Biblical Teaching on the Deity of Jesus Christ

Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the deity of Jesus Christ. They say that the Bible does not teach that Jesus Christ is God. They consider Him only as a mighty God and not the ‘Almighty God’. They teach that Jesus is not God and not equal with God. They believe that Jesus Christ was Michael, the captain of Jehovah’s hosts, before His incarnation.

But the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is indeed God, and He is the Son of God. Let us study a few passages in the Bible, which teach the absolute deity of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches clearly that Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh.

• Jesus Christ is ‘Jehovah with us’: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” Is 7:14. Here we read about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, and He is given the divine name ‘Immanuel’, which means ‘God with us’ Matt 1:22, 23. The Bible says in Isaiah 43:10, 11 that there is no other God and Saviour but the Jehovah God. So Jesus Christ cannot be a different God, but He is the ‘Jehovah’ ‘God with us’ (Immanuel).

• Jesus Christ is Jehovah God who appeared in the Human form: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” Is 9:6. While prophesying about the birth of Jesus Christ, Isaiah describes Jesus Christ as, “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. All these are the attributes of God. This verse also says, “The government shall be upon His shoulder”. So the ‘Child is born’ and the ‘Son is given’ described in this verse refers only to Jesus Christ of Nazareth Matt 1:22, 23, the Jehovah God, who appeared in the human form. 

• Jesus Christ is God in the human form: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” Micah 5:2. Here the prophet prophesied not only about the birth place of Jesus Christ, (Bethlehem) but also about his origin. He says that His origin is ‘from everlasting’. Nobody exists eternally other than Jehovah God Is 44:6, 8. So Jesus Christ is the eternally existing Jehovah God, who was born in Bethlehem in the human form.

• Jesus Christ is God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1. This verse clearly teaches that Jesus Christ was the Word, He was with God and He was God. This is confirmed by Jn 1:14, which states, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth”. So here John writes clearly about the incarnation and deity of Jesus Christ. 

But the Watch Tower has translated this verse in their Bible to read “In (the) beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god”. Homer Duncan in his book ‘Heart to Heart Talks with Jehovah’s Witnesses’, wrote that among the many translations available, 19 translations have translated this verse as ‘the Word was God’, and five emphasised the deity of Christ. Only four versions published by Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the deity of Christ.

This translation of Jn 1:1 by Jehovah’s Witnesses is against Colwell’s Grammar Rule. The rule states, “The definite predicate nouns take the article only if they follow the main verb, otherwise they lack it – proper nouns lack the article”. As per this rule, a definite predicate noun takes the article, when it follows the verb. It does not take the article, when it precedes the verb as in Jn 1:1. Jn 1:18 is similar to Jn 1:1, where no article appears in the Greek. Jehovah’s Witnesses have translated this verse not as ‘a god’ but ‘God’ as per this rule. But they go against the rule in Jn 1:1.

Dr Julius R. Mantey wrote about this translation. ‘There is no statement in our grammar that was ever meant to imply that ‘a god’ was a permissible translation in Jn 1:1, “and” it is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate Jn 1:1, “The Word was a god”.

• Christ claimed equality with God: “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” Jn 5:18. In this verse John states that Jesus claimed Himself equal with God. Jehovah’s Witnesses say that in this verse John recorded the views of Jews. But this passage does not contain the views of Jews, and it is a narrative passage written by John, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Here is the plain teaching of the Word of God, that Christ claimed equality with God.

• Jesus Christ is Jehovah: Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am” Jn 8:58. When this verse is compared with Ex 3:14 and Is 43:10-13, it is evident that Jesus claimed here “I am Jehovah” (I am).

The Jews knew well that Mosaic Law forbids any human being claiming himself equal to God Lev 24:16. For Jews it is blasphemy and must be punished by stoning Lev 24:10-23. So they wanted to stone Him. Thus this verse clearly shows that Jesus Christ claimed that He existed as Jehovah before Abraham, and He Himself is God.

But the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that the Jews wanted to stone Jesus for calling them as the children of the devil John 8:44. But Jehovah’s Witnesses must know that the law never permits them to stone anybody calling them as devil. If this is the case, then they would have tried to stone Him when He called them as the ‘sons of vipers’ Matt 12:34; 23:33.

To suppress the claim of Jesus, that He is Jehovah, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have introduced the ‘perfect indefinite tense’, foreign to Greek grammar, and translated this verse as “Before Abraham was I have been”. Dr Robertson says that the verb ‘Ego Eimi’ (I am) of John 8:58 occurs in Jn 13:19; 18:5, Deut 32:39 Is 43:10 and Is 46:4. In all these verses Ego Eimi has been translated as ‘I (am) He’. So Jn 8:58 can’t be translated as ‘I have been’, as done by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This verse confirms the deity of Jesus Christ. 

• Jesus Christ is the express image of Jehovah: “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” Heb 1:3. This is another passage in the Bible where the deity of Christ is described as having the express ‘image of His person’ or God’s Essence, So Jesus Christ is the perfect copy of God and He is the express image of Jehovah, revealed as incarnate Christ, with the divine nature.

• Jesus Christ and Jehovah are one: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Phil 2:10, 11. In Is 45:23, Jehovah says that He should only be worshipped and confessed. In this passage St Paul writes that ‘every knee should bow’ and ‘every tongue should confess’ that Jesus Christ is Lord. So Paul equates Jesus Christ with Jehovah God in the matter concerning worship. So Christ and Jehovah are one and the same, confirming the deity of Christ.

• Jesus Christ and Jehovah are of the same nature: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End”, says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty, I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the key of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this” Rev 1:8, 18, 19. In Rev 1:8 Jehovah is said to be Alpha and Omega, and in Rev 1:16, 17 Jesus Christ is also referred to as Alpha and Omega. There cannot be two Alphas and Omegas, since the Bible teaches that there is no other God, other than Jehovah Is 43:10. So Jehovah and Jesus Christ are of the same nature and co-equal.

• Jesus Christ received worship like Jehovah: “And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!” Jn 20:28. The Mosaic law says that nobody should be worshipped other than Jehovah (Ex 20). In this passage, ‘Doubting Thomas’ saw Jesus Christ as Jehovah in the resurrected body, and worshipped Him by saying ‘My Lord and my God’. This is blasphemy for Jews and Jesus did not prevent Thomas from worshipping Him. The fact that Jesus accepted worship proves beyond doubt that He is Jehovah and He is God.

• Jesus Christ is God and Saviour: “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13. This passage clearly states that Jesus Christ is “our Great God and Saviour” proving the deity of Christ.

• Jesus Christ had the glory of Jehovah: “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was” Jn 17:5. The Bible teaches clearly that God will never share His glory with anybody Is 48:11; 42:8.

This passage says that Jesus Christ had the glory from the beginning. Jesus Christ possessed the glory of God, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, before the world was created Jn 1:14. This Glory was manifested in the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:2). In this passage Jesus Christ claimed that He had the glory of the Father. Since God will never share His glory with anybody, Jesus Christ is Jehovah Himself possessing the glory of Jehovah.

In Phil 2:6, St Paul wrote inspired by the Holy Spirit, “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery, to be equal with God”. Here Paul wrote that Jesus Christ ‘never ceased’ to be Jehovah, when He lived in this world. This is because, the Greek work used for ‘being’ in this verse is Up +9archon which can be literally translated as ‘not ceasing to be’.

So Paul wrote here that Christ never ceased to be God, and remained as God Himself, when He lived in this world. So Jesus Christ was God in the form of man in incarnation. He was God-man who came to this world to save us from our sins.