---
title: Revelation 1:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 1:1
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 1:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary uses Revelation 1:1 to establish a chain of authority: God gave the revelation to Jesus, who sent the angel to John. The verse is taken to prove subordinationism — Jesus receives knowledge from the Father, then transmits it. Jesus is the agent, not the source, and therefore not deity.

## Protestant Usage

The chain is real, but it does not settle the deity question. Jesus's role here is messianic — the glorified Son to whom the Father has given all things (Matthew 28:18, John 17:2). The proof of his deity in Revelation does not come from v1 but from what follows: by 1:8 Jehovah is the Alpha and Omega, and by 22:13 Jesus claims that same title in the same chapter where he sends "my angel" (22:16) — the same angel God sent in 22:6. Read Revelation 1:1 alongside 22:16 and the agency model breaks down: Jesus does not relay God's angel; he claims personal ownership of the same angel.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders the Greek genitive apokalypsis Iēsou Christou as "a revelation by Jesus Christ"; the consensus of standard English versions reads "the revelation of Jesus Christ" (ESV, NASB, NIV, KJV). "By" reduces Jesus to a conduit; "of" preserves the wider reading where the revelation is both about him and from him. Also "slaves" for the Greek douloi — consistent with the NWT's systematic flattening of servant/slave language, though doulos is well within "servant" semantic range.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Whose Angel Is It? — God and Jesus Both Claim Ownership](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/rev22-whose-angel.md) — Revelation 22:6 / 22:16 [Deity of Christ]
- ["Nor the Son" — and "You Are Aware of All Things"](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-knowledge-mark-13-32.md) — Mark 13:32 / Revelation 1:1 / Revelation 14:14-16 — what the Son didn't know, and what he did [Deity of Christ]