What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe about the nature of God?

Question

What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe about the nature of God and, specifically, Jesus?

A common Christian belief is that God is One in Three co-equal, co-eternal Persons--the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Do the Jehovah's Witnesses acknowledge this? If not, what specifically do they believe?

Answer 1

1. Only Jehovah is God; Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel. He is different from the other angels in that he was the first one created. They quote the following verse to prove that he is Michael:

   1 Thessalonians 4:14 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

2. Only Jehovah is the true creator. Jehovah created Jesus and then used him to create everything else. So Jesus is the creator of everything except that he himself was created by God.

   John 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

3. Only Jehovah is omniscient. Jesus does not know everything.

   Matthew 24:36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

4. Only Jehovah is completely holy, not Jesus.

   Mark 10:18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good except God alone.

   Jesus, being an angel, cannot be completely holy.

   Job 4:18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error.

5. Only Jehovah is the eternal King and true Judge. He has submitted the judgement of this world to Jesus for the time being but ultimately all authority will return to him.

   1 Corinthians 15:28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

6. The Holy spirit is Jehovah's active power. It is an impersonal force just like wind or fire and does not have a mind or will. This is from the July 2006 issue of Awake! magazine, published by The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society:

   When Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited her cousin Elizabeth, the Bible says that the unborn child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped, “and Elizabeth was filled with holy spirit.” (Luke 1:41) Is it reasonable that a person would be “filled” with another person?

   John could hardly have been referring to the holy spirit as a person when he spoke of baptizing people with it.

   It is not unusual for God’s Word to personify things that are not a person. These include wisdom, discernment, sin, death, and undeserved kindness.

   The holy spirit is not a person simply because in some instances it is personified.