a god or THE GOD?
If you speak to a Jehovah Witness about Jesus, he will not hesitate to tell you Jesus is “a god” but not part of the Godhead (i.e members of this group do not believe Jesus is deity). Jehovah Witnesses believe Jesus is a created being—Michael the Archangel.
In Jn. 1:1 the ASV says, “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.” The New World
Translation says,
“In [the] beginning the Word was, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”
See the
difference? Jehovah
Witnesses believe Jesus was “godlike” or “a god,” but He is not deity
(equal with the Father).
Jehovah
Witnesses base their belief and their rendering of this verse on the
fact that a definite article (the word “the”) does not appear before
God in the Greek text.
According to them, if the Greek text does not read “the
God,” the passage may be understood as “a god.”
Not only is
Greek scholarship against the Jehovah Witness assertion, God shows us
that this view of Jesus is completely wrong.
Take some time to read Luke 1:35, 78; 2:40; John 1:6, 12,
13; 3:2, 21; Romans 1:7, 17.
Each of these verses is like John 1:1—the word “God” is without
the definite
article (“the”) in the Greek text.
If the lack of a definite article in Jn. 1 justifies the
rendering “a god,” such would also be true for each of the preceding
verses.
If you put the
preceding passages in your margin by John 1:1, you will be ready to
share this important truth with any Jehovah Witnesses that comes
knocking on your door.