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#11 The Facts on Jehovah's Witnesses
The Theology of the Jehovah's Witness
11. What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe
about salvation?
Salvation is different for different people.
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that there are three
classes of people that will be saved by good works. But each class is working to
gain a different salvation.
The first class is an extremely small group of people
the Jehovah's Witnesses call "the 144,000." Only these are elected by God for
special spiritual privileges. For example, many of the blessing that the Bible
teaches are given to every believer by faith alone are, according to the
Watchtower Society, reserved exclusively for the 144,000. For example, this
class is said to enjoy the spiritual privileges and blessing of justification
and being born again. However, justification and being born again are redefined.
Justification is not a once-for-all legal declaration God makes about a
believer, giving him a perfect and righteous standing before God on account of
the atonement of Christ, as is taught in Scripture (Romans 3:28; Philippians
3:9). Rather, they say justification is a "present justification" that may be
forfeited at any time by disobedience.
They also redefine the words "born again." The Jehovah's
Witnesses say that being born again is being water baptized and anointed by God
so they may be re-created by God as a spirit creature after death, just as God
supposedly re-created Jesus into the angel Michael after His death. (The
Watchtower teach that Jesus was "born again" at His baptism.) According to the
Witnesses, the 144,000 are spiritually privileged to eventually be re-created
like Jesus, and also privileged to rule with Jesus in heaven. They do not
understand that the Bible really teaches that all mem, not just 144,000, can be
born again. They do not realize that being born again is a spiritual rebirth in
the inner man that God grants, which can occur during life and brings with it
eternal life (John 3:3-8; John 5:24; John 6:47; John 1:11-13 NWT).
The second class includes all other Jehovah's
Witnesses (called "the other sheep"). They cannot be justified in this life or
born again. Indeed, the average Jehovah's Witness has no hope of ever being born
again. At death God does not re-create these people as spirit beings, as Jesus
was changed into Michael, but re-create their physical bodies to live only on
the earth. These people are told they will be ruled over by Jesus (Michael) and
the 144,000 in heaven.
The third class includes non-Jehovah's Witnesses who
have lived good enough lives to be given the opportunity to earn salvation after
death (a teaching that the Bible denies - Hebrews 9:27). All who are worthy of
the second chance will be re-created by Jehovah to live in the new millennium.
But they will only gain life beyond the millennium if they attain perfection
during it.
Not one of the above teachings is biblical. The Bible says
there is only one basis upon which God grants salvation, and it is offered
freely to all men (Galatians 1:6-8; John 3:16; Acts 4:12). Again, the new birth
and heavenly salvation are not limited to 144,000 people, but are given freely
to every believer" "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will get saved . .
. (Acts 16:31 NWT). Salvation is by grace through faith alone, not by any of our
works of righteousness (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 3:28 NWT). In fact,
because salvation is "by grace [God's unmerited favor], then it is no longer by
works [by our works]; of it were, grace would no longer be grace" (Roman 11:6).
Jesus declares to all people, "You must be born
again." He warned that no one could be acceptable to God without a spiritual
rebirth in this life that comes through faith in Him (John 3:3-18). He warns,
"Unless you believe that I am He [Here "He" applies to Himself - the divine name
that God called Himself in the Old Testament; compare Exodus 3:14; Isaiah
43:10.], you shall die in your sins" (John 8:24).
Salvation is by personal merit and good works,
not by grace through faith.
For a Jehovah's Witness, "grace" is merely the
opportunity for men to earn their own salvation by works. It is not the free
gift of God to men. Because Jehovah's Witnesses think they must earn their own
salvation, they have no concept of true biblical grace. Thus, the Society
teaches that obeying "God's commandments . . . can [might] mean an eternal
future," but this cannot give any assurance of salvation:
. . . in all areas of life, we should be
prepared to give our very best. We should not be half-hearted about such vital
matters. What is at stake is Jehovah's approval and our being granted life.
The Bible, in stark contrast,
teaches that no one by his own good works can ever gain salvation (Romans
3:10-20 NWT). The Bible says that salvation cannot be earned or maintained by
personal works of righteousness (Galatians 2:16,21 NWT). It is available only to
those who recognize that they are unworthy and that they cannot earn it, who in
repentance turn from sin and place their faith in Christ's work at the cross for
them (Romans 3:22; Luke 18:9-14 NWT).
But the Witnesses believe that God only justifies people "on
the basis of their own merit." The Watchtower has lied to them in teaching that
salvation rests wholly on their good works, obedience to God, and personal
merit. If they backslide, their salvation is forfeited and they risk being
annihilated forever.
This means that the only "salvation" the Witnesses has is the
desperate hope that somehow as a fallen and sinful human being he can, through
his own efforts, finally win God's approval. But only constant, diligent
battling against sin and total obedience to serving God through the Watchtower
give him any hope of being re-created after death for millennial life. Even
then, he is told that during the millennium if he fails he will be annihilated.
If he serves faithfully all through this 1000-year period of time, he may
finally win eternal life. But it will only be because he has earned it by
personal effort and merit.
But the good news for every Jehovah's Witness is that God's
Word opposes the Watchtower's plan of salvation. In the Bible, God guarantees
eternal life. The eternal life that God promises to give does not begin in a
distant future but the very moment a person believers in Christ for forgiveness
of sins. In proof of this, below we quote the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World
Translation (emphasis added):
Most truly I say to you, He that hears my words
and believes him that sent me has everlasting life, and he does not
come into judgment but has passed over from death to life (John 5:24).
Most truly I say to you, He that believes
has everlasting life (John 6:47).
At the very moment a person
accepts the work of Christ on his behalf and asks Jesus to save him, he is born
again and made a new creation (John 3:1-16; 2nd Corinthians 5:17). "For this is
the will of my Father, that everyone [notice: this is not just the
144,000, but everyone] that beholds the Son and exercises faith in him should
have everlasting life, and I will resurrect him at the last day" (John 6:40
NWT).
Even the New World Translation states salvation "is
not owing to you, it is God's gift" (Ephesians 2:8-9 NWT). By definition, a free
gift cannot be paid for. The Oxford American Dictionary defines gift as
"a thing given or received without payment." No man takes flowers home to his
wife and says, "Hi, honey. These are yours when you wash the car." In the same
way, no one pays for salvation with his or her works when it has been freely
given as a gift. God says He is giving eternal life as a free gift. He can offer
this gift because He sent Jesus to purchase it. The New World Translation
says, ". . . but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus
our Lord" (Romans 6:23 NWT, emphasis added). Further, the NWT
emphatically states, "By this underserved kindness, indeed, you have
been saved through faith; and this not owing to you, it is God's
gift. No, it is not owing to works, in order that no man should have
grounds for boasting" (Ephesians 2:8-9, emphasis add).
John Ankerberg & John Weldon
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