearly revealing God as one in being but three distinct persons. This precious truth is astonishingly and explicitly missed in Jehovah’s Witness theology.
The Holy Trinity
The teaching of the Trinity is revealed in Holy Writ. The Trinity is explicitly clear at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16-17), of Christ’s testimony (John 14:26; 15:26), the apostolic benediction (Second Corinthians 13:14), apostolic instruction (Galatians 4:4-6) and a Trinitarian understanding by the apostle Paul (Ephesians 4:4-7). The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is stated as being from “pagan imagination.” Furthermore those in the WTO bluntly state the doctrine of the Trinity as being false and “promulgated” by Satan for the reason of defaming the name of Jehovah. The WTO concludes, “The obvious conclusion therefore is that Satan is the originator of the “trinity doctrine.” (Let God Be True (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1946 ed.), p. 82.) We have already seen Scriptural support for the teaching of the Trinity, and, therefore, their allegation regarding this; is simply not true. The Trinitarian belief of early Christians held to a devotion to the monotheism of the Old Testament. The WTO continues to equip their members with the notion: “The plain truth is that this is another of Satan’s attempts to keep God-fearing persons from learning the truth of Jehovah and his Son Christ Jesus. No, there is no Trinity.” (Let God Be True (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1946 ed.), p. 111).
The Jehovah’s Witness concept of Jehovah is the view of Unitarianism. This belief states that Jehovah is a single person or merely one person, namely God the Father. The assumption is that Jehovah doesn’t refer to the being of God: namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Jehovah’s Witness theology wrongly assumes Unitarianism. Unfortunately Christian people have wrong ideas about God concerning the nature of God. In our day there is a leaning towards Unitarianism. Sometimes when we think of Jehovah, people think of Him as referring to a singular individual. We seem to want to see God as a singular person. It is wrongly assumed that Jehovah could not refer to three distinct persons. The wrong assumption is that Jehovah is Unitarian not Trinitarian. Jehovah does not refer to one particular person but rather three persons. Christians know Jehovah refers to the one true being of God. As Reformed thinkers teach, Christians rightly believe there are three persons within the Godhead. The one true being of God refers to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The three persons share the one eternal, unchangeable and infinite being of God. The one being of God is shared by three persons. There is a rightful distinction between the words being and person. The being of God is what makes Him who He is. The persons are self-conscious, in relationship with one to another. God the Father loves God the Son; God the Son loves God the Father; God the Father and the Son love God the Spirit. The Father sent His Son in the person of Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, His beloved church and convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. God the Father is not God the Son; God the Son is not God the Father; God the Father is not God the Holy Spirit; God the Son is not God the Holy Spirit. Once again there is a distinction between the terms person and being. The being of God is rightly stated as referring to Jehovah. When the Scripture refers to Jesus and the Father as one, it rightly refers to the same substance of the Father and the Son (Isaiah 9:6; John 10:30). That is, both the Father and the Son are divine. The word being is appropriately described as the name Yahweh in Hebrew or Jehovah in English. In Scripture Jehovah refers to the being of God and not a single person. Once again the being of God refers to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, three divine persons in one Godhead; one in essence, three in person. Indeed, there are not three gods or three lords but one true God. Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity is a biblical and essential truth of the Christian faith. It deals with the very nature of God without which no man can be saved for it is the Triune God Who saves men.
Jehovah’s Witness doctrine of God strongly objects to the doctrine of the Trinity. It’s claimed the early Christian church knew completely nothing of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is thought to be pagan in origin and driven by Satan for the goal of hindering God. It’s claimed by the WTO that doctrine of the Trinity was not brought about by Jesus and the early Christians. (Let God Be True (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1946 ed.), p. 111). But what of the testimony of His disciples? Christ Himself taught, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (John 13:20 NKJV). Did His elect disciples truly follow Him? Certainly! If they followed Him, they obeyed Him, and taught what Jesus commanded, and being approved by Christ Himself, God ordained His writers of Scripture to write even those things about the nature of Jesus Himself. For John the apostle wrote, “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 were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3 NKJV). The Son is from everlasting to everlasting. The Son created, which is a divine ability, surely not of any exalted angel. The angels praised God when He created, but not in any way did God’s holy angels create as God did. He is, indeed, Lord and God (John 20:28), He forgave sins and heals (Mark 2:1-12), He is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), He has the fullness of divinity (Colossians 1:19), God calls Him Lord (Philippians 2:9-11), and He is surely the Lord of glory (James 2:1). Thus, Jesus Himself in the Great Commission proclaimed, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 NKJV).
The Athanasian Creed
We ought to consider the teaching found in the ancient Christian creeds of the Christian church. The teaching in the Athanasian Creed explains the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. This creed is not equal to divine Scripture rather it is a subordinate summary of God’s truth derived from God’s most Holy Word. The Witnesses do not accept the creeds, but if it is understood that the creeds are taken out of the explicit meaning of divine Scripture, the biblical understanding of it must be accepted. The creeds are a body of divine truth which speaks to and reflects the clearness of what the divine Word teaches. Therefore, we must accept the creeds to rightfully comprehend what Scripture teaches.
Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the Father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity. But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood. Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ; one however not by conversion of the Godhead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God; one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.
The God of Holy Scripture is one God. He is revealed in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the Blessed and Holy Trinity. The Trinity is worshipped in unity. The Trinity is worshipped without confusing the persons. The Trinity is worshipped without parting the substance of God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-equal in glory and majesty in unity.
The Father is not created, the Son is not created and the Holy Spirit is not created. The Father is never-ending, the Son is never-ending and the Holy Spirit is never-ending. The Father is from everlasting to everlasting, the Son is from everlasting to everlasting and the Holy Spirit is from everlasting to everlasting. There is one everlasting, uncreated and never-ending being of God. The Father is divine, the Son is divine and the Holy Spirit is divine. The Father is the First Person of the Trinity, the Son is the Second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity.
The Father is not created nor begotten. The Son is from the Father, never made, nor created. He is from the Father in eternality but begotten. Jesus Christ is the eternal only-begotten Son of God; He was born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit is not created nor begotten but proceeds from the Father and the Son. There is one Father, one Incarnate Son and one Holy Spirit. The three members of the Trinity are equal in regards to their divinity. It is essential to know the Father who sent the Son.
The Trinity is not only omnipotent (Psalm 115:3), omnipresent (First Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23-24), self-existent (Psalm 90:2; Acts 17:22-31), omniscient (Psalm 147:5; Ezekiel 11:5), and incomprehensible (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-36) but also holy (First Samuel 2:2; Revelation 4:1-11), good (Psalm 25:8-10; James 1:17) and just (Nehemiah 9:32-33; Romans 9:14-33).
Christians hold to the truth of Scripture by saying: there is one Lord, one God, one Almighty and one uncreated, eternal and immutable Yahweh, which is clearly revealed in three unique persons in one true being. When Christians say that the Father is the First Person of the Trinity, the Son is the Second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, this is referring to the theological phrase called the order of being. When this is said, we do not mean that since the Father is identified as the First Person of the Trinity that He is somehow greater in His deity than the Second Person or Third Person of the Trinity.
Likewise, the Second Person of the Trinity is not somehow greater in deity than the Third Person of the Trinity, because of the Third Person’s identification within the order of being. And the Third Person of the Trinity is not lesser in any way to the First or Second Person of the Trinity, because of His title in the order of being. The Father is seen as the Creator, while the Son is seen as the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier. The Father isn’t the Son, the Son isn’t the Father, and the Holy Spirit isn’t the Father or the Son. However, the Father and the Son are of the same substance. The three persons are unique and have distinctions in their external operations from one another. There is but one eternal and everlasting Creator whom Christians worship.
Herman Bavinck author of The Doctrine of God wrote concerning the unambiguousness in Holy Scripture of the doctrine and teaching of the Blessed Trinity:
…the N. T. revelation concerning the Trinity not only links itself to the O. T. but surpasses it. The fact that the God of the covenant is triune, and that salvation itself rests upon a threefold principle. This Trinitarian revelation is not limited to a few texts; the entire N. T. is Trinitarian in character. God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the source of all blessing, comfort, and salvation. Christ’s birth and baptism reveal the trinity, Matthew 1:18 ff; Luke 1:35; Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22. Christ’s teaching is Trinitarian throughout. He declares unto us the Father, whom he describes as a Spirit who has life in himself, John 4:24; 5:26; and who is in a very special sense his Father, Matthew 11:27; John 2:16; 5:18. Though Christ and the Father are distinct, nevertheless the former is the only begotten and beloved Son of the Father, Matthew 11:27; 21:37-39; John 3:16; etc. equal to him in glory, life and power, John 1:14; 5:26; 10:30. And the Holy Spirit who leads Christ and qualifies him for his task, Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1, 14; John 3:34; is called another Comforter (Paraclete) whom the Son will send from the Father, John 15:26; and who will convict, teach, guide into all truth, and remain forever, John 16:7 ff; 14:16. (Herman Bavinck. The Doctrine of God, trans. William Hendriksen (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), pp. 264-265).
We must make careful distinctions of the three persons in the Trinity which implies different operations to each distinct person, yet the works of God in salvation are seen in the totality of Scripture as Trinitarian in nature (i.e., the work of creation and salvation). The distinctions of the persons in the being of God (namely Jehovah) are essential, for if one denies the distinctions of the persons in the Godhead, one falls into the heretical view of Modalism, which denies the distinctions of the unique characteristics and attributes identified to the persons in the being of God (Jehovah). Sometimes Jehovah’s Witness literature will cite Modalism as if it represents what Trinitarians believe. It is not honest to cite Modalism as if it is some form of Trinitarianism. But it would be honest to explain the vast eternal difference between Modalism and Trinitarianism on a consistent basis. Modalism is not orthodoxy theology but Trinitarianism is orthodox doctrine. To cite it as if it is some form of Trinitarianism shows it is to purposefully cause confusion. It is unnecessary, therefore, to muddle the issue and cause confusion in the minds of the readers. I challenge the WTO to be consistent in their presentation as a whole in their materials in the presentation of what Trinitarians actually believe. It is not consistent to present straw man presentations in one part and what Trinitarians actually believe in another. If you wish to write on the issue, be wholly consistent to present the truth of the matter. To present different explanations and different theologies as if it were one consistent theology is merely an unjust tactic that attempts to pollute the minds of unsuspecting individuals. Christians believe the Trinity not the God of Modalism or Tritheism. Tritheism asserts that there are three beings or parts that make up God which Trinitarians out rightly reject.
The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter II, entitled Of God and of the Holy Trinity, a subordinate standard to Holy Writ, summarizes, explains and reflects the Scriptural doctrine of the ontological Holy Trinity:
The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and he hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth; in his sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain; He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever he is further pleased to require of them.
In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him.
The Fathers on the Trinity
The early Church Fathers believed in the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ (the Second Person of the Trinity) based on Holy Scripture. Here is a sample of what they believed:
Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 315-403) on the Trinity: “Thus the sacred scriptures have everywhere plainly declared that God is one—that is, a co-essential Trinity, forever of the same Godhead, the same dominion. (Frank Williams, trans. The Panarion of Epiphanus of Salamis: Books II and III (Sections 47-80, De Fide) Section IV, 57. Against Noetians, 4, 11 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994), p. 93.)
Augustine (354-430) on the Trinity: “…Here then we have the Trinity in a certain sort distinguished. The Father in the Voice, the Son in the Man, the Holy Spirit in the Dove. It was only needful just to mention this, for most obvious is it to see. For the notice of the Trinity is here conveyed to us plainly and without leaving room for doubt or hesitation.” (Thomas C. Oden. Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture New Testament Ia, Matthew 1-13 (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2001), p. 54.)
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-394) wrote concerning Philippians 2:6: “He did not say “having a nature like that of God,” as would be said of [a man] who was made in the image of God. Rather Paul says being in the very form of God. All that is in the Father is in the Son.” (Mark J. Edwards., Ed. Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 237).
Athanasius (c. 295-373; fl. 325-373) wrote concerning Philippians 2:6:
What clearer and more decisive proof could there be than this? He did not become better from assuming a lower state but rather, being God, he took the form of a slave…If [as the Arians think] it was for the sake of this exaltation that the Word came down and that this is written, what need would there be for him to humble himself completely in order to seek what he already had? (Mark J. Edwards., Ed. Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 238).
Augustine (354-430) wrote concerning Philippians 2:6: “God, who is eternally wise has with him his eternal Wisdom [the Son]. He is not in any way unequal to the Father. He is not in any respect inferior. For the apostle too says who, when he was in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God.” (Mark J. Edwards., Ed. Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 239).
Marius Victorinus (b.c. 280/285; fl. c. 355-363) wrote concerning Philippians 2:6:
What does this mean—being equal to God? It means that he [the Son] is of the very same power and substance [as the Father]…It is in this sense therefore that Christ was equal to God. Note that Paul did not say Christ was “similar to God,” for that would imply that Christ possessed some accidental likeness to the substance of God but not that he was substantially equal...Thus Christ is the form of God. The form of God is the substance of God. The form and image of God is the Word. The Word is forever with God. The Word is on one substance with the Father, with whom from the beginning it remains forever the Word. (Mark J. Edwards., Ed. Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 239).
The Bible and the Deity of Christ
The Bible clearly teaches the deity of Christ (Revelation1). Jehovah’s Witness Christology (JWC hereafter) teaches that Jesus was merely super human but not Jehovah God and “not the Supreme God Almighty in the flesh.” (Let God Be True, Edition 1946, p. 81). The JWC asserts that Jesus was not fully God and fully man (that is, they deny the hypostatic union of the Lord Jesus Christ). The Jehovah’s Witnesses identify this as merely a theological theory. They embrace a false understanding of the Incarnation. They easily interpret Jesus as being “part God and part man.” (The Harp of God, J.F. Rutherford, pp. 101, 128) but Jesus is not part God and part man. Such a comprehension is not from biblical Christianity but rather an explicit straw man and an utter misrepresentation of Who Jesus Christ truly is.
Jesus said of Himself; “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:7 NKJV), and the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission; “all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45 NKJV). Jesus freely offered up His life (John 10:15-18) as a ransom (First Timothy 2:6) for many (Mark 10:45) as the sufficient Mediator (First Timothy 2:5) being the God-man (John 1:14). Therefore, Jesus was and is the divine Son of God Who the Father sent into the world to accomplish His will in offering of Himself on the dreadful cross to God the Father as the perfect ransom for God’s people, and Jesus was approved by God the Holy Ghost. JWC observes the biblical notion of the two natures of Christ as more than the “law required.” For this alleged reason, “divine justice could not accept such a ransom.” (The Harp of God, pp. 101, 128).
The God of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is not the Son of the Holy Scriptures, for the Jesus of Holy Writ is the Incarnate I AM: “I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24 NASB). Belief in the Father and the Son is necessary for eternal life: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3 NKJV). The Jehovah’s Witness sources continue to state that Jesus was merely “a god” but definitely “not Almighty God, who is Jehovah.” (Let God Be True, 1952 ed., pp.33). This doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses of Jesus as being merely “a god” clearly creates a blatant contradiction concerning scriptural monotheism since there is but one God (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, (New York: Watchtower Bible And Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 1984), p. 1327). The committed acknowledgment in belief of other gods besides the one true living God is heretical.
The Holy Spirit Who inspired all of Scripture, John the apostle, wrote: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 NKJV) for the Word was Jesus, the Incarnate Christ, Who was complete in grace and truth (John 1:16-17 NKJV). The Son of God is exalted above angels (Hebrews 1:5) worshipped by angels (Hebrews 1:6) and He is addressed by the Father as God (Hebrews 1:8; Psalm 45:6-7) and has a divine position of power (Hebrews 1:13). If the Son is worshipped by the very angels whom He created, and worshipped by His Heavenly Father, it is unmistakably clear; Jesus is the Almighty God in human flesh not an exalted angel. JWC teaches that Jesus is declared to be “Michael the archangel who became a man.” (Watchtower, May 15, 1969, p. 307). According to their theology, Michael gave up his spirit form to become human to die for the sins of the world. When Michael was conceived, they teach, it was not identified as the Incarnation. Rather, they emphasize Jesus as the perfect human creature. Therefore, in JWC Jesus is merely a god but not Incarnate Divinity. There is no sound hermeneutic which brings people to this interpretation. The ultimate purpose of a sound hermeneutic is to arrive at the author’s intended meaning out of the text not the interpreter’s preconceived intended meaning into the text to arrive at the fallacious interpreter’s meaning of the text. Colossians 1:15 indicates Paul’s beginning doxology; the hymn of the divine supremacy of Jesus Christ over all creation. The translation of other things is used to construct interpretations of eisegesis rather then an interpretation of exegesis. Holy Scripture speaks contrary to JWC, for it states, “…All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16 NKJV). JWC teaches that Jesus is a created being, Michael the archangel, and through Him, all “other things” were created (New World Translation of the Holy Scripture, p. 1469). But all things were made by the Son, through the Son and for the Son. The Son is before all things. In the Son all things consist. The Son is all-powerful as the Father is. If all things were made by Jesus, through Jesus, for Jesus and Jesus is before all things and in Jesus all things consist, who then is this Jesus? Surely not a created angel of any kind! Jesus of Nazareth is God Incarnate. He was not created. He did not have a beginning as an angel. He exists from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus had a beginning in Bethlehem but this was because He entered humanity as Jehovah God (John 1:14). Jesus has two natures: human and divine. Divinely speaking, Jesus existed before His birth in Bethlehem. Humanly speaking, Jesus had a beginning as He entered time and space.
The only passages which are used to support their alleged claim of Jesus’ identity are passages of Holy Scripture which merely appear to state that Jesus is substandard to the Father; none of these passages of Holy Writ support their impotent teachings and final conclusions. In reality these passages do not in anyway convey what the Jehovah’s Witness theological proposition states, but instead supports the Incarnation of biblical Christianity. The passages which are raised are: Jesus Himself referred to the Father as His “God” (John 20:17), Jesus is called the “only begotten son” (John 3:16) and He is the “firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15).
Concerning John 20:17 Jesus declares, “….I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” (NKJV). There is no contradiction between Jesus as referring to His Father with personal reference. Jesus referred to His heavenly Father as “My Father” and “My God.” It only indicates the unique relationship between God the Father and God the Son. Jesus, being the God-man, rightly referred to His Father with personal emphasis. Jesus operates as the Incarnate Mediator. Jesus is called the only begotten of the Father and the firstborn over all creation. These passages are wrongly used by cultists to deny a doctrine essential to the gospel of grace. Because cultists misuse these Scriptures, we know that their gospel message is devoid of any saving knowledge. They, in fact, believe a different gospel and another Jesus contrary to Sacred Writ (Galatians 1:6-10 NKJV). The Incarnate Savior, Jesus Christ, is uniquely, the eternal Son of God; He is the eternal only begotten of God the Father. Jesus is not begotten of His Father as a creature but rather as the eternal Son of Man. He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus is the firstborn over all creation not in the Jehovah Witness sense, but rather, He is heir of all that belongs to His Heavenly Father.
The very fact of Christ Jesus referring to His Father as God clearly supports biblical Christianity, for Jesus Himself had God as His Beloved Father. Nothing is further from the truth as to say Jesus did not have the Father as His God. But this does not deny the deity of Christ. Rather it only serves to exalt the precious reality of the Incarnate Christ; the submissive Incarnate Servant who worships the Father. Jesus was not solely divine or solely human. Rather, Jesus has two natures: human and divine. For Jesus Christ to refer to His Father as His God fits perfectly with Jesus as the Divine Mediator. Jesus did not merely exist prior to creation. Rather, He existed from everlasting to everlasting. He is the Incarnate Self-Existent and Eternal One.
Anthony A. Hoekema author of The Four Major Cults wrote:
Is there real continuity between the Son of God in his prehuman and human state? Was the child born of Mary really the same individual who existed previously in heaven as the archangel Michael? To this question it is difficult to give an unambiguous answer.” Anthony A. Hoekema. The Four Major Cults (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), p. 272.
The Bible clearly teaches the bodily resurrection of Christ (John 20). JWC teaches, according to their founder, Charles Taze Russell, that Jesus is eternally dead. Jesus was not raised from the dead but rather, He disbanded into gases. But what of the eyewitnesses recorded in the Gospels (i.e., John 20:11-18) and Paul’s initial epistle to the Corinthians (First Corinthians 15:1-19)? Surely these accounts of divine Scripture speak of the contrariness of Jehovah’s Witness theology regarding Jesus’ bodily resurrection.
The God-man
The doctrine of the union of the two natures of Jesus Christ will be studied in more detail in chapter 3. In passing, may I say, the mediator is the person who reconciles two estranged parties. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator. Solely Jesus Christ, the God-man, would be divinely acceptable to be the Incarnate Mediator. The Father and the Son agreed within their eternal fellowship and friendship that Jesus Himself would be the Mediator. The eternal counsel of God was in total agreement to have Jesus Christ as the Sinless Mediator. The very essence of Jesus’ mediation (the go-between) is the divine superiority over angels, Old and New Testament saints, and particularly Moses (the mediator of the Old Covenant). No mere holy archangel could effectively make peace between God the Father and spiritual criminals who have an eternal debt they could not pay; who are at enmity with God. The wrath of God would still be upon us if it were not for the true Jesus Christ. He took upon Himself human nature; He literally became man. We needed to be reconciled to God through the acceptable Mediator (Hebrews 3:3-6).
The purpose of Jesus’ atonement was not to die as a holy archangel. Such would fail to meet God’s divine majesty of God Himself; the demand to propitiate God’s wrath would have been for nothing if it was not for the God-man, Jesus Christ! Jesus’ purpose was to represent God to us, but of what a holy archangel? Such would only be a divine injustice. God the Father would not agree to accept a holy archangel to “atone for sin” knowing it would not be acceptable to Him because the atonement of Christ was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice. Is God the Father unjust? Surely not of the historic Christian faith. God the Father agreed within the eternal counsel of God to offer up God the Son for the very sins of His people. Who is the sufficient and best representation of God to us save God the Son? Truly God the Son took upon Himself human nature to sufficiently accomplish redemption. The sinless obedience of Jesus Christ made satisfaction for the demands of His law and purchased for His people eternal life by the very cross He freely died upon. Solely Christ of Holy Writ could satisfy God’s wrath against pre-converted elect sinners. The very fact of Jesus’ intercessory work as our Great High Priest is evident in all of believers in Christ. Such intercessory work could solely be accomplished by the God-man! We assuredly know that Christ’s work of reconciliation was acceptable (Romans 5:1).
Somehow in Jehovah’s Witness thinking, only a prehuman archangel becoming a perfect man could have had the credentials to pay the penalty for sin. In actuality a perfect prehuman archangel could not have paid the penalty for sin. Such an offering to God the Father would have been detestable. There would be no redemption. The prophecies of the Messiah were not arranged toward a merely perfect angelic creature. Rather such divine prophecies dealt with the Incarnate Savior of God’s people. Isaiah used the title of Jesus Christ as Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). No holy archangel in existence would accept such a title; for such a title unambiguously declares Jesus as the same substance of the Father. Surely this directly indicates the Holy Spirit’s purpose through Isaiah, that is, the declaration of believing Jesus as totally divine. We see holy angels in Scared Writ who receive worship (Revelation 22:8) and quickly and rightly rebuke the worshipper (Revelation 22:9). Therefore, no holy archangel receives worship or would accept worship. Rather, the tempter of Jesus Christ, that is, Satan himself desires to be worshipped (Matthew 4:8-10). We know the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was verified by Jesus’ bodily resurrection (Luke 24:1-45). The Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses has no verification of Jesus’ propitiation. The atonement of the Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses is worthless. But, according to Holy Writ, not the WTO, it pleased God the Father to bruise His eternal Son (Isaiah 53:10) “by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Thus, quite contrary to JWC, Jesus Christ, the God-man, was an acceptable singular offering to God the Father as the Incarnate Spotless Lamb of God (Isaiah 53:7; John 1:14; Hebrews 4:15) Who is the Incarnate Sinless Chief Shepard (Second Corinthians 5:21; First Peter 5:4).
According to JWC Jesus was not resurrected. The “old Michael” was newly recreated and improved. The new Michael carries no crucifixion marks of the cross at Calvary. But what of Thomas (John 20:24-29)? Sometimes it is said that Thomas made a statement of surprise about Jesus. But such would be a sin in the face of Jesus? Jesus obeyed the commandment of God of not taking God’s name in vain. JWC continues to alternate names between Jesus and Michael as being the same person. Since Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead he returned invisibly to the earth at his Second Coming. But what of the angel’s testimony concerning the visible appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (Acts 1:9-11)?
According to JWC, when Jesus of Nazareth died, he was annihilated. Jehovah’s Witnesses reconstruct Michael. This means they place Michael as a new eternal spirit because Jesus of Nazareth does not exist in JWC. They affirm belief in Jesus’ resurrection only to a certain point. They reject Jesus’ bodily resurrection. Instead, they teach recreation theology concerning Jesus’ resurrection.
But John 20:26-29 records:
And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, “Peace be with you.” “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed. (NASB).
Jesus demonstrated His ability of omnipresence and possessing the attribute of all-knowingness because He immediately spoke directly to Thomas to quench the thirst of Thomas’ unbelief. Jesus directs Thomas to “reach your finger here.” Jesus shows Thomas where to reach his finger. Jesus directs Thomas to “look at My hands.” Jesus tells Thomas to “look” to get an observational witness of Jesus’ resurrected body before their very eyes. Jesus directs Thomas to “reach your hand here.” Jesus directs Thomas to “put it into My side.” Jesus responds to Thomas in the negative: “be not unbelieving.” Jesus directly confronts Thomas’ unbelief and tells him to believe based on heavenly perfected evidence before him. Jesus accepted this, as Thomas believes in His divinity. Jesus is his Lord and his God. Thomas believed Jesus rose from the dead based upon his sight of Him. Because of the belief in Jesus of those who have not seen Him, the blessing is upon God’s people from God in Christ, through the ministerial work of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit of God. Concerning John 14:28 the Father is co-equal with the Son. The Son is co-equal with the Father. The Father and the Son are fully divine. This verse does not deny the divinity of the Son. This means as touching the deity of Jesus the Father and the Son are equally divine. As touching the humanity of the Son, the Son is inferior to the Father as the Athanasian Creed rightly declares regarding His sacred humanity. The Son is fully divine and fully human. Therefore the Son has two distinct not separate natures. This verse in the Gospel of John demonstrates Jesus’ humility in entering humanity. The Son has the same position with the Father. The Son has a different work than the Father. The Son is associated with redemption. The Father is associated with creation. The Father has a different function with the Son. The Son is the humble, Incarnate Witness of the Father. Yet the Father, Son and Holy Spirit work as one in redemption, providence and creation.
Jehovah’s Witness literature wrongly states:
…copyists who believed in the Trinity might be tempted to omit a phrase that indicated that Jesus lacked knowledge that his Father had. How could Jesus not know a certain fact if both he and his Father were parts of a triune God? (Watchtower, August 1, 1996, p. 31).
To say that “copyists” would knowingly omit inspired words within Matthew 24:36 is completely fallacious. Once again Jesus is not part of the Trinity. Jesus is in the one essence of God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is an explicit straw man to state the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are “parts of the Trinity.” The Father and the Son do not make up the Trinity but are found within the one essence of God: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This will be dealt with further in chapter 5 on God the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Trinity. The verse this Jehovah’s Witness literature cities is Matthew 24:36 or Mark 13:32:
The Gospel of Matthew | The Gospel of Mark |
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matthew 24:36 NASB). | “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Mark 13:32 NASB). |
This verse refers to the humanity of Jesus Christ in regards to His unawareness of the day and hour. This verse is perfectly consistent with the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ for Jesus had a real human nature. The church fathers had significant things to say regarding Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32:
Athanasius (c. 295-373; fl. c. 325-373) wrote concerning Mark 13:32:
When his disciples asked him about the end, he said with precision: Of that day or that hour no one knows, not even he himself—that is, when viewed according to the flesh, because he, too, as human, lives within the limits of the human condition. Insofar as he is viewed according to his divinity as the Word who is to come, to judge, to be bridegroom, however, he knows when and in what hour he will come…For as upon becoming human he hungers, thirsts and suffers along with all human beings, similarly as human he does not see the future. But viewed according to his divinity as the Word and wisdom of the Father, he knows, and there is nothing which he does not know. Thomas C. Oden. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. New Testament II. Mark. (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 191-192.
The apostle John calls Jesus the true God and eternal life: “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (First John 5:20 NIV).
The apostle John is an accepted apostle of Jesus Christ. The final sentence is “He is the true God and eternal life.” The Christological sentence refers to the divinity of Jesus Christ. This verse shows the deity of Jesus as the true God and eternal life. The New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses translates this ending sentence of verse 20 as “This is the true God and life everlasting.” (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, p. 1521). What of the apostle John who clearly identifies Jesus as the “true God”? Is it not clear; John believed that Jesus Christ is the Lord Almighty (the Second Person of the Trinity)? Indeed, he did.
The creeds of the church reflect the Scriptural evidence concerning the eternally only-begotten God, the uncreated Son of God: Jesus Christ, the God-Man. The Nicene Creed proclaims:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Nicene Creed is a summation of the teachings of Scripture. It is focused on responding to Arianism. The teaching of Arianism was based on its founder Arius (c. 250-c. 336). He believed that Jesus was paramount in the creation of things. Jesus was a mere god but never God. God alone is eternal. Arius denied that this attribute was applied to Christ. The Nicene Creed of the Christian Church unashamedly proclaimed what the apostles taught. Declaring in opposition to Arianism, the everlasting Son is “very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”
