Distinctive Doctrines

While often considered by unbelievers to be almost identical to Christianity, the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses contain many notable differences from orthodox Christianity. These differences are freely admitted by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who claim that orthodox Christianity, or as the Witnesses refer to it, “Christendom,” has “strayed far from the teachings and practices of early Christianity.”¹ Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that their doctrine rectifies these missteps taken by Christendom, primarily concerning the nature of the Trinity, God the Father, and Jesus Christ. This article will discuss the content of these integral doctrines.

The Trinity
Jehovah’s Witnesses view the Trinity as wholly unscriptural, “impossible of reasonable understanding or explanation,” and “no Scriptural support, [which is] opposed in the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, both directly and indirectly.”² The supposed roots of the Trinitarian doctrine stems from one of Satan’s “dark mysteries” through the Papacy in which “the Word and character and plan of God” has been clouded.³

The Trinitarian version of Christianity is described being invented by pagan philosophers. Who had, in response to the requirements to convert to Christianity in the 4^th century Christendom, set about trying to discover similarities between Christianity and Paganism, blending them together into what the Witnesses refer to as “Pago-Christians” with the creation of Trinitarian God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost⁴ in direct opposition to passages such as John 1:1.

Jehovah God
Instead of the Trinity, at the center of their doctrine is Jehovah God: the one true God and the only one who is worthy of worship,⁵ contradicting verses such as Revelation 5:12, which outline Jesus as worthy of worship as well. The majority of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ specific doctrine on God revolves around their alleged knowledge of God’s true name, Jehovah. While Jehovah’s Witnesses do acknowledge the pronunciation ‘Yahweh,’ stating that it is favored by most Hebrew scholars, they retain their claim that ‘Jehovah’ is the “best known English pronunciation of the divine name.”⁶

The name is said by Witnesses to be “not merely a matter of religious knowledge,” but that “the well-being of all the universe and its inhabitants depends on upon the sanctification of Jehovah’s name.”⁷ This name, the Witnesses state, is the only name to fully express God’s personality and attributes, but was hidden away due to Jewish superstition.⁸ The Watchtower Society set out to rectify this issue by “restoring” the name of Jehovah in their New World Translation of the Bible 237 times.⁹

Jesus Christ
Alongside the doctrine of Jehovah is the doctrine of his son, Jesus Christ. In Jehovah’s Witness’ beliefs, Jesus is “God’s first creation, his firstborn Son,” and while Witnesses do state that Jesus was “used by his Father in the creation of all other things,” but make the crucial distinction that he was not a co-creator with Jehovah God.¹⁰ Before his incarnation, Jesus lived as a spirit person¹¹ as one of Jehovah’s “millions of spirit sons.”¹²

The next major distinction concerns the nature of Jesus’ death and atonement for sins. Instead of the orthodox belief that Jesus’ sacrificial death acted as the sin offering for all mankind, Jesus’ death “became a ransom that compensated exactly for what Adam lost—the right to perfect human life on earth”¹³ Rather than atoning for the world’s sins, Jesus’ death “makes it possible for us to receive forgiveness of sins… [and] opens us to the opportunity for eternal life.”¹⁴ As explained by the former Jehovah’s Witness, Duane Magnani, Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for Adam’s sin gives individuals a chance to work toward salvation.¹⁵

With the sins of Adam atoned for as the Last Adam, Jesus was then resurrected by Jehovah as a “spirit creature” rather than human¹⁶ who “materialized… to show himself alive to his disciples as witnesses,” ascended to the heaven and was made “head under Jehovah”¹⁷ with Jesus’ reign as the king of God’s Kingdom beginning in 1914.¹⁸ Such beliefs contradict the clear orthodox Christian positions of Jesus as God and not a created being,¹⁹ whose death atoned for all sins,²⁰ and who was physically resurrected.²¹  

Conclusion
While there is much more that could be discussed concerning the evolving doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses,²² their positions on the key doctrines of the Trinity, Jehovah God, and Jesus Christ are integral to their faith- both at its origination and for modern-day Jehovah’s Witnesses. Such beliefs make the Jehovah’s Witnesses distinct entirely from the beliefs of orthodox Christianity. 

1. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1993), 120. ↩︎
2. Charles Taze Russell, Studies in the Scriptures: The At-One-Ment between God and Man (Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1899), 60. ↩︎
3. Russell, Studies in the Scriptures, 61. ↩︎
4. “The Seven Churches: The Message to Pergamos,” The Watchtower, June 1, 1882, https://jws-library.one/?file=data/1882/w_E_18820601/w_E_18820601.html, 3. ↩︎
5. “Who Is God?,” JW.ORG, accessed April 2, 2025, https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/What-DoesGod-Require-of-Us/Who-Is-God/). ↩︎
6. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Insight on the Scriptures: Volume 2: Jehovah – Zuzim and Index (Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1988), 5. ↩︎
7. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, 124. ↩︎
8. Insight on the Scriptures, 5. ↩︎
9. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, 609. ↩︎
10. Insight on the Scriptures, 52. ↩︎
11. “Who Is Jesus Christ?,” JW.ORG, accessed April 2, 2025, https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/WhatDoes-God-Require-of-Us/Who-Is-Jesus-Christ/. ↩︎
12. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, 19. ↩︎
13. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Should You Believe in the Trinity?: Is Jesus Christ the Almighty God? (Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1989), http://battlefieldnews.net/IPad%20Data/JWs/Should-You-Believe-In-The-Trinity.pdf, 15. ↩︎
14. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, 22. ↩︎
15. Ron Rhodes, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions: The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 91. ↩︎
16. “Who Is Jesus Christ?,” JW.ORG, accessed April 2, 2025, https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/WhatDoes-God-Require-of-Us/Who-Is-Jesus-Christ/. ↩︎
17. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Let God Be True (Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1946), https://truth-time.com/wp-content/uploads/book/Let%20God%20be%20True.pdf, 43. ↩︎
18. “What Does Bible Chronology Indicate About the Year 1914?,” JW.ORG, accessed April 2, 2025, https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/daniel-4-bible-chronology-1914/). ↩︎
19. John 1:1-4. ↩︎
20. 2 Corinthians 5:21. ↩︎
21. Luke 24:39; John 21:12-13. ↩︎
22. Such as the progression of the doctrine of Jesus Christ’s return in 1914 and how the Witnesses have increasingly separated themselves from this failed prophecy and redefined its meaning; Rhodes, The Challenge of the Cults, 82. ↩︎

Bibliography

Martin, Walter. The Kingdom of the Cults. Edited by Ravi K. Zacharias. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2003. 

New World Bible Translation Committee. New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1984. 

Rhodes, Ron. The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions: The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013. 

Russell, Charles Taze. Studies in the Scriptures: The At-One-Ment between God and Man. Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1899. 

“The Seven Churches: The Message to Pergamos.” The Watchtower, June 1, 1882. https://jws-library.one/?file=data/1882/w_E_18820601/w_E_18820601.html. 

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Let God Be True. Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1946. https://truth-time.com/wp-content/uploads/book/Let%20God%20be%20True.pdf. 

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Insight on the Scriptures: Volume 2: Jehovah – Zuzim and Index. Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1988. 

Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society Of Pennsylvania. Should You Believe in the Trinity?: Is Jesus Christ the Almighty God? Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1989. http://battlefieldnews.net/IPad%20Data/JWs/Should-You-Believe-In-The-Trinity.pdf. 

———. Insight on the Scriptures: Volume 2: Jehovah – Zuzim and Index. Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1988. 

———. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom. Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1993. 

“Who Is God?” JW.ORG. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/What-Does-God-Require-of-Us/Who-Is-God/. 

“Who Is Jesus Christ?” JW.ORG. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/What-Does-God-Require-of-Us/Who-Is-Jesus-Christ/. 

Featured photo courtesy of JW.org, “What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?”. Used for educational purposes under fair use.