The Ohio Independent Baptist, November 1968

Help For THE SINCERE A mong ' 'Jehovah 's . ' ' 1tnesses by Dr. Arthur F. Williams ot all vvho quot e Scr ipture in suppor t o f thei r t heolog ica l t e net~ arc sincerel desirous of 1,..now,ng the t ru th of God. They have a preference for error. It is n,orc ,n accord w ith the ir unre ge11erate 11 reasori ·ng. " The \' do not welcon,e ci tation of Scriptures whi ch e pose their false teach ing . For such t he Biblica l evide nce submitted in th t rac t \'\.: 11 b e of no value. But w e are confide nt that there a e so ne "' ho have been led into error by trained propagandists \: ~o l. Se the Scriptures deceitfully, ye t with marked success, in their e o ts to ga in a following . It is for those who sincerely desire to ,o, "'hat God has been pleased to revea l for our good and for H s g o r\ that th,s tract has been prepared. We will first of all e a 11, ne certain doct rines which " J e hovah' s Witnesses" propagate, together with the Scr iptures wh ich they cite in support of their dog– n1as and then we will le t the Scripture s speak for themselves, both in exposing error and est ablishing the truth. BASIC ERROR THE BASIC ERROR OF JEHOVAH ' S WITNESSES' is the substitution of human reason fo r d ivine reve lation. They take delight in asking such questions as the follow ing : 1. How can there be but one true God, and yet three persons, each one of whom is decl ared to be God? 2. How could Jesus Chr ist be God when the Scriptures tell us that He was the Son of God ? 3. If Jesus had a body of fle sh and bones after His resurrection , how could He e nte r a room, the doors being shut? 4. How could a God of love cons ign even the most degenerate to a burn ing He ll, whe n eve n respectable humans would not impose such a pe nalty upon the ir foes? 5 . If the re is such a pl ace as " the Lake of Fire" where the wicked are t o rmented forever and ever, how could their bodies survive such an une nd ing ordeal? Such q uest ions as the se, and others like them, are asked by charlat ans w ho e xhib it an attitude of intellectual soph isticat ion w hich completely ove rwhe lms many church members, to say nothing of those who have no knowledge of the Word of God, and have mad e no profession of fai th in its teaching. It is the height of fol ly to attempt an answer to such questions solely on the basis of human reason . Herbert Spencer, an agnostic, once said , "Whe re the f inite and infinite meet is bound to be shrouded in mystery." Our world is fill ed w ith mystery. How little we really un de rstand eve n the most prevalent facts of human obser– va t ion . How can sound waves carry the human voice over thousands of miles ye t heard as if immed iate ly pre se nt? How can light waves carry pict ure s in na tura l color over d istances to be channeled into our homes? How can the t iny protoplasm which is formed in the process of procreat ion d etermine every detail of the d eve loping anatomy, the posit ion and function of each bone, arte ry, blood vessel , a respirat o ry system, a digestive system, a circul at o ry system, and a reproductive sys tem, with all of their involved inter-re lation– ships? Who can ade q ua te ly expl a in the mystery of how one small seed develops into a pumpkin and another into a mighty oak? These are all facts of observation for which no one has all the answers . Should we then d ema nd that the Ete rn al God limit truth in the spiritual realm to the compass of our f inite comprehe nsi on? Do we ins ist upon reject ing wha tever surpasse s our unde rstandi ng? This is the very essence of Rational ism. A FALSE CHARGE "Jehovah' s Witnesses" ins ist that we believe in thre e Gods . This w e emphat ically de ny. The Scri pt ures reveal the existence of but one true God . But w ith no less clarity do they revea l the existence of three personal distinct ions wit hin the one Godhead, and these per– sonal d istinctions are revealed in te rms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet the unity of t he Godhead is so perfectly indissoluble that the Scriptures appropriately p rese nt each of these personal d stinctions in terms of Dei ty . The Incarnation of God in human flesh , so wonderf ully ant icipated in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, is decla red to be a "myste ry." " Je hovah ' s Witnesses" appeal to various translations in their attempts to deny the true Deity of Jesus Chr ist. Yet even the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION, wh ich to them represents t he very epitome of schol ars hip, renders I Timothy 3 : 14-16 as follows: " I am w r iting you these th ings, thoug h I am hop ing to come 10 f OU shortly, but in case I am delayed , that you may know how 8 NOVEMBER, 1968 you ought to conduct yourse lf in God's household, which is the cong regation of the living God, a pillar and support of the truth. Indeed , the sacre d secre t of th is godly d evotion is admitte dly g rea t : He was manifest in fl e sh, was declared righteous in sp irit, appeared to ange ls, preached a bout among nations, was believe d upon in the world, was received up in glory." It oug ht not to be d iffi cult to identify th is One who was manifes t in the fl e sh, for the grammatical antecedent of "He" is unmistakably "God. " How the Eternal God, who is infinite and fills all space, so tha t He is everywhere present, could become incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, be born in a cattle manger and die on a crue l cross, is truly a " sacred secret" which is "admittedly g re at ." Yet who but an infidel would deny that the Bible teaches that God was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord . No man has seen God at any time except in the person of Je sus Christ (John 1: 18). But let us examine this doctr ine as objectively as we are capable. Did not Jesus Christ say, "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28)? Did He not say, " I am the Son of God" (Matthew 27:43)? Is not a fath e r older than his son? Then must not Jesus Christ have been a creature of t ime and have had a beginning? Do not the Scriptures tell us that He w as " the beginning of the creation of God" (Revela– tion 3 : 14)? On the surface these questions seem to be unanswerable, and they are asked with challenging effectiveness of those with limited knowledge of God ' s Word . "Jehovah 's Witnesses" tell us that Jesus Christ is the f irst Creature that God ever made, and they offer as supporting evidence 1he language of Colossians 1: 15 and Revelation 3: 14. Suspicion as to their motives is obscured by t heir admission that Jesus Christ was the Creator of all things, a fact which could with difficulty be denied in the Iight of such clea r statements as are found in John l :3 and Colossi ans 1:16-17. In Colossians 1: 15 we read that J esus Christ was ' 'the firstborn of all creation ." And in Revelation 3: 14 He d eclares Himself to be " the beginning of the creation of God ." These passages are cited as proof that Jesus Christ was a created Being . But let us examine the meaning of these words to which so much significance is attached . The term " first-born" does usually refer to the first child (especially the first male child) born to human parents, but this is not always the case, as is seen from such a passage as Exodus 4:22, where w e read, " And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israe l is my son, even my first-born." Who is prepared to suggest tha t Israe l, either the man who was the son of Isaac, or the nation w hi ch issued from his loins , were the first creatures God ever made? Again, let us look at Jeremiah 31 :9, which reads, " ••• for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born ." How absurd would it be to suggest that Ephraim, the second son of Joseph (Ge nesis 41 :52) was the f irst creature God ever made. The term " first-born" as used in Exodus 4:22, Jeremiah 31 :9 and Colossians 1: 15 has no reference whatsoever to the question of origin. The te rm speaks explicity of position. God has given to His Son Jesus Chr ist the pos it ion of " preeminence" over all creation (Colossians l : 18). But someone will say, What about the language of Revela t ion 3: 14? Is not Jesus Chr ist " the faithful and true witness, the be· ginning of the creation of God?" This passage is cited as "proof" that Je sus Christ was the first " creature" that God ever made. But let us examine th is passage also, and that in an attitude of honesty. The word " beginning" is a translation of the Greek word Arche. It is used in the se nse of " chief" in various applications of order", t ime, place or rank . In Luke 20:20 the word is translated ' \ . • to deliver Him up to the power and to the authority of the governor ." In Luke 12: 11 the word occurs in the plural, and is translated "But whe n they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorit1es•.." In Revelation 22 :13 it is used of "The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last ." According to Revelation 1:8 the Alpha and Omega is none other than " The Almighty." Did He too have a beginning? How absurd! Revelation 3: 14 states in unquestionable terms that "the faithful and true Witness" who is clearly identified in Revelation 1:5 as " the first begotten from the dead" is the ruler of all creation . Colossians 1: 15-17 informs us that creation owes its existence to Jesus Christ; THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST