Jehovah's Witnesses - part 3

Galatians 1:6-8 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

We saw in the last post that Jesus said, "if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." We don't even have to get into the whole doctrine of the Trinity yet. For now let's just deal with whether or not Jesus is God. I think many Christians believe that Jesus is God without really understanding why. So let's look at some biblical evidence for this fact.

Isaiah 43:10-11 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (11) I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

This tells us several things. First notice that verse 10 says "before me there was no God formed." The Hebrew word for 'formed' is yatsar. It is the same word used in Gen. 2:7.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jehovah God created Jesus, and Jesus created every other thing. John 1:1 in the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation says, "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." They try to say Jesus is not God; he is just "a god." But notice that the last phrase in Isaiah 43:10 says, "neither shall there be after me." This means that God did not create another god (i.e. Jesus) after Him. This contradicts the Watchtower teaching on John 1:1.

But I think verse 11 is much more interesting. The New World Translation puts it like this: "I—I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior." This very clearly establishes the fact that Jehovah is the only savior. Here is another similar passage from Hosea:

Hosea 13:4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

From there we can go into many New Testament passages that deal with Jesus as savior but there are a couple in Titus that are my favorite.

Titus 1:3-4 [God] hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; (4) To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

We have already established from Isaiah 43:11 and Hosea 13:4 that Jehovah God is the only savior. This is reiterated in Titus 1:3: "God our Saviour." But look at the very next verse. It says "the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour." It seems logical to me that if God is the only savior, and Jesus Christ is also called savior, then Jesus Christ must be God. Now one time should be enough, but the epistle to Titus gives us two more examples:

Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Titus 3:4-7 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, (5) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (6) Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; (7) That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Seems pretty clear to me. If A = C, and B = C, then A = B. God = (only) Savior; Jesus = Savior; therefor Jesus = God. But that's not all. More in the next post.