Introduction: Many people are confused about the Jehovah's Witnesses and their teachings regarding Jesus Christ. People who encounter them ask, "Do you believe in Jesus?" Jehovah's Witnesses will answer, "absolutely!" But is He the same Jesus of the Bible? Is He the same Jesus that Christians believe in and worship? The following will help to answer these important questions from the Scriptures.

Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians have several things in common. They share common concerns about religious apostasy, biblical teachings on morality and hold to a high moral and ethical standard of living. However, as in the case of others such as the Mormon cult, when examined closely they quickly stray from biblical teachings.

 

Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians differ on the most important of any doctrine, who Jesus Christ really is. This is not just a minute technical point. Knowing and believing in the real Jesus has eternal ramifications.

 

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ was only a perfect man co-equal with the first man, Adam. Consequently, this man Jesus could have fallen to temptation and sinned. They teach that before His earthly life, Jesus was a spirit creature, Michael the archangel, who was created by God and became the Messiah at His baptism. So to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus is a materialized angel. According to their teachings, Jesus is "a mighty one," although not almighty as Jehovah God. According to John 1:1 in their Bible, The New World Translation, Christ is "a god" not simply "God" as the text plainly states. They teach that Jesus "was and is and always will be beneath Jehovah" and that "Christ and God are not co-equal".

 

Does the Bible confirm their beliefs or does it teach the Christian concept that Christ is God? This is an extremely important question with eternal consequences. Jesus Himself said: I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)

 

Starting tonight I want to present a series of studies on this very important doctrine of Christianity - the deity of Jesus Christ.  We need to be able to prove from the Word of God that Jesus is God and not “a god”.

 

Jesus Christ was more than a "good man." He is God.

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Hebrews 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

 

A.    He Himself claimed to be God.

John 4:26; 10:30; 13:13; 14:7-10

 

B.    He accepted worship.

Matthew 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 18:26; 28:9, 17; Mark 5:6; Luke 24:52; John 5:22, 23; John 9:38

 

C.    He claimed the power and authority to forgive sin.

Matthew 9:6; Mark 2:7

 

D.    "He was God manifest in the flesh" (l Timothy 3:16), "for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily"

(Colossians 2:9).

 

E.   "God was in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:19), Who is "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person...."

(Hebrews 1:3).

 

F.   Jesus is therefore throughout scripture referred to as the "image of God."

John 1:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Philippians 2:6