Christianity vs. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian?

Christianity and Other Religions — Part 7 of 12

Jehovah’s Witnesses use Christian vocabulary.

They talk about God. They talk about Jesus. They carry Bibles. They preach door to door. They call themselves followers of Christ.

But those similarities can obscure the central issue.

Jehovah’s Witness theology is not historic Christianity.

It does not merely disagree with Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, Pentecostals, or other Christian traditions over secondary matters.

It rejects doctrines that define the Christian faith itself.

Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity.

They deny that Jesus Christ is the eternal, uncreated God the Son.

They identify the prehuman Jesus with Michael the archangel.

They deny that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person.

They reject the historic Christian understanding of Christ’s bodily resurrection.

And their New World Translation contains several highly unusual renderings at precisely the passages where historic Christianity sees the deity of Christ most clearly.

So the question is not:

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses sincere?

Many undoubtedly are. The question is:

Do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in the God, the Christ, and the gospel revealed in Scripture? Historic Christianity answers no.

Part 7 of Our Christianity and Other Religions Series

In Part 1, we established the essential doctrines of historic orthodox Christianity.

Since then, we have compared Christianity with Islam, Mormonism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Now we turn to a movement that is especially important to examine carefully because it presents itself as thoroughly biblical.

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not typically approach people by saying:

“We have rejected historic Christianity and replaced it with another theology.”

They approach carrying a Bible.

That makes one question especially important:

What Bible are they reading, and how is it being translated?

Jehovah’s Witnesses Reject the Historic Christian God

Historic Christianity confesses one God eternally existing in three Persons:

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus commands His disciples to baptize:

“in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

—Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

Jehovah’s Witnesses reject this doctrine.

They teach that Jehovah alone is Almighty God, that Jesus is a created being subordinate to Him, and that the Holy Spirit is not a divine Person but God’s active force.

This is not a minor theological disagreement.

It changes the identity of God.

The Trinity is not an optional theory Christians invented centuries after Jesus.

The New Testament reveals the Father as God.

The Son as God.

The Holy Spirit as God.

Yet Scripture maintains that there is one God.

Jehovah’s Witness theology resolves that biblical tension not by confessing the Trinity, but by lowering Christ from Creator to creature and reducing the Holy Spirit from divine Person to impersonal force.

That is a fundamentally different doctrine of God.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach a Different Jesus

Historic Christianity confesses Jesus Christ as the eternal, uncreated Son of God.

John writes:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

—John 1:1 (ESV)

John continues:

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

—John 1:3 (ESV)

That distinction matters enormously.

John gives us two categories:

The Word.

And:

Everything that was made.

Everything in the category of created things came into existence through Christ.

That places Jesus outside the category of created beings.

He is Creator.

Jehovah’s Witness theology teaches otherwise.

It identifies Jesus as Jehovah’s first creation and associates His prehuman identity with Michael the archangel.

That is not the Jesus proclaimed by historic Christianity.

Jesus Is Not Michael the Archangel

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Michael the archangel is Jesus Christ in His prehuman heavenly existence.

Scripture never says this.

Not once.

In fact, Hebrews deliberately distinguishes the Son from angels.

“For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son’?”

—Hebrews 1:5 (ESV)

The obvious answer is:

None of them.

Then Hebrews says of the Son:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”

—Hebrews 1:8 (ESV)

And earlier:

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

—Hebrews 1:6 (ESV)

The argument of Hebrews 1 is not:

Jesus is the greatest angel.

It is:

Jesus is categorically greater than angels.

Angels worship Him.

He reigns eternally.

He created the heavens and the earth.

Hebrews continues by applying to the Son language from Psalm 102:

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”

—Hebrews 1:10 (ESV)

The Son is not Michael.

The Son is the Lord who made Michael.

The New World Translation and John 1:1

Perhaps the most famous example of Watchtower translation theology appears in John 1:1.

Most major English translations render the final clause:

“the Word was God.”

The Jehovah’s Witness New World Translation renders it:

“the Word was a god.”

That small article changes the entire meaning.

John is no longer identifying the Word as fully divine in the historic Christian sense.

Instead, the NWT makes Jesus sound like a lesser divine being alongside the Almighty God.

That conveniently fits Watchtower theology.

But it creates a much bigger biblical problem.

Isaiah records Jehovah saying:

“Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.”

—Isaiah 43:10 (ESV)

And:

“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”

—Isaiah 44:6 (ESV)

So what exactly would “a god” mean?

Is Jesus a true god?

Then Watchtower theology has more than one true god.

Is Jesus a false god?

Then John is calling Jesus something blasphemous.

Or is John actually doing what historic Christianity has always understood him to be doing—distinguishing the Word personally from the Father while affirming the Word’s full deity?

The context strongly supports the historic Christian reading.

The Word exists “in the beginning.”

The Word creates everything.

The Word becomes flesh.

And by the end of the Gospel, Thomas looks directly at the risen Jesus and says:

“My Lord and my God!”

—John 20:28 (ESV)

John’s Gospel begins with the Word as God and culminates with Jesus openly confessed as God.

That is not accidental.

John 8:58: “I Am” Becomes “I Have Been”

Jesus says:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

—John 8:58 (ESV)

The Greek expression is ego eimi—“I am.”

Major Christian translations preserve the striking wording.

The New World Translation instead renders Jesus:

“Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.”

That removes much of the force of Jesus’ statement.

Why does that matter?

Because Jesus does not merely say:

“I existed before Abraham.”

He gives the extraordinary declaration:

“I am.”

The reaction of His hearers is immediate:

“So they picked up stones to throw at him.”

—John 8:59 (ESV)

They understood the statement as far more than Jesus claiming to be older than Abraham.

Historic Christians have long recognized here an echo of divine self-identification.

The Watchtower rendering dulls that connection.

And conveniently, once again, it does so precisely where the text presents an exceptionally high view of Jesus.

Colossians 1:16–17: Adding “Other”

Colossians is another crucial example.

Paul writes of Christ:

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.”

—Colossians 1:16 (ESV)

And:

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

—Colossians 1:17 (ESV)

The New World Translation has historically rendered this idea using the phrase:

“all other things.”

That word matters.

If Jesus created all things, He cannot Himself belong to the category of created things.

But if Jesus created all other things, then Watchtower theology can place Jesus as the first creature and claim He created everything else.

The problem is that “other” is not present in the Greek text as a corresponding word in these phrases.

It is supplied interpretively.

And what doctrine does that supplied word protect?

The Watchtower teaching that Jesus is created.

Remove “other,” and Paul's language becomes much more difficult for Jehovah’s Witness theology:

Christ created all things.

He exists before all things.

Everything holds together in Him.

That is the language of the Creator.

Hebrews 1:8: “Your Throne, O God”

Hebrews gives another remarkable statement concerning Jesus:

“But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.’”

—Hebrews 1:8 (ESV)

Many standard translations read similarly.

The Son is addressed as:

“O God.”

The New World Translation instead has rendered the passage along the lines of:

“God is your throne forever and ever.”

That is an extraordinarily unusual construction in English.

And again, ask what happens doctrinally.

“Your throne, O God” openly addresses the Son as God.

“God is your throne” avoids doing so.

This pattern deserves attention.

At passage after passage where historic Christianity sees explicit testimony to Christ’s deity, the Watchtower translation repeatedly lands on readings that support Watchtower theology instead.

Titus 2:13: Our Great God and Savior

Paul speaks of Christians waiting for:

“the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

—Titus 2:13 (ESV)

The natural grammatical reading identifies Jesus Christ as both:

our great God

and:

our Savior.

Similar constructions appear in 2 Peter 1:1:

“our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Historic Christianity has no difficulty with these verses.

Jesus is God.

A theology committed beforehand to denying Christ’s full deity must explain them differently.

That is the recurring problem.

The question becomes:

Are we allowing Scripture to determine our doctrine—or adjusting Scripture so that it cannot contradict our doctrine?

Worship or Merely “Obeisance”?

There is another revealing translation issue surrounding the Greek word proskuneō.

This word can refer to bowing, homage, or worship depending on context.

When the action is directed toward God, translations naturally use language such as worship.

But the New Testament also uses this word for actions directed toward Jesus.

After Jesus walks on the water:

“those in the boat worshiped him.”

—Matthew 14:33 (ESV)

After His resurrection:

“they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.”

—Matthew 28:9 (ESV)

The Watchtower translation often prefers language such as “did obeisance” when Jesus is the recipient.

That translation choice is possible in isolation.

But the repeated pattern matters.

When the theology already insists Jesus cannot properly receive divine worship, translating the same underlying word differently when Christ is the recipient can function as theological insulation.

And Scripture itself gives us a striking contrast.

John attempts to fall down before an angel:

“You must not do that! … Worship God.”

—Revelation 22:9 (ESV)

Angels reject worship.

Jesus receives it.

Historic Christianity has a simple explanation:

Jesus is not an angel. Jesus is God the Son.

The New World Translation Committee and Scholarly Transparency

There is another issue worth noting.

The identities of the original New World Bible Translation Committee were not publicly presented alongside transparent academic credentials in the manner one might expect from a major modern Bible translation project.

That matters because translation requires serious expertise in Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.

Christians should be careful here.

It is easy to repeat claims such as:

“None of the translators knew Greek.”

That is stronger than the evidence necessary to make the case.

The more defensible criticism is simpler:

The Watchtower organization did not provide the kind of transparent translator identification and scholarly credentialing that allows readers to independently evaluate the committee’s expertise.

And when a translation repeatedly makes unusual choices that happen to protect distinctive Watchtower doctrines, scrutiny is entirely appropriate.

The real question is not whether the translators had impressive résumés.

The real question is whether the translation faithfully represents the original text.

At key Christological passages, there are serious reasons for concern.

The Holy Spirit Is Not an Impersonal Force

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit is God's active force rather than a divine Person.

Scripture does not speak about the Holy Spirit as an impersonal power source.

The Holy Spirit speaks:

“The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”

—Acts 13:2 (ESV)

Notice the personal language:

“for me.”

“I have called them.”

The Spirit teaches:

“the Holy Spirit … will teach you all things.”

—John 14:26 (ESV)

The Spirit can be grieved:

“do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”

—Ephesians 4:30 (ESV)

And Acts gives perhaps the clearest testimony.

Peter tells Ananias:

“Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”

Then:

“You have not lied to man but to God.”

—Acts 5:3–4 (ESV)

Lie to the Holy Spirit.

Lie to God.

The biblical conclusion is straightforward.

The Holy Spirit is personal, and the Holy Spirit is divine.

Watchtower theology denies both.

Jehovah’s Witness Theology Rejects Christ’s Bodily Resurrection

Historic Christianity proclaims that Jesus physically rose from the grave.

Jesus says after His resurrection:

“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see.”

Then:

“For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

—Luke 24:39 (ESV)

This could hardly be more explicit.

Jesus specifically denies that His resurrection appearance is merely that of a spirit.

Jehovah’s Witness theology, however, has taught that Jesus was resurrected as a spirit creature rather than raised bodily in the historic Christian sense.

That directly collides with Jesus’ own words:

“a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

The bodily resurrection is not optional Christianity.

Paul writes:

“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

—1 Corinthians 15:17 (ESV)

Christianity stands or falls with the risen Christ.

The 144,000 and a Two-Class Hope

Jehovah’s Witness theology also teaches that the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation have a heavenly hope and reign with Christ, while the “great crowd” anticipates everlasting life on a paradise earth.

Historic Christianity does not divide redeemed believers into this Watchtower two-class structure.

Paul says:

“There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

—Ephesians 4:4–5 (ESV)

There are difficult interpretive questions in Revelation.

Faithful Christians disagree about many of them.

But constructing a religious hierarchy in which only a limited class receives one heavenly destiny while the remainder belongs to another category is not historic Christian teaching.

Salvation Is Not Loyalty to an Organization

Jehovah’s Witnesses speak about grace, Christ’s sacrifice, faith, obedience, and endurance.

But Watchtower religious life places enormous significance on remaining faithful within Jehovah’s visible organization and following its doctrinal direction.

Historic Christianity points believers somewhere else.

Not ultimately to an organization.

Not to a publishing society.

Not to a governing body.

To Christ.

Paul says:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.”

—Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

And:

“one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

—Romans 3:28 (ESV)

Good works follow salvation.

Obedience follows salvation.

Evangelism follows salvation.

Discipleship follows salvation.

But Christ saves.

The organization does not.

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Christians?

From the standpoint of historic biblical Christianity:

No.

That needs to be stated without ambiguity.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not simply Christians who interpret a few difficult Bible passages differently.

They deny the Trinity.

They deny that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated God the Son.

They make Jesus a created being.

They identify Him with Michael the archangel.

They deny the deity and personhood of the Holy Spirit.

They reject the historic Christian doctrine of Christ’s bodily resurrection.

And their distinctive Bible translation repeatedly adopts unusual renderings at passages directly connected to those doctrines.

This is not Christianity with a few eccentric beliefs added.

It is a fundamentally different theology using Christian vocabulary.

Christianity vs. Jehovah’s Witnesses at a Glance

God

Christianity: One eternal God existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jehovah alone is Almighty God; the Trinity is rejected.

Jesus

Christianity: Eternal and uncreated God the Son.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: A created heavenly being identified with Michael the archangel.

John 1:1

Historic Christian translations: “the Word was God.”

New World Translation: “the Word was a god.”

John 8:58

Historic Christian translations: “before Abraham was, I am.”

New World Translation: “before Abraham came into existence, I have been.”

Colossians 1

Historic Christian reading: Christ created “all things.”

NWT tradition: Adds the interpretive idea “all other things,” allowing Jesus Himself to be placed among created things.

Hebrews 1

Historic Christianity: The Son is distinguished from angels, worshiped by angels, and addressed as God.

Jehovah’s Witness theology: Jesus is identified with an archangel.

Holy Spirit

Christianity: Divine Person.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: God's active force.

Resurrection

Christianity: Christ rose bodily.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Watchtower theology rejects bodily resurrection in the historic Christian sense.

Those differences are foundational.

“Another Jesus” Is Not a Minor Problem

Paul warned:

“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed … or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”

—2 Corinthians 11:4 (ESV)

That warning applies directly to the problem Christians face when encountering Jehovah’s Witness theology.

Saying the name Jesus is not enough.

Ask:

Who is Jesus?

The Watchtower says He is created.

Scripture says all created things came through Him.

The Watchtower identifies Him with Michael.

Hebrews distinguishes Him from every angel.

The Watchtower refuses to confess Him as Almighty God.

Thomas looks directly at Jesus and says:

“My Lord and my God!”

The Watchtower treats Him as a lesser heavenly being.

Scripture says:

“in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

—Colossians 2:9 (ESV)

This is not the same Jesus described two slightly different ways.

The identities are fundamentally incompatible.

When Jehovah’s Witnesses Knock on Your Door, Stay With the Text

Christians do not need to be rude when Jehovah’s Witnesses arrive.

Nor do we need to allow the conversation to jump through fifty unrelated passages.

Stay focused.

Ask them to read John 1:1–3.

Then ask:

If everything that was created came into existence through Jesus, how can Jesus Himself be a created thing?

Read Hebrews 1.

Ask:

If Jesus is Michael, why does Hebrews distinguish the Son from the angels and command the angels to worship Him?

Read John 20:28.

Ask:

Why does Thomas call Jesus “my Lord and my God,” and why does Jesus accept the confession?

Read Luke 24:39.

Ask:

Why does the resurrected Jesus explicitly say He is not merely a spirit?

Read Acts 5:3–4.

Ask:

If lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God, how is the Holy Spirit merely an impersonal force?

And when translation differences appear, compare the New World Translation with several mainstream translations and, where possible, the underlying Greek.

Do not let an organization tell you what the Bible is permitted to say.

Read the text.

Christians Need Churches That Teach Doctrine

There is another uncomfortable lesson here.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are often trained extensively to defend their theology.

Many professing Christians cannot explain the Trinity.

They cannot explain why Jesus is God.

They cannot explain the bodily resurrection.

They cannot distinguish the Holy Spirit from an impersonal force.

And many could not recognize a doctrinally motivated translation if it were placed directly in front of them.

The local church must do better.

Paul says elders must:

“hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.”

—Titus 1:9 (ESV)

Sound doctrine is not material for seminary classrooms only.

It protects ordinary Christians.

We need pastors who teach the Bible deeply enough that believers recognize another Jesus when someone brings one to their door.

We need churches that confess Father, Son, and Holy Spirit without embarrassment.

We need congregations that worship Jesus as eternal God the Son.

We need discipleship that teaches Christians to read Scripture in context.

We need biblical accountability so that believers are not left isolated when persuasive religious movements approach them.

And we need confidence in the apostolic gospel.

The true Jesus is not Michael the archangel.

He is not “a god.”

He is not Jehovah’s first creature.

He is not merely a spirit resurrected from death.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Word.

He is the Creator of all things.

He is God the Son.

He became flesh.

He died for sinners.

He rose bodily from the grave.

He reigns forever.

And salvation is found in Him alone.

Coming Next: Christianity vs. Christian Science

Part 8 of our Christianity and Other Religions series will examine another movement that places the word Christian directly in its name:

Christianity vs. Christian Science.

What did Mary Baker Eddy teach about God?

Is physical matter actually real?

Are sickness and death ultimately realities or errors of mortal perception?

Who is Jesus?

What is the difference between Jesus and “Christ” in Christian Science theology?

Did Christ’s death actually atone for sin?

And did Jesus physically rise from the dead?

Once again, using Christian vocabulary does not guarantee Christian doctrine.

That is where we will turn next.

References

Scripture

• Isaiah 43:10
• Isaiah 44:6
• Matthew 14:33
• Matthew 28:9, 19
• Luke 24:36–43
• John 1:1–3, 14
• John 8:58–59
• John 10:30
• John 14:26
• John 20:28
• Acts 5:3–4
• Acts 13:2
• Acts 17:11
• Romans 3:28
• 1 Corinthians 15:17
• 2 Corinthians 11:4
• Ephesians 2:8–9
• Ephesians 4:4–5, 30
• Colossians 1:15–17
• Colossians 2:9
• Titus 2:13
• Hebrews 1
• Titus 1:9
• 2 Peter 1:1
• Revelation 22:8–9

Jehovah’s Witness Sources

• Jehovah’s Witnesses, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
• Jehovah’s Witnesses, teachings regarding Jesus Christ, Michael the archangel, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, resurrection, and the 144,000 — JW.org

Additional Christian Resources

• ChurchDex, The ChurchDex Foundational Statement
• Ligonier Ministries — https://www.ligonier.org/
• The Gospel Coalition — https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/
• 9Marks — https://www.9marks.org/

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