I have known many Jehovah’s Witnesses who are committed to studying their Bible and learning about God. In fact, a “Religious Landscape Study” from Pew Research found that 88% of Jehovah’s Witnesses in America study Scripture at least once a week.
Christians may wonder, then, why a JW has such differing beliefs about Jesus, salvation, and eternity. The main reason is the type of Bible they are using.
The New World Translation that Jehovah’s Witnesses use is similar to the Bible in many ways, but it has been deliberately edited to reflect the teachings of the Watchtower Society, the governing organization of the JWs.
Thus, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ devout view of Scripture is commendable, but they need help understanding that the New World Translation is not an accurate translation of God’s Word.
Overview of the New World Translation
The Watchtower Society presents its version of the Bible as being an accurate translation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. One of the main focuses of the translation is to restore the name of Jehovah in the Bible, including in the New Testament.
The governing organization of the Jehovah’s Witnesses believes that the established Christian church removed mentions of God’s name. According to the Watchtower Society, all other translations besides the NWT are corrupt and untrustworthy.
A major problem with the New World Translation is that it was translated by a closed and private committee that adheres strictly to the JW doctrine. In contrast, legitimate Bible translation teams are open about who was involved in the translation committee and the intent of their work.
For instance, the NIV is transparent about the various members of its translation team. Individuals can even look up the people involved to see their qualifications in translating biblical languages.
Furthermore, legitimate versions of the Bible ensure that various people from different backgrounds and denominations are involved to protect against bias.
The NWT has no evidence of this type of scholarship or transparency. Instead, the Watchtower Society is not willing to share information about their translators. Today, we know that there were six translators, and only one had knowledge of the biblical languages.
The NWT committee’s purpose was to create a version of the Bible that aligned with their beliefs, not a legitimate translation of Scripture. To see the evidence of how the NWT has inaccurately translated God’s Word, we need to examine specific verses.
Verses about Jesus
Christians who have studied the Bible know that Scripture teaches that Jesus is God. We can see this truth in numerous verses of Scripture.
The most apparent one is John 1:1, which reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (NIV, emphasis added). From this verse, we understand that Jesus is the Word, thus meaning that He is God.
Since this scholarly and accurate rendering of this verse does not match Jehovah’s Witness doctrine, the Watchtower Society had to change it. In the New World Translation, John 1:1 is translated as, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”
Their intent in changing the verse is obvious. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God and thus forced their doctrine onto the text and changed God’s Word to fit their beliefs.
In addition to denying the plain meaning of the Greek, the Watchtower has also created a problem by saying that Jesus is “a god,” implying that there are lower gods outside of God. Such a view contradicts Scripture in that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 45:5).
Another verse worth considering is John 8:58 where Jesus makes the statement that “Before Abraham was, I am” (KJV). His use of the title “I am” was apparent to the Jews, who were ready to stone him (John 8:59).
The statement reflects God’s declaration of being “I AM” in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14). With an accurate translation of Scripture, we understand that Jesus said that He is God.
In contrast, the NWT Bible translates Jesus’ statement as, “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been” (John 8:58). The intended meaning of the Jehovah’s Witness Bible is that Jesus merely existed before Abraham, not that Christ is making a statement of His divinity.
A question for a Jehovah’s Witness would be why the Jews would stone someone for claiming to be in existence before Abraham.
They would likely have viewed Jesus as insane for making such a statement but not worthy of stoning. Only because He was making a clear statement that He is God did the Jews want to kill Him (John 10:33).
Verses about Jesus Receiving Worship
In addition to changing verses that refer to Jesus’ divinity, the Watchtower Society also edited the places in Scripture where Jesus receives worship. Multiple times in the gospel accounts, we read about people worshipping Christ (Matthew 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38).
The Father also told the angels to worship Jesus, the Son (Hebrews 1:6). Christ accepted their worship because He is God. This contrasts with the angel who refused John’s worship (Revelation 22:8-9), and Peter refusing the worship of Cornelius (Acts 10:25-26).
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that people worshipped Jesus. Instead, they teach that people merely showed Him respect. In verses where variants of the Greek word proskuneo are used about Jesus, the NWT translators chose to use the word “obeisance.”
However, the problem with this is that other verses have the same word that clearly shows proskuneo means to worship, such as Revelation 22:9 when the angel tells John to worship God only.
Also, when Jesus responds to Satan’s temptation, He says, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10, NIV, emphasis added).
All the verses I mentioned above that show people worshipping Jesus use the Greek word proskuneo, which means to worship. The very act of people falling to their knees or clasping Jesus’s feet also provide contextual support that these people were worshipping Jesus.
Cornelius bowed before Peter, which was an act of worship that the apostle did not accept. John fell at the angel’s feet, which the angel did not accept.
However, Jesus received the worship of His disciples and others. Therefore, the New World Translation did not properly translate the Greek word proskuneo but deliberately changed God’s Word to make it align with their doctrine.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the act of saluting or kneeling before a flag or other object means they are worshipping that object. For this reason, they refuse to participate in national ceremonies.
They should consider this question: if they believe that saluting, kneeling, or bowing to an object indicates worship, then would that not also apply to when people kneel before or bow to other people? We read in the Bible about people kneeling before Jesus and falling to His feet. That is worship.
God’s Name and the New Testament
As I mentioned earlier in the article, a central goal of the New World Translation is to restore God’s name to the Bible, especially in the New Testament, or what JWs call the “Christian Greek Scriptures.”
As many scholars have noted, the problem with inserting “Jehovah” into the New Testament is that the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, is not there.
However, there are places where the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament, and YHWH was referred to in the Hebrew text. Significant examples include places where the biblical text connects Jesus to these quotes, directly showing that He is Yahweh.
For example, the well-known prophecy in Isaiah shows us that John the Baptist fulfilled the role of the voice calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3 NIV; Matthew 3:1-3).
The verse says John the Baptist was preparing the way for the Lord (YHWH). He prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry, which clearly identifies Jesus as the LORD (Matthew 3:11-17).
The Watchtower Society chose to render “Lord” or kurios as “Jehovah,” such as in Matthew 4:10. Despite this decision by the NWT, the Greek word Kyrion is used, which should be translated as Lord.
Also, Philippians 3:20 uses the same word, Kyrion, to refer to the Lord Jesus. The NWT translators were not consistent in changing Kyrion (or kurios) to Jehovah since the same word is used in reference to Jesus.
Not only is there no textual support to insert the name Jehovah into the New Testament, but they also failed to show how the biblical evidence supports that Jesus is the Lord God.
Why Does This Matter?
Jehovah’s Witnesses are committed to reading and following the Bible. However, the Watchtower Society has made reading the truth of God’s Word difficult since their official New World Translation was created to promote the teachings of the organization.
To help love Jehovah’s Witnesses and share the gospel with them, believers need to understand the differences between the Watchtower’s official translation and the Bible so we can better evangelize and communicate with members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
For further reading:
What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?
How to Respond to Jehovah’s Witnesses This Christmas Season
Are There Bible Translations Christians Should Avoid?
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