Jehovah is the English rendering of The Divine Name, YHWH. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that they are YHWH’s witnesses.
But are they are correct?
One essential test for determining if a religion or group is truly Christian is what they believe about Jesus.
Consider how Jehovah’s Witnesses answer these two questions: 1) Why is Jesus called God’s Son? 2) Is Jesus Almighty God?
“Why is Jesus called God’s Son?
God does not have a literal wife with whom he fathered children. But he is the Creator of all life. (Revelation 4:11) Therefore, the first human that God created, Adam, is called a “son of God.” (Luke 3:38) Similarly, the Bible teaches that Jesus was created by God. So Jesus is also called a “Son of God.”—John 1:49.
God created Jesus before he created Adam. Regarding Jesus, the apostle Paul wrote: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) Jesus’ life began long before he was born in a stable in Bethlehem. In fact, the Bible says that his “origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.” (Micah 5:2) As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus was a spirit creature in heaven before he was born as a human on earth. Jesus himself said: “I have come down from heaven.”—John 6:38; 8:23” (Source).
“Is Jesus Almighty God?
Jesus’ opposers accused him of making himself equal to God. (John 5:18; 10:30-33) However, Jesus never claimed to be on the same level as Almighty God. He said: “The Father is greater than I am.”—John 14:28.
Jesus’ early followers did not view him as being equal to Almighty God. For example, the apostle Paul wrote that after Jesus was resurrected, God “exalted him [Jesus] to a superior position.” Obviously, Paul did not believe that Jesus was Almighty God. Otherwise, how could God exalt Jesus to a superior position? —Philippians 2:9” (Source).
Now consider the apostle Paul’s understanding of who Jesus Christ is.
God in the Old Testament said of himself through Moses, “that the LORD [YHWH] is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deut. 4:39).[1] God is One and that is the primary emphasis, with a few notable exceptions, throughout the Old Testament.[2] God’s unity was even further proclaimed a few chapters later in Deuteronomy 6 in what has become known as the Shema, “Hear, O Israel; the LORD [kurios (LXT)[3]] our God, the LORD [kurios] is one [eis]” (Deut. 6:4).[4] The Shema was recited twice daily by all Jews that sought to be faithful to the Torah.[5] Astoundingly, the apostle Paul unveils the Shema to include both God the Father and Jesus Christ in YHWH’s identity in 1 Corinthians 8:6, “yet for us there is one God [Theos (BNT)[6]], the Father, from [ex] whom are all things and for [eis] whom we exist, and one Lord [eis kurios], Jesus Christ, through [di] whom are all things and through [di] whom we exist.”[7] The inseparable operations are clearly displayed here for the Father and the Son are both YHWH, sharing the same essence, yet there is distinction for all things are from (ex) the Father and through (di) the Son. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by Christ and the apostles in the First Century, translates YHWH as kurios (Lord), and the apostle Paul applies this name to Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6. To alleviate any doubt concerning what he is clearly advocating about Christ, Paul uses eis kurios, “one Lord” instead of “a Lord.”[8] Thus, Paul redefines monotheism as Christological monotheism.[9] Paul reproduced all the words in the Shema, but he rearranged them to include Christ in the divine identity.[10] Therefore, Paul claimed that Jesus Christ is YHWH the Son. God the Son had no beginning. God the Son Incarnate, Jesus Christ, is Almighty God.
Christians must decide who they will believe, the apostle Paul or Jehovah’s Witnesses. Choose Paul, for he was divinely inspired by God the Holy Spirit to write inerrant truth. And according to him, Jesus Christ is included in the Divine Identity; Jesus Christ is YHWH the Son.
[1]See Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 13-14.
[2]See Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2004), 17-33, for a discussion of the Old Testament soil that prepared the way for the progressive revelation of the Trinity, that God is One and God is Three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[3]All Greek references from the Old Testament are taken from the Septuagint, “LXX Septuaginta Rahlfs’ (LXT)”, in BibleWorks 9 Software for Biblical Exegesis & Research (Norfolk, VA: BibleWorks, 2011).
[4]Wright, Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, 13.
[5]Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 5.
[6]All Greek New Testament references are taken from the “BibleWorks New Testament (BNT) (Nestle-Aland 27),” in BibleWorks 9 Software for Biblical Exegesis & Research (Norfolk, VA: BibleWorks, 2011).
[7]Wright, Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, 16.
[8]See Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity, 27-29. Also see Wright, Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, 13, f. 2.
[9]Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity, 27-29.
[10]Ibid.