No: jehovah.help is independent and is not affiliated with Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society. It is a small lexicon about the name Jehovah written from a mainstream Christian position, the faith summed up in the Nicene Creed, which confesses one God in three persons and Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man. We use “Jehovah” as the headword because it is the traditional English form of God’s name, found in the King James Version, the American Standard Version and many older hymns, and because it is the word people search for. Jehovah’s Witnesses also treasure the name, and many people arrive here because they know a Witness or have been visited by one. This entry explains, respectfully and briefly, who the Witnesses are, what they teach about the name, where mainstream Christians differ, and how to talk about those differences with grace.
Who Jehovah’s Witnesses are
Jehovah’s Witnesses grew out of a Bible study movement in the United States in the 1870s and took their present name in 1931, drawing it from Isaiah 43:10, where God calls Israel his witnesses. Their publishing and legal body is the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. They are known for door-to-door visits, for literature displayed in public places, and for congregations that meet in Kingdom Halls. Many Christians who disagree with their teaching nonetheless respect their seriousness about Scripture, their discipline and their willingness to speak about God to strangers.
What they teach about the name, God and Christ
Witnesses place great weight on the divine name. They teach that using the name Jehovah is a mark of true worship and that the name should be restored wherever it has been replaced by “Lord”. Their own translation, the New World Translation, prints “Jehovah” throughout the Old Testament and inserts it into the New Testament more than two hundred times, even though no surviving Greek manuscript of the New Testament contains it. The entry Did the New Testament originally contain the name? looks at that evidence.
On God and Christ, Witnesses regard Jehovah as the name of the Father alone. They teach that Jesus is God’s first creation, the one through whom everything else was made, exalted and worthy of honour, but not God in the same sense as the Father. They understand the Holy Spirit as God’s active force rather than a person. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity as a later development.
Where mainstream Christianity differs
Mainstream Christians, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant alike, differ on three central points: the Trinity, the full deity of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. The reasons are drawn from Scripture itself.
First, the Old Testament insists that there is only one God, and that Jehovah alone is the first and the last:
Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
— Isaiah 44:6 (ASV)
In the book of Revelation, Jesus takes that same title for himself, “the First and the Last” (Revelation 22:13). If there is no God besides Jehovah, and Jesus bears Jehovah’s title, then Jesus cannot be a second, lesser god.
Second, the New Testament calls the Son God in the full sense.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
— John 1:1 (BSB)
The New World Translation renders the last clause “the Word was a god”. Most Greek scholars hold that the grammar does not require the indefinite article, and that John’s point is that the Word shares God’s very nature while remaining distinct from the Father. Thomas’s confession to the risen Jesus confirms the reading:
Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”
— John 20:28 (BSB)
The letter to the Hebrews goes further, and has the Father address the Son as God:
But about the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom.
— Hebrews 1:8 (BSB)
Third, on the Son’s relation to creation, Witnesses often point to Colossians, where Christ is called “firstborn”.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
— Colossians 1:15-17 (BSB)
In Scripture “firstborn” can mean rank rather than origin; God says of David, the youngest of his brothers, that he will make him his firstborn (Psalm 89:27). Paul explains the title at once: all things were created in, through and for the Son, and he is before all things. The one through whom all created things came to be is not himself among them.
Finally, mainstream Christians understand the Holy Spirit as a person, because Scripture speaks of the Spirit teaching, grieving, interceding and being lied to, and because Jesus sends his disciples to baptise in the single name “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. The entry Is Jehovah the same as Jesus? sets out the Trinity plainly.
Talking with a Witness friend graciously
Many readers come to this question because of a friendship, a family member or a conversation at the door. A few habits help.
Begin with respect. Witnesses are usually sincere, well prepared and courteous, and they deserve the same courtesy in return. Avoid labels and sarcasm; they close conversations rather than open them.
Stay with Scripture. Read passages together in context, and let the text do the work. John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1 and Philippians 2 are natural places to start. It is fair to compare translations, and to ask why a verse is rendered as it is.
Listen well. Ask what they believe and why, and repeat it back fairly before responding. People are more willing to consider a different view when they feel understood.
Keep the person in view. The goal is not to win a debate but to commend Christ. Peter’s counsel remains the best guide:
But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,
— 1 Peter 3:15 (BSB)
Be patient. Questions about God and Christ are not settled in one visit, and friendship often does more than argument.
For reflection
If this subject has come up in your own life, read John 1 and Hebrews 1 slowly this week, and pray for clarity and for the people you are speaking with. Bring your questions to a pastor or a local church that confesses the Nicene faith; they will be glad to study with you. And whatever the conversation, remember that salvation rests on grace received through faith in Jesus Christ, not on winning an argument about words.
References
- The Nicene Creed (Nicaea 325, Constantinople 381).
- The Athanasian Creed (Quicunque vult).
- Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation (fourth century).
- Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), entries for prototokos and theos.
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapters 2 and 8.
Lexicon answers from the Bible and public-domain reference works. It is a study aid and is not affiliated with any organisation.