Jehovah's Witnesses - if Jesus wasn't fully God then where does your salvation come from?

Question

Jehovah's Witnesses disagree with the mainstream Christian belief that Jesus was "fully God, fully man." Witnesses teach that Jesus was not God, but rather God's first creation. Jesus existed in pre-human form as God's agent of creation and God's chief spokesman (the Word), and took on human form as the man Jesus by means of a virgin birth.

Jhn 1:1¶In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus is the Word, then He is God.




Jehovah's Witnesses disagree with the mainstream Christian belief that Jesus was -----"fully God, fully man."------- Witnesses teach that Jesus was not God, but rather God's first creation. Jesus existed in pre-human form as God's agent of creation and God's chief spokesman (the Word), and took on human form as the man Jesus by means of a virgin birth.

Answer 1

True Christians recognize that the point of discussing bible evidence is not to win arguments, but to serve God and Christ in a manner acceptable to them and help others to do so. Still, it is difficult to ignore the evidence that trinitarians keep deleting their questions once the preponderance of bible passages exposes the illogic of certain arguments. Interesting! ...for example:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070121175125AAKIzWy


Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe!

Jehovah's Witnesses love and respect and honor Christ. However, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Scriptures quite plainly demonstrate that Jesus and the Almighty are separate distinct persons, and the Almighty created Jesus as His firstborn son.

(Colossians 1:15) the firstborn of all creation

(Mark 10:18) Jesus said to him: 'Why do you call me good? Nobody is good, except one, God.

(Revelation 3:14) the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God

(Philippians 2:5-6) Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God

(John 8:42) Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth

(John 12:49) I have not spoken out of my own impulse, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to tell and what to speak

(John 14:28) I am going my way to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am

(1 Corinthians 15:28) But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him

(Matthew 20:23) this sitting down at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father

(1 Corinthians 11:3) I want you to know that the head of every man is the Christ; ...in turn the head of the Christ is God

(John 20:17) I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.

(Deuteronomy 6:4) Jehovah our God is one Jehovah

(1 Corinthians 8:4-6) There is no God but one. For even though there are those who are called "gods," whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many "gods" and many "lords," there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him

Thanks again for an opportunity to share what the bible actually says about the distinct persons of Jesus Christ the Son and Jehovah God the Father!

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_05.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050422/
http://watchtower.org/e/20020515/
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_03.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_04.htm

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses acknowledge that Jesus, when he was born as a human, was the son of God. But they seem unable to comprehend that before Jesus was born as a human, he had eternally been the Son of God. If you read their literature, you will observe Jesus is only ever described as 'the son of God' and never as 'the Son of God. They believe he was created by Jehovah as a spirit creature, Michael the archangel. So, yes, they believe Jesus the man was the son of God, but deny that prior to his human existence he had eternally been the Son of God who dwelt with the Father and the Holy Spirit from before the creation of the world. They believe Jesus the man was fully human, but he only became 'the son of God' at his baptism. However, they remain adamant that Jesus was never divine. Jesus, they say, is dead - forever dead. Jesus' body was not resurrected but a spirit creature was raised into heaven - Michael, the archangel. Oh, and it will be Michael, the archangel, who returns, they say. They completely misunderstand and misrepresent the Trinity, failing to understand that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons who, together, make up the One Being of God. The link below shows how their booklet, 'Should You Believe The Trinity?' misquotes and misrepresents the Trinity doctrine:

Answer 3

John 1:1,2

My NAB in it's footnote states that God(2) is a quality or an attribute and NOT an identification.
(Caps by me)

Therefore John 1:1 is saying that Jesus the Word is like God or a god but NOT 'is God'.

Jesus by coming to the earth with Jehovah as his Father, had no sin, the same as Adam.

1 Cor 15:45 shows that Jesus is equal to Adam, and not Jehovah.

45 So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL " The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

2 Cor 4:4 tells us that Satan the god of this world blinds people so that they do not recognize Jesus as the image of God.

4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

I find it interesting that the Jews said Jesus was blaspheming for saying he is God's Son.

John 10:36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?


The same charge made against Jehovah's Witnesses.

Answer 4

We believe in salvation by means of Jesus' ransom sacrifice. Jehovah sent his son to the earth to die on his behalf. He REALLY HAD TO BE DEAD to make the ransom sacrifice and it was Jehovah that resurrected him on the third day. If he was REALLY DEAD (conscious of nothing at all - Ecc 9:5,10), then someone else had to be there to do the resurrecting.

We are not in competition with each other or anyone else regarding salvation. Jesus died for every life that has ever been born on this earth since Adam and Eve died and there is room for the salvation of every person. The thing that has you confused, SB, is that you may not realize that most Jehovah's Witnesses do not hope for a salvation in heaven but rather, here on Earth - Ps 37:11, 29.

Answer 5

Jesus’ being called the “only-begotten Son” (Joh 1:14; 3:16, 18; 1Jo 4:9) does not mean that the other spirit creatures produced were not God’s sons, for they are called sons as well.

However, by virtue of his being the sole direct creation of his Father, the firstborn Son was unique, different from all others of God’s sons, all of whom were created or begotten by Jehovah through that firstborn Son. So “the Word” was Jehovah’s “only-begotten Son” in a particular sense, even as Isaac was Abraham’s “only-begotten son” in a particular sense (his father already having another son but not by his wife Sarah).

Jehovah God saw fit to make his firstborn Son the central, or key, figure in the outworking of all His purposes (Joh 1:14-18; Col 1:18-20; 2:8, 9), the focal point on which the light of all prophecies would concentrate and from which their light would radiate (1Pe 1:10-12; Re 19:10; Joh 1:3-9), the solution to all the problems that Satan’s rebellion had raised (Heb 2:5-9, 14, 15; 1Jo 3:8), and the foundation upon which God would build all future arrangements for the eternal good of His universal family in heaven and earth. (Eph 1:8-10; 2:20; 1Pe 2:4-8)

Because of the vital role he thus plays in God’s purpose, Jesus could say, rightly and without exaggeration: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

It can be seen that, while Jesus’ death on a torture stake plays a vital part in human salvation, acceptance of this is by no means all that is involved in ‘putting faith in the name of Jesus.’ Following his resurrection, Jesus informed his disciples, “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth,” thereby showing that he heads a government of universal domain. The apostle Paul made clear that Jesus’ Father has “left nothing that is not subject to him [Jesus],” with the evident exception of “the one who subjected all things to him,” that is, Jehovah, the Sovereign God.

Jesus Christ’s “name,” therefore, is more excellent than that of God’s angels, in that his name embraces or stands for the vast executive authority that Jehovah has placed in him. (Heb 1:3, 4) Only those who willingly recognize that “name” and bow to it, subjecting themselves to the authority it represents, will gain life eternal. (Ac 4:12; Eph 1:19-23; Php 2:9-11) They must, sincerely and without hypocrisy, line up with the standards Jesus exemplified and, in faith, obey the commands he gave.

Answer 6

Our salvation comes from the belief in the birth , life, sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, in obedience to His Father Jehovah. We believe that there is no salvation except through that belief in Jesus and His sacrifice of His perfect life. What does that have to do with Jesus being God?

Answer 7

Jesus was still a perfect man who shed his perfect blood in sacrifice. It is through the merits of that sacrifice, through faith in that sacrifice, that one can gain salvation. Salvation is a gift from God based on that salvation, Jesus sacrifice opens the way to salvation.

Answer 8

Rev 7:10 – . 10 And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: “Salvation [we owe] to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

We owe our salvation to God, Jehovah, the Father, (who is seated on the throne & who is IN heaven) and to his Son, Jesus, the Lamb (who was standing & whose name UNDER heaven that has been given among men for us to get saved– Rev 5:6, Acts 4:12) .


Jehovah God is the one saving IN the Heavens.

Psalm 20:6
6 Now I do know that Jehovah certainly saves his anointed one.
He answers him from his holy heavens
With the saving mighty acts of his right hand.

Jehovah God is the one who sent saviors to earth to save people.
Neh 9:27 –
27 For this you gave them into the hand of their adversaries, who kept causing them distress; but in the time of their distress they would cry out to you, and you yourself would hear from the very heavens; and in accord with your abundant mercy you would give them saviors who would save them out of the hand of their adversaries.

Finally, Jehovah, The Father, sent his only begotten Son to save humanity.
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life – John 3:16

That’s why Jesus said in John 14:1 – “Exercise faith in God, exercise faith also in me”

John 17:3 - 3 This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ


And by the way, you can't find in the Bible the term
"Fully God" used for Jesus. Jesus is called the "Son of God" though, who EMPTIED himself and became like men. (Phil 2:7) If Jesus did not leave his spirit life before he went down to earth, then you are saying that Phil 2:7-9 is wrong because it states there that Jesus EMPTIED himself and came to be in the likeness of men.

Answer 9

I'm not a Jehovah's witness, but Jesus was certainly not God. He was a perfect Mirror of God. Jesus, like Muhammad and other Manifestations of God, was pre-existent.

Answer 10

You don't know? They tell you that when you join their church, Jesus paid for your past sins, but you are on your own from there. It is by works.