Is the Lord Jesus Christ God or a created being?

The Man Who Thought He Honoured God by Denying His Son

Two of Jehovah's Witnesses knocked at his door, and he welcomed them warmly, for he was sincerely seeking the one true God. He was drawn to the way they rejected the Trinity, which had always seemed obscure to him, and insisted that God is one, with no partner. They taught him that the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, but the first of God's creatures — a great being created before all things — and that to worship Him as God is idolatry. And so he was content, believing that in this way he honoured God and guarded His oneness. But one day he opened the Gospel of John to read it for himself, and his eyes fell on the end of the Gospel, where Thomas touched the wounds of the risen Lord and cried out, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). He waited for the Lord Jesus Christ to rebuke Thomas for such words, if they were wrong — but instead of rebuking him, He accepted them, and pronounced blessed all who would believe as Thomas did. If Christ were merely a creature, to accept being called «my God» would have been blasphemy; but He accepted it, because it was true.

The Bible's answer to the question of the deity of Christ is a single sentence, and once it is grasped it transforms anyone who was taught that He is a creature: the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, not a creature and not a lesser being. He is the Creator, not the created; the eternal One, not one who had a beginning; worthy of worship because He truly is God, one with the Father and the Holy Ghost in the one Godhead. The teaching that He is the first of the creatures, or a lesser god, contradicts the Bible, which declares that all things were made by Him, that He received worship, and that He was plainly called God.

What Jehovah's Witnesses Teach About Christ

Let the position be stated fairly. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that God is one, named Jehovah alone, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, but His first and greatest creature, made before all things — in their view the archangel Michael before His incarnation. They refuse to worship Him as God, regarding such worship as a violation of the oneness of God. They rely on passages they read as making Him lower than the Father, and in their own version they render John 1:1 as «the Word was a god,» with an indefinite article that makes Him a lesser god rather than God Himself.

And we acknowledge that their zeal for the oneness of God is, on its face, a sincere zeal, and that they fear falling into a plurality of gods — a fear that is legitimate, and one we share, for we too believe that God is one, with no partner. But their solution creates the very problem they are fleeing. If Christ is a creature who is worshipped, that is idolatry; and if He is not worshipped, then they have contradicted the Bible, which shows Him worshipped. The only way out is that Christ is God Himself manifest in the flesh — so that both the oneness of God and the worship of Christ are preserved together. The oneness of the Bible has room for three persons in one divine essence, not for three gods.

All Things Were Made by Him — So He Is Not Created

The first thing that settles the question is that the Bible makes Christ the Creator of all things, and the Creator cannot Himself be a creature. The apostle John opened his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Then he declared His part in creation: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3). Notice how complete it is: «all things were made by him,» and «without him was not any thing made that was made.» If every created thing was made through Him, then He Himself is not among the creatures — otherwise He would have made Himself, which is impossible. The One through whom all things were made stands outside the realm of creation; that is, He is uncreated.

The apostle Paul confirms this, calling Christ the Creator of everything in heaven and earth: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth... all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16-17). As for the title «firstborn of every creature» (Colossians 1:15), on which they lean, it does not mean He is the first creature, but the heir who holds priority and sovereignty over all creation. In the Bible «firstborn» is a title of rank and inheritance, as David was called "firstborn" (Psalm 89:27) though he was the youngest of his brothers. And the very next verse explains it: He is the One by whom all things were created — so how could He be both the first of the creatures and their Maker?

Thomas Called Him «My God,» and Christ Accepted It

The proof there is no escaping is that Christ accepted being called God and being worshipped — and had He been a creature, He would have refused it, as the apostles and angels did. When Thomas saw the risen Lord, he cried out, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). Christ did not correct him, but accepted the words and pronounced believers blessed: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29). Compare this with the angel in Revelation, who refused worship at once and said, "worship God" (Revelation 22:9), and with Peter, who refused the homage of Cornelius, saying, "I myself also am a man" (Acts 10:26). A faithful creature refuses worship; but Christ received it again and again, because it was His by right.

The Bible goes further, commanding the angels themselves to worship Him: "And let all the angels of God worship him" (Hebrews 1:6). Were Christ the archangel, as they claim, the angels would not be commanded to worship Him, for no angel worships an angel. That the angels are commanded to worship Him is decisive proof that He is above the whole rank of angels — that He is God, the One who is worshipped.

The Names and Attributes of God Are Ascribed to Him

The Bible ascribes to Christ the names and attributes of God that belong to no one else. The prophet Isaiah foretold the Son who would be born and called Him: "and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). «The mighty God, the everlasting Father» — these are the names of God Himself, not of a creature. And the apostle Paul declares that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily: "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9) — not a portion of the Godhead, but all its fulness.

And Christ declared His own eternity in words the Jews understood at once as a claim to deity, so that they sought to stone Him: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). «I am» is the name of God revealed to Moses. And the Father Himself addresses the Son and calls Him God: "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8). If the Father Himself calls the Son «O God,» who would dare to call Him a creature? And the Church was purchased with the blood of God: "feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28).

«The Father Is Greater Than I» — Rank, Not Nature

The strongest argument the Witnesses raise is Christ's saying, «my Father is greater than I» (John 14:28), from which they conclude that He is lower than the Father in essence. But the Bible distinguishes between greatness of rank and equality of nature. In the days of His incarnation, Christ took the form of a servant and emptied Himself willingly, taking a lower station for a time in order to redeem us, yet He remained equal to the Father in essence: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Philippians 2:6). He is equal to God in nature, even while He took a lower station in the incarnation — just as a father is greater than his son in position, though the two share one and the same human nature.

So the saying «my Father is greater than I» speaks of the Son's station in His incarnation and self-emptying, not of His eternal nature. The Bible holds both together: He is equal to God in essence (Philippians 2:6), and He took a lower station for a time to save us. There is no contradiction between the two verses, but a completion: the eternal God stooped to the form of a servant to redeem His creation, and was then glorified and exalted, "and given him a name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9).

John 8:58 — "Before Abraham Was, I Am"

"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58). "I am" (ἐγώ εἰμί) deliberately echoes the divine name in Exodus 3:14 — "I AM THAT I AM." The Lord Jesus claimed eternal, self-existent being — the same claim God made at the burning bush. The Jewish audience understood exactly what He was saying — they immediately picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:59). Their reaction proves that Jesus was claiming deity, not merely stating that He pre-existed Abraham.

Colossians 1:15-17 — Creator, Not Creation

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth... and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Colossians 1:16-17). The Watch Tower inserts "other" four times in this passage — "all other things" — to make Christ a creature who created everything else. But the Greek text contains no word for "other." The unaltered text says: by Him all things were created, and by Him all things hold together. A creature cannot be the creator and sustainer of all things. The original text demolishes the Watch Tower's addition.

Hebrews 1:8 — The Father Calls the Son "God"

"But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." (Hebrews 1:8). The Father addresses the Son with the vocative "O God" (ὁ θεός) — the same title with the definite article used for the Father throughout the New Testament. When the Father Himself calls the Son "God," no amount of organisational reinterpretation can undo the plain statement of Scripture. This is the most direct statement in all of Scripture of the Son's full divinity, spoken by the Father Himself.

Revelation 1:17-18 — The First and the Last

"Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore." (Revelation 1:17-18). The Lord Jesus Christ identifies Himself as "the first and the last" — a title God uses of Himself in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12: "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." Jesus takes for Himself a title that Isaiah explicitly reserves for God alone — "beside me there is no God." If Jesus is "the first and the last," and God says there is no other "first and last," then Jesus is God.

Philippians 2:6 — Equal With God

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." (Philippians 2:6). "Being in the form of God" (ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων) — present in the very nature and being of God. "Equal with God" (ἴσα θεῷ) — the equality was a natural right, not a presumed grasp. The Watch Tower translates this as "a god" — but "in the form of God" means sharing in the divine nature fully, not being a lesser divine being. No created being possesses the "form of God" in this full sense.

The Watch Tower's New World Translation — Deliberate Mistranslation

No other major Bible translation — not the Jewish Publication Society version, not any secular academic translation — renders John 1:1 as "a god." The Watch Tower created their own translation specifically to support their pre-existing theology. When an organisation produces its own Bible translation to prove its own doctrines — and that translation differs from every other translation by every other scholar in every language — the problem lies with the organisation, not with the original text. The Greek manuscripts and the unanimous scholarly consensus support: "and the Word was God."

A Sincere Invitation

If you are a Jehovah's Witness reading this — take your New World Translation and read John 1:1-14, John 8:58, Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:8, and Revelation 1:17-18 carefully. Then ask yourself: does the Watch Tower's explanation of these texts require adding words that are not in the Greek? Does it require reading "a god" where the text says "God"? Does it require inserting "other" where the Greek has none? Every honest answer to those questions points the same direction. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifested in the flesh — and find the salvation only He can give. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31).

The Consistent Testimony of the New Testament

The deity of Christ is not a marginal teaching derived from one ambiguous text. It is the consistent, pervasive witness of the entire New Testament. Thomas calls Jesus "my Lord and my God" (John 20:28). The Father calls the Son "O God" (Hebrews 1:8). Jesus claims "I am" before Abraham existed (John 8:58). The apostle Paul calls Him "God who is over all, blessed for ever" (Romans 9:5). John opens his Gospel with "the Word was God" (John 1:1). This unanimity across all New Testament authors — writing independently, in different contexts, for different audiences — cannot be explained except by the reality of what they uniformly witnessed and proclaimed: Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31). Every honest student of the Greek New Testament who follows the text without organisational bias arrives at the same conclusion: Jesus Christ is Lord and God, the eternal Son, equal with the Father. Come to Him directly — as God and Saviour — and receive eternal life. He is Lord and God — and fully worthy of all your trust and faith.

Closing — Worship the Christ Who Is God

If you were taught to honour God by denying the deity of His Son, the Bible calls you to something truer: to honour God by believing in His Son as the Bible reveals Him — God manifest in the flesh, the Creator, the worshipped One, the eternal One. The oneness of God is not guarded by denying the deity of Christ, but by believing that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the one God. To deny the deity of Christ is not to honour God, but to deny the Son who said, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). And this Christ, who is the true God, died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Believe in Him as He revealed Himself, not as He has been reduced. Receive Him as your own God and Saviour, and worship Him as Thomas did, saying, «My Lord and my God.» For He alone saves, because He alone is God who became man to redeem you.

A Special Prayer

If you have come to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, the Creator who is worshipped, and that to believe in His deity is to honour God rather than to deny Him, you may come to Him now. What saves you is not the words of a prayer, but faith that the Lord Jesus Christ — the true God — died for you and rose again. So pray from your heart to the living God who hears:

"O great and holy and loving God, the one true God: I was long taught to honour Thee by denying the deity of Thy Son, and I see now that the Lord Jesus Christ is Thyself manifest in the flesh, the Creator who is worshipped. I confess that I am a sinner, and that I need a Saviour who is God Himself. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. I trust in Him alone as my God and my Saviour, and I worship Him as Thomas did, saying, my Lord and my God. Forgive me, receive me, and grant me eternal life. I pray in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."

After You Have Prayed

If you prayed this prayer from a sincere and believing heart, then you have believed in Christ as He revealed Himself — God manifest in the flesh — and you have become a child of God forever. Here are steps to steady you:

First — read the Word of God every day. Know that the King James Version (KJV) is the truest and purest copy of the Word of God in all the world, His true and pure Word, and you will find it on this website (alinjil.com); and in Arabic, read the trustworthy Van Dyck translation. Begin with the Gospel of John, not in haste, but with meditation and prayer, for God speaks to you through His Word.

Second — pray to God directly every day in words from your own heart, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third — seek a church that believes in the deity of Christ and in salvation by grace alone through faith alone, join the fellowship of believers, and be baptized in obedience to the Lord.

Fourth — beware of any teaching that diminishes Christ or makes Him a creature, and test everything you are told by the Bible alone.

Fifth — bear witness to others that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, especially to those taught that He is a creature, with the same love and gentleness with which you were treated.

And keep reading the Word of God in the King James Version, the truest and purest Word of God in the world, and in the Van Dyck in Arabic — both found on this website — that you may grow in the knowledge of the Saviour who is God.

A Personal Word to You, Dear Reader

Thank you for taking the time to read this message about the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation that God offers through Him. If you have received Christ as your own personal God and Saviour, you have become a child of God forever, and have believed in Him as He revealed Himself. "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).

We encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — the truest and purest Word of God in the world — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com), and to share this good news with everyone who was taught that Christ is a creature. May God richly bless you as you come to know His Son, who is the true God and eternal life.

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

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