Jehovah’s Witnesses - Part IV

Today’s article deals with the nature of Jesus. Did Jesus exist eternally with the Father as deity? Is Jesus God? Or was Jesus a created being and therefore inferior to the Father? The teachings of the Watchtower Society are the latter, Jesus is a created being, and therefore He is inferior to the Father and not deity. This article will present the Watchtower teachings and then critically examine them.

The following represents the teaching of the Society on Jesus:

This One was not Jehovah God, but was "existing in the form of God." How so? He was a spirit person, just as "God is a spirit"; he was a mighty one, although not almighty as Jehovah God is; also he was before all others of God’s creatures, because he was the first son that Jehovah God brought forth. For this reason he is called "the only begotten Son" of God, for God had no partner in bringing forth his first begotten Son. He was the first of Jehovah God’s creations. He speaks so of himself, at Revelation (or Apocalypse) 3:14: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." Also at Colossians 1:15 he is spoken of as the One "who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." Thus he is ranked with God’s creatures, being first among them and also most beloved and most favored among them. He is not the author of the creation of God; but, after God had created him as his firstborn Son, then God used him as his working Partner in the creating of all the rest of creation.1

Jesus is, according to Watchtower teachings, a created being. What kind of created being? An angel, but not just any angel. Jesus, in His pre-earthly existence, was Michael the archangel. In the book Aid To Bible Understanding, under the heading "Michael" is found,

Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael applied to God’s Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return. Michael is the only one said to be the "archangel," meaning "chief angel" or "principal angel." The term occurs in the Bible only in the singular.2

To summarize, the Watchtower Society teach that Jesus is a created being, specifically He was the archangel Michael. This was His identity both before and after His earthly existence. While on earth He was Jesus Christ. He neither is nor was the same as Jehovah God found in the Old Testament.

Concerning them idea of Jesus’ being created based on the passages in Revelation and Colossians, we need to look briefly at the Greek words used. In Revelation 3:14 the Greek word translated "beginning" is arche. Arndt and Gingrich define arche as "origin," "the first cause," and "ruler, authority."3  Jesus is, according to Revelation 3:14 either the "first cause" of creation, which John 1:3 confirms, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made," or He is the "ruler" or "authority over it as Matthew 28:18 affirms, "And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth" (ASV).

The idea of Jesus as firstborn from Colossians 1:15 meaning He was created does not stand up to Biblical usage. Consider the words of Psalm 89:27 concerning David, "Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth." David, youngest child of Jesse, was made God’s "firstborn." Clearly he was not God’s first creation, but God did make him preeminent as Israel’s second king. A second example is found in Jeremiah 31:9 "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." Genesis 41:51,52 show Manasseh was Joseph’s firstborn, yet God through Jeremiah called Ephraim His firstborn, again showing Ephraim’s pre-eminent position. So Colossians 1:15 simply means Jesus is pre-eminent over the creation. This is supported by verse 16, "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." Note all were "created by and for Him" (italics added for emphasis).

(1) Let God Be True, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., (Brooklyn, N. Y.); 1946, p 35,36.

(2) Aid To Bible Understanding, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., (Brooklyn, N. Y.): 1971, p 1152.

(3) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, The University of Chicago Press, (Chicago); 1979, p 111,112.