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WHO IS JEHOVAH? WHO IS JESUS?

BY PHILLIP R JOHNSON

FROM SWORD & TROWEL 2002 NO 2

To read these eight great arguments proving the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is to sense afresh His glory, and to be impressed by the clear and consistent character of Scripture.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
(John 1.1).

Jehovah’s Witnesses are well known for their denial of the deity of Christ. According to their theology, Jesus was an incarnation of the supreme archangel, not God in human flesh.

The historical name for this teaching is Arianism. Arius was a fourth-century heretic whose teaching was opposed by Athanasius and condemned at the Council of Nicea in 325. His doctrine of the incarnation was virtually identical to that of modern-day Jehovah’s Witnesses. Arius even used many of the same arguments JWs employ today. Athanasius brilliantly responded to Arius in his work entitled On the Incarnation, exposing his distortions of Scripture. But for the moment let’s ignore the writings of Athanasius, the documents of the Nicene Council, and every other historical and theological source except Scripture itself. Is it possible to demonstrate conclusively from the Bible alone that Jesus Christ is set forth in Scripture as God? I believe it is, and I am convinced that those who reject Christ’s deity must therefore also reject the plain meaning of the Word of God.

At least eight lines of argument combine to make the biblical case for the deity of Christ.

1 The Old Testament Predicted a Divine Saviour

We need only sample a few key passages to make the point: Psalm 2 is a Messianic psalm and was recognised as such by Jewish scholars centuries before Christ. In Acts 13.33, Paul affirms that this psalm has a Messianic meaning. The psalm closes with these verses (the square brackets showing where Jehovah is in the original Hebrew) -

‘Serve the LORD [Jehovah] with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him’ (vv 11-12).

There the phrases ‘Serve the LORD [Jehovah] ’ and ‘Kiss the Son’ are parallel. This is typical in Hebrew poetic parallelism, and means that the two phrases are logical equivalents. ‘Serve the LORD [Jehovah] ’ means ‘Kiss the Son’. Moreover, this psalm presents the Son as Someone in Whom believers can take refuge - a Saviour Who is God’s own Son, identical in character and rank with God the Father. Psalm 110 is identified as a Messianic psalm by the writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 5.6; 7.17). Here David calls Him Lord:

‘The LORD [Jehovah] said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool’ (v 1).

Jesus Himself quoted this verse in Matthew 22.43-45 to demonstrate that He existed before David and was superior to any earthly king.[1]

Other Messianic prophecies are even more clear in ascribing deity to the Lord’s Anointed One. Isaiah 9.6, for example, is a clear promise of the Messiah. It gives a string of names that apply to Him:

‘Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father [or, "Father of eternity"], The Prince of Peace.’

An earlier prophecy by Isaiah, found in Isaiah 7.14, gave Him the name Immanuel, which literally means, ‘God with us.’ Micah 5.2 prophesied that Messiah’s birthplace would be Bethlehem, and it spoke of Him with these profoundly important words:

‘Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.’

In Malachi 3.1-2 we find one of the clearest, most vivid prophecies of the coming Messiah. Mark 1.2 identifies these verses as a prophecy of Christ:

‘Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.’

Notice that this passage portrays Jesus as the Lord (this is the Hebrew word Adonai) Who is coming to His temple. And He is coming to do a work of divine judgement.

2 Jesus is Called Jehovah

At this point the well-trained Jehovah’s Witness would want to make a distinction between the word Adonai, which is translated ‘Lord’ in most English Bibles, and the word Jehovah (or Yahweh), also translated ‘Lord’ in most English Bibles. If you want to tell the difference between the words in most translations, when the original is Adonai, the word ‘Lord’ will appear in capital and lowercase letters; when the Hebrew word is Jehovah, the word ‘LORD’ will appear in capital and small capital letters.

Let’s suppose our hypothetical Jehovah’s Witness points out that in all the verses I have cited so far, the word Adonai has been employed, not Jehovah. Since the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jehovah is the one true name of God, any passages that apply the term Jehovah to Christ would conclusively destroy their entire theology. Are there any such verses?

There certainly are. Psalm 23.1, for example, says, ‘The LORD [Jehovah] is my shepherd.’ Jesus very clearly applied this passage to Himself in John 10.11, 14, when He said, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ And the writer of Hebrews also applied the Psalm 23 passage about Jehovah the shepherd, to Christ when he wrote,

‘The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant’ (Hebrews 13.20).

In Isaiah 6.5, when Isaiah saw his vision of Heaven, with the Lord high and lifted up, he said,

‘Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD [Jehovah] of hosts.’

Yet the apostle John, referring to this same incident, writes that Isaiah saw Christ’s glory, ‘and spake of him’ (John 12.41).

In the famous prophecy of John the Baptist found in Isaiah 40.3, Jesus is called Jehovah:

‘The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD [Jehovah], make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’

And in Jeremiah 23.5-6 we find a very crucial text for the doctrine of justification by faith. This verse introduces a new name for God which is Jehovah Tsidkenu. Notice to whom it is applied:

‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. [This is very clearly a Messianic prophecy.] In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, the LORD [Jehovah] OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ (Jeremiah 23.5-6).

Here’s a very familiar passage, Joel 2.32:

‘And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD [Jehovah] shall be delivered.’

Both Acts 2.21 and Romans 10.13 quote that passage, applying the title Jehovah to Christ.

The simple fact is that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not witness to the true Jehovah of Scripture. They reject His own witness and the witness of His Word that Christ Himself is Jehovah Who came to earth in human flesh.

3 Jehovah’s Exclusive Titles Given to Christ

In Isaiah 10.20, we find the expression, ‘The LORD [Jehovah], the Holy One of Israel’. The Holy One is said to be no less than Jehovah Himself. And in Acts 3.13-14, Peter tells the men of Jerusalem,

‘Ye delivered up [Jesus], and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just.’

In Isaiah 44.6 we read,

‘Thus saith the LORD [Jehovah] the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts [Jehovah Sabaoth]; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.’

That verse in and of itself offers strong proof for the Trinity, because it differentiates between Jehovah and His Redeemer Jehovah. But it also reserves for Jehovah God this expression ‘the first and the last’.

That title surfaces again in Revelation 1.8, where it is again applied to Jehovah: ‘I am Alpha and Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.’ No question about Who owns that title. Notice too that it is a title that can hardly be shared with any created being: Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the One which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Yet at the end of the book of Revelation we read these words again, this time spoken by Jesus Christ:

‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last’ (Revelation 22.13).

In Isaiah 43.11, God speaks: ‘I, even I, am the LORD [Jehovah]; and beside me there is no saviour.’ Did you realise the title ‘Saviour’ is reserved in Scripture for God? This verse says so in the plainest possible terms. ‘I am Jehovah; and beside me there is no saviour.’ That is why Paul, writing to Titus, did not shrink from applying the name God and the word Saviour both to Jesus Christ. Titus 2.11-13 says this:

‘For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’

Zechariah 12.10 includes a most interesting prophecy. In context, this is Jehovah speaking. Verse 4 tells us so, and then verse 10 says,

‘And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.’

Who was the One Who was pierced? It was Christ. And John 19.37 specifically applies this text to Christ.

Deuteronomy 10.17 says,

The LORD [Jehovah] your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible.’

Yet Revelation 17.14 applies the title ‘Lord of lords’ to the Lamb, Jesus Christ:

‘These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.’

4 Jesus Possesses All Incommunicable Attributes

Christ is eternal, as we noted in Micah 5.2, and in His titles, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.’ He is omnipresent. In Matthew 18.20 He said, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them;’ and in Matthew 28.20, He promised, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’

He is omniscient. On the night Christ was betrayed, the disciples told Him,

‘Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God’ (John 16.30).

Later, Peter appealed to Christ’s omniscience in his own defence in John 21.17:

‘Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.’

In Revelation 2.23 Christ describes Himself in these terms: ‘I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.’ He is omnipotent. Philippians 3.21 says He -

‘shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.’

Hebrews 1.3 says He upholds ‘all things by the word of his power’.

He is immutable, unchanging. This attribute could never be true of any created being. Yet Hebrews 1.10-12 says, speaking of Christ,

‘Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.’

Hebrews 13.8 is a familiar affirmation of the immutability of Christ: ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.’

In summary, Scripture says Christ embodies every attribute that is true of Jehovah; Colossians 2.9: ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’ And Hebrews 1.3 says Christ is ‘the brightness of his [Jehovah’s] glory, and the express image of his person.’ Jesus is Jehovah God.

5 Jesus Does the Works of God

Jesus does works that God alone can do. For example,

(i) Christ created ‘all things’. John 1.3 says,

‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.’

If that is true, then He Himself could not be a created being.

Colossians 1.16 says the same thing in more detail, ruling out the possibility that He could be any kind of archangel:

‘For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.’

Verse 17 takes it a step further and pictures Him not only as Creator but also as Sustainer:

‘And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.’

(ii) He oversees the operation of divine providence. In John 17.2, Christ prays to the Father,

‘As thou hast given him [the Son] power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.’

Ephesians 1.22 echoes that:

‘And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.’

(iii) He forgives sin. This was a huge controversy in Jesus’ earthly ministry. Matthew 9.2-7 and Mark 2.5-12 give the accounts of how the Pharisees were offended that He forgave sins. In Mark 2.7 they ask,

‘Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?’

They understood clearly the implications of His authority.

(iv) He has the power to raise the dead and judge in final judgement. In John 5.22, Jesus said,

‘For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.’

That is a very explicit claim of deity, and in verse 24, Jesus even makes the basis of judgement the issue of whether someone hears His word or not. Acts 10.42 says Christ ‘was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead’. Acts 17.31 says the same thing. 2 Timothy 4.1 says ‘Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead.’ (v) It is He Who will bring us into the fullness of glorification. Philippians 3.21 says He ‘shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.’ In Revelation 21.5 He says, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’

6 Jesus Receives Worship

Jesus Himself in Matthew 4.10 told the devil,

‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’

If Jesus Himself were only a creature, He would have been guilty of hypocrisy, for He Himself received worship. Not once did Jesus ever rebuke anyone for worshipping Him. Never did He refuse anyone’s worship. In fact, He corrected those who scolded others for worshipping Him, as in Luke 10, when Martha was angry that Mary sat at His feet. And in Matthew 26, He rebuked the disciples for being indignant that a woman had anointed Him with expensive ointment. Listen carefully to these verses, and remember that in every case Jesus welcomed the worship that was offered to Him:

• Matthew 14.33 - ‘Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.’
• John 9.38 - ‘And he [the man born blind] said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.’
• Matthew 28.9 - ‘Jesus met them [the women coming from His tomb], saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.’
• Matthew 28.17-18 - ‘And when they [the eleven disciples] saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.’
• John 20.28-29 - ‘Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. [Now listen to Jesus’ response to Thomas calling Him God:] Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’

Contrast Jesus’ response to worship with Peter’s response when ‘Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him’ (Acts 10.25). Verse 26 says,

‘Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.’

Acts 14.11-18 tells of a similar episode in Paul’s ministry, when he and Barnabas refused the worship of an entire crowd. Then in Revelation 19.10 and 22.8-9, we have angels refusing worship from the apostle John. In 22.9 the angel says,

‘See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.’

Scripture explicitly states that the Son is to be worshipped. John 5.22- 23 says,

‘For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.’

Jesus placed Himself on the highest possible level when He made Himself an object of our faith, John 14.1:

‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.’

Do you want ultimate proof that Jesus is not an angel? Hebrews 1.6 says that when the Father brought the Son into the world, He said,

‘And let all the angels of God worship him.’

Let’s move on to the two final lines of argument that prove Jesus is God. I have saved the strongest for last. For if Jesus is God, you would expect the Bible to say so in the strongest of terms. And in fact it does.

7 The Bible Says Jesus is God

John 1 is a favourite text of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The people who come to your door are thoroughly trained in how to respond if you show them John 1.1. Here are the first three verses of John’s Gospel:

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.’

This is a very strong statement on the deity of Christ. Every phrase is significant. ‘In the beginning’ harks back to Genesis 1.1 and sets the beginning of John’s Gospel in eternity past, before anything or anyone was created. B B Warfield wrote,

‘What is declared is that "in the beginning" - not "from the beginning" but "in the beginning" - when first things came to be, the Word, not came into being, so that He might be the first of those things which came into being, but already was. Absolute eternity of being is asserted for the Word in as precise and strong language as absolute eternity of being can be asserted. The Word antedates the beginning of things; He already was.’[2]

The next phrase, ‘the Word was with God’, only strengthens the assertion of deity in this passage. It means that from all eternity, the Word coexisted with God, alongside Him, in personal inter-communion with Him. In Warfield’s words, ‘He has been from all eternity God’s Fellow.’[3] This eternal relationship between God and the Word is underscored by a phrase in John 1.18 [NASB], ‘the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father . . . ’ Jesus Christ was eternally in the bosom of the Father, somehow distinct from God the Father yet at the same time identical to Him. By the way, the New American Standard translation in v 18 is accurate; in the Greek, the literal wording is, ‘the only begotten God’ - another straightforward proof of Christ’s deity. The whole principle of the Trinity is wrapped up in this expression, ‘the Word was with God’.

But let’s return to the third phrase in John 1.1, for this is the part Jehovah’s Witnesses feel they can answer: ‘The Word was God.’ That is precisely and literally what this text says in the Greek. A well-trained JW will attempt to convince you that our translation is faulty. In the Greek, they will tell you, the word God lacks any definite article (quite right). Therefore, they say, an indefinite article must be supplied: ‘The Word was a God.’ That is bad Greek and totally unwarranted. Was is what is known as a copulative verb. You may have called it a ‘linking verb’ in grammar school. It simply connects the noun on one side with the noun on the other - The Word was God. ‘God’ in that sentence is a predicate nominative. It can only be translated the way you find it in most Bibles: ‘The Word was God.’ To insert the word ‘a’ is both bad Greek and bad grammar. Jehovah’s Witnesses have produced their own Bible with their own translation. And they have a handful of Greek scholars who have tried desperately to defend this translation. But what these JW ‘scholars’ do not tell their own people is that there are dozens of places in their Bible where they are forced by common sense to violate the very rule they want to try to impose on John 1.1. I’ll give you two examples from this very same context. If we followed the JW construction and added the word ‘a’ every time the definite article is missing, here’s how a couple of other verses from John 1 would read:

• v6 ‘There was a man sent from [a] God, whose name was John.’
• v12 ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of [a] God, even to them that believe on his name.’

So John 1.1 is the Achilles’ heel of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ theology, and that is why every JW is taught what to say when it is brought up. But their answers are not at all satisfying to anyone who knows the smallest amount of Greek grammar, and their denial of Christ’s deity is easily debunked merely by the context of this verse. You needn’t be shaken by the JW arguments on this. Of course, there are more verses in the New Testament that explicitly call Jesus God. Remember, as we saw earlier, that when Thomas exclaimed, ‘My Lord and my God,’ Jesus did not rebuke him, but commended him for his faith (John 20.29). Titus 2.13 and 2 Peter 1.1 refer to Jesus as the great ‘God and our Saviour’. Romans 9.5 says He ‘is over all, God blessed for ever’. Philippians 2.6 says He existed from all eternity ‘in the form of God’. And 1 John 5.20 says,

‘We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.’

One of the best verses to challenge JWs with is Hebrews 1.8 because, even in their Bibles, it is a very clear declaration of Jesus’ deity. This quotes God the Father, Who is speaking to the Son: ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.’

8 Jesus Himself Claims to be God

Finally, if Jesus is God, we might expect Him to say so. Have you ever wondered why He didn’t simply state, ‘I am God’ and put an end to any possibility of confusion? Actually, He did. What He says in John 8.58 was to His Jewish audience a far more explicit statement than if He had merely said ‘I am God.’ It is important to see this passage in its context. In verse 53, we see that the Pharisees were becoming uncomfortable with Jesus’ claims, beginning to suspect that He was putting Himself on a level of authority to which no mere man would have any right. They said:

‘Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

‘Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

‘Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? ‘Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

‘Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.’

Notice that these men understood precisely what Jesus was saying. And because He obviously also understood what they were asking, His reply is that much more significant. He was telling them He was God, using the name which Jehovah Himself had revealed to Moses at the burning bush, ‘I AM’. He could have made no stronger claim to deity. If that had not been His meaning, if He were claiming only to be the first-born angel, He would have said, ‘before Abraham was, I was’.

The Gospel of John includes a whole series of statements Jesus made about Himself using this name ‘I AM’ - I am the way, the truth, and the life; I am the good shepherd; I am the door; I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world. Each one of these statements, studied in context, reveals that He was making claim after claim to absolute deity.

The biblical evidence for the deity of Christ is conclusive. It is overwhelming, irrefutable evidence. In fact, what we have covered here is only a representative sample. I haven’t even mentioned John 10.30, ‘I and my Father are one.’ That, and many other similar passages, could be adduced, to prove even more conclusively that according to Scripture, He is God.

So much evidence cannot be swept aside or ignored. You either believe it, or you condemn yourself to an unthinkable eternity. In fact, Jesus said, ‘If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins’ (John 8.24). There Jesus holds forth His ‘I am’ without a predicate (‘he’) in the Greek, as the object of our faith. He is very obviously setting Himself in the place of God, and He can do that only because He is God. Those who know that Scripture is the Word of God can only believe, and join in the worship of Him at Whose name every knee shall bow.

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