Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jesus is Michael

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After posting about COG and Jehovah’s Witnesses Doctrinal Similarities, some wrote me to tell me that there were a lot of dissimilarities between the COGs and the JWs. And this I knew as many were documented then (and now) in the article Similarities and Differences Between the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Churches of God.

However, perhaps the biggest difference that these people brought up to tell me (as they had not read my article Similarities and Differences Between the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Churches of God ) was that the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the angel Michael is the one who became Jesus the Christ.

Here are some excerpts from my article Similarities and Differences Between the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Churches of God:

Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach Jesus is Michael and Not God

The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that

Michael is a name given to Jesus in his role as a heavenly Ruler (Pay Attention. p. 289).

The COGs believe that Michael is simply an archangel.

Here is more about what they teach about Michael:

The foremost angel, both in power and authority, is the archangel, Jesus Christ, also called Michael. (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Jude 9) Under his authority are seraphs, cherubs, and angels. (The Truth About Angels. Jehovah’s Witnesses Official Web Site. Appeared in The Watchtower November 1, 1995. http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/1995/11/1/article_02.htm 07/09/07)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God, but the COG does.

Here is one “proof” from the Jehovah’s Witnesses that they use to support their unitarian view of the Godhead:

John said that he had written his Gospel so that readers might come to believe that “Jesus is the Christ the Son of God”—not that he was God. (John 20:31) (WHO IS“the Only True God”? Awake! April 22, 2005).

Having read various writings from official Jehovah’s Witnesses sources, I have concluded that the Jehovah’s Witnesses’s correctly understand that the Father and Son are separate persons, but that they do not teach that Jesus is God or part of the Godhead.

Notice the following from one of their official websites:

Rather than proclaim himself to be God’s Son, Jesus allowed others to reach that conclusion…

Yet, some argue that Jesus is not simply the Son of God but that he is actually God himself. They say that he and his Father are both Almighty God. Are they correct? Is Jesus somehow part of God? Is that what Jesus, or any of the Bible writers, said? Really, who is the only true God? Who did Jesus say He is?…

(Acts 17:24, 31) Here the apostle Paul described Jesus as “a man”—yes, lesser than God—whom God had restored to life in heaven. The apostle John too described Jesus as subordinate to God. John said that he had written his Gospel so that readers might come to believe that “Jesus is the Christ the Son of God”—not that he was God. (John 20:31) (Is Jesus Christ God? http://www.watchtower.org/e/20050422/article_01.htm 070707).

Their belief that Jesus is not God seems to be tied to a couple of verses in John 17 which they mention and explain as follows:

In prayer with his apostles—only hours before his death—Jesus petitioned: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:1, 3.

Notice that Jesus prays to One whom he calls “the only true God.” He points to God’s superior position when he continues: “So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.” (John 17:5) Since Jesus prayed to God requesting to be alongside God, how could Jesus at the same time be “the only true God”? (WHO IS “the Only True God”? Awake! April 22, 2005).

This, however, at most may suggest that Jesus was not fully God while on earth, which He was not. The Bible teaches that Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity while on earth (see Philippians 2:7), hence He had to have been divine before coming on earth (this is discussed in more detail in the article on binitarianism), and would be again after His resurrection. The above in no way is proof of unitarianism.

More about the JWs can be found in the article Similarities and Differences Between the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Churches of God.