Jehovah's Witnesses: Truth and Error Compared
This article is part of a series examining what various religious movements teach on seven foundational doctrines, compared with what the Bible actually says. Source material for cult positions is drawn from Keith L. Brooks and Irvine Robertson, "The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error" (Moody Press, 1985).
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society — the governing organization of Jehovah's Witnesses — was founded in the late nineteenth century by Charles Taze Russell and later restructured by Joseph Franklin Rutherford. Jehovah's Witnesses are distinguished by their rejection of the Trinity, their denial that Jesus is God Almighty, their translation of the Bible (the New World Translation) which reflects their theology rather than the original languages, and their complex system of salvation tied to organizational loyalty. Citations below use the abbreviations found in the original source: LG = Let God Be True; MS = Make Sure of All Things; NH = New Heavens and New Earth.
1. God
What the Bible Teaches
Scripture presents one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. "Go . . . and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The Lord declares, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6). God is eternal, self-existent, and has never been alone in the sense of being without His Son or Spirit.
What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach
"God's personal name is Jehovah" (The Truth Shall Make You Free, p. 17). "Only Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting" (MS, [1965], p. 486). "Jesus Christ is not One God with the Father" (MS, p. 485). "Holy Spirit is God's Active Force, not a person" (MS, p. 487). "There was a time when Jehovah was alone in universal space. All life and energy and thought were contained in him alone" (LG [1952], p. 25). "The obvious conclusion is that Satan is the originator of the trinity doctrine" (LG, p. 101). "Elohim is the plural of majesty. It does not mean that he is mysteriously a trinity" (New Heavens and New Earth, p. 36).
2. Jesus Christ
What the Bible Teaches
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Jesus is the eternal Son of God, not a created being. He accepted worship (Matthew 28:9; John 20:28). He declared, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58) — using the divine name. He was physically raised from the dead: "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39). He is coming again bodily (Acts 1:11).
What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach
"Not Jehovah God. He was the first son that Jehovah God brought forth" (LG, p. 32). Jesus is "the First Creation by God" (MS, p. 282). "Jesus Christ had a pre-human existence" (LG, p. 34). "Michael the archangel is no other than the only-begotten Son of God, now Jesus Christ" (NH, p. 30). "Jesus was born about Oct. 1, B.C. 2, of the virgin Mary" (LG, p. 36). "At baptism Jesus was anointed to become the Messiah, or Jesus the Christ (Anointed)" (LG, p. 38). "He showed his subjection to God by humbling himself to a most disgraceful death on a torture stake" (LG, p. 35). "God raised him as a mighty immortal spirit Son" (LG, p. 40). "Christ was not raised in flesh, but with a spiritual body" (MS, p. 426).
3. Holy Spirit
What the Bible Teaches
The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force. He speaks (Acts 13:2), can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), intercedes (Romans 8:26), and is called "another Comforter" — the same kind of personal helper Jesus was (John 14:16). He indwells believers (Romans 8:9, 11) and is equal with the Father and Son (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14).
What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach
"The holy spirit is the invisible active force of Almighty God which moves his servants to do his will" (LG, p. 108).
4. Sin
What the Bible Teaches
"There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin brought death into the world (Romans 5:12). "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach
"Sin is a falling short of God's mark of perfection, transgression of His righteous law" (MS, p. 456). "Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God's plainly stated law" (MS, p. 457). "At death, Adam was to return to the dust, a return to non-existence" (NH, p. 88). "No descendant of Adam is free from sin; all inherit it from first man" (MS, p. 458). "Adam brought death not only upon himself, but also upon all the race descended from him" (NH, p. 89). "Perfect human life was lost with its rights and earthly prospects" (LG, p. 114).
5. Redemption and Salvation
What the Bible Teaches
"We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians 1:7). Christ died for our sins and rose bodily from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). "By grace are ye saved through faith . . . not of works" (Ephesians 2:8–9). Salvation is received by believing in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; John 3:16). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36).
What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach
"Jesus Christ laid down in sacrifice a perfect HUMAN LIFE, equal to that which Adam forfeited" (You May Survive Armageddon, p. 39). "The ransom, or redemptive price with which redemption is made, is 'the man Christ Jesus'" (LG, p. 113). His "perfect human life with all its rights and prospects, was laid down in death, but NOT FOR SIN AND IN PUNISHMENT" (LG, p. 116). "The Bible plainly shows that 144,000 will share in heavenly glory, while the others will enjoy the blessings of life down here on earth" (LG, p. 298). "All who by reason of faith in Jehovah God and in Christ Jesus dedicate themselves to do God's will and then faithfully carry out their dedication will be rewarded with everlasting life" (LG, p. 298). An unnumbered crowd "do not expect to go to heaven. They have been promised everlasting life on earth if they prove their faithfulness" (LG, p. 231), "provided . . . they abide in him, keeping their good conscience through faith and loyal service" (NH, p. 311). "It is a gross twisting of the Scriptures to throw Jesus' words of John 3:3 to make them embrace all mankind" (The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1954, p. 681). "This 'great crowd' of people are not 'born again,' nor do they need to be 'born again,' because they gain everlasting life on the earth" (Ibid., p. 682).
6. Retribution
What the Bible Teaches
"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). The wicked will face "everlasting destruction" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Hell is a place of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:45). The lake of fire is "the second death" (Revelation 20:14).
What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach
"The doctrine of a burning hell where the wicked are tortured eternally after death cannot be true" (LG, p. 99). "A dead person is unconscious, inactive. The soul (entire being) itself is DEAD" (MS, p. 143). The millennial judgment day (the 1,000-year judgment) will take place after Armageddon (LG, pp. 284–286). "The final test will come by the loosing of Satan out of his restraint (at the end of the Millennium)" (LG, p. 293). Those supporting Satan at the end of the Millennium "will, with the Devil himself, be cast into the 'lake of fire and sulphur.' They are drowned in everlasting destruction (annihilated) and for them there is no resurrection" (LG, p. 270). "All who reject the Kingdom message will be destroyed" (LG, p. 190).
All Bible quotations are from the King James Version. Cult citations are taken directly from the source documents as reproduced in Brooks and Robertson.