--- title: A First-Century Parallel to JW Christology url: https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossian-heresy-jw-parallel/ markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossian-heresy-jw-parallel.md type: argument perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching topics: [Deity of Christ, NWT Translation] challenges: [Jesus Is a Created Being, The New World Translation Is the Most Accurate Bible] verses: [Colossians 1:15-17, Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:18, Revelation 3:14, Hebrews 1:2, Psalms 89:27, Revelation 21:6] strength: Strong tone: Excellent attribution: F.F. Bruce / J.B. Lightfoot / Douglas Moo / James White added: '2026-05-24' last_reviewed: '2026-05-24' index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt --- # A First-Century Parallel to JW Christology *Colossians 1:15-20 — Paul Addressed a Christology Structurally Like the Watchtower's* ## Doorstep Question > "Here's something that surprised me when I looked into the history. The Christology the Watchtower teaches — Jesus as the first created being, a ranked-and-named intermediary between God and humanity — wasn't a new idea. It was being taught in the first century, in a Greek city called Colossae, while Paul was still alive. Paul wrote a whole letter specifically to refute it. Could we read what Paul wrote together?" ## JW Claim Paul's letter to the Colossians teaches that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation — therefore the first being Jehovah created. The NWT faithfully renders the Greek to show that Jesus created all 'other' things — meaning he himself is part of creation, just the highest part. Paul's polemic in Colossians was aimed at pagan worship and ritualistic asceticism, not at any Christology resembling Jehovah's Witness teaching. ## Strategy Anchor on Colossians 1:15-20 and walk through the passage in the JW's own NWT. Don't lecture about Gnosticism or aeons — frame it as a historical observation they can verify. Step one: ask them to read Colossians 1:15-17 aloud in their NWT and to count how many times the word 'other' appears. It is inserted four times in the NWT — and zero times in the Greek. The Watchtower's own Kingdom Interlinear word-for- word column shows no Greek word corresponding to those four 'others.' Step two: ask why Paul would have written this passage in the first place. The historical-theological consensus — F.F. Bruce, J.B. Lightfoot, Douglas Moo, N.T. Wright — is that the Colossian church was being invaded by a syncretism that demoted Christ to one mediator among many angelic powers, required ascetic regulations and worship of angels (Col 2:18), and treated Christ as a created intermediary rather than the Creator. Step three: read the passage WITHOUT the four 'others' and ask what it actually says. 'In Him all things were created... all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.' That is Paul placing Christ on the Creator side of the divine-creature distinction — and the only way to flip his meaning is to insert the word 'other' four times. Step four: point to Colossians 2:9 in their NWT. The NWT renders it 'in him all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily.' Paul wrote 'theotes' — the abstract noun for the essence of God-ness, not 'theiotes' (divine qualities). The NWT softens the noun precisely to dodge what Paul wrote. Step five: close with the historical observation — the Christology Paul spent an entire letter refuting is structurally identical to the Christology the Watchtower teaches. That isn't an accusation; it's a question worth asking before God. ## Key Insight Paul wrote Colossians 1:15-20 against the very doctrine the Watchtower teaches — Christ as the highest-ranked but still-created intermediary between God and humanity. The four NWT insertions of 'other' in verses 16 and 17 are required to flip Paul's plain meaning. Without them, Paul places Jesus outside creation, as the Creator of 'all things' — which is why he had to be inserted in the first place. ## JW Responses & Counters ### Response 1 **JW says:** "Paul was countering pagan polytheism and asceticism, not anything resembling Jehovah's Witness theology." **Counter:** Look at what specifically Paul targets. Colossians 2:18 condemns 'worship of the angels' — a Jewish-mystical practice where angels were treated as intermediary mediators between Yahweh and creation. Colossians 1:16 names 'thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities' — first-century terms for the ranked angelic hierarchy. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is Michael, the chief angel, through whom Jehovah created everything else and to whom honour is rightly given. The label has changed; the structure has not. Paul's refutation works against both — because his point is that Christ is Creator, not the first-created. ### Response 2 **JW says:** "The Greek word 'prototokos' literally means 'firstborn' — first to be born, the first of Jehovah's creations." **Counter:** Paul had a different Greek word available — 'protoktistos,' which literally means 'first-created.' He didn't use it. He chose 'prototokos,' which in the Greek Old Testament regularly means rank or status, not chronology. Read Psalm 89:27 — God says of David, 'I will appoint him as my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.' David wasn't Jesse's first son chronologically; he was the youngest. 'Firstborn' there means appointed pre-eminence. And notice verse 16 immediately defines what Paul means by 'firstborn of creation' — 'FOR by him all things were created.' Paul is telling us: he is firstborn over creation because he created it, not because he is part of it. ### Response 3 **JW says:** "Colossians 2:9 — 'fullness of the divine quality dwells in him' — just means God dwelt in Jesus the way the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians." **Counter:** The Greek doesn't permit that softening. Paul uses 'theotes' — the abstract noun for the essence of God-ness — not 'theiotes' (divine qualities or attributes). He says 'pan to pleroma' (THE WHOLE fullness) dwells 'somatikos' (bodily) in Christ. No Christian is ever described that way. The NWT's choice of 'divine quality' rather than 'Deity' is a translation decision, not a Greek requirement. Read it in the BSB or even the Kingdom Interlinear's word-for-word column — Paul says 'all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily' in Christ. That's an exclusive predication, not a general indwelling. ### Response 4 **JW says:** "Colossians' authorship is debated by scholars — it may not be from Paul." **Counter:** Two things. First, the Watchtower itself treats Colossians as Pauline and as Scripture — your own publications cite it without qualification. So that objection cuts against the Watchtower position before it cuts against ours. Second, even critical scholars who dispute Pauline authorship still date Colossians no later than the late first century — which actually strengthens the argument, because it shows the early church was articulating a Creator-Christology against intermediary-Christology within decades of the resurrection. The authorship debate doesn't rescue the JW reading. ### Response 5 **JW says:** "Revelation 3:14 calls Jesus 'the beginning of God's creation' — that proves he is created." **Counter:** The Greek word is 'arche,' which means 'origin' or 'source' — the word from which we get the English 'architect.' The Berean Standard Bible translates it 'the Originator of God's creation' — Jesus is the source of creation, not its first item. Compare the same word in Revelation 21:6 and 22:13, where God says 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning [arche] and the End.' The Father isn't created; neither is the Son when the same word is applied to him. Paul's whole point in Colossians 1 is that Jesus is the arche — the Originator — of everything created. ## What to Avoid Do not introduce the technical Greek terms 'plērōma' or 'aeons' at the doorstep unless the JW raises them — they will sound like jargon. Don't lecture about Gnosticism academically; frame it historically — 'there was a Christology like the Watchtower's in the first century, and Paul wrote a letter to refute it.' Don't claim Paul had Jehovah's Witnesses in mind — he didn't, and you'll lose credibility. The argument is structural parallel, not direct prediction. Also avoid jumping between too many passages — stay anchored in Colossians 1:15-20, and only reference 2:9 if they raise the indwelling objection. ## Homework Open your NWT to Colossians 1:15-17. Read it as written, then read it again with the four words 'other' removed — every place the NWT inserts 'other,' read 'all things' as Paul wrote it. Ask which reading places Christ on the Creator side of the divine-creature distinction. Then read Colossians 2:18 — Paul condemns 'worship of the angels' as part of what's wrong at Colossae. Ask whether the Watchtower's teaching that Christ is Michael the archangel sits on the side of the line Paul condemns or the side he defends. ## Next Moves - [Colossians 1 — Inserted 'Other'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/colossians1-other.md) - [Jesus Is Not Michael the Archangel](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-not-michael.md) - [Jesus' Eternality](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm102-hebrews1.md)