So, I had some interesting interactions with some JW’s over the weekend and something that was said was that they considered that Jesus was divine, but not God. Their explanation was that Jesus’ attributes mirrored those of Jehovah, with the exception of being created.
Let’s see how much of a mirror it is then with that ‘one exception’.
Let’s get a list of some of God’s attributes in front of us first and see how it holds together:
God’s immutability & self-sufficiency.
God does not change, He remains the same yesterday today and forever, and in Him there is no shadow of changing. He is the Lord, he changeth not.
Can this be said of JW-Jesus? Clearly not, because JW-Jesus came into being, he is contingent on God, he changed from being not-in-existence to existing. JW-Jesus is not ‘a se’, that is, self sufficient, because he was created by God.
God’s omniscience.
God knows everything there is to know, but more specifically He also knows Himself completely. He has total self knowledge. If God’s knowledge of Himself was to change, it would mean a change in His character.
Does JW-Jesus have this same omniscience? Clearly not, because JW-Jesus cannot say that He existed always, and never ‘came into being’, whereas God’s self-knowledge is that He existed always. JW-Jesus knows things derivatively, not originally, and in fact, has different knowledge of self than God does.
God’s perfection.
God is perfect, He is the very definition of perfection, therefore anything that is different from that, is, by definition, not. If JW-Jesus lacks even one attribute, then he is not perfect in the same way that God is perfect – and he most certainly does.
God’s eternality
God is without beginning or end and has always existed.
Clearly JW-Jesus, by nature of being created by God, does not have this attribute.
God’s sovereignty
God does whatever He wishes whenever He wishes to do it consistent with His Holy nature. His will is contingent on no one.
JW-Jesus, as a created being does not do whatever He wants, He is subject to the will outside of his own nature, that is God’s nature.
God’s omnipotence
God has the capability within Himself to do as He wishes.
JW-Jesus does not have this capability – any power that he has is derivative power that is subject to his own being, being sustained by God.
Considering just the attributes above, it is clear that if you make just one exception in regards to the nature of God, you have no correlation between attributes, as all attributes are inter-related and inter-dependent. So not much of a mirror of attributes at all really…
JW Theology claims that JW-Jesus’ attributes mirror those of God with one exception.
JW-Jesus’ attributes do not mirror those of God, even with that one exception taken into consideration.
Therefore JW Theology is internally contradictory and false.
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