Helping Jehovah’s Witnesses - 14 October 2009 |
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There are a fair number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in North London. It’s often quite hard to talk to them about the teaching of the Bible, since they generally seem to respond with ‘standard answers’ when facing biblical challenges to their doctrinal positions.
There are few things more tragic than seeing someone trapped by institutionalised spiritual blindness.
The problem is compounded by the fact that JWs have their own Bible translation, the New World Translation, which translates away many of the clearest biblical proofs for key biblical doctrines denied by JW theology, such as the deity of Christ.
However, we’ve got to begin somewhere, and the deity of Christ is a sensible place to open a conversation. Here, with thanks to Louis Berkhof (Systematic Theology, pp. 94-95), are some useful places to turn. The underlined references are (I think) likely to be most effective at helping a JW to see the inadequacy of the teaching they’ve received from their organisation.
Jesus is explicitly described as divine
John 1:1; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20
Jesus is given divine names
Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 40:3, cf. Matthew 3:3; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Joel 2:32, cf. Acts 2:21
Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus
Eternal existence
Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-2
Omniscience
John 2:24-25; John 21:17; Revelation 2:23
Omnipotence
Isaiah 9:6; Philippians 3:21
Immutability
Hebrews 1:10-12; Hebrews 13:8
Every attribute belonging to the Father
Colossians 2:9
Jesus does divine works
Creation
John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2, 10
Providence
Luke 10:22; John 3:35; John 17:2; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3
Forgiveness of sins
Matthew 9:2-7; Mark 2:7-10
Resurrection and judgment
Matthew 25:31-32; John 5:19-29; Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31; Philippians 3:21; 2 Timothy 4:1
The final renewal of all things
Hebrews 1:10-12; Philippians 3:21; Revelation 21:5
Jesus receives divine honours
John 5:22-23; John 14:1; Hebrews 1:6; Matthew 28:19
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog, Theology