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QUESTIONS FOR JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES ON THE TRUE GOD AND THE TRINITY —Presenting the Deity of Christ and the Personhood of the Holy Spirit

1. How many true Gods exist?

• John 17:3: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” **  

2.  Is Satan a true or false God? Do demons believe he is a god?

• 2 Corinthians 4:4: “among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers…” 
• James 2:19: “You believe there is one God, do you? You are doing quite well. And yet the demons believe and shudder.” 

3.  So if demons don’t consider Satan is a real god, why is he called “the god” of this world? Wouldn’t you agree that these beings that are called “gods” are not really gods, but are rather false gods?

• 1 Corinthians 8:5-6: “For even though there are those who are called ‘gods,’ whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords,’ there is actually to us one God the Father … and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ…”

• NOTE: Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to put Jesus in a neutral category of “god” beings that are merely divine, but are not the true God.  By demonstrating that Satan is a false “god” because he is worshipped by false religion, and that even his followers, the demons, don’t believe he is a real “god,” this demonstrates that a neutral category of “divine/god” beings that are neither true nor false does not exist.

4.  Since there is only one true God, is Jesus the true God or is He a false god like Satan?  How can a false god save anyone?  Since there is only one God, why did Thomas call Jesus his God?

• John 20:28: “…Thomas said to him: ‘My Lord and my God!’ ”

5.  Who is the Lord of Lords? Jehovah or Jesus?

• Deuteronomy 10:17: “For Jehovah YOUR God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the God great, mighty and fear-inspiring…”
• Revelation 17:14: “…the Lamb… is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them.”
• Revelation 19:16: “And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

6.  Is Jesus Christ your ONLY Lord?

• Jude 4: “proving false to our only Owner and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

7.  How many true Gods, true Lords, and true Spirits exist?

• 1 Corinthians 12:4-6: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but there is the same spirit; and there are varieties of ministries, and yet there is the same Lord; and there are varieties of operations, and yet it is the same God who performs all the operations in all persons.”
• Romans 8:9: “However, YOU are in harmony…with the spirit, if God’s spirit truly dwells in YOU. But if anyone does not have Christ’s spirit, this one does not belong to him.”

8.  Who is the “first and last”? Is there “a God” besides Him?

• Isaiah 44:6-9: “This is what Jehovah has said, the King of Israel and the Repurchaser of him, Jehovah of armies, ‘I am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. And who is there like me? …Does there exist a God besides me? No, there is no Rock. I have recognized none.”
• Revelation 1:17: “And when I saw him, I fell as dead at his feet. And he laid his right hand upon me and said: ‘Do not be fearful. I am the First and the Last, and the living one,’ ”

9.  When did Jehovah God die?  How many first and last Gods can there be?

• Revelation 1:18: “ ‘and I became dead, but, look! I am living forever and ever.’ ”
• Revelation 2:8: “…These are the things that he says, ‘the First and the Last,’ who became dead and came to life [again].”

10.  If no one has ever seen God (John 1:18), why did Isaiah say he saw Jehovah (Isaiah 6:1)?

• John 1:18: “No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god who is in the bosom [position] with the Father is the one that has explained him.”

• μονογενής (monogenēs) = “only-begotten, unique, one of its special kind”—The New Englishman’s Greek Concordance and Lexicon, p. 579

• Isaiah 6:1: “…I, however, got to see Jehovah …And I proceeded to say: ‘Woe to me! ...for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of armies, himself!’ ”

11.  According to John, who is the Jehovah whom Isaiah saw?  What cross-reference footnote is linked to verse 41 of John 12?

• John 12:36-42: “Jesus spoke these things... But although he had performed so many signs before them, they were not putting faith in him... The reason why they were not able to believe is that again Isaiah said: ‘He has blinded their eyes…’  Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory,* and he spoke about him.  All the same, many even of the rulers actually put faith in him…”
  
  
• NWT Cross Reference footnote at verse 41 is Isa. 6:1

12.  Can you see why Jesus is the image of the invisible Jehovah?

• Colossians 1:15: “And He is the image of the invisible God…”
• John 14:9: “…He that has seen me has seen the Father [also]. How is it you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

13.  Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus the “first born” of creation.  Did creation parent Jesus?  Verse 18 says Jesus is the “first born” from the dead. Was Jesus the first one raised from death?  Which meaning of “firstborn” best fits the context: “first birth of” or “preeminent position over” creation and death?

• πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos) = “firstborn” …is used of Christ …expressing His priority to, and preeminence over, creation, not in the sense of being the ‘first’ to be born.”—Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, p. 240

• Colossians 1:15-18: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth…he is before all [other] things…he is the head… He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things.”

• NOTE: The NWT places the word “other” in brackets because it is not in the Greek text.

• At Revelation 3:14, Jesus is called the “beginning” because He is the “Beginner” just as Jehovah is the “beginning” (Rev. 21:6, 22:13).

14.  Has Jesus always existed or did He create Himself?

• John 1:3: “All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.”

15.  If no one was “with” Jehovah when He created the world, how can Jesus be a separate God from Jehovah?

• Isaiah 44:24:  “… ‘I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth. Who was with me?’ ”

16.  How can Jesus, in His divine nature, be created if He has “neither a beginning of days, nor an end of life”?

• Hebrews 7:3:  “…having neither a beginning of days nor an end of life, but having been made like the Son of God…”

17.  How can Jesus be the “Eternal Father,” if He is created? How can Jesus give eternal life, if He doesn’t own eternity?

• Isaiah 9:6:  “…And his name … Mighty God, Eternal Father…” (NOTE: The Orthodox Jewish Bible - OJB translates “Eternal Father” as “Possessor of Eternity”)
• John 10:28:  “ …I give them everlasting life …”

18. Since no God was formed after Jehovah, how can Jesus be a created God?

• Isaiah 43:10:  “ ‘...I am the same One. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none.”

19.  Why is Jesus called the “Son of Man”? Is God a Man?

• John 6:62: “What, therefore, if YOU should behold the Son of man ascending to where he was before.”
• Hosea 11:9: “…I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of you…”

20.  So if the term “Son of Man” means Jesus is 100% human, what does the term “Son of God” mean?

• John 19:7: “The Jews answered him: ‘We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself God’s son.’ ”

• NOTE: The law of blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16) prescribed death for anyone misusing Jehovah’s name by claiming equality with Jehovah.

• John 5:18: “On this account, indeed, the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him, because …he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.”

21.  At Job 38:7, angels are called “sons” of God. Yet the Bible says that God never said to any of His angels, “You are my Son.” Doesn’t this indicate Jesus is called the “Son of God” in a way that is different from the angels?  Could it be that Jesus is God’s Son by nature (being fully God), whereas angels are sons only by creation?

• Hebrews 1:5: “For example, to which one of the angels did he ever say: ‘You are my son; I, today, I have become your father’?”

• Mark 14:61-64: “…the high priest began to question him and said to him: ‘Are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed One?’ Then Jesus said: ‘I am…’ At this the high priest ripped his inner garments and said: ‘What further need do we have of witnesses? YOU heard the blasphemy…’ …They all condemned him to …death.”

22.  How can Christ’s decision NOT to grasp at “equality” with God at Philippians 2:5-7 be an example of humility if Jesus was not already entitled to claim equality?

• Philippians 2:5-7: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being [huparcho] in very nature [morphe] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature [morphe] of a servant, being made in human likeness.”—New International Version

•  “Being” ὑπάρχω  (hyparchō) = present tense, continued existence

• “nature” μορφή  (morphē) = “…the nature or essence, not in the abstract, but as actually subsisting in the individual, and retained as long as the individual itself exists….Thus in the passage before us morphe Theou is the Divine nature actually and inseparably subsisting in the Person of Christ.”—Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1985, p. 251

• At John 14:28 Jesus said, “...I am going away to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.”  In comparison to the limitations of Jesus’ humanity and being upon the earth, the Father was “greater” than Him.

• At 1 Corinthians 11:3 and 15:28, Jesus submits Himself to God the Father’s authority. We also see women submitting to men (1 Corinthians 11:3) even though they are “equal” (Galatians 3:28).  So, how can Jesus’ submission to the Father make Him inferior to God?  At Luke 2:51, Jesus submitted to Mary and Joseph. Was He inferior to them?  No!

23. Who is the “One” Who is coming? Jehovah or Jesus?

• Revelation 1:7-8: “Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him. Yes, Amen. ‘I am the Al’pha and the O×me’ga,’ says Jehovah God, ‘the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.’ ” (Cross-reference Revelation 22:12-13, 20)

24.  If the Holy Spirit is a force and not a person, how can He “feel hurt” or be “grieved”?

• Isaiah 63:10: “But they themselves rebelled and made his holy spirit feel hurt.”

• Ephesians 4:30: “…do not be grieving God’s holy spirit…”

25.  How can the Holy Spirit “plead” and “groan” for us in prayer before the Father if He is not a distinct Person from the Father?

• Romans 8:26: “…but the spirit itself pleads for us with groanings unuttered.”

26. How can the Holy Spirit speak and issue commands, if He is not a person?

• Acts 8:29: “So the spirit said to Philip: ‘Approach and join yourself to this chariot.’ ”

• Acts 13:2: “As they were publicly ministering to Jehovah and fasting, the holy spirit said: ‘Of all persons set Bar´na·bas and Saul apart for me for the work to which I have called them.’ ”

• Acts 16:6: “Moreover, they went through Phryg´i·a and the country of Ga·la´ti·a, because they were forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in the [district of] Asia.”

27.  How can the Holy Spirit have a “name” and possess the authority of God, if He is an abstract force and not a person?

• Matthew 28:19: “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.”

28.  How can the Holy Spirit have a “will” if He is not a person?

• 1 Corinthians 12:11: “But all these operations the one and the same spirit performs, making a distribution to each one respectively just as it wills.”

• NOTE: It is true that the Greek word πνεῦμα (pneuma) for “Spirit” is in the neuter gender.  Yet in Greek, neuter terms are used for these persons: an infant (Luke 2:16-17), a young child (Mark 5:39-41), a little girl (Matthew 9:24-25), demons (Mark 7:26,29,30), and angels (Hebrews 1:14).  Are we to call these personal beings, non-personal “its” because of their neuter genders? 

29. Why did the apostle John break Greek Grammar rules to use the masculine pronoun “He” ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos) in reference to the neuter noun “spirit,” instead of the neuter pronoun “it” ἐκεῖνο (ekeino) at John 16:13?

• John 16:13 “However, when that one [ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos)] arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide YOU into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to YOU the things coming.” 

• NOTE: Jehovah’s Witnesses often argue that Scripture attributes personal qualities to the Holy Spirit as a personification of a non-personal force, much like wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs.  While Proverbs is written in poetic and allegorical form, there is nothing in these Scriptures to indicate such is being done here.  Challenge the Jehovah’s Witnesses to prove to you that demons are spirit persons and not personifications of non-personal forces.  Then, show them how every argument they use to prove a demon is a real spirit-person, can be used to prove the Holy Spirit is a real spirit-person as well.

30. If the Holy Spirit can’t be a person because believers are “filled” with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), are demons, non-personal spirit beings because they indwell unbelievers? Of course, not!

• Luke 8:27, 30:  “a certain man from the city who had demons met him. … Jesus asked him: ‘What is your name?’ He said: ‘Legion,’ because many demons had entered into him.”

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** Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are quoted from the New World Translation.