The Deity of Christ: Answering JW Objections to John 1:1, John 14:28, and Colossians 1:16
This is Part 4 of a 7-part series: The Holy Trinity — Answering Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Introduction
Of all the objections Jehovah’s Witnesses raise against the Trinity, the most sustained and detailed concern the person of Jesus Christ. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is Michael the Archangel — the first and greatest of God’s created beings — who was sent to earth, became a man, died, and was then re-created as a spirit being. On this view, Jesus is not God; he is a god — a powerful but created, finite, derivative being entirely subordinate to Jehovah.
To support this view, the Watchtower relies on a small number of key proof texts. In this post, we will examine each one carefully, show why the JW interpretation fails, and present the affirmative biblical case for the full deity of Christ.
Objection 1: John 1:1 — “The Word Was a God”
The New World Translation renders John 1:1c as “the Word was a god” — making Jesus a lesser divine being rather than the fully divine God. This is the Watchtower’s signature translation, and it has been used for decades to deny Christ’s deity. But it fails on multiple grounds.
The Greek Grammar
In Greek, the absence of the definite article (the word “the”) before a noun does not automatically require the indefinite article “a” in translation. In John 1:1, the Greek reads kai theos en ho logos — “and God was the Word.” The noun theos (God) is placed before the verb and lacks the article — a construction known as a predicate nominative.
Renowned New Testament scholar Dr. Bruce Metzger explained clearly that when a predicate nominative appears without the article, it emphasizes the nature or quality of the noun. John is saying that the Word fully partakes of the divine nature. He is not saying “a god” — he is saying “the Word was of the very nature of God.”
The Watchtower’s own rule, applied consistently, would produce absurdities throughout John’s Gospel. The same Greek construction (anarthrous predicate nominative) occurs in John 4:24: “God is spirit” — yet the NWT does not translate this as “God is a spirit.” It occurs in John 8:44: “the devil… is a liar and the father of lies” — no indefinite article controversy there. The rule is applied selectively only where it serves to demote Christ.
The Watchtower’s Own Interlinear Undermines Them
The Watchtower’s own publication, the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, shows the word-for-word Greek-to-English rendering in one column and the NWT rendering in another. In that interlinear, the literal rendering of John 1:1 reads “god was the Word” — without the indefinite article “a.” The NWT’s “a god” appears only in the adjusted column. This means the Watchtower’s own interlinear contradicts its own translation.
The Context of John’s Entire Prologue
John 1:18 calls Jesus the “only begotten God” (monogenes theos — the best-supported Greek manuscripts). John 20:28 records Thomas calling Jesus “my God” (ho theos mou) — with the definite article, the strongest possible expression. Jesus receives this confession without correction. If Jesus were only “a god,” John’s Gospel — and Jesus Himself — would be promoting polytheism. The God of the Old Testament says in Isaiah 43:10: “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” If Jesus is “a god,” then Isaiah 43:10 is false.
Objection 2: John 14:28 — “The Father Is Greater Than I”
Jehovah’s Witnesses frequently quote this verse as definitive proof that Jesus cannot be equal to God:
“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28, ESV)
This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the New Testament, and the misunderstanding stems from failing to grasp the distinction the early church made between two kinds of divine relationships.
The Economic vs. Ontological Trinity
Orthodox theology distinguishes between:
The Ontological Trinity — the eternal, inner being of God as He is in Himself. Father, Son, and Spirit are co-equal, co-eternal, of the same substance.
The Economic Trinity — the outward activity of God in redemption history: the Father sends, the Son is sent, the Spirit is sent. In this economy of redemption, the Son voluntarily takes a subordinate role.
When Jesus says “the Father is greater than I,” He is speaking of His position in the economy of the incarnation — not His eternal divine nature. As the incarnate Son, He has voluntarily “emptied Himself” (Phil. 2:7) by taking on human limitations: hunger, fatigue, suffering, and death. He operates in submission to the Father as part of His mission. This is a functional, voluntary, temporary subordination — not an ontological inferiority of nature.
Consider a human analogy Paul himself uses: “The head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband” (1 Cor. 11:3). A husband is the “head” of his wife in terms of role and authority — but this does not mean wives are less human than husbands, or made of lesser material. The subordination is relational and functional, not a matter of essential nature. The same logic applies to the Son’s submission to the Father in the economy of redemption.
Jesus Also Said “I and the Father Are One”
Just two chapters earlier (John 10:30), Jesus said “I and the Father are one” — and the Jews picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy, saying “you, being a man, make yourself God” (v. 33). Both statements are true simultaneously. Jesus is one in nature with the Father (John 10:30) and temporarily subordinate in role during His incarnation (John 14:28). These are not contradictions — they are two aspects of the one Trinitarian reality.
Objection 3: Colossians 1:15 — “Firstborn of All Creation”
The Watchtower points to Colossians 1:15 — “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” — as proof that Jesus is a created being, the “first” thing God made.
But the Greek word translated “firstborn” here is prototokos, and it does not mean “first created.” In biblical usage, “firstborn” consistently refers to rank, priority, and pre-eminence — not necessarily to the order of birth or creation.
In Psalm 89:27, God calls David “My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” David was not literally the first king born — he was the seventh son of Jesse. “Firstborn” denotes his supreme rank before God.
In Romans 8:29, believers are predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son, “so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” This does not mean Jesus was created before believers. It means He holds first rank among them.
The very next verses in Colossians 1 make the meaning of “firstborn” unmistakably clear:
“For by him all things were created, 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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:16–17)
Christ is “firstborn of all creation” in the sense that He has supreme rank over all creation — because He is the Creator of all creation. He cannot be both Creator of all things and also one of the things created. The Watchtower’s New World Translation illegitimately inserts the word “other” four times in these verses (“all other things”) — a word that has absolutely no support in any Greek manuscript, any ancient translation, or any credible scholarly text. The NWT inserts it for one reason only: to force the text to support a pre-determined theological conclusion.
Objection 4: Mark 13:32 — “Only the Father Knows”
JWs sometimes cite Mark 13:32 — “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” — as evidence that Jesus cannot be omniscient and therefore cannot be God.
This is another case of confusing the two natures of Christ. Christian theology has always affirmed that Jesus is fully God and fully human — the God-Man. In His human nature, Jesus experienced genuine human limitations, including limitations of knowledge during His earthly ministry. This is part of what it meant for the eternal Son to “empty Himself” in the incarnation (Phil. 2:7 — the Greek word kenosis).
The limitation of knowledge here is not a limitation of the divine nature but a limitation of the human nature the Son assumed. It is entirely consistent with the incarnation — and entirely consistent with His full divinity.
The Positive Case: Jesus as YHWH in the New Testament
Beyond answering specific objections, there is a powerful affirmative case for Christ’s full deity that the Watchtower cannot account for: the New Testament consistently applies Old Testament texts about YHWH directly to Jesus.
Isaiah 40:3: “Prepare the way of the LORD [YHWH]” — applied to John the Baptist preparing the way of Jesus (Matt. 3:3)
Isaiah 45:23: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance” — YHWH speaking — applied to Jesus in Philippians 2:10–11
Joel 2:32: “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD [YHWH] shall be saved” — applied to calling on the name of Jesus in Romans 10:13
Psalm 102:25–27: A prayer addressed to YHWH as Creator — cited in Hebrews 1:10–12 and addressed to the Son
Isaiah 6:10: The vision of YHWH’s glory — attributed to Jesus in John 12:41
The New Testament authors are doing something deliberate and breathtaking: they are identifying Jesus of Nazareth as the YHWH of the Old Testament — now incarnate in human flesh. This is not the theology of a created angelic being. This is the theology of God Himself stepping into His creation.
John 8:58 — “Before Abraham Was, I AM”
One of the most striking and explicit claims Jesus made to full deity in the Gospels occurs in John 8:58:
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58, ESV)
The phrase “I AM” (egō eimi) is the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14 — “I AM WHO I AM”). Jesus does not say “before Abraham was, I was” — as if He merely pre-existed. He says “I AM” — the eternal present tense of the divine self-existence. Once again, the audience understood exactly what He was claiming: “So they picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59).
The NWT translates this as “I have been” — but this distorts the Greek. The verb eimi is present tense, not past perfect. “I AM” is the correct translation, and every major Bible translation in history has rendered it that way.
Conclusion
The Watchtower’s case against the deity of Christ rests on a handful of verses taken out of context, a translation that manipulates the Greek for theological purposes, and a fundamental failure to account for the incarnation — the mystery that the eternal Son of God took on human flesh and, in that humanity, voluntarily submitted to the Father.
When the evidence is examined honestly:
John 1:1 says the Word was God — and the Watchtower’s “a god” is a grammatically unsupported theological invention
John 14:28 reflects the economic subordination of the incarnate Son, not an inferiority of divine nature
Colossians 1:15–17 calls Jesus the Creator of all things — making Him the prototokos (first in rank) over creation, not part of it
John 8:58 applies the divine “I AM” to Jesus directly
The NT applies YHWH texts to Jesus throughout
Jesus Christ is not a god. He is not Michael the Archangel. He is the eternal Son of God — fully divine, co-equal with the Father, YHWH incarnate.
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