Right Before Your Eyes

Have you ever discovered something that was right in front of you but you never saw because it was so obvious? I had one of those "aha" moments the other day.

I was "discussing" (not in reality, but in my mind) with a Jehovah's Witness -- a kind of preparation for a potential real discussion -- about the first and foremost problem with JW theology. To them Jesus is not God. Got it. So, how can we resolve this? The problem is their Bible doesn't say the same thing that our Bible says. All of our Bible translations agree:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Pretty straightforward and irrefutable. Except that their version adds one word and eliminates the whole thing. Instead of "the Word was God" it says "the Word was a god." (Note: They're not suggesting multiple deities. The Bible in other places refers to all sorts of strong beings, from men to supernatural beings, as "gods" without requiring deity.) So, who is right? Are all the rest of the Bible translators correct and theirs is wrong, or vice versa? Well, arguing the veracity of Bible translators is all well and good, but let's try another approach. Where do we agree?

From their version we read,

All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence. What has come into existence by means of him was life. (John 1:3-4)

That's close enough to our own versions as to be in full agreement. So what do they say? "The Word" brought all things into existence that came into existence. Nothing came into existence that He did not bring into existence. Are we all agreed? Yes, we are. Good.

So, here's the idea. Jesus, to them, is a created being. He was "the first-born creation." So what they want to say is that the first creation created all other creations. But that's a direct violation of their text. Their version says that "not even one thing" came into existence apart from him creating it. So they must argue that Jesus, as the first-born creation, created himself. Nice trick if you can do it.

But here's where the "aha" moment occurred to me. I've always believed in the Trinity. It has never been a question. Jesus is God. Got it. I find it completely unavoidable in Scripture. So as I'm thinking this through, that "In the beginning" phrase from verse 1 called me back to another "In the beginning" in the Bible.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1)

(Their version is word-for-word the same.) So Genesis 1 clearly states that God created the heavens and the earth. Or, in terms of John 1:3-4, the One that created everything that was created was the Word who was God. Not "a god" -- the God. The God they say created the heavens and the earth.

I don't know how they break that link. I never saw it before because I've never needed to, but that seems to be -- from their texts -- an unassailable position that the Word which was the Son was the God who created everything. I've seen a lot of reasons why I should be convinced of this. This was just a new one to me.

Of course, this is too wonderful for me to fully grasp -- the God who is three and only one, the God who made everything but wasn't made, the Father who sent the Son who sent the Holy Spirit. It's way over my head. But while I can't fully explain it (because, at the core, the finite can never fully grasp the infinite), I embrace it and revel in it. Especially now. At a time when the world is terrified of a pandemic and I know the Creator of the universe. That's a God I can really worship.