READING TIME: 3-4 MINUTES
October 8, 2019
David, I’ve been trying to convince a Jehovah’s Witness that Yeshua is God. I remember you saying in class when you were teaching on Apologetics, that it’s very effective in this kind of situation to ask questions. Could you please give me questions I can ask this JW about Yeshua’s Deity?
Great question. Below are 29 questions you can ask your JW friend.
(1) If Yeshua isn’t God, what does John 1:1 mean?
(2) If Yeshua isn’t God, what does John 5:17-18 mean when it says that the Jewish people were trying harder to kill him because He was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God?
(3) If Yeshua isn’t God, what did He mean in John 8:58? If he wasn’t claiming to be God, how do you explain the reaction of the Jewish people in 8:59? Why did the people seek to stone Him?
(4) If Yeshua isn’t God, what did Yeshua mean in John 10:30 when he said: “I and the Father are one?” If he wasn’t claiming to be God, how do you explain the reaction of the Jewish people in the following verses? NOTE: in Greek, the word “one” is the neuter, not the masculine gender, so Yeshua wasn’t saying He and the Father were one “person,” but one “thing” (unity of essence). They are one in nature and purpose, not one in identity (from the notes in The NET Bible and The Bible Knowledge Commentary).
(5) If Yeshua isn’t God, how come He didn’t correct Thomas when he called Him God and worshiped Him in John 20:28?
(6) If Yeshua isn’t God, explain why He said in John 8:19 and 14:17 to know Him is to know God the Father?
(7) If Yeshua isn’t God, explain why He said in John 12:45 and 14:9 to see Him is to see God the Father?
(8) If Yeshua isn’t God, explain why He said in John 5:23 to honor Him is to honor God the Father?
(9) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be the object of saving faith in John 3:36?
(10) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can he be involved in creation in John 1:3, 10?
(11) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He have authority over eternal life in John 4:13-14; 6:39-40, 44, 54; 7:38-39; 11:25-26; 14:6; 17:2?
(12) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He have the authority to send the Holy Spirit in John 14:26; 16:7?
(13) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He can raise people from the dead, including Himself in John 2:18-22; 5:21; 6:39-40; 10:17-18?
(14) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He have the right to judge in John 5:22, 27?
(15) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He receive worship in Matthew 14:33; John 9:38; 20:28 Philippians 2:10; and Hebrews 1:6?
(16) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He make God known or explain Him in John 1:18 and 6:46? How can somebody less than God explain Him?
(17) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can Yeshua have the power to forgive sins in Matthew 9:2, 6; Luke 5:24; 7:47-48; and John 8:24?
(18) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He have a heavenly origin in John 3:13; 6:38; 8:36; 16:28; and 17:5?
(19) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be the “image of the invisible God” in Colossians 1:15?
(20) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be the “representation of God’s essence” and the “radiance of His glory” in Hebrews 1:3?
(21) How could Yeshua “sustain all things by the word of His power” in Hebrews 1:3, unless He was God? Could anybody less than God have this type of power?
(22) How could Yeshua “accomplish cleansing of sins” in Hebrews 1:3 unless He was God? Could anybody apart from God purge our sins?
(23) If Yeshua isn’t God, why did the author of the book of Hebrews say about Yeshua (the Son), “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever”?
(24) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be immutable (never changes in His nature) in Hebrews 1:10-12 (in these three verses, the passages from Psalm 102:25-27 are applied to Yeshua).
(25) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be the “fullness of the Godhead” in Colossians 2:9?
(26) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be sovereign in Matthew 5:27-28; 28:18; John 17:2; Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 2:9-10; Colossians 1:18; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 19:16?
(27) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He hold together/sustain everything in creation in Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 1:3?
(28) If Yeshua isn’t God, how can He be the giver of immortality in John 5:28-29; 6:39-40; 17:2; Philippians 3:21?
(29) If Yeshua isn’t God, what glory did He have with the Father before the world was created in John 17:5?