Jehovah Witness, where was the A God located...Were there two gods in heaven?

Question

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.

The scriture does not teach two Gods, Jesus came down from God.

It does not teach that He was an angel. Heb 1

And if He was a god, when was He created and where?

John 1:1 is the JW bible translation.

Answer 1

John 1:1 foot note from the NAB:

2 [1] In the beginning: also the first words of the Old Testament (Genesis 1:1). Was: this verb is used three times with different meanings in this verse: existence, relationship, and predication. The Word (Greek logos): this term combines God's dynamic, creative word (Genesis), personified preexistent Wisdom as the instrument of God's creative activity (Proverbs), and the ultimate intelligibility of reality (Hellenistic philosophy). With God: the Greek preposition here connotes communication with another. Was God: lack of a definite article with "God" in Greek signifies predication rather than identification.

(Please note God(2) signifies 'a quality' rather than identification; Thus "a god (god like) was the Word " is the literal translation.

John is telling us Jesus has the qualities of God, not that he is God.

This foot note also tells us Prov. 8 Wisdom and the Word are the same:)

Prov 8:22 "The LORD begot me, the first-born of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
23 From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

2 Cor 4:4 in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

(If you believe Jesus is more than an image, then you are blinded by Satan

Jesus was begotten or created prior to any other creation

The basic meaning of the word god is mighty one,

After Jehovah the Almight, Jesus is the 2nd most powerful or mighty one, Jehovah's First born)

Heb 1:2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

3And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

(Jesus is the exact representation of God's nature,
Jeus sits not on the throne, but at his God's right hand (Rev 3:12, 14)

Heb 1:9"YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."


(Jesus' God anointed him above his companions)

Job 1:6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

(Of all the sons of God, only Jesus can be called the only begotten, the Firstborn)

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Answer 2

It is incorrect to make the blanket statement that "John 1:1 is the JW bible translation."

Look at the following NON JW translations:

(1) The New Testament in an Improved Version (Unitarian) says: "the Word was with God, and the Word was a god."

(2) The Emphatic Diaglott by Benjamin Wilson (Christadelphian?) says in the interlinear section: "a god was the Word."

(3) The Four Gospels - A New Translation by Prof. Charles C. Torrey says: "the Word was with God, and the Word was god."

(4) Das Evangelium nach Johannes by Siegfried Shultz says: "and a god (or, of a divine kind) was the Word."

(5) Das Evangelium nach Johannes by Johannes Schneider says: "and godlike sort was the Logos [Word]."

(6) Das Evangelium nach Johannes by Jurgen Becker says: "and a god was the Logos."



In many Bibles, the first part of Jn 1:1 says, "In the BEGINNING was the Word,"

The word "beginning" as used in Jn 1:1 indicates that the Word began at this time. Jehovah God, the Father alone has always existed. Therefore, the word "beginning" cannot be applied to Him, but only to His creations.

The second part of Jn 1:1 says,"...and the Word was WITH God,"

The word "with" as is used in Jn 1:1 indicates that the Word was near or by God at this time. God is phrased as a SEPERATE PERSON from the Word in Jn 1:1.

The (disputed) third part of Jn 1:1 is translated in many Bibles: "...and the Word was God."

In New Testament Greek, the same word is used for "God" and "a god" which is theos (qeoV). Theos is the Greek word used in the third part of Jn 1:1. So how does one know if "God" or "a god" was meant here?

In New Testament Greek, the language DOES have a definite article ("the"), but it DOES NOT have an indefinite article ("a" or an"). At John 1:1, there are two occurrences of theos. The first one has the definite article ("the") but the second one in the third part of Jn 1:1 (the one in question) does not.

The first part of Jn 1:1 indicates that the Word began at this time. And if the third part of Jn 1:1 were interpreted to mean "the" God, then this would contradict the preceding clause of the second part which says that the Word was WITH God. Yet, the use of "God" for theos (qeoV) in John 1:1c is purposely mistranslated in most Trinitarian-produced Bibles as "God."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JWquestions_and_answers_archives/message/149

Answer 3

But no what we perceived is the important but what the bible says, the bible says that God almighty will send someone a servant in Isaiah 42:1, in Malachi 3:1-3 a messenger or angel of covenant in some bibles (protestant by the way) but never God almighty told that he will came by himself , NEVER . God has many sons in heaven (job 1:6, 2:1 and 38:4-7) all angels are sons of God, God almighty call gods to his sons,
so angels are sons of God almighty and gods.

Jesus is the firstson of God (colossians 1:15-17) in Revelation 3:14 and in Revelation 10:1 describe Jesus as a powerful angel, if you read that verse you will see how every single detail of that angel match with Jesus Christ.

can God divide him in three? yes, but that wasn´t what he did, what he did was sent his firstson in heaven to fix the problem created by the firstson of God in earth, Adam (Luke 3:38)

that is why in the book of Hebrew Jesus was among angels, Why? if he is God Almighty then why God almigthy compare him with the angels? why compare himself with angels if they have no comparision.

if the total of God couldn´t be in earth why the 2/3 can be either? in fact 1/3 or 2/3 of anything is the whole, isn´t it?

there are more than 300 verse that proof that Jesus is not Jehovah, are in the bible no matter if people read it or not it is there and won´t become false just because people don´t want to believe it.

Answer 4

There's more then 1 Q here, so....
? The A God...? Do u mean YHWH?
1a) If that's a yes; then...He was in heaven--
1 Ch 29:23; upon Jehovah's throne.
1b) No, there wasn't "2 gods in heaven,"
as u worded the Q.
There was 1God...Almighty God-YHWH
And 1 god...Mighty god--Jesus aka Micheal in heaven.
2) Ur next line as u typed it, is correct.
Jesus is the Word.
Jesus was w/ God, YHWH.
Jesus was a god.
3) Right again, the scriptures do not teach 2 Gods.
There is one true God YHWH;
and His Son, the only-begotten god.
4) Jesus is also called a star,
all the sons of YHWH are at 1 time called stars.
Jesus is called by Many names AND titles.
5) The scriptures do not give us the time & place
of the creation of His only-begotten Son.
The only-begotten god.

Answer 5

Yahweh/Jehovah the Almighty God. Before you can understand Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you need to understand that God IS Almighty. The highest POWER in the UNIVERSE. The sun the most powerful of all planets, what more do you think God is compared to the sun? God knows He cannot be among humans that we will die. He took two parts out of Him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to be the two that came DIRECTLY from Him to be among the children he loved so much. Remember God paid the highest and ultimate price for us by sending His chosen Son to earth to be tortured, humiliated, and died for us. The ultimate price because that was part of God, not the whole God. The Holy Spirit is part of God because it came DIRECTLY from God but not the whole God. Three separate but ONE with God. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit can dwell in us. That way we can have a part of God within us and not die. Jesus always was from the beginning with God. All things was created through Him. God Almighty, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are ETERNAL with God.

Answer 6

Biblical truth of the divine nature of Jesus is very often distorted or confused with ancient heresies on both sides of the truth.

Some, like the so-called “Jehovah’s Witnesses” confuse it with Arianism. That is, as their translation renders John 1:1c, “… the word was a god.” The polytheism should be obvious.

Others confuse it with Sabellianism, or assert that the scriptural point of view claims Jesus and the Father are exactly the same “person.” This leaves us with a crazy guy running around talking to himself.

Neither of these views represents true Biblical teaching. The passage I cited above holds the key to understanding these three opposing points of view, though many English translations render it rather poorly. It is necessary to understand a minor point of Greek (the language John was written in) grammar to have a thorough grasp on the scripture’s teaching. To that end, here is an "Exegetical Insight" from a Biblical Greek textbook. The author examines John 1:1 and explains the differences between Arianism, Sabellianism, and BIBLICAL TRUTH very well:

The nominative case is the case that the subject is in. When the subject takes an equative verb like “is” (i.e., a verb that equates the subject with something else), then another noun also appears in the nominative case–the predicate nominative. In the sentence, “John is a man,” “John” is the subject and “man” is the predicate nominative. In English the subject and predicate nominative are distinguished by word order (the subject comes first). Not so in Greek. Since word order in Greek is quite flexible and is used for emphasis rather than for strict grammatical function, other means are used to determine subject from predicate nominative. For example, if one of the two nouns has the definite article, it is the subject.

As we have said, word order is employed especially for the sake of emphasis. Generally speaking, when a word is thrown to the front of the clause it is done so for emphasis. When a predicate nominative is thrown in front of the verb, by virtue of word order it takes on emphasis. A good illustration of this is John 1:1c. The English versions typically have, “and the Word was God.” But in Greek, the word order has been reversed. It reads,

και θεος ην ο λογος
‘kai theos en ho logos’ = “and God was the Word.”

"We know that “the Word” is the subject because it has the definite article, and we translate it accordingly: “and the Word was God.” Two questions, both of theological import, should come to mind:

(1) Why was θεος ‘theos’ (God) thrown forward?
and
(2) Why does it lack the article?

In brief, its emphatic position stresses its essence or quality: “What God was, the Word was” is how one translation brings out this force. Its lack of a definite article keeps us from identifying the person of the Word (Jesus Christ) with the person of “God” (the Father). That is to say, the word order tells us that Jesus Christ has all the divine attributes that the Father has; lack of the article tells us that Jesus Christ is not the Father. John’s wording here is beautifully compact! It is, in fact, one of the most elegantly terse theological statements one could ever find. As Martin Luther said, the lack of an article is against Sabellianism; the word order is against Arianism.

To state this another way, look at how the different Greek constructions would be rendered:

και ο λογος ην ο θεος
‘kai ho logos en ho theos’ =“and the Word was the God” (i.e., the Father; Sabellianism)

και ο λογος ην θεος
'kai ho logos en theos' =“and the Word was a god” (Arianism)

και θεος ην ο λογος
'kai theos en ho logos' =“and the Word was God” (Orthodoxy).

Jesus Christ is God and has all the attributes that the Father has. But he is not the first person of the Trinity. All this is concisely affirmed in και θεος ην ο λογος 'kai theos en ho logos'."

-Daniel B. Wallace, Dallas Theological Seminary.

Wallace is quoted in "Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar,"
William D. Mounce, Copyright © 1993 by William D. Mounce.

I transliterated (spelled with English letters) the Greek in the original and supplied a literal translation of Greek where necessary. -- συνεσταυρωμαι

Answer 7

No.

Obviously, both Jehovah the Father and Jesus the Son are called "god" in the bible, but the bible also applies the term to angels, Satan, and even human judges (bible citations at the very end of this answer). The humans were on earth, of course, but Satan and the angels were in heaven when the bible was written.

Of course, immediately after Jehovah created his "only-begotten Son" there were only two "gods" for some unknown time period before the creation of the angels. John 1:1 alludes to this time period.

Several bibles translate John 1:1 in a manner compatible with the phrase "the Word was a god". The bible plainly teaches that Jesus is a god (John 1:1; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:18). This biblical concept does not trouble any Christian, whether he be trinitarian or nontrinitarian. Yet, for centuries, trinitarians have tended to reject any alternate translation of John 1:1.

Trinitarians must recognize that it was three or four hundred years after Christ's impalement that a minority of self-described "Christians" decided that Jesus was the only god, God Almighty (Jehovah). By the time the King James Version translated John 1:1 into English as "the Word was God", the year was 1611. How interesting it would be to see a translation from Greek (which contained no indefinite article "a") into English (with its indefinite articles "a", "an") performed by early Christians, perhaps the children or grandchildren of those who walked with the apostles!

We do have such a translation, but into the Coptic language, which uses indefinite articles as English does. How do the Coptic manuscripts word John 1:1?

"...and the Word was a God."
http://copticjohn.com/
http://jehovah.to/exe/translation/coptic.pdf
http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/coptic/coptjohn.shtml


The bible makes perfect sense when it is being read honestly. John 1:1 is perfectly harmonious with the rest of the bible, which teaches plainly that Jesus Christ the Son is a distinct person from Jehovah God the Father. The Scriptures teach that 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


As mentioned above, the bible quite explicitly calls Jesus a "god"; human judges, angels, and even Satan are also referred to as "gods" in the bible (see below). Yet Jehovah is "the one true God" in the sense that He has no rival among any of these. Jesus the Son is clearly no rival to God the Father!

(Psalm 86:8,10) There is none like you among the gods, O Jehovah... You are God, you alone.

(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

(Exodus 22:20) One who sacrifices to any gods but Jehovah alone is to be devoted to destruction.


The bible speaks of honoring Christ Jesus and doing obeisance to him, but only Jehovah the Father merits worshipful "exclusive devotion".

(Exodus 20:2,5) I am Jehovah your God... I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion

(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



The bible does not use the term "god" only in reference to Almighty Jehovah.

(1 Corinthians 8:5) there are those who are called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth

Jesus as "a god": (John 1:1; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:18)
Angels as 'gods': (Psalm 82:1)
Satan as 'a god': (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Human judges as "gods": (Psalm 82:6-8) “I myself have said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. Surely you will die just as men do... Do rise up, O God, do judge the earth