1. Does the Bible speak of a Trinity and what word is used to describe the Trinity?
Acts 17:29; Romans 1:20; Colossians 2:9. (KJV)
Answer:
a. "....we ought not to think that the _______________ is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Acts 17:29
b. "....even by His eternal power and ___________________...." Romans 1:20
c. "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the ___________________ bodily." Colossians 2:9
The NWT renders "Godhead" as "Divine Being" in Acts 17:29, as "Godship" in Romans 1:20; and "divine quality" in Colossians 2:9, though the Greek words denote "divine," "Deity," "a general name of Deities or divinities used by the Greeks," but spoken in reference to the one and only true God as Trinity, or Godhead. We need to explore the objections to the term "Godhead" by the Watchtower and see if they are valid.
2. Can anyone understand any more about God than what the Bible reveals?
Job 11:7-9
Answer: "Can you find out the deep things of God, or can you find out to the _______ ___________ of the Almighty? It is higher than ______________. What can you accomplish? It is deeper than ___________. What can you know? It is longer than the earth in measure, and broader than the sea." Job 11:7-9.
3. What false concept of the Trinity or Godhead are the Jehovah's Witnesses taught to believe that Christians have? What other reasons do their members have for rejecting the concept of the Godhead or Trinity?
Answer:
a. Jehovah's Witnesses have been conditioned to think of the Trinity as a three-headed gargoyle [a statue of a grotesque figure], as depicted on the front of The Watchtower , February 1, 1984. To them it is pagan, illogical and unscriptural. So immediately when the word Trinity is mentioned, this is the concept that appears on the video screen of their minds and they want to vehemently oppose it. But this a false concept of the Trinity as taught in the Bible. Other reasons for rejecting the concept of the Trinity follow:
b. The New World Bible Translation produced by the Watchtower Society has not dealt honestly with many of the Scriptures that deal with the Deity of Christ, as shown above.
c. They Demand to explain the Infinite, which is impossible for finite minds to do. The Witnesses feel comfortable in having just one Person, the Father as God. Jesus Christ is a lesser god, and the Holy Spirit is just an active force. Many Witnesses are not prepared to sit down and study the subject out, even as fully as presented in these studies! The only way the truth can be found on the subject of the Godhead, is to accept all the Bible says, and leave it at that. Over and over we are told that God is past finding out.. The Society places itself in a very serious position when it denies the Deity of Christ and the Personality of the Holy Spirit.
d. The Watchtower Society has prepared a series of arguments and proof texts to deny Christ's Deity, and the Personality of the Holy Spirit. The major problem texts will be discussed in the following questions.
4. What doctrines of Christ are taught by the Jehovah's Witnesses?
Answer:
a. Revelation 3:14 Jesus Christ is referred to as "________ __________________________ of the creation by God."
The Greek word (arche) which has been translated "beginning," also means "the Beginner" or "origin" when used as it is here in an active and not passive sense. This word appears in Titus 3:1, in the plural as "rulers, governments." (Note the original Greek text [K.I.T.] says "creation of God" not "creation by God," as given in the NWT!).
Most reliable translations, render the text:
(RSV) "....the beginning of God's creation."
(NIV) "....the ruler of God's creation."
John 1:3 says that Jesus Christ was the Creator, and that everything that was created was created by Him. He did not create Himself, - but rather was the One who created and rules God's creation. Colossians 1:16-17.
b. Colossians 1:15. This text says that Jesus is "the _________-born of all creation." However in the Bible the word "first-born" does not mean "born first." Note these references to those who were called "first-born," but none were "born first:"
Psalms 89:20, 27 (NWT) "I have found David my servant....I myself shall place him as _________________, The most high of the kings of the earth." (David was the eighth son of Jesse.)
Exodus 4:22 (NWT) "This is what Jehovah has said: 'Israel is my son, my ___________________...."
(Esau was born first.)
Jeremiah 31:9 (NWT) "....and as for Ephraim, he is my ____________________." (It was Manasseh who was born first!)
None of the above were "born first," but each was given a place of pre-eminence or "supremacy." Colossians 1:15-18 is showing that Christ was "pre-eminent" because He had created all things. Once again He did not create Himself, and thus the Bible shows He was not a created being. The Greek word for "firstborn" is (prototokos), but if Paul wanted to express the idea that Jesus was the "first created" then he would have used (protoktistos) "first-created."
Note how in the New World translation [other] has been added to "all things were created by him." This is to give the impression that Jesus was a created being, and He created "all other things!" When the word "[other]" is deleted, the simple truth of the Bible becomes very evident, that Jesus Christ was not a created being!
c. Proverbs 8:23, 24 This passage in the NWT is translated: "Jehovah himself ________________ me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago. From time indefinite I was installed, from the start, from times earlier than the earth."
This passage is used to prove that Christ was created or produced by the Father. There are two fallacies with this: First, Proverbs 8 is referring to Wisdom as a personification, and not to Christ! The heading at the top of the page for Proverbs 8 in the NWT says exactly that: "Wisdom personified, a master worker." Second, Jehovah "produced" or "possessed" wisdom? The word which the NWT has translated "produced" comes from the Hebrew word (qana). This word is translated in the KJV and NIV as "possessed" and is the better translation that God always possessed wisdom, otherwise there would have had to be a time when He was without it! Some commentators see a parallel between wisdom and Christ that both were always with God.
d. John 1:1 (NWT) is the verse where the Watchtower Society teaches that Jesus was only "_____ god."-- "a powerful godlike one." However although the NWT in John 1:1, presents Jesus as "a god," this same translation in Isaiah 9:6, has shown Him to be "the ____________ God!" How can these two texts be harmonized? How many Gods does the Society want, for a Almighty God and a Mighty God make two? Isaiah 9:6 is obviously an embarrassment to the Society, who would rather emphasize John 1:1, and reduce Jesus to just "a god" divested of Deity. However as already shown in a previous chapter, to do this the Society in the (NWT) has had to both 1.) add the word "a" and 2.) inconsistently translate the word for "God," for in John 3:16, the same word is translated "God," not "god."
Note also: John 1:1 introduces Christ as "In the beginning the Word WAS...." not "was created" or "came to be!" He was already in existence with God (the Father). It is because He always was , and was with God , that John introduces Him as God, a Divine Person. John's final proof of His Deity was the fact (in verse 3) that all things "came into existence" through Him, and apart from Him, "not even one thing came into existence." This proves that He was God , for no angel or man can create. It also proves that He was not created since everything that was created "was created by Him." The truth of His Deity could not be clearer!
(to be continued in Lesson 6, part II)