News Insight

If you’ve ever tried to share the Gospel with a Jehovah’s Witness, you know that one area where you’ll have a major disagreement is on the deity of Jesus Christ. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, even though they tout the Bible, and believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world, don’t believe in the deity of Jesus. And when you try to prove the deity of Jesus in the Bible, you’ll find out that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have a different Bible version (can’t call it a translation): the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWTHS, for the purpose of this article). The NWTHS is different from other mainstream Bible translations like the King James Version (KJV), the New International Version (NIV), the New King James Version (NKJV), the American Standard Bible, etc.

The NWTHS, in an effort to disprove the deity of Jesus Christ has a lot of inclusions, omissions or word replacements. For instance, John 1:1 in the NWTHS has the indefinite article “a” added before “God” and the capital “G” in God is replaced with a small letter “g.”

John 1:1
KJV: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…
NWTHS: In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”

Also in John 8:58, where Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I AM” the NWTHS replaced “I AM” with “I have been.” But “I AM” is not the same as “I have been,” because the phrase “I AM” speaks of the eternal, unchanging and continual existence of Jesus Christ. But the phrase “I have been,” does not.

John 8:58
KJV: Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

NWTHS: Jesus said to them: “Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.”

One way to know that this passage was tampered with is because the next verse, John 8:59 said:

NWTHS: Therefore they picked up stones to hurl [them] at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple.

Well, the reason the Jews wanted to stone Jesus wasn’t because He insulted Abraham their father, but because they considered what He said as blasphemy. They understood what Jesus meant when He said, “Before Abraham, I AM.” They knew that was how God described Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. They knew that God is truly the only “I AM.” So, for Jesus to say that about Himself meant that He compared or equaled Himself with God.

But besides these passages, there are more passages in the Bible where at least both the King James Version (KJV) and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWTHS) say exactly the same thing, yet still point to the deity of Jesus Christ.

As much as the Jehovah’s Witnesses have tried to tamper with the Bible, they have been able to rewrite only obvious passages mentioning the deity of Jesus Christ. Was Jesus a socialist They did not tamper with some other passages where Christ’s deity is not so obvious. Not because they didn’t want to, but perhaps because God blinded them from seeing those not-so-obvious passages so as to tamper with them. After all, God’s Word is a mystery, hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto babes (Matthew 11:25).

What I have then tried to do in this article is point out those “not-so-obvious” passages in the Bible that prove the deity of Jesus and why? Unlike those passages changed in the NWTHS, these passages are exactly the same in the NWTHS as well as the KJV or any other mainstream translation. So if you get an opportunity to share the Gospel with a Jehovah’s Witness, and you get around to talking about the deity of Jesus Christ, at least you can gently point him or her to these passages from their own Bible.
So far, I’ve been able to find 10 such passages proving the deity of Jesus Christ. These may grow, as the Lord reveals other passages to me. These are the 10 reasons why Jesus is God, even in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible…

• Sin-Forgiving God (Mark 2:5-7; Matthew 9:2)

In Mark 2:5-7, we see a story of a man with palsy, whom Jesus told his sins were forgiven. But the scribes had a problem with that statement because they thought that Jesus blasphemed. They knew that when Jesus made the statement, “Son your sins are forgiven you,” He was saying in essence that He was God. In fact, they said:

NWTHS: “Why is this man talking in this manner? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins except one, God?” — Mark 2:7

Well, the scribes are right. Only God can forgive sins – in the real sense of the word. Jesus would have to be God to make such a statement. In fact, I believe He said that to subtly declare His deity.
When you really think about it, we can only sin against God. Even though we often use the phrase “I forgive you” flippantly when someone does something against us, in the real sense of the word, we have no power to forgive sins. When someone does something against us, the person offends us, not sin against us. But the person sins against God. We can only sin against God because He alone has the power to forgive sins.

For instance, in Genesis 39 when Potiphar’s wife tried to convince Joseph to sleep with her, Joseph said to her:

NWTHS: So how could I commit this great badness and actually sin against God?” Genesis 39:9
Notice that Joseph said he would sin against God, not Potiphar, his boss, if he slept with Potiphar’s wife. Why? Because he knew he could only sin against God, not man. He could offend man, but only sin against God. Likewise, King David in Psalm 51, which he wrote after he slept with Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife), wrote regarding God…

NWTHS:
Against you (God), you alone, I have sinned,

And what is bad in your eyes I have done,

In order that you may prove to be righteous when you speak,

That you may be in the clear when you judge.

So, Jesus’ ability to forgive sin speaks to His deity. As the scribes rightly asked rhetorically in Mark 2:7, “who can forgive sins, except one, God?”

• A Worship-Worthy God (Revelation 1:12-17)

There are several instances in the Bible where whenever someone tried to worship an angel, the angel would stop the person from worshipping him. For instance, in Revelation 19:1-10, when John, the Revelator, tried to worship an angel, the angel prevented him from doing so, saying that he was just a servant like John, but that only God should be worshipped.