Always the Father, Always a Son
Jehovah alone is eternal and without beginning. The Son is "the
only-begotten," which means he was produced by Jehovah and had a
beginning, as Jehovah's first creation. Jehovah could be called
"Father" in view of what he would do, just as he could be called
"Creator" before he created anything, and just as Abram was named
"father of many nations" before he had them (Genesis 17:5). The name
Jehovah itself shows that God can become whatever he chooses (Exodus
3:14), so becoming a Father is no change in God.
Keep it to one question and one verse. Ask whether Jehovah has always been the Father. Most Witnesses will say yes. Then read , "I am Jehovah; I do not change," and , where the Father "does not vary or change like the shifting shadows." A father is a father of someone. If God has always been Father and never changes, there has always been a Son. If the Son was created, then God became Father, and that is a change in who God is, not just in what he does. Scripture places the relationship before creation. Jesus prays, "you loved me before the founding of the world" (), and asks for "the glory that I had alongside you before the world was" (). If asked what "begotten" means, keep it plain: a father begets a son of his own nature; a builder makes a house of a different nature. That is why the church says the Son is "begotten, not made." Because the Father has no beginning, the Son's coming from him has no beginning either; calls the Son "the reflection of God's glory," and God's glory has never been without its shining. Leave technical terms like "eternal generation" at home.
Jehovah didn't become a Father; he is the Father. And no one is a father without a son. An unchanging Father means an eternal Son, begotten, not made.
Jehovah was called the Creator before he created anything. In the same way he could be called Father before he had a Son.
That's a fair point to raise. But "Creator" and "Father" are different kinds of words. "Creator" names something God freely chose to do toward things outside himself: "because of your will they came into existence and were created" (). The world didn't have to exist, and God wasn't less God before it did. If God were essentially Creator, he would need a creation to be who he is. "Father" names who God is; Jesus says the Father loved him "before the founding of the world" (). And even on your view, there was a time when Jehovah wasn't actually anyone's Father. Am I a father because I might have children one day? So which is it: has Jehovah always been the Father, or did he become one?
Abram was called 'father of many nations' before he had any. God named him father before it happened, so God can be Father before the Son exists.
is a lovely promise: "I will make you a father of many nations." But look at the tense; it's a promise about the future, given to a man who lives in time. Paul explains that God "calls the things that are not as though they are" (). That's prophecy, and Abraham really did become something he wasn't before. If Jehovah's Fatherhood works the same way, then Jehovah also became something he wasn't before, and that's what rules out. Abraham's name shows that a man can grow into fatherhood. Can it show that the unchanging God did?
Psalm 36:9 says 'with you is the source of life'. Jehovah always had life in himself; he didn't need a Son to have it.
I agree completely that the source of life has always been with Jehovah. But listen to what Jesus says: "I am the way and the truth and the life" (), and "just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself" (). The Son has life the same way the Father has it, "in himself." So the life that has always been with God isn't only something God owns; Jesus says he is it. If the Son has life "in himself" just as the Father does, can there have been a time when he didn't?
Exodus 3:14 says 'I Will Become What I Choose to Become'. Jehovah can become anything, including a Father.
Your Bible does render it that way, and the footnote offers "I Will Prove to Be What I Will Prove to Be." Many translations read "I am who I am." Either way, look at verse 12: "I will prove to be with you." The name is about God showing himself faithful in what he does for his people. It doesn't mean God's own being keeps changing; otherwise would be wrong, and says the Father "does not vary or change like the shifting shadows." A God who becomes Father later becomes something he wasn't. Does that fit "I do not change"?
Is the Almighty God begotten? I've never heard a Trinitarian say Almighty God was begotten. If Jesus is Almighty God and he's begotten, then the Father must be begotten too.
Good question, and it has a simple answer. Some things are true of what someone is, and some are true of who someone is. "Almighty" and "eternal" describe what God is, and the Father and the Son share that. "Father" and "begotten" describe how the persons relate to each other, so each belongs to one person and not the other. A human father and son both share human nature, yet only one is the father. That picture has limits, because a human father and son are two separate beings, while there is only one God. But it shows the question mixes two different things. The Father is not begotten; the Son is; both are God. Does that distinction make sense?
'Begotten' means he was produced, so he must have had a beginning.
For a human father, yes, because human fathers have beginnings themselves. But Jehovah has no beginning, so what comes from him as Father doesn't start in time either. That's why calls the Son "the reflection of God's glory"; God's glory has never been without its shining. The word in is the one your Bible also uses of Isaac, Abraham's "only-begotten son" (), though Abraham had another son; your own study note says it means one of a kind, unique. And remember what a father begets: a son of his own nature. A builder makes a house; a father begets a son. Which is the Son more like?
Malachi 3:6 is about Jehovah keeping his promises to Israel. It isn't about whether he was always a Father.
You're right about the setting; the verse goes on, "And you are sons of Jacob; you have not yet come to your finish." But why hadn't they come to their finish? Because of who Jehovah is: "I do not change." His faithfulness rests on his unchanging character. And applies the same truth to the Father by name: he "does not vary or change like the shifting shadows." If the Father doesn't vary, could he have gone from not being a Father to being one?
Even some Trinitarian scholars admit you can't prove eternal generation from the Bible.
That's true; some Trinitarians are cautious about that phrase, and I won't pretend otherwise. But notice that they still believe the Son is eternal and is God. The deity of Christ doesn't hang on one technical term; it rests on texts like , and . What I'm asking is simpler than any technical phrase: has the Father always been the Father?
Don't lead with philosophical vocabulary (eternal generation, personal properties, essence); use "Father," "Son," "begotten, not made" and Malachi 3:6. Don't overstate: some sincere Trinitarians avoid the phrase "eternal generation," so don't make the deity of Christ depend on it. Don't hop to Proverbs 8, John 1 and Colossians while the question is still open; keep it short and let the Witness answer whether Jehovah has always been the Father. Don't repeat the monogenes word study here at length; point to Hebrews 11:17 and move on. This is a conversation with someone who loves the Father, not a contest; use it as a gentle follow-up after a Witness has engaged with John 3:16 or Proverbs 8, not as a cold opener.
(1) Read and 17:24 in the NWT and underline "before the world was" and "before the founding of the world." (2) Read and in the NWT and memorise the short phrases "I do not change" and "does not vary or change." (3) Look up in the NWT with its footnote so you can acknowledge the rendering honestly. (4) Read the NWT study note on "only-begotten" at . (5) Practise the doorstep question aloud: "Has Jehovah always been the Father, or did he become one?" (6) Rehearse the likeliest reply ("he was called Creator before he created") and the answer: Creator is what God freely did; Father is who God is.