These people are part of a worldwide organization known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. They claim to be the only true representatives of God. Furthermore, through their publishing arm known as "The Watchtower", they are eager to give you materials that they claim will show you how the Bible affirms their beliefs and refutes the many false doctrines that they claim the current Christian churches teach.

The most notable doctrine that Jehovah's Witnesses teach against is the doctrine of the Trinity.

Jehovah's Witnesses firmly believe that the doctrine of the trinity is a pagan concept that was adopted by the church in about the 3rd century. They believe that the Bible clearly teaches against the concept of the trinity. Though many books and volumes have been written exhausting the topic of the trinity, this paper is meant to serve merely as a basic overview into what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach concerning the trinity. We shall examine a few of their main arguments against the teaching of the trinity and then we will look at some of the errors in their argument that have resulted in their faulty position.

NOT A GOD OF CONFUSION

The concept of the trinity could be defined as follows: There is one God. Yet within the one Godhead, there are 3 distinct, co-equal, co-eternal persons who are equally God. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not 3 Gods; there is only one God.

In the booklet, Should You Believe in the Trinity, the Jehovah's Witnesses argue that the concept of "one God in three persons" (page 3) is confusing and hard to understand. That trinitarians admit the concept is a mystery creates a problem according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, because 1 Corinthians 14:33 states that "God is not a God of confusion." If God is not a God of confusion, why, the Jehovah's Witnesses ask, would God reveal Himself to man in such a confusing doctrine as the trinity? (pages 4, 5)

This question underscores a major problem with the Jehovah's Witnesses handling of the doctrine of the trinity, which is taking verses out of context and applying them to mean something entirely different than their intended meaning.

Ron Rhodes, in his book Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses, emphasizes the importance of examining the context when seeking to understand the meaning of this verse.

The Corinthian church was a church that was experiencing a lot of internal division. At the beginning of 1 Corinthians, we find that many in the church were aligning themselves with Paul, others were following Peter, and still others were following Apollos.

Additionally, in chapters 12-14, Paul is addressing the problems of order and disorder in the worship service. Apparently, there were situations where too many people were speaking and giving prophecies all at the same time. This created disorder and "confusion". Paul then gives them some proper instructions concerning the use of gifts in the worship service. Paul specifically says that only one person should speak at a time and only 2 or 3 should speak in a service. Furthermore, if no interpreter is available, then no one should speak. It is at this point that Paul gives his principle, that "God is not a God of confusion, but of peace." (Rhodes 1993, 224-226)

Paul is not trying to communicate that God is completely comprehensible and knowable as the Jehovah's Witnesses contend. Instead, he is highlighting the importance of maintaining order in the worship service. Therefore, this text cannot be used to demonstrate that the trinity is so confusing that it could not have originated with God. In fact, Rhodes points out that there are many other verses which indicate that God is unknowable and incomprehensible to us. Such verses include Romans 11:33; Isaiah 55:8, 9; and 1 Corinthians 13:12. Since the Bible clearly indicates that God is so far beyond our reasoning and understanding, the mysterious concept of a trinitarian God is not outside the bounds of Biblical teaching.

THE TRINITY MISREPRESENTED

In the book The Watchtower Files: Dialogue with a Jehovah's Witness, Duane Magnani, a former Jehovah's Witness, demonstrates convincingly with photocopied documents that the Jehovah's Witnesses have repeatedly misrepresented the concept of the trinity. As a result, they have created even more confusion among their followers regarding the accurate teaching of this doctrine. This seems ironic for a group that claims that "God is not a God of confusion." (Magnani 1985, pages 118-155)

One such example is in the Watchtower book entitled You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. This book gives the following definition of the trinity: "According to the teaching of the Trinity, there are three persons in one God, that is, there is 'one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.' " (1989, 39)

Though this is a somewhat accurate explanation of the trinity, the issue is confused later on the same page (page 39), with the following excerpt:

Further, on one occasion Jesus prayed to God, saying: "Let not my will, but yours take place." (Luke 22:42) If Jesus were the Almighty God, he would not have prayed to himself, would he? In fact, following Jesus' death, the Scripture says: "This Jesus God resurrected." (Acts 2:32) Thus the Almighty God and Jesus are clearly two separate persons. (1989, 39)

This only demonstrates that the Jehovah's Witnesses themselves do not understand the position that trinitarians hold. On paper, they quote the Christian definition correctly, but in their mind, they see the need to show that Jesus and the Father are separate. They think that by showing this, they disprove the trinity. Yet trinitarians already firmly agree that the Father and Jesus are two separate persons. This is fundamental to the teaching of the Trinity. Therefore, their statements do not demonstrate proof against the trinity but serve notice of their real ignorance of the doctrine.

THE WORD "TRINITY" IS NOT IN THE BIBLE

A popular defense against the concept of the Trinity that is often brought up by Jehovah's Witnesses is that the word "trinity" is not found in the Bible. This interesting piece of information is supposed to make the Christian begin to doubt whether the concept of the trinity is really Biblical.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the concept of the trinity is a pagan concept that was introduced into Christianity around the time of Constantine. They offer two reasons to support their view:

1. Many ancient religions believed in triads of gods. Though this is correct, this does not prove causality. In other words, just because ancient religions believed in triads of gods does not mean that the trinity is pagan or that trinitarian theology was borrowed from these pagan religions. On the contrary, many of the examples cited by the Jehovah's Witnesses are based on religions that were far removed from Christianity. It is difficult to show Christianity borrowed concepts from these pagan religions. Also, the concept of a triad of gods is different from the concept of the trinity. The triads were separate gods who were linked together and were part of a culture that believed in numerous gods. The concept of the trinity is vastly different in that it teaches strict monotheism. (Rhodes 1993, 222)
   
2. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Paul himself foretold of an apostasy in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7. This apostasy, they claim, is the Christian teaching of the trinity. The Jehovah's Witnesses interpret the "man of lawlessness" to be representative of the ruling clergy class. Hence, the Jehovah's Witnesses teach that this apostasy has occurred as the church (man of lawlessness) has foisted its false doctrine of the trinity on unsuspecting sheep.

This passage is clearly referring to the end times, and the man of lawlessness is clearly the anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ will take his seat in the temple and declare himself God. Even if one doesn't subscribe to this view, it is a blatant violation of context to say that the man of lawlessness is the clergy of today. It is also unfounded from the context to say that the apostasy Paul is speaking of is the doctrine of the trinity. This is simply not supported anywhere in the text.

It is true, though, that the word "trinity" is not found in the Bible. However, the concept of the trinity is taught in the Scriptures. In Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons, Ron Rhodes explains:

A theological definition of the Trinity is based on three lines of biblical evidence: 1) evidence that there is only one true God; 2) evidence that there are three persons are recognized as God; and 3) evidence for three-in-oneness within the Godhead. (Rhodes 1995, 256)

EVIDENCE FOR ONE GOD

That there is only one God is the clear teaching of Scripture in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The 10 Commandments for example, are highlighted by the statement that there is only one God (see Exodus 20). In addition, Deuteronomy 6, which was known as "the Shema" to Jews, highlighted God's oneness. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one." (Deut. 6:4) (Erickson 1998, 348-9) Many other verses could be cited including Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; 32:39; Exodus 8:10, 9:14; 1 Sam. 2:2; Isaiah 43:10-12; 44:6-8; 45:5-7.

Because this point is not in dispute with the Jehovah's Witnesses there is no need to extend the list further.

EVIDENCE FOR THREE PERSONS RECOGNIZED AS GOD

Both the Jehovah's Witnesses and trinitarians believe that the Father is rightly called God in the Scriptures. However, this is the point where trinitarians and Jehovah's Witnesses diverge. Trinitarians believe that the Bible teaches that Jesus is God, while Jehovah's Witnesses claim that Jesus is a created being. Trinitarians also believe that the Holy Spirit is God, while the Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit is God's active force.

IS JESUS GOD?

To fully expand on the evidence for the deity of Christ would take more space than we have in this article. However, the evidence can be summarized by the following reasoning:

1. Jesus made specific claims to deity - though Jesus never explicitly said, "Hey look at me, I'm God", he made many statements which the Jews interpreted to be claims of deity. For example in John 10:33, the Jews pick up stones to kill Jesus because they understood that He had made Himself equal with God. It's interesting to note that Jesus never once corrected their misunderstanding. This is indeed interesting if Jesus did not believe Himself to be God.
   

   Other notable verses include Mark 14:61-64 and John 14:9 and John 15:17, 18. Also, Jesus makes significant use of the phrase "I AM" in the gospel of John and attributes its meaning to Himself. The phrase "I AM" was actually the name God attributed to Himself in the Old Testament. It literally means, "to be" and can be taken to mean "the eternally self-existent one."
   

2. Jesus possesses the attributes of God - Matthew 9:4, Matthew 12:25, and Luke 11:17 all demonstrate that Jesus possessed the attribute of omniscience. In Revelation 1:17, and 2:8, Jesus is referred to as "the first and last" (vs. 17), a reference to His eternal existence. Jesus alludes to His omnipresence in Matthew 18:20 and Matthew 28:20. Jesus demonstrated His omnipotence numerous times throughout His ministry by demonstrating His power over nature, sickness, demons and ultimately death itself (see Luke 4:39-41; 7:14, 15; Mark 1:27, and Matthew 8:26-27). Finally, Jesus is referred to as Holy (Acts 3:14), truth (John 14:6; Rev. 3:7), almighty (Rev. 1:8), and powerful (Hebrews 1:3). All of these are attributes that only God possesses. The fact that they are attributed to Jesus points to Jesus' deity.
   

3. Jesus made claims that only God could make - For example in Mark 2:5-12, Jesus claims to have the authority to forgive sin, something reserved only for God.
   

4. Jesus accepted worship as God - in John 20:28, Thomas worships Jesus, crying out, "My Lord and my God." Thomas clearly calls Jesus God and Jesus does NOT rebuke him. Jesus clearly thought that worship of Himself was acceptable.

COMMON OBJECTIONS

The Jehovah's Witnesses object to the deity of Christ on the following basis:

1. Jesus never claimed to be God, but only the Son of God - this is true, yet according to Rhodes, even the phrase "son of" meant "sameness of nature" among the Jews. (Rhodes 1993, 133-37) This is why Jesus claimed to be the Son of God AND the Son of Man. Jesus possessed both the nature of man and the nature of God. (See 1 Kings 20:35; Nehemiah 12:28; Mark 3:17; and Ephesians 2:2 for examples of this phraseology).
   

2. Jesus and the Father are separate - In the booklet Should You Believe in the Trinity, the Jehovah's Witnesses once again confuse the issue by saying, "as he neared death, Jesus cried out, 'My God, my God, why have you deserted me?' (Mark 15:34, JB) To whom was Jesus crying out? To himself or to part of himself? … And if Jesus were God, then by whom was he deserted? Himself? That would not make sense." (1989, page 18)
   

   Here is another clear example of how the Jehovah's Witnesses have misrepresented the doctrine of the trinity by implying that Jesus and the Father are the same person. This is misleading and inaccurate. Their logic simply doesn't apply because trinitarians do not teach that Jesus prayed to Himself or that He was deserted by Himself. Jesus, being a separate person within the triune Godhead, cried out the Father, an altogether distinct person. Jesus was deserted, not by Himself, but by a separate person within the triune Godhead, namely, the Father.
   

3. The Jehovah's Witnesses claim that John 1:1 indicates that Jesus is not Almighty God, but merely divine like. Hence, in their own translation of the Bible (New World Translation), John 1:1 is translated, "and the word was a god." (Should You Believe in the Trinity, 1989, page 27)
   

   Their reason for translating John 1:1 in this way is because they claim, "the context lays the groundwork for accurate understanding. Even the King James Version says, 'The Word was with God.' Someone who is 'with' another person cannot be the same as that other person." (Should You Believe in the Trinity, 1989, page 27)
   

   Here again, the Jehovah's Witnesses have ignored the primary teaching of the trinitarian doctrine, that Jesus is distinct from the Father. Therefore, there is no conflict to say that Jesus was with the Father but is not the Father. Therefore, there is no contextual basis for their translation of John 1:1 with the insertion of the definite article "a".
   

   In fact, the Jehovah's Witnesses violate a very technical rule concerning the translation of such grammatical texts. The rule is known as Colwell's Rule. Without getting into the technical aspects, it can be shown that the Jehovah's Witnesses are not consistent in their translation of the Scriptures. Virtually all Greek scholars agree that John 1:1 should have no definite article, yet the Jehovah's Witnesses say that it should be there. However, the same rules would force them to put a definite article in John 1:6 (and they don't put it there), and John 1:18 (and they don't put it there either). (see Rhodes 1993, 100-113) Basically, they put it in John 1:1 because they need to in order to make the verse fit into their doctrinal view of Jesus.
   

Now that we've seen the evidence that the Father is God, and that Jesus is also God, we'll look now at the evidence to support the deity of the Holy Spirit.

In the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, the Jehovah's Witnesses offer the following "evidence" to demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is not God:

As for the "Holy Spirit," the so-called third Person of the Trinity, we have already seen that this is not a person but God's active force. John the Baptizer said that Jesus would baptize with holy spirit, even as John had been baptizing with water. Hence, in the same way that water is not a person, holy spirit is not a person. (1989, 40)

Here we see the Jehovah's Witnesses comparing John's baptism with Jesus' baptism. Rather than noting the differences (i.e. John baptized with water and Jesus will baptize with the Spirit), the Jehovah's Witnesses try to make a comparison by saying that just as water is not a person, so the spirit is not a person. There is nothing in the context of any of these passages that indicates that this was the point John the Baptist was making. In fact, one could easily make the claim that John's baptism would be marked by an inanimate object (water) whereas Jesus' baptism would be marked by a person (the Holy Spirit). In this context, John's statements make more sense than the Jehovah's Witnesses version.

Also, the claim is made that the Holy Spirit has already been demonstrated to be God's active force. Let's take a look at the previous section to see how they have demonstrated this to be so. Once again, we read from You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth:

Since God is a person with a spiritual body, he must have a place to live. The Bible tells us that the heavens are God's "established place of dwelling." But someone may ask: 'If God is a real person who lives at a certain place in heaven, how can he see everything that happens everywhere? And how can his power be felt in every part of the universe…To help us understand this, consider the far-reaching effects of an electric power plant. A power plant has a certain location in or near a city. But its electricity is distributed over all that area, providing light and power. It is similar with God. He is in the heavens. (Isaiah 57:15; Psalm 123:1) Yet his holy spirit, which is his invisible active force, can be felt everywhere, over all the universe. (1989, 36-7)

Here, the Jehovah's Witnesses have compared the Holy Spirit to an electrical force and then later claimed that they have demonstrated the Holy Spirit to be a force. This is typical of the approach they use. This is not evidence. It is merely an illustration they use to support their presupposition.

In contrast, we will now give Biblical evidence to show that the Holy Spirit is not only a person, but He is God.

Evidence of Personage

The Holy Spirit shows characteristics of personage in that has intellect - He knows the thoughts of God in 1 Corinthians 2:11. He also has emotion in Romans 15:30 which describes the love of the Spirit. Finally, he has a will in 1 Corinthians 12:11 where we see that the Holy Spirit determines who gets the gifts of the Spirit. (Bright 1980, 11)

In addition, the Holy Spirit performs the functions of a person. In Revelation 2:7, he speaks. In John 14:26, he teaches. He witnesses in John 15:26; guides in Romans 8:16 and John 16:13; convicts in John 16:7, 8; commands in Acts 8:29; and helps in Romans 8:26. (Bright 1980, 12-13)

The Holy Spirit is also regarded as a person. He can be lied to (Acts 5:3); obeyed (Acts 10:19-21); resisted (Acts 7:51); grieved (Ephesians 4:30); quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19); insulted (Hebrews 10:29); and blasphemed (Matthew 12:31). (Bright 1980, 13-14)

Evidence of Deity of the Holy Spirit

The argument for the deity of the Holy Spirit is presented as follows:

1. He possesses the attributes of God - He is eternal (Hebrews 9:14); He is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7); He is omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:10, 11); He is omnipotent (Luke 1:35). (Bright 1980, 14-15)
   

2. He performs the works of God - He was active in creation (Genesis 1:1, 2); He inspired Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21); convicts of sin (John 16:8); intercedes (Romans 8:26); gives believers new holy natures (2 Thessalonians 2:13); and produces fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23). (Bright 1980, 15-16)
   

3. The Holy Spirit is clearly called God in Acts 5:3-4 and 2 Corinthians 3:17, 18.