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Protestant Apologetics

John 17:5

NT Gospels
John 17:5
5And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.
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JW Usage

JWs read the verse as Jehovah granting reflected glory to a glorious angelic being (Michael in his pre-incarnate state). The "glory I had with you" is treated as derivative — given by the Father, not intrinsically shared — and Jesus' request to be re-glorified is framed as the Father restoring an honoured creature to his prior exalted status.

Protestant Usage

This verse forms one half of a clean two-text logical fork. has Jehovah declaring "I am Jehovah. That is my name; I give my glory to no one else, nor my praise to graven images" (echoed at ). In Jesus prays: "glorify me at your side with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was." Jesus does not say "the glory you gave me" — he says "the glory I had" (eichon, imperfect: ongoing possession) "alongside you" (para soi) "before the world existed." This is shared, pre-cosmic, ongoing glory. If Jehovah will not give his glory to another, and Jesus possessed Jehovah's glory before creation, then Jesus is not another. The argument is built entirely on JW-accepted texts in their own translation.