How to Talk to Jehovah's Witnesses About Jesus

The Problem of Denying the Trinity

This is the problem that is posed when you read the Scripture and you do not have an understanding of Trinity. You actually reject that doctrine, okay? Because what's happening is, now, whether the Jehovah's Witness realizes it or not, what they've said is, there are two true gods.

And that's the kind of question that can be sussed out, or that's the kind of theology that can be sussed out with this line of questioning. Welcome back, got a brand new video for you today. I just wanted to squeeze a quick video in here.

I'm about to lose my voice. So, we're going to see what happens here. If I don't even last for the recording of this video, then it's not going to publish, okay? So, we'll see what happens. There's something different here.

And I don't know if I can put my finger on what's different, but there's something different. Anyway, if you are brand new to this channel, my name is Nate. I'm the president of Wise Disciple. Well, we're helping you become the effective Christian that you were meant to be.

How to Answer Questions About Jehovah's Witnesses

So, I'm going to answer a question today that's related to Jehovah's Witnesses and how to talk to them. Now, this is a question that kept coming up here and there. Every time I would go around and talk to different churches or different Christians, even at my local church as a pastor, I would get hit with this kind of a question.

And so, it came up again. I figured, why not just answer it on YouTube? A couple quick announcements before I get into the question and answer. Today, as of the publishing of this video, I am in Minneapolis, and I'll be at the reality event that Stand to Reason is putting on there.

So, if you happen to be in Minneapolis, if you're within a stone's throw of the reality event, I encourage you to come say hello. Come check me out. I'll be at the Summit booth there. It's a great time.

It's a lot of fun. And we'll get to rub shoulders and talk. So, I'm going to leave the details for the reality event in the description below. And definitely come say hello. I'd love to talk to you. The next announcement I have for you is, we hit 6k subscribes.

Yeah. And we're just growing and growing as a community. And I'm so thankful to all of you who continue to come back and watch the videos that I'm making. I'm hoping and trusting and praying that the things that I'm talking about with you, it's helping you in some fashion, that it's giving you value.

So, thank you so much for subscribing. I plan on continuing in this journey to walk alongside you and help you to be effective as a Christian in today's culture. And so, thank you so much. I promised that there would be a live stream.

So, voice permitting, there is going to be a live stream on Monday. And so, stay tuned for that. So, let's go ahead and get into the question again. This question keeps coming up. So, I figured, why not?

Let's just talk about it. Where is the best place to take a Jehovah's Witness in the Scripture to defend that Jesus was fully human and fully God? That's a great question. Alright? And there's a lot to say about Jehovah's Witnesses.

I don't even think that I've said a whole lot about Jehovah's Witnesses on this channel. If you want me to talk more about Jehovah's Witness and Jehovah's Witness theology, then definitely let me know in the comments below.

And yeah, we can talk about that. Okay? I'm just going to give you a couple of pieces here for a few minutes until my voice completely goes out. But there's a couple of things that you've got to think through when talking to someone who does not agree with your assessment of Christianity, of the Bible, of God theology, all of that.

One of the things that you have to think of is not only what you're going to say, but how you're going to say it in a manner that's well-received. Okay? So, this is a note that I keep hitting over and over again on this channel.

You definitely need to go back and take a look at my First State Evangelism series. There's episodes there that'll sort of unpack what I'm talking about. I'm kind of standing on top of the foundation that I've laid with those videos.

And there's more videos to come in that series. So, hopefully you can stay tuned for that if you're interested. But what I'm trying to get at is we should flip the typical paradigm of communication on its head.

Okay? So, the typical paradigm of communicating is I have a lot of things to say, so I'm just going to lecture at you. And then it's understood that the person that I'm talking to, you're just going to stand there and be quiet and listen to all of my lecturing.

And then when I'm done, I'm going to close my mouth. And then it's your turn to open your mouth, and a huge lecture is going to come out. And that's basically how we talk to each other in today's culture.

I think that's a dumpster fire way of communicating. It leads to arguments. It leads to talking past each other. It's just not good. And so, we need to flip that around. Okay? Instead of lecturing people, instead of feeling like we have the responsibility to defend ourselves when someone else makes a claim, right?

A claim to theology, like Jehovah's Witnesses do, we should ask people questions to get to know them and then test their beliefs whenever they share those beliefs. So, to ask this question, you know, how should I defend against Jehovah's Witnesses who do not agree that Jesus was fully human and fully God, that question is getting off on the wrong foot.

When a Jehovah's Witness makes the claim that Jesus is the Son of God, right? That he is not God, because there is no Trinity, according to Jehovah's Witnesses, they're the ones who need to back up their claim with good exegesis and arguments.

Colossians 1:15 and the Meaning of Firstborn

So, what that means is, when you ask a Jehovah's Witness to support their claims that Jesus is not God, that he's the Son of God, right? And they try to support themselves, maybe, for example, going to Colossians 1 .15.

So, let's go to Colossians 1 .15. If you have your Bibles, I encourage you to take a look. Obviously, the CEO and the leadership at YouTube want us to read the Bible on YouTube, amen? So, let's go ahead and do that.

Colossians 1 .15 says, He is the image of the invisible God. He is, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Okay? And then they say, well, see? Jesus was the firstborn of God.

He is not God. Here's what you need to do. Ask them what they make of the next verse, right? So, keep reading. Verse 16. Okay, again, verse 16. All things were created through him and for him. Okay? Now, wait a sec.

If all things were created by Jesus, how was Jesus created, right? That doesn't quite make sense. And when you combine that with the fact that God called both Israel and David his firstborn, then you realize that the word firstborn does not literally mean firstborn.

Here's a perfect example of this. God is talking to Moses in Exodus 4, verse 21 and 22. And basically, he's preparing Moses for what's going to happen. But this is what God says to Moses, verse 21. The Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power.

Let me skip ahead to verse 22. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord. Here it is. Israel is my firstborn son. Now, this is a problem for Jehovah's Witnesses because what Jehovah's Witnesses want to say is, well, this word, which is the same word that's being used all the way over in Colossians, that Jesus is the firstborn, well, this must mean literal firstborn.

Clearly, that's not the case. The literal firstborn that we find in Genesis is Adam and Eve, right? Israel, as a nation, is not the literal firstborn. And so that shows that firstborn is a word that does not mean what Jehovah's Witnesses think it means.

It means first in priority. All right, here's another perfect example of this. Psalm 89, verse 20. And God says, I have found David my servant. And he starts talking about David and all the things that he is going to do with David to establish him.

But then in verse 27, this is what it says. And I, God, will make him, David, the firstborn. What does that mean? Does it mean literal firstborn? No. Just keep reading. The highest of the kings of the earth.

In the Bible, the word firstborn, it means preeminent. In these places, Exodus 4 .22, Psalm 89 .27, Colossians 1, talking about Jesus, it means first in order of priority. First in terms of value. That's what the Jehovah's Witnesses don't seem to understand.

Christ in the Form of God

Here's another thing, though. All right, I was just doing my Bible study the other day in Philippians. We're going through Philippians. And I was in Philippians 2, verse 5. And this is what it says. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Now, notice here that Jesus was in the form of God.

That's verse 6. The Greek word for form refers to the whole set of characteristics that make something what it is. In other words, Jesus retained the whole set of characteristics that makes God who he is.

You know what that means. Jesus is God. That's what makes the passage so powerful. Jesus, as God, emptied himself and became a man and humbled himself to the point of the cross so that we may have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

And that's the gospel. Now, how would a Jehovah's Witness respond to this passage, given their presupposition? Well, they're going to have to focus on obedience and humility, right? And sort of ignore the full weight of Jesus being in the form of God.

So, in other words, they're going to have to say, well, this is all meant to showcase Jesus' humility, you see. Okay, if that's the case, what is Paul talking about when he says Jesus was in the form of God?

Okay, these are legitimate talking points to walk through with a Jehovah's Witness. And not only that, because Jesus was in the form of God, he was equal to God. What do Jehovah's Witnesses make of that?

I mean, that's the very next verse. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. No, instead, he emptied equality with God and became a man. How does a Jehovah's Witness respond to all this language?

You should ask them. Ask them these questions. Take them to these particular passages of the scripture and just see what they have to say about it. I suspect they're going to try to bend over backwards to get out of the clear teaching of the passage, but that's okay.

Maybe they won't, you know? Maybe the Holy Spirit will be working on the Jehovah's Witness that you talk to, and maybe they'll be bothered in a good way by the questions that you ask here. And hopefully they'll be won over to the proper understanding of Jesus and God and Christianity.

Jesus' Words, Divine Authority, and Forgiving Sins

I have one more point to make. It just kind of came to mind, so I'm going to go ahead and say it in just a moment. But let me just finish this thought. It's extremely important that we understand God.

If you get God wrong, you're not worshiping him. Now, I didn't say that. Jesus said that in John chapter 4. Also, if you're making the case, note how Jesus spoke, right? Not that he necessarily said the sentence, I am God, but note how he spoke.

Not only in places like John 8, 58, where he takes on the name of Yahweh, but also in the Beatitudes, you know? Do you realize how unorthodox, from a Jewish perspective, it was to speak from one's own authority?

No rabbi did this. Look at how many times Jesus said, You have heard it said, but I say to you. You know what he was doing there? He was placing his own words on the same level as Old Testament scripture.

It's funny because, and I almost did a video on this, but I was like, man, everybody's doing a video on this. The Chosen Trailer came out for season 3. And everybody's minds exploded because somebody said, uh-oh, Jesus makes this line in the trailer that I am the law of Moses.

Do not renounce your words. We will have no choice but to follow the law of Moses.

I am the law of Moses. And that must mean he's a Mormon. Mormon theology is all inside the Chosen and all that stuff. It's like, no, Jesus maybe didn't say that in the New Testament. And we should be careful when we're representing Jesus in this kind of medium.

But on the other hand, that was his attitude. And we know that because of the way that he spoke. The point that I'm trying to make here. You have heard it said, but I say to you. He was placing his own words on the same level as Old Testament scripture.

By the way, who spoke the Old Testament? God did. That's why when a prophet in the Old Testament spoke, he was always very careful to say, the word of the Lord is. Or, thus says the Lord of hosts. No, Jesus isn't doing that.

He's saying, this is my word to you. Do the Jehovah's Witnesses realize what he was doing there? I don't think they do. Jesus even forgave sins in Matthew 9. And the Jews knew immediately that only God had the authority to forgive sins.

But the thing is, are we so removed from biblical literacy that we don't even see Jesus the way that the Jews in the first century saw Jesus? Because if we don't, then we're missing very clear indications that Jesus is God.

A Cross-Examination Strategy for Jehovah's Witnesses

Now, I mentioned one more thing. I just want to pull this up here. There's a friend of mine. His name is Clay Jones. He's a Christian apologist, author, probably the leading expert in the problem of evil and writing about the problem of evil.

So, I think that if you are not familiar with Dr. Jones and his work, you definitely need to familiarize yourself with his work. But just in closing, I wanted to share an article that he wrote. And this was, I don't know how many years ago, so this thing is kind of old.

But it's totally related, and I wanted to share this with you. So, Dr. Jones wrote an article about a question that the Jehovah's Witnesses cannot answer. All right? And I'm just going to walk through a little bit of it with you.

I'll leave all of this stuff in the description below. You take a look at it, and I pray that it blesses you. So, here's how the article starts. When I was in seminary in the 70s, I took Colts from Walter Martin, and he had former Jehovah's Witness Bell Setnar speak to the class.

What follows is the line of reasoning that Setnar presented. I've used it ever since with Jehovah's Witnesses at my door. And so the point is, this is a dialogue that you could sort of walk through, read, and then hopefully take a few pieces from and use in your own conversations.

Now, warning time, okay? I strongly encourage you not to lead off with this kind of style of questioning. Not right out of the gate. The first things that you should be doing is developing a rapport, you know, putting the focus on the person you're talking to.

Again, all of the things that we unpack in the First Aid Evangelism series. Or else, what's going to happen is, you're going to make the person that you're talking to upset. What you're trying to do—that's not your goal, by the way.

Your goal is not to win the argument. Your goal is to win the person. And so there's a little bit of requisite work there for you to do to till the soil of a person's heart in order to receive the message that you want to communicate about God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.

And so this is a very helpful conversation, but just remember these things. Remember what is required before you poke, okay? Because this is definitely a poking kind of conversation. So it's dialogue between a Christian and a JW, Jehovah's Witness.

So the Christian says, well, let me ask you only one question, and after you answer it, I'll answer any question that you want, okay? So this situation is, a Jehovah's Witness came to your door, and this is what you should say.

So the Christian says, first I need to clarify a few things. In the New World Translation, which is their translation of the Bible, John 1 -1 reads, in the beginning the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.

Then in Isaiah 9 -6 of the New World Translation, we read, Okay, so here's the question that Dr. Jones suggests you ask. So then, does Jehovah equal Mighty God? Right? And that's taken directly from Isaiah 9.

The Jehovah's Witness probably will say yes. So then the Christian says, well now, Jesus is not Jehovah, right? The Jehovah's Witness says, that's right. Christian says, Jesus equals a Mighty God? Jehovah's Witness says, that is correct.

Christian says, is Jehovah a true God or a false God? Jehovah's Witness says, Jehovah is a true God. Christian says, is Jesus a true God or a false God? Jehovah's Witness says, Jesus is a true God. Okay, let me stop.

You have to understand Jehovah's Witnesses, they do not affirm the Trinity. Okay? They do not affirm the Trinity. They do not have the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity, and so this is the problem that is posed when you read the Scripture and you do not have an understanding of Trinity.

You actually reject that doctrine. Okay? Because what's happening is, now, whether the Jehovah's Witness realizes it or not, what they've said is, there are two true gods. And that's the kind of question that can be sussed out, or that's the kind of theology that can be sussed out with this line of questioning.

Okay? Again, I'm going to leave the whole article in the description below. I encourage you to take a look at it. So the Jehovah's Witness says, Jesus is a true God. So then the Christian says, okay, here's my question.

How can you believe there are two true gods when the Bible says there is only one God? After all, it says in Isaiah 43, and this is the New World Translation, by the way, so the Christian is quoting the authority that the Jehovah's Witness would accept.

This is their translation. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none. In Isaiah 44 .6, New World Translation says, I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.

So the Christian now has, through a series of cross-examination-style questions— did you see that? These are cross-examination-style leading questions— has set up the potential tension, the drama, that there are an admission that there are two true gods, but then the Bible teaches that there is only one God.

What does the Jehovah's Witness do? So the Jehovah's Witness says, well, that passage is teaching that there are no capital-G gods. Okay. So the Christian responds, well, Hebrew does not have capital letters, so the capitalization of the G in those passages is an insertion by the New World Translators to make us believe that there are two categories of gods.

This is totally true, by the way. So anybody, you take your remedial Hebrew class in seminary, you're going to learn this. So there is the dilemma. Now, how this continues to play out, you definitely need to read the article and go find it.

But I wanted to leave that with you because I think that it gives you something else to think about, another way to talk to Jehovah's Witnesses should this come up. I'm fully convinced that now that I've made a video and I've talked to you about Jehovah's Witnesses, and you are a Christian, that God is probably going to put you in a position to utilize the things that we just discussed together.

So you need to be ready. And I encourage you to, if you need to, just kind of go through the video again. Just think through some of the points that I had to offer there in terms of a response to this question.

And I pray that it blesses you, that you actually have great conversations that challenge Jehovah's Witnesses that God has placed in your life, but also maintains a relationship so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, should they change their mind, they can stay with you and be discipled as they pursue the real Jesus Christ.

Closing Announcements and Prayer for Fruitful Conversations

So for the person that sent this question, thank you so much for sending it. My voice is about to disappear completely, so I'm going to come to a close here. Again, if you are in the Minneapolis area, I encourage you to come visit.

I'll be there today. Hopefully my voice is recovered and we can have a wonderful conversation. I'm looking forward to it. Stay tuned Monday for a live stream where I'll do the Q &A. I posted that in the community passage, so if you have a question for me for the live Q &A, go to the community tab and send your questions in the comment below there.

In the meantime, I'm going to take a break, and I'll say bye for now.