2 Peter 3:15-16 (ESV) And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Sometimes I get questions from other Christians asking how those of certain non-Christian organizations can call themselves Christian and keep their followers in the dark concerning what the Bible plainly says. So, I thought it might be good to look at one specific passage in Colossians 1:15-19 that is often abused and see some of the deception the Watchtower uses to persuade its followers that what the organization teaches is actually biblical.
Col. 1:15-19 (NWT) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist, and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might become the one who is first in all things; because God was pleased to have all fullness to dwell in him,
First, I should say the Watchtower organization teaches that Jesus is a created being in order to deny His deity. A Jesus who isn’t God is a Jesus who can’t save you: “Since Jesus as the firstborn of all creation is a created person, he cannot be Almighty God.” (Awake 4/8/79, p. 29)
The first point I need to make in the passage here is the meaning of the word Firstborn. We have talked about the equivocation fallacy here before. Equivocation is to assign a single meaning to a word when it has more than one definition. We intuitively recognize this in humor: “The difference between a hippo and a Zippo is one is very heave and the other is a little lighter.” The word lighter has more than one meaning, of course. We know that and so might laugh at how it is implied here.
The same fallacy is at work with “firstborn” in the mind of a Jehovah’s Witness. They think firstborn always means the first one born. In both Greek and Hebrew culture, the firstborn was both the first one born and the preeminent one in a family or over a particular group. Jesus was Mary’s firstborn son (Luke 2:7), the first son born to Mary. That is a clear definition as the first one born. But does it always mean that?
In Psalm 89, the word is used differently: Ps. 89:27 And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Who was the firstborn mentioned here? It was David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. So, what does firstborn mean in Psalm 89? It means that although David was not the first son born of Jesse, he will have preeminence over the kings of the earth as God’s firstborn.
In Genesis 48:14, we’re told Manasseh is the firstborn son and Ephraim, his brother is the youngest, yet Jeremiah 31:9 tells us Ephraim has become the firstborn, the preeminent one.
So, how do we know there true meaning of the word in a specific passage? We look at the context. Colossians 1:18-19 (ESV) says this: And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Verse 18 says the passage is speaking not of birth order but of preeminence. It also can’t mean the first one born of the dead, since there were others raised from the dead before Jesus. He Himself raised Lazarus, for instance.
Now, on to another change made by the Watchtower’s translation to mislead the reader. The word other has been inserted into the passage four times. It is not in the Greek, yet in the original 1950 publication of their New Testament, it was inserted as if it were supposed to be there, making Jesus one of the things created.
In the 10/15/1950 Watchtower Magazine (p. 400) they said this about their translation: “This translation, accomplished by the New World Bible Translation Committee, is highly accurate, taking into account the latest Bible research.”
Yet, in their comment on Colossians 1:16 in New World Translation Study Edition, they admit they have changed the text to suit their own doctrine: “A literal rendering of the Greek text would be “all things.” (Compare Kingdom Interlinear.) However, such a rendering could give the impression that Jesus was not created but was the Creator himself.” They wouldn’t want anyone to understand the true meaning of the text.
Why is this important?
There are many groups out there who are more than willing to change Scripture to suit their bias and need for power over others. Jehovah’s Witnesses are constantly telling us how dedicated they are to God’s name, Jehovah. Scripture tells us God values His name above or on an equal level with His own Word:
Ps. 138:2 (NKJV) I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Yet the Watchtower is willing to change the very Word of God to support doctrines that aren’t in the text.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 