A Refutation of Watchtower Theology

The Triune Deity

One of the greatest doctrines of the Scriptures is that of the Triune Godhead (tes theotetos) or the nature of God himself. To say that this doctrine is a "mystery" is indeed inconclusive, and no informed minister would explain the implications of the doctrine in such abstract terms. Jehovah's Witnesses accuse "the clergy" of doing just that, however, and it is unforntunate to note that they are, as usual, guilty of misstatement in the presentation of teh facts and even in their definition of what Christian clergymen believe the Deity to be.

First of all, Christian ministers and Christian laypersons do not believe that there are "three gods in one" (Let God Be True, 100), but do believe that there are three persons all of the same Substance---coequal, coexistent, and coeternal. There is ample ground for this belief in the Scriptures, where plurality in the Godhead is very strongly intimated if not expressly declared. Let us consider just a few of these references.

In Genesis 1:26 Jehovah is speaking of Creation, and He speaks in teh plural: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Now, it is obvious that God would not create man in His image and the angels' images if He were talking to them, so He must have been addressing someone else--and who but His son and the Holy Spirit who are equal in Substance could He address in such familiar terms? Since there is no other god but Jehovah (Isaiah 43:10-11), not even "a lesser mighty god" as Jehovah's Witnesses affirm Christ to be, there must be a unity in plurality and Substance, or the passsage is not meaningful. The same is true of Genesis 11:7, when God said at the Tower of Babel, "Let us go down," and also of Isaiah 6:8, "Who will go for us?..." These instances of plurality indicate something deeper than an interpersonal relationship; they strongly suggest what the New Testament fully develops, namely, a Tri-Unity in the One God. The claim of Jehovah's Witnesses that the early church fathers, including Tertullian and Theophilus, propagated and introduced the threefold unity of God into Christianity is ridiculous and hardly worth refuting. Any unbiased study of the facts will convince the impartial student that before Tertullian or Theophilus lived, the doctrine was under study and considered sound. No one doubts that among the heathen (Babylonians and Egyptians) demon gods were worshiped, but to call the triune Godhead a doctrine of the devil (Let God Be True, 101), as Jehovah's Witnesses do, is blasphemy and the product of untutored and darkened souls.

In the entire chapter titled "Is there a Trinity?" (Let God Be True, 100-101), the whole problem as to why the Trinity doctrine is "confusing" to Jehovah's Witnesses lies in their interpretation of "death" as it is used in the Bible. To Jehovah's Witnesses, death is the cessation of consciousness, or destruction. However, no single or collective rendering of Greek or Hebrew words in any reputable lexicon or dictionary will substantiate their view. Death in the Scriptures is "separation" from the body as in the case of the first death (physical), and separation from God for eternity as in the second death (the lake of fire, Revelation 20). Death never means annihilation, and Jehovah's Witnesses cannot bring in one word in context in the original languages to prove it does. A wealth of evidence has been massed to prove it does not. I welcome comparisons on this point.

The rest of the chapter is taken up with childish questions---some of which are painful to record: "Who ran the universe the three days Jesus was dead and in the grave?" (death again portrayed as extinction of consciousness) is a sample of the nonsense perpetrated on gullible people. "Religionists" is the label placed on all who disagree with the organization's views regardless of the validity of the criticism. Christians do not believe that the Trinity was incarnate in Christ and that they were "three-in-one" as such during Christ's ministry. Christ voluntarily limited himself in His earthly body, but heaven was always open to HIm and He never ceased being God, Second Person of the Trinity. At His baptism the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, the Father spoke, and the Son was baptized. What further proof is needed to show a threefold unity? Compare the baptism of Christ (Matthew 3:16-17) with the commission to preach in the threefold name of God (Matthew 28:19), and the evidence is clear and undeniable. Even in teh Incarnation itself (Luke 1:35) the Trinity appears (see John 14:16 and 15:26). Of course it is not possible to fathom this great revelation completely, but this we do know: There is a unity of Substance, not three gods, and that unity is One in every sense, which no reasonable person can doubt after surveying the evidence. When Jesus said, "MyFather is greater than I," He spoke the truth, for in the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7) and as a man, the Son was subject to the Father willingly; but upon His ressurrection and in the radiance of His glory taken again from whence He veiled it (vv. 7-8), He showed forth His deity when He declared, "All authority is surrendered to me in heaven and earth" (Matthew 28:18); proof positive of His instrinsic nature and unity of Substance. It is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ was never inferior---speaking of His nature---to His Father during His sojourn on earth.