Apologetics: What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe About Jesus?

To wrap up our short series about what various pseudo-Christian groups believe, we need to talk about Jehovah’s Witnesses. Thankfully (for me at least since I have to write this), Jehovah’s Witnesses have a single, massive problem that makes the character of Jesus nowhere close to who Christians believe that He is.

They believe Jesus is the archangel, Michael.

Until next time,

M.J.

I’m kidding, guys. I’m not going to leave y’all hanging without an explanation about some of their other believes about the Trinity and Salvation and why they’re wrong. You need to be able to articulate why this is a false belief if you’re to effectively talk to a JW.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that there is no Trinity, saying that it is a pagan belief. They believe there is only one god – Jehovah – and that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are separate things. They think the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force of Jehovah and that Jesus is the archangel Michael who only became God’s “son” at his baptism. They do not believe that Jesus should be in anyway worshipped or prayed to.

As for why Jesus came as the Messiah to begin with, according to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus/Michael came down to Earth to die for the sin of Adam. And, no, I don’t mean Adam in the sense of mankind or something. I mean the literal dude, Adam, the guy who actually ate the fruit. JWs believe that Jesus died on a “torture stake” (because a cross is pagan somehow) for Adam’s sin, and while faith in Jesus’ atonement for Adam is a necessity, we’re still in charge of atoning for our own sin through good works and careful obedience. Then, once we die, all our sin will be officially cleared.

So, basically, Jesus/Michael came down to Earth as a human, suffered tremendously, died on a “torture stake,” and his spirit was brought up to God afterwards. All of this for one dude, so the rest of us can have faith and rest assured that hopefully we’ve done enough to get into Heaven because Jehovah was too stingy to have Jesus cover the rest of humanity’s sins as well. What an excellent savior.

Now, none of these teachings fit with the Bible. According to the Bible, specifically John 1:1-5, Jesus is co-equal and co-eternal with God, being part of the Trinity. The reason why I specifically bring up John 1:1-5 is because Jehovah’s Witnesses love these verses because they can twist them to “show” that Jesus is Michael. They will argue that the word for “the” in the Greek is unnecessary, thus not supporting the teaching of Jesus as part of the Trinity. However, this has come under scrutiny by many New Testament scholars and theologians, as the use of “the” puts emphasis on Jesus being God that’s found in the majority of manuscripts. John 1:1-5 clearly supports the idea that Jesus is part of the Trinity, part of the three persons that make up God. Thus, He is deserving of worship.

As for the idea that the Trinity is a pagan teaching, while some belief systems have a god that seems to act like a Trinity to some degree, the Christian Trinity is unique in that it’s three distinct persons that make up One God. In other religions where we find something seemingly similar to the Trinity, it’s always three separate gods, three avatars (incarnations) that are sometimes considered the same person but aren’t equal or co-existent, or it’s three phases of the god (i.e. Hecate’s maid, mother, crone).

Finally, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus did not come down to Earth to clear Adam only from his sin, but all mankind. All of mankind has fallen and has sinned because of Adam’s original sin. Thus, God sent down Jesus to die from all mankind so whoever believes may have eternal life. No works + faith needed. No worrying about if you did enough to get into heaven. If you have faith in Jesus’s sacrifice, you’re going to Heaven.

Until next time,

M.J.