As further backing for this contextual interpretation, the same author in Colossians 2:9 goes on to say, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”¹ (NASB)

In Revelation 3:14 the NWT translation reads, “the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God” while Colossians 1:15 reads “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” These translations of the Greek word άρχή limit its meaning to the beginning, but it is also correctly translated as origin.² Jesus, the Word, or God, is the origin of all creation.

John 1:18 reads, “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.” (NLT) Every time we see God, we are seeing Christ.³ The second clause in Greek reads μονογενὴς θεὸς. Mono means singular or one and only, γεννάω refers to birth and θεὸς means God, thus the phrase is often translated as the “only begotten son” (KJV) or “God the only son” (NRSV). The New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witness reads “the only-begotten God” and they use this phrase to indicate that the Word is a separate created being of God, rather than God himself. It can be countered, however, that the γεννάω in this clause is referring to His physical birth as a man on earth, not to the origin of the Word. In that physical birth, a human virgin birth, God as the Holy Spirit was the Word’s father. John 1:14 reads, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (NIV) This does not mean the Word lacked eternal existence as God, rather is referring to a temporal act that was done on our temporal behalf.

Another outworking of Watchtower editing can be found in Hebrews 1:8. “God is your throne forever” (a nonsensical statement) is put instead of “your throne, O God, is forever,” simply because this statement refers to Christ.⁴ This phrase in Hebrews refers back to Psalm 45:6-7 which reads, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your fellows.” The reason the psalm mentions God having a God is because this psalm is a wedding song for a Judean king. This king is given the honorific title of god, but the verse is clear that he also has a God, the God who anointed him to his position.⁵

 “Christ is revealed as Jehovah God in human form in in Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14, John 1:14, 8:58, 17:5 (Exodus 3:14), Hebrews 1:3, Philippians 2:11, Colossians 2:9 and Revelation 1:8, 17-18 and more.”² When speaking with a Jehovah’s Witness and using their translation, a good comparison to show is that of Hebrews 1 with Psalm 102.

Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Christ being the “reflection of God’s glory and the exact representation of his very being” (NWT). Farther down verse 8 begins, “But with reference to the Son…” (NWT) confirming the following passage is referring to Christ.⁶ The quote ends and is directly followed in verse 10 with, “And: ‘You at [the] beginning, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are [the] works of your hands’” (NWT). “By its use of quotation marks in the text the NWT clearly indicates that we are dealing here with a citation of the Old Testament” but a Jehovah’s Witness will usually still agree the passage is yet referring to Christ.⁶ The passage being cited, according to the cross references found in NWT marginal references, is Psalm 102:25-27.

Psalm 102 opens, “O Jehovah, do hear my prayer” (NWT), so one knows that the psalm is addressed to Jehovah God. ⁶ Jehovah is addressed again in verses 12, 19, 21 and 22, confirming that the subject of address has not shifted. Once reading the following in verse 25, “Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth itself, And the heavens are the work of your hands” (NWT) it becomes clear that the very same words are used both for Jehovah and for the Son. ⁶ “This passage is exceptionally strong, for the psalmist is speaking of the immutability, eternal nature, and creative power of Jehovah God, yet the writer to the Hebrews is willing to predicate all these things of Jesus Christ.” ⁶

Revelation 1:8 reveals, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says Jehovah God, ‘The One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty”” (NWT). Reading Revelation 1:7-8, 17-18, the truth that Jesus Christ and Jehovah God are of the same nature is revealed, that they are “of the same substance, hence coequal, coexistent, and coeternal.” ² This is confirmed because in Isaiah 44:6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.’” (NASB). This “eliminates forever any confusion as to their being two firsts and lasts.”² Jehovah’s Witnesses have a footnote in the New World Translation of Revelation 1:17-18 (with Revelation 2:8 referring back to it) indicating that the Greek words προτος means firstborn, when it actually simply means first.  By doing this they link this scripture back to Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5 and Acts 26:23 where Jesus is described as the “firstborn from the dead,” and attempt to disconnect the προτος (first) from the εσκατος (last) (NWT)². Curiously, there is no footnote to explain what last should refer to under this interpretation. The only correct rendering of προτος is first “and in Thayer’s own words, ‘The Eternal One’ – Jehovah.”²

“Many times Jehovah declares His existence as the only God and Savior (Isaiah 44:4; 43:10-13; 44:6; 45:5; 48:12, etc.). This is indeed irrefutable proof since Christ could not be our Savior and Redeemer if He were not Jehovah, for Jehovah is the only Savior of men’s souls (Isaiah 43:11).”²

Scripture often refers to the exclusivity of God’s glory. In Isaiah 42:8 God says, “I am Jehovah. That is my name; and to no one else shall I give my own glory, neither my praise to graven images” (NWT). In Isaiah 48:11 he again says, “For my own sake, for my own sake I shall act, for how could one let oneself be profaned? And to no one else shall I give my own glory” (NWT). God is declaring in both passages that his inherent, divine glory cannot and will not be given to anyone else.²

Then, in John 17: 5 Jesus is praying and says, “Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began” (NAB). If God does not give his glory to anyone else, and if Christ is a created being and not God, then how could his prayer make any sense? The New World Translation reads, “So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was” (John 17:5). Point one was already made, that God does not share his glory. Point two is that the Watchtower Society has translated the Greek preposition παρά, which occurs modifying the dative, as alongside and have asserted that the word could mean through, “and therefore the glory that is spoken of is not proof of Christ’s deity, since the glory is Jehovah’s and is merely shining through the Son.”²

The problem with this assertion is that παρά does not mean through.^{2, 7} To convey the idea of through, the preposition διά with the genitive would have been appropriate, whereas παρά with the dative is more correctly translated as by, beside, at, near, with or among.⁷ “Never let it be said that παρά in this context indicates anything less than possessive equality… The Lord Jesus Christ clearly meant that He as God the Son was the possessor of divine glory along with the Father and the Holy Spirit before the world was formed.”²

After Christ rose from the dead and some claimed to have seen him, Thomas doubted their accounts. When Jesus appeared among the disciples and showed the holes in his hands to Thomas, “Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (NAB, John 20:28). His exclamation is written in Greek as, Ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου, literally the Lord of me and the God of me.⁸ By the Jehovah’s Witnesses own argument, since θεός has the definite article it must refer to Jehovah God. Furthermore, Jesus does not contradict or correct him, but rather confirms that Thomas now believes because he has seen Jesus for what he truly is (NAB, John 20:29).

One should also examine what Jesus thought of himself. When you don’t always have direct verbal quotes, one can observe actions of another in relation to events to glean something of the other’s perspective.⁹ In Lee Strobel’s research Ben Witherington noted a few observations one can make with regard to Jesus’ self-understanding.⁹ Jesus formed a group of twelve disciples, much like God had formed the twelve tribes of Israel, but he himself was not part of them; he was their leader.⁹ The Levitical Law had been with the Jews for centuries, yet Jesus felt empowered to set aside many of these laws, such as when he said, “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”⁹ (NIV)

When looking at the miracles that Jesus did, it was not the miracles themselves that set him apart, but the meaning to which Jesus gave them.⁹ “Jesus sees his miracles as bringing about something unprecedented – the coming of God’s dominion…he sees himself as the one in whom and through whom the promises of God come to pass. And that’s a not-too-thinly-veiled claim of transcendence.” (Witherington quoted in Strobel)⁹

It was customary in those days for Jews to avoid saying the name of God, because it was the most holy word that could be spoken and perhaps in fear that they might mispronounce it.⁹ Jesus, however, initiated the intimate relationship with God, calling him Abba, a term of endearment for a Father. Witherington suggests this is quite significant, asking what kind of person can change the terms of relating to God Almighty?⁹  “And listen, here’s the kicker: Jesus is saying that only through having a relationship with him does this kind of prayer language – this kind of ‘Abba’ relationship with God – become possible. That says volumes about how he regarded himself.” (Witherington quoted in Strobel)⁹

How did others around Jesus understand his claims? One of the most important steps in interpreting the Bible exegetically is to determine historical context.¹⁰ Wherever possible, try to piece together how the audience of the day would have perceived what was in front of them. John 5:18 reads, “On this account, indeed, the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God” (NWT). “The Greek term ἴσον” meaning equal “cannot be debated; nor is it contextually or grammatically allowable that John is here recording what the Jews said about Jesus…The sentence structure clearly shows that John said it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”² This means that both John and the others witnessing the events, which included the Jews, understood Jesus to be claiming equality with God. Later, Christ was crucified with the sign over his head stating “This is the King of the Jews,” so either he had specifically made that claim or someone else certainly thought he had.⁹

Finally, to conclude the proof of Christ’s ontological oneness with Jehovah, in John 10:30 Jesus states that, “I and the Father are One” (NIV). The NWT footnote here tries to indicate that this means unity or in cooperation with, but the attempt to conceal the truth falls short once again.