Jesus' Divinity, Christology/Soteriology

[Micah Ong]

There are 7 names for God in the bible.  The link below describes them well with scriptural reference.

https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html

Yes I hear what you are saying regarding God's name but it's more about the truth about his nature, and demoting Jesus to a created being and not worthy of worship or prayer is vital. 

Jesus is referred to as God

John 20:28-29 "In answer Thomas said to him: "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him: "Because you have seen me have you believed? Happy are those who do not see and yet believe.""

Isaiah 9:6 - "For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

John 1:1 "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god."

Jesus is our creator

Isaiah 42:5 "This is what the [true] God, Jehovah, has said, the Creator of the heavens and the Grand One stretching them out; the One laying out the earth and its produce, the One giving breath to the people on it, and spirit to those walking in it:"

John 1:2-4 "This one was in [the] beginning with God. All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence. What has come into existence by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Jesus is to be worshipped

Hebrews 1:6 "And let all God's angels do obeisance to (proskune? worship) him (Jesus)."

Most Bibles translate the Greek word proskune? as worshipped. Despite the New World Translation translating this word as worship when in reference to angels, humans or Jehovah, it inconsistently changes to obeisance when referring to Jesus.

Jesus was prayed to

Acts 7:59 "And they went on casting stones at Stephen as he made appeal and said: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Unlike most translations, the New World Translation uses the word "appeal" instead of "prayer". However, the footnote to New World Translation, 1950 edition, states "footnote b: "invocation; prayer"", and by context Stephen was praying to Jesus.

Jesus is everlasting

Micah 5:2 "And you, O Beth´le·hem Eph´ra·thah, the one too little to get to be among the thousands of Judah, from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel, whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite."

1 John 1:2 "yes, the life was made manifest, and we have seen and are bearing witness and reporting to YOU the everlasting life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us,..."

Jesus is worthy of the same honor as the Father

John 5:23 "In order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him."

John 5:23 is considered one of the strongest statements that Jesus is God by commentaries such as Burton, Coughman's and John Calvin, because of the implication that honor should be to the same degree. This corresponds to the preceeding verse in John 5:18 that "On this account, indeed, the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God."

Old Testament Scriptures referring to the Father are quoted as referring to Jesus

The Stone of stumbling

Isaiah 8:13, 14. "The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."

1 Peter 2:6-8. "For in Scripture it says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.'"

(See also Isaiah 45:22-24 - Philippians 2:9-11 "every knee should bend" and Isaiah 40:3 - Matthew 3:1-3 "Prepare the way")

The only Savior

Isaiah 43:11 "I-I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior."

Titus 2:13-3:6 "manifestation of the great God and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus, However, when the kindness and the love for man on the part of our Savior, God, was manifested, This [spirit] he poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior." (Note the New World Translation inclusion of [the] to change the meaning of this passage.)

 

The main point @JW Insider is not to add or take from the scriptures as the NWT has done.

The 1985 Kingdom Interlinear Translation p.11, claims the criteria for using the Divine Name in the New Testament was to replace the Greek words Kyrios and Theos with Jehovah whenever the Christian writers quoted from the Old Testament:

"The modern translator is warranted in using the divine name as an equivalent of ("kurios") and ("theos") , that is, at places where the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures quote verses, passages, and expressions from the Hebrew Scriptures or from the LXX (Greek Septuagint) where the divine name occurs."

The reader is led to the conclusion that every inclusion of Jehovah in the New Testament has support from an Old Testament quote. Yet an examination of the 237 inclusions reveals the following;

Only 76 times is Jehovah included based on a direct Hebrew quote

In 78 other instances the scriptures are not quotes, but reference Hebrew passages discussing Jehovah

83 times the New World Translation has included Jehovah with no support from the Hebrew Scriptures

Re-examining the above quote from the Insight Book reveals that it is actually the recent Hebrew J versions and not the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures that have been used to confirm the 237 occurrences.

Over 80 times the NWT has used Jehovah with no Old Testament support. On the other hand, there are also times when the New World Translation has chosen not to use the word Jehovah when the Christian writers quoted the Old Testament, even when done so by the J versions. This lack of consistency is because to do so would contradict Watchtower doctrine. For instance Isaiah 45:22-24 says;

"Turn to me and be saved, all YOU [at the] ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one else. By my own self I have sworn-out of my own mouth in righteousness the word has gone forth, so that it will not return-that to me every knee will bend down, every tongue will swear, saying, 'Surely in Jehovah there are full righteousness and strength.

This is paraphrased at both Romans and Philippians. Whereas in Romans Jehovah is inserted in the NWT, in Philippians it is not, as to do so would result in equating Jesus with Jehovah.

Romans 14:11 "For it is written: "'As I live,' says Jehovah, 'to me every knee shall bend down, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God.'""

Philippians 2:9-11 "For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name, 10 so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, 11 and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 refers to Psalm 47:5. In this example the NWT chose not to follow the J versions.

Psalms 47:5 "God has ascended with joyful shouting, Jehovah with the sound of the horn."

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17
(J-7,8,13,14,24) "For the Lord Jehovah himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord Jehovah in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord Jehovah."

(NWT) "because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel's voice and with God's trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. 17 Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with [the] Lord."

It is likewise when Peter refers to Jesus when quoting Psalms. The J versions use Jehovah whilst in this case the NWT chooses not to.

Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that Jehovah is good, O YOU people; Happy is the able-bodied man that takes refuge in him."

1 Peter 2:3
(J13, J14) "If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord Jehovah"

(NWT) "provided YOU have tasted that the Lord is kind. 4 Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected, it is true, by men, but chosen, precious, with God."

Psalms 102:25 is quoted at Hebrews in reference to Jesus. In this verse from Hebrews it is the Father that is talking to Jesus. The J versions have the Father referring to Jesus as Jehovah, something the NWT obviously has chosen to avoid doing.

Hebrews 1:10
(J-8)"Thou, Lord Jehovah, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands"

(NWT) "And: "You at [the] beginning, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are [the] works of your hands."

Also compare Zechariah 14:3-4 with Acts 1:11,12