The Watchtower — October 15, 1950

Clergy Voice Unwarranted Criticism

ON August 2 the Watchtower Society released the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. The very next day the Toronto Daily Star published on page one the following:

“UNWARRANTED LIBERTY, SAY CLERGY OF WITNESS BIBLE

“Several clergymen and students of the Bible said today Jehovah’s witnesses have taken unwarranted liberties in rejecting the idea of the Holy Trinity in a new translation of the Greek scriptures comprising the New Testament. Revealed yesterday, the version substitutes the words ‘the spirit and the water and the blood’ for the phrase ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost’. The latter translation is found frequently throughout the King James version of the New Testament, used by orthodox churches.”

These critical clergymen are poorly informed, and in their haste to strive they open themselves to shame. They should have heeded the proverb: “Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.” (Prov. 25:8) Informed Bible students know that the phrase “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” is not found once in the King James Version. Found once is the phrase “the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost”, at 1 John 5:7. And what about the phrase “the spirit and the water and the blood”? Is it a substitution for the other phrase? No; those identical words appear in both the King James Version and the New World Translation, at 1 John 5:8. What the New World Translation did was merely drop the King James Version phrase at 1 John 5:7: “The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

Well, was that an “unwarranted liberty”? The critical clergymen thought so, for the press report continued: “Prof. B. W. Horan, Wycliffe College Bible authority, said the translation approved by the Watch Tower and Bible Society—official name of the Witnesses—can have no factual basis. He added: ‘The words “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” are clear in the original Greek, our only authority, and are thus translated in all English versions. They are taking an unwarranted liberty, and once you do that sort of thing you can get almost anything out of the scriptures. They have no warrant at all for their interpretation.’ Officials of the Anglican, United, Baptist, Presbyterian and Christian Science Churches agreed with Prof. Horan.”

How can Horan be a “Bible authority” for Wycliffe College, and yet say this phrase is in the original Greek and is translated “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” in “all English versions”? The Greek originals were written in the first century of our common era, but it was not until the sixteenth century that these spurious words crept into a Greek manuscript. In 1516 Erasmus produced a Greek “New Testament” text. He brought out several editions, and the first two did not contain the spurious words at 1 John 5:7. However, the omission of this forged text was noted by Catholic authorities, particularly by Stunica, and through subsequent contriving Stunica prevailed upon Erasmus to insert it in a later edition, against the better judgment of Erasmus. William Tyndale used this Erasmus later edition to revise his English translation, and it is this Tyndale version that is the basis of the popular King James Version of 1611. Thus we see how 1 John 5:7, never in the original Greek Scriptures, wormed its way into the King James Version.

And what about Horan’s claim that this spurious trinitarian text is in “all English versions”? It is extremely difficult to believe he is so ignorant of the facts, yet that belief is perhaps more charitable than to think he deliberately falsifies. In 1881 there was published a revision of the “New Testament” of the King James Version, called the “English Revised Version”. It omitted the spurious text 1 John 5:7, as had Benjamin Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott version a few years earlier. Almost invariably modern versions in English omit it.

The American Standard Version of 1901 did. When the Greek Scriptures of this version were revised and published in 1946, the spurious text was still missing. It is likewise omitted in Moffatt’s modern translation (1922), in An American Translation by Goodspeed (1935), in The New Testament in Basic English (1941), in Darby’s version (1949), in Weymouth’s version (fifth edition, 1929), in the Twentieth Century New Testament (1901), in Rotherham’s Emphasised Bible (1897), and so on through practically all modern English versions. The Baptist cleric, J.B. McLaurin, that protested against the New World Translation should have known that the American Baptist Publication Society copyrighted and published in 1924 a modern version of the Greek Scriptures, in which they omitted the spurious verse. (The other hasty critics of the New World Translation were D. B. Rogers, Church of England, F. W. Boorer, Christian Scientist, V. T. Mooney, United Church, and J. A. Munro, Presbyterian church.)

Catholic Monsignor Knox completed a translation in 1943, and while including the spurious text admitted in a footnote: “This verse does not occur in any good Greek manuscript.” The Catholic Confraternity translation explained that it retained the text because the Holy See reserved to itself the right to pass on the text, but did admit that according to the evidence of many manuscripts the verse was spurious. The fact is that every informed clergyman knows that the words of 1 John 5:7, as in the King James Version, are not found in the most reliable Greek Scripture manuscripts, namely, the Vatican 1209, the Sinaitic, and the Alexandrine. The Greek text used as the basis of the New World Translation is the widely accepted Westcott and Hort text (1881), by reason of its admitted excellence. It does not contain the spurious words at 1 John 5:7.

In view of all this, what do we conclude? That the New World Translation did not take any unwarranted liberties, but that these clergymen voiced unwarranted criticism, and in their haste to do so have demonstrated ignorance or prejudice, or both, to their shame.

He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.—Prov. 14:29; 18:13.

Physical Heavens Declare God’s Glory

FILLED with profound reverence after viewing the vastness and celestial majesty of the starry expanse, King David of old was moved to exclaim: “O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name. . . ! When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:1, 3, 4, AS) David was deeply impressed with the Creator’s infinite greatness and his own smallness.

Today’s astronomers are well-equipped with mammoth telescopes capable of penetrating stellar space to a great depth. So if astronomer David could come to his wise conclusions more than 3,000 years ago without even a pair of opera glasses, how reprehensible this well-informed modern age is for its impudent refusal to recognize Jehovah God as the all-wise Creator of the physical heavens! Surely they are without excuse, for Jehovah’s “invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are understood by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they [of this “brainy” world] are inexcusable”.—Rom. 1:20, NW.

But just because today’s so-called scientists and “wise men” are so nearsighted and self-centered that they fail to appreciate that Jehovah God is the great First Cause and Creator of the universe, this is no reason why the rest of mankind need follow their blind course and stupidly stumble into the same pitfall of willful ignorance. Let the well-known scientific facts and figures speak for themselves, and as they show forth and tell of God’s omnipotence, let us consider their testimony with an open, reasoning and logical mind. Consider this earth and our solar system, and, beyond this, the wonders of the universe, its glory, beauty, unity and unlimited expanse. Consider all of this, and a person with a reasonable mind must admit that there is a Creator, and that His wisdom, knowledge, power and eternity are far superior to anyone and anything else in cosmic space.

First consider this globe upon which we live, man’s home among the stars and planets. To enumerate all the marvelous conditions that make life possible here would take many volumes. Hence, an epitome of some of these wonderful things must suffice. To quote a recent Watchtower publication, Evolution versus The New World, pages 35, 36:

“The earth is the only planet on which life as we know it could exist. If the earth rotated on its axis much faster or much slower, making days and nights much shorter or longer, all life would die either by freezing at night or by burning during the day. The sun is the earth’s furnace, and our globe is just far enough away to be properly warmed for life to exist. But if the earth traveled much faster or much slower in its orbit around the sun it would be too far from or too close to the sun for life. The sun’s surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit is just right for heating the earth. If the yearly average of temperature on earth rose or fell fifty degrees, life would roast or freeze. Of all the stars and suns in the universe with their wide variations in size and radiation, it is our sun that is right for earth’s inhabitants. If our moon were much nearer, the tides it causes would overflow the lowlands, erode the mountains, and with continents leveled water would cover the entire earth to a depth of a mile and a half. If the earth were not tilted twenty-three degrees on its axis we would have no seasons, the poles would lie in eternal twilight, water vapor from oceans would move north and south and pile up huge continents of snow and ice in the polar regions, leaving desert in between, and eventually the oceans would disappear and rainfall cease, and the accumulated weight of ice at the poles would cause the equator to bulge, with fearful results. The mixture of gases in the atmosphere is right, and if much different, if much lighter or heavier, life would cease. The mathematical odds that all of these and other essential conditions happened by chance are astronomical, are one in billions.”

EARTH’S SIZE AND IMPORTANCE

Manifestly, this wonderful globe, with such varied conditions in perfect balance, did not come about by mere chance or through the operation of blind force or spontaneous evolution. Rather, it was designed and prepared by a Creator of infinite intelligence for the express purpose of supporting human creatures. “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” (Isa. 45:18, AS; Isa 42:5; Ps. 115:16) He also made it to endure throughout eternity.—Eccl. 1:4.

“Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth” for man’s habitation, for had He chosen any other of the nine planets in our solar system, human life would have been impossible. (Prov. 3:19, AS) On Mercury, the planet nearest to the sun, the temperature is hundreds of degrees above zero on one side and at the same time hundreds of degrees below zero on the opposite side. Venus, the second-nearest to the sun, is enveloped in perpetual clouds so dense that sunlight never reaches it. Next comes the earth, just right in location. On Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, the average temperature is about zero, and beyond Mars, on the other planets, life is impossible. What about our moon? Without an atmosphere and with a temperature change from daytime to nighttime of more than 400 degrees, there is not the slightest possibility that man could live on the moon. So let us all give thanks and praise to Jehovah, who, for our life and comfort and by his infinite wisdom, “hangeth the earth upon nothing” at exactly the right distance from the sun.—Job 26:7.

Soldier boys that travel halfway around the world from home are impressed with the great size of the earth—25,000 miles around the equator. To little man the earth does seem very large, but compared with the sun and other heavenly bodies this globe is a mere grain of sand. If the sun were hollowed out and the earth placed in the center, our moon, which is 238,000 miles away from us, could continue in its orbit with 190,000 miles to spare. Little earth is less than 8,000 miles in diameter; majestic sun is 864,000 miles!

God “saw that it was good” to have the sun as a center hub about which our earth revolves, for it is earth’s powerhouse and the source of its light, heat and energy. (Gen. 1:14-19) And what a terrific ball of fire it is! Of the sun’s total radiated heat, only one part in 1,000 million parts ever reaches this globe, and yet this wee amount is so great that it taxes our comprehension. Estimates say that it would be necessary to burn 1,000 million tons of coal each and every second to generate the amount of heat received.

Men of science and invention boast of the supersonic speeds to which they have attained, and the distances they hope some day to travel in rocket “space ships”; but, considering cosmic distances and planetary speeds, the greatest accomplishments of science are extremely small. The sun, for example, is 93,000,000 miles away on the average. But how far is that, little man? Well, if you were to ride a nonstop streamline train traveling 93 miles an hour, day and night, it would take you over 114 years to make the one-way trip to the sun! To reach the same destination from Pluto, outermost planet in our solar system, it would take more than 4,200 years.

At the same time our globe daily rotates on its axis with a surface speed at the equator of more than 1,000 miles an hour, it hurls itself around the sun at a speed of 62,000 miles per hour, without varying so much as 1/1000 of a second in this yearly trip of 558,000,000 miles. But this is not all. The whole solar system—our sun, moon, earth and the other planets—while maintaining this perfect timing among themselves, are all together speeding through space in the general direction of the star Vega at 43,000 miles per hour, a speed 21 times the velocity of a cannon ball. No man-made electronic timing device could regulate these motions with such accuracy or precision.

OUT AND BEYOND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

When the God-fearing man David beheld the beauty and grandeur of the night sky he was looking far beyond this little solar system in which we spin. To him it was as if he were on the inside of a tent beholding a huge enclosing curtain interwoven with glistening jewels, diamonds and precious stones. David knew that the same Jehovah God who made the earth had also fashioned the stars. All was His matchless handiwork. Isaiah the prophet, after looking into the same stellar vault of heaven, appreciated why Jehovah likened this mundane sphere to a lowly footstool.—Gen. 1:16; 2 Ki. 19:15; Ps. 102:25; 104:1, 2; Isa. 42:5; 44:24; 66:1, 2; Acts 7:48-50.

But what those men of old saw at one time was at the most only about 2,000 stars, a very small fraction of the celestial glory that makes up our galaxy, commonly called the Milky Way. The telescope has brought into view so many stars that man cannot even count them. In an area of the sky no larger than the Big Dipper’s bowl, there are 50,000,000 stars, and estimates based on actual photographs say there are at least 50,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way. Proved then that God’s Word is true: man can no more count the stars than he can count the grains of seashore sands.—Jer. 33:22, Mo.

Then how big is the Milky Way in which so many billions of stars are “crammed”? Man can measure it fairly accurately, but after doing so his brain is too small to comprehend really how great a space it occupies. You doubt this? Do you want to try, where all others fail, to imagine how big our galaxy is? Then here are the figures.

Recall how far it is from here to the sun and how long it would take you to get there on a high-speed train—114 years. Well, the next-nearest star is 300,000 times farther away than the sun. If, after reaching it, you returned to earth your round-trip excursion would have consumed 69,000,000 years. No human can imagine how long a time that is, so how can one comprehend how far it is across the equatorial diameter of the Milky Way when it equals 4,000 of such round trips? Why, for a beam of light, streaking along at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, it would take it 33,000 years to cross from one side of the Milky Way to the other!

Man’s imagination staggers to think that the sun is more than 108 times as great in diameter as the earth, and yet there is a countless host of other stars many times as large as the sun. Aldebaran is 40 times as large as the sun and 90 times as bright. But this is nothing. The largest star known to man, Antares, is 14,000 times as big as our sun. Think of that, a molten ball of fire 360,000,000 miles in diameter, and 90,000,000 times as bright as our sun! Only its great distance away makes it appear small.

YET GREATER THAN ALL THIS IS JEHOVAH

Like all of God’s creation, there is endless variety among the stars. Each has its own astral beauty. “One star differeth from another star in glory.” (1 Cor. 15:41) Some are white, some yellow, some blue, and others are red. Each travels at its own particular speed. The fastest-moving bright star is Arcturus, with a speed of 75 miles a second (about 270,000 miles per hour). Reason enough why God might use it to illustrate how small and powerless man is. “Canst thou guide Arcturus?” the Almighty asked Job. (Job 38:32) Some stars are cooler than our sun, others are twice, three times and even five times as hot. Some are brighter; others are extremely faint. A comet’s tail is practically a vacuum, weighing only one four-sextillionth (1/4000000000000000000000) as much as a similar volume of air, whereas a dwarf star is so unbelievably heavy that a cubic inch of it weighs as much as 1,000 tons! Wonders indeed! showing forth the glory and majesty of their Creator.

Dwarfing man and exalting Jehovah even more, the giant telescopes disclose that this galaxy to which our earth belongs is only an island universe in the sea of space. Out and beyond our Milky Way there are more than 100,000,000,000 other Milky Ways called nebulae, each containing billions of suns, stars and planets. The 200-inch Palomar telescope is able to reach out 1,100,000,000 light-years (one light-year equals six trillion miles), and still no end to the stars. This means that these stars are so far away that the light that left them 1,100,000,000 years ago is just now reaching our globe. So in view of such astronomical facts, such distances, how much greater than time and space and all that fill them must Jehovah God be! What powers of communication he must possess! For moment by moment he knows what is going on in the most distant corner of infinity. No, not even “the heaven and heaven of heavens” are able to contain Jehovah.—1 Ki. 8:27; 2 Chron. 2:6; 6:18.

Again the question: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Again the only truthful answer: compared with God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, man is oh so very, very small! “Why, the nations are a mere drop in the bucket, no more to him than dust upon a balance! Before him all the nations are as nothing; to him they are but empty and inane. Then whom can you compare with God?” Jehovah God is he who “sits over the round earth, so high that its inhabitants look like grasshoppers; he spreads the skies out like a curtain, and stretches them like a tent. Lift high your eyes, look up; who made these stars? he who marshals them in order, summoning each one by name”. Puny man cannot even number the stars, much less summon or call them by name.—Isa. 40:15, 17, 18, 22, 26, Mo.

If all this inanimate creation praises Jehovah because of who and what he is, then “let all the earth fear Jehovah: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him”!—Ps. 33:8, AS; Ps 148:1-6.

Jesus, the Faithful Son of God

NO OTHER birth in all human history has equaled in importance the birth of Jesus. He who was God’s spokesman or Logos, he who was God’s first and only direct creation, he through whom all other things were made, this one laid aside his lofty invisible existence as a spirit creature and was born of human flesh in the lowly form of a man. Little wonder that at his birth angelic creatures jubilantly sang, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.”—John 1:1-14, ED; Rev. 3:14; Luke 2:13, 14, Dy.

And why did this “only begotten Son” of God lay aside his heavenly glory and become a man? (1 John 4:9) There are several very important reasons. Born of Mary, the daughter of Heli, Jesus became a natural descendant of King David, hence “the son of David”. His foster father, Joseph, also a natural descendant of David, was able to hand Jesus the legal right to David’s throne. (Matt. 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38) Born perfect under the law covenant, Jesus was able to fulfill that law and put it to an end. (Gal. 4:4; Matt. 5:17) Being humbled in a bondman’s form, even in the likeness of sinful man, he withstood Satan, maintained integrity, and proved qualified to be the vindicator of Jehovah God.—Phil. 2:5-8.

Furthermore, Jesus was a perfect human, no more, no less, the exact equal to the perfect man Adam. He was therefore able to lay down a perfect human life as the purchase price for all that Adam lost, namely, the right to perfect human life and to give life to posterity.—1 Cor. 15:21, 22.

It was the fall of the year 2 B.C., about October 1. The shepherds were still in the open fields watching their flocks, when an angel informed them of Jesus’ miraculous birth. (Luke 2:8-20) The birth of this promised “seed”, the one who was in due time to crush the head of the serpent, made that serpent, Satan, the Devil, exceedingly wroth. (Gen. 3:15) So the Devil tried to kill the infant Jesus. Warned by the Lord, the parents fled to Egypt. After Herod’s death they returned and settled down in Nazareth. (Matt. 2:1-23) “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”—Luke 2:40, RS.

At a Passover feast in Jerusalem, when but twelve years of age he amazed the learned doctors and wise men of the day by his questions and answers. When reproved by his mother for having failed to return home with them Jesus discreetly replied, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:41-49, RS) As he grew up he learned the carpenter’s trade from his foster father and “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”.—Luke 2:52.

ENTERED PUBLIC MINISTRY AT 30

Reaching his full age of maturity according to the Jewish law, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river. People are not baptized in the Jordan in cold December. It was the fall of the year A.D. 29; proof that Jesus was not born December 25. (Luke 3:21-23) But why was the sinless Jesus baptized? Because he had made a consecration or contract to henceforth do his Father Jehovah’s will and not his own. (Ps. 40:7, 8; John 4:34) His baptism symbolized that he had made such an agreement.

Immediately after his baptism Jesus went into the wilderness and there spent 40 days preparing himself for his public ministry. At the end of that period the Devil came to him with very subtle temptations, which Jesus thwarted with the “sword of the spirit”, God’s Word. (Matt. 4:1-11) Thereafter, Jesus came in contact with some of the disciples of John, who became his companions as he traveled northward into Galilee. It was there in Cana, at the marriage feast, that Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine.—John 1:29-51; 2:1-11.

Springtime, A.D. 30, with six months of gospel-preaching behind, with the whole country awakening to the Messiah’s presence, it was time for Jesus to go up to Jerusalem for the annual Passover. There he found the money-changers and those that sold oxen, sheep and pigeons right in the temple. Fired with the zeal of Jehovah, Jesus made a whip of cords and, turning over the money tables and driving out dealers, cattle and all, said: “Away with these! My Father’s house is not to be turned into a shop!”—John 2:13-17, Mo.

ALL GALILEE HEARS KINGDOM MESSAGE

Truly a man of action! Up and down the length and breadth of the land Jesus went, and on foot too, preaching and witnessing to the people: in their homes, in the market places, along the highways, in open-air gatherings on the mountainsides, anywhere and everywhere that the people would listen. Remember how he took time to talk to that Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well? (John 4:4-26) He also spent many hours on return visits, instructing the householders further in the Scriptures. And for all of this he never took up a collection.

The next two years following the Passover A.D. 30 Jesus concentrated his activity in the district of Galilee, broadcasting the thrilling message: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 4:17) Indeed so, for the King himself was present. But not everyone would accept this proclaimer of glad tidings. For example, when he entered the synagogue in his own home town of Nazareth and read from the book of Isaiah, chapter 61, and applied to himself the prophecy there recorded, the people scoffed at him as only a carpenter’s son, and even tried to kill him. In striking contrast to his own townsmen were those of Capernaum, who listened attentively, “astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.”—Luke 4:16-32.

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matt. 4:23) This first organized tour in Galilee was interrupted by the Passover feast at Jerusalem A.D. 31. There Christ cured a cripple on the sabbath, and as a result he clashed with the tradition-keeping Pharisees who sought to kill him. Jesus, however, gave all credit to Jehovah God: “The Son can do nothing of himself.” (John 5:1-47) Back again in his Galilee territory, this plain-spoken preacher delivered that wonderful talk known as the “sermon on the mount”.—Matthew, chapters 5, 6, 7.

HASTE REQUIRED TO FINISH GREAT WORK

The last half of Jesus’ ministry was packed full of work and excitement. Not once, but three times he must go over the Galilee territory. He must bear witness to Perea, on the other side of Jordan. His fame brought great crowds to hear the important Kingdom message, yet at the same time the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” contained in the parables were meant only for the disciples. (Matt. 13:1-53) Continually performing many miracles—healing the diseased, crippled, sick, and reviving the dead—Jesus also fed one multitude of 5,000 men and another of 4,000, “beside women and children.” (Matt. 14:13-21; 15:32-38) Along with these public demonstrations and talks he also managed to give exhortations on humility, meekness, love toward one another, forgiveness and mercy.—Matt. 18:1-35.

Passover came while Christ was on his third tour of Galilee, but this feast he did not celebrate in a public way. He was again at Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles in the fall of the year. By then the time was running out. The harvest was great; the laborers few; scarcely six months left to finish the work. Jesus therefore sent out seventy more disciples to prepare the field for his ministry, and then speedily he swung up through Samaria, crossed the Jordan, went into Perea, crossed Jordan again in order to raise Lazarus from the dead, went back through Samaria for another visit over Perea, and then returned to Bethany only a few days before the great and final Passover.

That was a lot of traveling and preaching to pack into six months, a fitting build-up for what he would accomplish in the last six days of his sojourn here on earth. (Luke 10:1 to 11:28) But, even at that, he took time along the way to show kindness and tender compassion toward all, including little children.—Mark 10:13-16.

That final and great week, the last act, so to speak, of a stupendous drama and one which climaxed Jesus’ public ministry, was staged in and around Jerusalem. Riding into Jerusalem in triumphal procession, Christ offered himself as King amid joyful acclaim. Then he cleansed the temple the second time by driving out the religious racketeers who had made his Father’s house a den of thieves. (Matt. 21:1-16) The next day, in his parables Jesus exposed the clergy as the ones that would be guilty of rejecting and killing the Messiah, the heir of the Kingdom, and further denounced them, saying: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” And to the nation as a whole he said: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”—Matt. 21:17 to 23:39.

In an upper room in Jerusalem, Nisan 14, A.D. 33, Jesus celebrated the last Passover with his apostles, washed their feet for an example in mutual love and service, instituted the Memorial with the eleven faithful ones, and then gave them much valuable instruction. (John 13:2 to 17:26, Momentous events followed in quick succession. The agonizing scene in the garden of Gethsemane was followed by the betrayal of Jesus and his arrest and trial before the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin. Turned over to Pilate the politician, he was sent on to Herod, who mockingly returned him to Pilate the governor, who, though he knew Jesus was innocent, delivered him over to be killed in order to satisfy the lust of the bloodthirsty clergy! (Matt. 26:36 to 27:31) Nailed to an accursed torture stake between thieves, this beloved Son of God, after suffering hours of mockery and torture, cried out, “It is finished!”

Jesus had fought a good fight, he had completed his testimony as God’s “faithful and true witness”, he had proved the Devil a liar, he had purchased the right to life lost to Adam’s offspring, he was indeed worthy to be the great vindicator of Jehovah God. For such obedience, Jehovah resurrected his faithful Son with a spiritual body and exalted him to a position in the universe far above all other creatures, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Phil. 2:10, 11.

“Miserable Comforters”

CHRISTIANS are commissioned to “comfort all that mourn”. (Isa. 61:2) But the clergy of Christendom’s orthodox religions do not bear the fruits that identify them as Christian comforters. For example, where is any solid comfort in the following statement that Catholic Jesuit Robert I. Gannon, ex-president of Fordham University, made to an audience of high school youths?—”Your generation has a different point of view. You were born into chaos. It is part of the providence of God that you, our sons and daughters who have to pick up the pieces of the modern age, should look on disorder and uncertainty as a normal condition to be faced without surprise or fear.”

Why should a Catholic priest say that it is God’s providence that we should view chaos and disorder as normal? Such hardly matches the scripture at 1 Corinthians 14:33, as translated by Monsignor Knox: “God is the author of peace, not of disorder.” After adults make a mess of things, of what comfort is it to tell youth “to pick up the pieces”? And if in the providence of God the messy disorder is normal, why tell youth to make it abnormal by picking up the pieces?

Gannon’s empty words will not forestall the fear Jesus said would come in these days, due to the chaos and disorder of our times: “Men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world.” (Luke 21:26, Dy) Jesus did not brush off this fear as normal and as “part of the providence of God”, but offered real comfort concerning it, showing that it and other abnormal conditions of the last days were due to Satan, and were forerunners to the final end of this old world and the beginning of Jehovah’s righteous new world.—Luke 21:28; Rev. 12:12; 21:1-5.

This abnormal dose of woes from Satan began when he was ousted from heaven in 1914 by the newly enthroned King, Christ Jesus, and it is noteworthy that the New York Sunday News, in reporting Gannon’s statement, said that the year before that heavenly event was the last normal year in history, as follows: “Today’s world is in a chaotic fix, what with old empires rocking crazily from the effects of the latest great war, and with U. S. Democracy, British Socialism and Russian Communism battling for the minds of mankind. Further, the world has been in more or less chaos for quite a while now. The last completely ‘normal’ year in history was 1913, the year before World War I began. . . . Where it all comes out, we haven’t a guess. Maybe the end, as some gloom merchants predict, will be an atomic suicide by the whole human race.”

When the faithful man Job was under assault by Satan because of integrity toward Jehovah God, he was visited by “three friends” who came “to comfort him”. (Job 2:11) But after listening to their supposed wisdom on the distressing circumstances in which he found himself, Job cried out: “Miserable comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end?” Or, to give his words as rendered by the Catholic Douay translation of the Bible, “You are all troublesome comforters. Shall windy words have no end?” (Job 16:2, 3) Those who babble about these times as being normal and “part of the providence of God” are certainly “miserable comforters” and rate no higher value than that Job placed on his “three friends”.

True Christians can and do give real comfort to those that mourn, and who are meek enough to listen to God’s Word on the present perilous times in which we find ourselves. It is wrathful Satan that is authoring the chaotic and disordered conditions now, but the signs of the times indicate that soon he and his wicked world will meet their destruction, and in their stead will be Christ’s kingdom ruling over a cleansed earth of joyful men of good will. Then the providence of God will see to it that peace reigns. All may now take comfort in the fact that then, in both heaven and earth, God will be an “author of peace, not of disorder”.

“Be Fruitful, Multiply, Fill the Earth”

TO THE first human pair, Adam and Eve, God stated, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the domestic animals, and all the living things that crawl on the earth!” (Gen. 1:28, AT) That this is God’s purpose regarding the earth is also made clear at Isaiah 45:18, where we are told that God formed the earth to be inhabited.

Since that is God’s purpose regarding the earth, it will be accomplished, for he further states: “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”—Isa. 46:11.

The command, “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth,” coming from Jehovah God himself, would therefore be an authoritative command, or a mandate; and he being the Divine One, it would be a divine mandate. When this divine mandate was given to our first parents they were perfect and righteous, for all God’s work is perfect. (Deut. 32:4) To assist them to continue in the way of righteousness and obedience and to protect them from evil, God provided them with a guardian angel. (Ezek. 28:13, 14) However, this guardian angel became filled with pride and selfishly ambitious. To further his ambitious scheme he lured our first parents into a course of disobedience resulting in their death. That cherub has since been known by the names Dragon, Serpent, Devil and Satan. (Rev. 20:2) Although at the time of his rebellion God decreed his destruction, he has been permitted to continue his nefarious activity up to the present time as “god of this world”. (Gen. 3:15; 2 Cor. 4:4) The purpose of that divine mandate being to have children brought forth in righteousness and unto life, it follows that under such unrighteous conditions and with Adam and Eve under the sentence of death the mandate could not be carried out as originally purposed by Jehovah God. Since God’s purposes do not change, we may confidently expect that divine mandate yet to be fulfilled.

Who will fulfill that divine mandate? Not Christians who hope to share heavenly glory with Christ Jesus, for the divine mandate is to be carried out on earth by human creatures. (See John 14:2, 3; 1 John 3:2; Rev. 20:5, 6.) Glorious spirit creatures in heaven could not carry out such a command.—1 Cor. 15:43, 44.

Neither will the resurrection of the dead be the fulfilling of that divine mandate. (John 5:28, 29) True, it will contribute to the filling of the earth, yet such would be done by the power of God and not by creatures in obedience to his mandate. Nor will the resurrected multitudes be privileged to do so, for Jesus plainly stated that such will not marry nor be given in marriage.—Matt. 22:30.

Who then will fulfill that divine mandate? The facts show that today God has bestowed his spirit upon many without awakening in them the hope of heavenly glory. These are described as a “great multitude” coming from all nations and are shown as standing before the throne of God ascribing salvation to him and to the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9-17) Seeking righteousness and meekness, they have the promise of being hidden in the day of God’s anger. (Zeph. 2:1-3) After that expression of wrath they will share in a fulfillment of that divine mandate.

THE FLOOD PROPHETIC

The events leading up to the flood of Noah’s day and those immediately following serve as a key to unlock these truths to us, picturing with remarkable accuracy what is now taking place and will shortly follow. That the time of Noah had prophetic significance Christ Jesus himself made clear, saying: “And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the presence of the Son of man.”—Matt. 24:37, AS, margin.

Regarding Noah’s day we read: “And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast . . . But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.” Why? Because “Noah was a righteous man”.—Gen. 6:5, 7-9, AS.

Jehovah God therefore commanded Noah to build an ark or huge boat, into which he was to take his family and certain animals. Noah obeyed, thereby proving his faith by his works. And he further bore testimony to his faith by preaching, warning the wicked of the flood.—Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5.

The ark served as a place of protection for Noah, his family and the animals he took therein. What did it picture? God’s provision for protecting his people at the present time from the catastrophe, the battle of Armageddon. (Rev. 16:16) And what is that provision? It is God’s organization, and it will serve as the place of protection from the expression of God’s wrath against his enemies, even as did the ark for Noah and his family.

After the ark had served God’s purpose in keeping alive the righteous ones and the flood waters had fully subsided and the earth was dried, God commanded Noah to come out of the ark, together with his family and all the animals. (Gen. 6:18; 7:2-11; 8:14-16) Noah and his family were the only human creatures alive at that time and all of them were considered righteous by God. To these he restated the divine mandate: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.” (Gen. 9:2, AT) However, not being actually righteous and perfect but merely accounted so because of faith and obedience, they could fulfill that command in only a pictorial way.

In contrast to the sons of Noah, the great multitude who survive Armageddon will be able to carry out that divine mandate in actuality because they will receive the benefits of the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus. (Matt. 20:28; Rom. 5:18, 19) Having been accounted worthy of being preserved through the destruction of this evil system of things because of their faith and obedience, continuing in such way they will gradually be lifted to perfection and actual and complete righteousness. (Isa. 26:9) Satan and his demon horde will no longer exert any evil influence over mankind, but will be abyssed for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-3) In their stead Christ Jesus and his bride will shower blessings upon obedient mankind.—Rev. 21:4, 5.

The question then arises: Since those who will comprise the great multitude are now being gathered, is the marriage of any of them now and their bringing forth children now the beginning of fulfilling the divine mandate? The fact that none of Noah’s sons had any children born to them before or during the flood would indicate that the answer to that question should be No. Only eight humans entered the ark and only eight came forth. (Gen. 7:13; 8:16; 1 Pet. 3:20) In harmony with the fact that the divine mandate was first restated after the flood, the first child mentioned was born two years after the flood. (Gen. 11:10) The conclusion is therefore inevitable that the time for the fulfillment of the divine mandate is after Armageddon.

Since the carrying out of the command to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth” waits until after Armageddon, does that mean that those who now marry and rear children are violating God’s laws? No, for the Scriptures show that “marriage is honourable in all”.—Heb. 13:4.

The question then presents itself: What about those who now marry or who were married at the time they heeded the call of warning to flee into the antitypical ark by associating themselves with God’s organization? Will they have the same mates after Armageddon? If both mates are preserved through that catastrophe they will continue as man and wife. The end of the old world will not dissolve such marriage ties. The Scriptures show that only the death or the unfaithfulness of one’s mate frees one from the covenant entered into at the time of marriage. This latter fact should have a sobering effect upon all those contemplating marriage now.

The fulfilling of the command “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth” by the great multitude surviving Armageddon and the complete filling of the earth by the resurrected millions will be in vindication of Jehovah’s supremacy. How so? Because this was the original purpose of Jehovah God as announced to the first human pair in the garden of Eden, and the rebellious cherub who became Satan the Devil staked everything on his ability to thwart that purpose to fill the earth with God-fearing people and thus demonstrate that God was not supreme. Having turned aside Adam and Eve, he boasted that he could do the same with all of their offspring. (Job 1 and 2) It was for the purpose of giving him time to prove that boast that God permitted him to remain.—Ex. 9:16, AT.

To maintain his supremacy Jehovah God must exercise his justice and power in the destruction of the wicked. Could he do so and still realize his purpose regarding the earth? That was the issue. The facts show that he has been and is able to do so, for, even as he had faithful men and women on the earth before the flood whom he preserved during that catastrophe, so he has men and women on the earth now whom he is justified in preserving through the expression of his wrath against all unrighteousness at Armageddon, because of their faith and obedience. These who thus prove Satan’s boast that he can turn all men away from Jehovah God to be a lie will be rewarded with the blessings of the new world, including the fulfillment of the command “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth”. Also, thereby they will have a still greater share in vindicating Jehovah’s supremacy by making his purpose regarding the earth come true; namely, the earth filled with a righteous race of human creatures living in an earth-wide Paradise, who will have dominion over the lower animals and who will serve God in spirit and in truth.

“And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for destruction; for they are a race of the LORD’S blessed ones, and their offspring shall remain with them. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”—Isa. 65:21, 23, 25, AT.

Riches of the Full Assurance of Our Understanding

“Their hearts may be comforted, that they may be harmoniously joined together in love and with a view to all the riches of the full assurance of their understanding, with a view to an accurate knowledge of the sacred secret of God, namely, Christ.”—Col. 2:2, NW.

1. How do we gain the full assurance of understanding? For what purpose?

JEHOVAH God wants his people to understand his written Word, the Bible. By understanding we gain the full assurance concerning what we believe. It is only when we understand that we can declare our beliefs to other people and can do so with strong conviction that we have the truth, which is worthy of acceptance by all. There is not much good in hearing something and yet not understanding it, for then it does not mean anything to us. We can never do right without understanding what the will of God is. Rather, we are sure to act foolish in his sight, and this would not win his approval. But when we understand his will as contained in his written instructions, we can do it. And as we do so it builds up a full assurance of hope in us, and we can firmly hold on to that hope to the end, till we inherit what God has promised and we reap his good reward for our service. We want to understand how to approach him properly in prayer and what to pray for, that we may gain an answer. Then we can draw near to him in full assurance. We want to understand definitely what the hope is which he has set before us, that we may never suffer the disappointment of false hopes, having wasted all our efforts in aiming wrong. (Heb. 6:11, 12 and Heb 10:22, 23, NW) Hence we cannot afford to underrate the riches of the full assurance of understanding.

2. Why did Hebrews in Nehemiah’s day need to have the Bible translated to them?

² As far as the vast majority of mankind is concerned, the Bible, in which God’s will and purpose are expressed, is written in dead languages, Hebrew and ancient common (koi·neʹ) Greek. For that reason the original Bible has needed to be translated for us to know what it says. Even then it has to be translated or explained in such a way as to give us an understanding of what it says. Already five centuries before Christ the Hebrews or Israelites themselves had to have their own Hebrew Scriptures translated to them in order to grasp their contents. Jerusalem had been destroyed and the survivors had been carried captive to Babylon. During their seventy years of exile there a new generation had grown up. Because of the close association of the rising generation with the Babylonians they had lost their mother tongue and had come to speak Ar·a·maʹic, a language similar to Hebrew and related to it. This is what they spoke when they were restored to their homeland. Eighty-two years after they were restored Governor Nehemiah succeeded in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They had a celebration over it, at which Ezra the priest and other Levites read the Bible to the assembled people. But for the audience in general to understand it these readers had to interpret it to them. On this we read, at Nehemiah 8:7, 8: They “explained the meaning of the law to the people as they stood; they read from the book, from the law of God, translating as they went and explaining the meaning, so that the people understood what was read”. (Mo) By having the Bible text translated from Hebrew to the ar·a·maʹic which they spoke, the people came to understand what God’s law was.

3. Why are modern translations of the Bible proper today? Which is a most unique version among them?

³ Today in many countries many of our Bible translations are in out-of-date language and so are not fully understandable but need explanation in modern terms. For example, the Roman Catholic Douay Version of the Bible was completed in 1610. The popular German translation by Martin Luther was completed in 1534, but later revised by him. The most popular Bible edition, the King James or Authorized Version, was published in 1611. Thus these Bible versions are hundreds of years old, and by now languages have undergone great changes in meanings of words and in forms of expression. Also our understanding on the meaning of the original Hebrew, Ar·a·maʹic and Greek of the Bible has improved, to make possible a more accurate translation. Quite properly many translations that make use of the present-day advantages have appeared in modern speech, and all these cast a brighter light upon the pages of the Holy Scriptures. At the time of publishing this, the latest and doubtless most unique version to appear is that entitled “New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”, first released on Wednesday afternoon, August 2, 1950, at the 8-day international Theocracy’s Increase Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Yankee Stadium, New York city. A reading of this version, produced by the New World Bible Translation Committee, adds tremendously to our riches of the full assurance of our understanding of God’s Word. Its striking features are many. As we here take note of some of them, it would be well for any readers having a copy of this new version to have it at hand for consultation.

DISTINGUISHING OF WORD MEANINGS

4. How does this version distinguish between words translated world?

⁴ In the King James Version as well as in other old versions great misunderstanding has been caused by rendering two or more different words in the original Greek by one English word. The New World Translation, however, maintains the fine distinctions between the original words, and thereby aids toward the right interpretation of the Scriptures. Take, for instance, the word “world”. In the King James Version it is used to translate four different Greek words: ai·onʹ, gē, kosʹmos and oi·kou·meʹnē. In Jesus’ prophecy on the end of this world organization all four words occur. The King James Version does not differentiate between three of them; it renders all three “world”. But note the new version’s readings where the three words are found at Matthew 24:3, 14, 21; 25:34, NW: “While he was sitting upon the mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: ‘Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the consummation of the [ai·onʹ] system of things?’” Jesus replied: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the [oi·kou·meʹnē] inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” “For then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the [kosʹmos] world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” “Come, you who have my Father’s blessing, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the [kosʹmos] world’s foundation.” Such translation can in no way lead readers to deduce that it is our literal earth that is to come to an end, but it is the system of things. That the term “earth”, which the King James renders “world” at Revelation 13:3, can be used in a symbolic way is shown by the new rendering: “And all the earth [gē] followed the wild beast with admiration.” (NW) Here, of course, earth means the people dwelling on the earth. Thus we see that only the one word [kosʹmos] is translated world throughout the new version. The one exception to translating it world is where 1 Peter 3:3 applies kosʹmos to women’s adornment.

5. What improvement does it make over the former translation Gentiles?

⁵ The name Gentile(s) is dropped and the force of the original word is brought out by rendering it “nations”, or “man of the nations”, or “people of the nations”. (Matt. 24:14; 18:17; 6:7, NW) Note this one instance, Jesus’ final command to his disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them [the people, and not the nations] in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.”—Matt. 28:19, NW.

6. How does it bring out the sense of “pneuma” in five ways?

⁶ The word pneuʹma has the basic meaning of invisible, active force, and the new translation brings it out in five ways. First, as an unseen force in action, whether the wind or an impersonal spirit: We read: “The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone that has been born from the spirit.” (John 3:8, NW) Second, as an unseen, heavenly person: “God is a Spirit.” (John 4:24, NW) Third, as a mental attitude or inclination: Whereas the King James says, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit,” the new version says: “The Lord be with the spirit you show.” (2 Tim. 4:22, NW; also Phil. 4:23, NW) Fourth, as a moving or inspiring force: Instead of using the uncertain expression “in the spirit”, John is made to say: “By inspiration I came to be in the Lord’s day.” (Rev. 1:10, NW) This shows John came under the spirit’s power. Fifth, as an utterance inspired by an unseen source: “Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world. . . . this is the antichrist’s inspired expression which you have heard was coming.” (1 John 4:1-3, NW) “And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth. . . . They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”—Rev. 16:13, 14, NW.

7. How does it distinguish between happiness and blessedness?

⁷ The King James renders two different Greek words as “blessed”. The new version always distinguishes between them and renders the one (ma·kaʹri·os) as “happy”. For instance, in the sermon on the mount we read: “Happy are those who are conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are those who mourn, since they will be comforted.” And so on; so that we cannot any longer call them “beatitudes” in accord with the Latin Vulgate. We must call them states of happiness or felicities. (Matt. 5:3-12, NW) Consistent with this, Jesus’ human mother Mary is heard to say: “My soul magnifies Jehovah, . . . For, look! from now on all generations will pronounce me happy.” (Luke 1:46-48, NW) We likewise read of the “happy God” and of the “happy and only Potentate”. (1 Tim. 1:11; 6:15, NW) God and his Son are happy!

8. How does it show the length of existence of Jehovah’s witnesses?

⁸ In the King James at Hebrews 12:1, why the writer should suddenly introduce the word “witnesses” has led to a variety of interpreting, many thinking he means spectators witnessing an athletic race. But the new version shows that the related verb meaning “to bear witness” is used four times in the preceding chapter where he discusses faith and where he says: “By means of this the men of old times had witness borne to them.” He specifically names Abel and Enoch as having had this witness, and ends the chapter, saying: “And yet all these, although they had witness borne to them through their faith, did not get the fulfillment of the promise, as God foresaw something better for us.” He then opens the next chapter, saying: “So, then, because we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race.” (Heb. 11:2, 4, 5, 39, 40; 12:1, NW) So we awake to the fact that the writer means the witnesses of Jehovah from Abel on to John the Baptist. By this we know that Jehovah’s witnesses did not have their beginning first in 1931, when that Scriptural name was publicly confessed at our international convention in Columbus, Ohio, to distinguish us from the hundreds of sects professing to be Christian.

9, 10. How does it emphasize the promotion of the wise, faithful servant?

⁹ Modern versions render several Greek words by “household”, including the word which occurs only once, at Matthew 24:45. But here the new version makes a striking distinction, rendering the text: “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics [oi·ke·teiʹa] to give them their food at the proper time?” (NW) The similar text at Luke 12:42 enlarges on the word domestics by using the words “body of attendants”, showing what “domestics” means. There seems to be only one other English translation that holds with this rendering “domestics”, and that is Murdock’s translation from the Syriac version. The translation from the Syriac by A. S. Lewis renders it “companions”, that is, companion slaves. All other versions indifferently render it “household”. But Osty’s 1949 French translation agrees by rendering it “domestiques”; and the German translations by Luther and by Perk (1947), and the Elberfelder, agree, and also the Spanish translations by Nácar-Colunga (1948) and by Bover-Cantera (1947) and the Hispano-Americana, and also the Portuguese translation by J. F. D’Almeida.

¹⁰ With this accurate rendering we can appreciate how our Lord promotes this consecrated service organization which he pictures as the “faithful and discreet slave” at this end of the world. Before being promoted the slave is put over only the Lord’s “domestics”, or “body of attendants”, to give them their spiritual food at the proper time; and so we can see how one in his position could turn evil and start beating his fellow slaves. But what promotion does the discreet slave organization get for faithfully feeding all the Lord’s domestics? Jesus’ prophecy on the world’s end answers: “Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you that he will appoint him over [what?] ALL his belongings.” (Matt. 24:46, 47, NW; Luke 12:43, 44) And now the facts show that Jesus promoted his anointed slave class in this way since 1919.

DEATH STATE, “HELL,” AND SOUL

11. How does it show that the death state is like sleep?

¹¹ Jesus compared death to a sleep. Speaking of the death of his dear friend he said: “Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am traveling there to awaken him from sleep.” Then in explanation he said outspokenly to his disciples: “Lazarus has died.” (John 11:11-14, NW) Our new version shows where the verb “sleep” means death. When the martyr Stephen was being stoned and had said his last word, we read: “And after saying this he fell asleep in death.” Also, David “fell asleep in death and was laid with his forefathers”. As for a wife, “if her husband should fall asleep in death, she is free to be married to whom she wants.” To Christians the apostle says: “We do not want you to be ignorant concerning those who are sleeping in death, that you may not sorrow just as the rest also do who have no hope.” And those who ridicule us today for our warning of the world’s end were foretold as saying to us: “Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning.”—Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Cor. 7:39; 1 Thess. 4:13; 2 Pet. 3:4, NW.

12. As to “hell”, what three Greek words does it distinguish? How?

¹² Consistent with the fact that the death state of those redeemed by Jesus is like a sleep, the new version clearly distinguishes between three different Greek words, rendering them respectively as Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus. The King James renders all three words by the one English term “hell”. This has led to many a hell-fire sermon and to much confusion and mental agony of those who lost loved ones in death. The word “hell”, with the terror which the religious clergy have loaded into it, does not appear in the New World Translation. Its appendix contains an illuminating explanation of Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus, showing their restricted meanings and the difference between them.

13. What does it show those three Greek words to apply to or mean?

¹³ The footnotes below the translation show that Hades corresponds with the Hebrew “Sheʹol” and applies to the common grave of mankind redeemed by Christ and it will one day be completely emptied by the resurrection of all who are in their individual graves. Hence Peter applies the prophecy to Jesus when he was in the common grave of mankind: “You will not forsake my soul in Hades.” He adds that David the prophet here “saw beforehand and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he forsaken in Hades”. (Acts 2:27, 31, NW) Later Jesus tells John: “I have the keys of death and of Hades.” The vision of when he applies those keys reads: “And death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.” That means the death or finish of Hades. The symbolic “lake of fire” corresponds with Gehenna and pictures everlasting destruction. Jesus tells us so in these words: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Jesus contrasts life and Gehenna, because to be condemned to Gehenna means to be blotted out from all life. (Matt. 10:28; 18:9; 23:33; Mark 9:43-47, NW) The third term, Tartarus, applies only to the fallen angel spirits, and not to us humans. Occurring just once, at 2 Peter 2:4, it describes such angels’ present abased condition for their sinful rebellion against Jehovah God.

14. How does it give prominence to the mortality of the human soul?

¹⁴ In a text just quoted, Jesus declared God had the power to destroy both the human body and the soul in Gehenna. This awakens us to the awful fact that the human soul is destructible and by no means immortal as the pagan philosophers Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato taught. The Christian truth on the human soul’s mortality and destructibleness is given unusual prominence in the new Bible version in that it consistently translates the Greek word psy·cheʹ by the one word “soul” in the 102 occurrences of the Greek word. This proves to be, not bunglesome, but very revealing on how the clergy of Christendom have adopted and taught pagan falsehoods about the human soul instead of Christian truth.

15. How does the appendix show features about “soul”?

¹⁵ The Appendix groups the occurrences of the word psy·cheʹ under different headings to show that the soul is distinguished from the spirit and that live persons or creatures are themselves souls. For example, 1 Corinthians 15:45 (NW) reads: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” And 1 Peter 3:20 (NW) reads: “The patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” But concerning the human soul’s mortalness, hear Jesus’ further words: “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do a good deed or to do an injury, to save or to kill a soul?” (Mark 3:4; Luke 6:9, NW) Also: “Whoever seeks to keep his soul safe for himself will lose it, but whoever loses it will preserve it alive.” “He that is fond of his soul destroys it, but he that hates his soul in this world will safeguard it for everlasting life.” (Luke 17:33; John 12:25, NW; compare Joshua 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39; 11:11) “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death.” (Matt. 26:38; Mark 14:34, NW) And so with many other scriptures. But this Christian doctrine that our souls die and that the dead are unconscious and inactive is in full harmony with the comforting doctrine of resurrection.

Further Enrichment of Understanding

1. How has the new translation been careful about the Greek verb?

ONE of the most important parts of speech of any language is the verb. It is doubtless the most difficult part of speech to master. To enrich our understanding of the Christian Greek Scriptures fully the translator must understand that complicated part of Greek speech, the verb. It has a number of voices and tenses and modes. A number of distinctions between all these were dying out with the passing away of the classical Greek and the prevalence of the common or koi·nēʹ Greek in the days of Jesus and his apostles. Yet the modern translator cannot afford to be careless and loose as to the exact shade of meaning of a verb. In Greek the verb tenses not only express the time of an action or state, but also the kind of action, whether starting out, or continuative, or repetitious, or completed at a certain point. Attention to such senses contained in the verb forms leads to a precise translation and a nicety of expression. To some readers it may look like a free translation rather than a literal one, but such is not actually the case. A brief consideration of some cases which show the attention that the New World Translation has given to the descriptive force of the verb will prove enlightening.

2. What does it do with the historical present tense of the verb?

² It appears that, except in the book of Revelation, the New World Translation has done away with the historical present and has rendered all cases of it as verbs in the past tense. Thus, where the King James reads, “Then the devil leaveth [historical present] him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him,” we now read: “Then the Devil left him, and, look! angels came and began to minister to him.” (Matt. 4:11, NW) Note that expression, “began to minister,” instead of “ministered”. This is because the verb “minister” is put in the imperfect tense and here it denotes the beginning of an action that continues for a time.

3. How does it render the present tense to show continuous action and the command to do it no more?

³ A fine rendering of the present tense where it denotes action that still continues from the past is given us at John 5:17. The King James reads: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” But the new version reads: “My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working.” (NW) Another good rendering of the present tense which denotes duration or continuance of action is at John 17:3, which reads: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (NW) Not just coming to know, but their continuing to know, or rather, their taking in knowledge of God and Jesus Christ results in everlasting life. A continuative present we find at Matthew 16:4: “A wicked and adulterous generation keeps on seeking for a sign.” (NW) The rendering of the present tense of verbs in the form of a command is interesting. For example: “Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you.” “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom.” (Matt. 5:44; 6:33, NW) “Finally, brothers, carry on prayer for us.” (2 Thess. 3:1, NW) As for negative commands: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” (Matt. 7:1, NW) To Mary Magdalene Jesus says: “Stop clinging to me. For I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (John 20:17, NW) And the man in bed says to the friend knocking at his door at midnight: “Quit making me trouble.” (Luke 11:7, NW) In these cases the action has been going on, and now the command is to stop it or quit it.

4. How does it show the imperfect tense expresses attempted action?

⁴ Take, now, the imperfect tense: It may express not only the start of an action that continues, but also an attempt to do something. Hence, instead of John’s forbidding a man, we read: “John said: ‘Instructor, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he is not following with us.’ But Jesus said to him: ‘Do not you men try to prevent him.’” (Luke 9:49, NW) Also, Abraham did not actually sacrifice his son, Isaac, but we read: “By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, offered up Isaac, and the man that had gladly received the promises attempted to offer up his only-begotten son.”—Heb. 11:17, NW.

5. What does “aorist” mean? How does it render this verb tense?

⁵ The Greek has also a peculiar tense called the “aorist”, which means “not bounded” as to time. Verbs in the aorist tense may be rendered in a variety of ways according to their context. It is interesting at times to make a difference between these and verbs in the present tense or in the perfect tense. The aorist tense may mark a definite occurrence of something at an unstated time in the past. That is why we read, at Matthew 3:17: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” (NW) Again, it may denote customary or proverbial action, as at John 15:6 (NW) on the vine and the branches: “If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up.” (Also Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35, NW) Then there is the letter-writer’s aorist tense. While at it he describes his writing as past, because it will be so when his readers get his letter; but today we say it in the present tense, as at 1 John 2:13, 14, NW, “I write you, young children, because you have come to know the Father. I write you, fathers, because you have come to know him,” etc. In commands the aorist, unlike the present tense, denotes the command to do something not yet begun or undertaken, an action at a certain point. For example: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look! your King is coming to you.” (Matt. 21:4, NW) Also: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul.” (Matt. 10:28, NW) Also: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine.”—Matt. 7:6, NW.

6. How does it show the difference between the aorist and the present tense as to committing an act and practicing something?

⁶ Rather than to denote practicing something regularly, the aorist tense may denote the committing of just one act of that kind. Hence we hear the Devil say to Jesus on the mount of temptation: “All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me.” (Matt. 4:9, NW) And John writes us: “My little children, I am writing you these things that you may not commit a sin. And yet, if anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one.” (1 John 2:1, NW) Contrast that isolated act of sin with John’s using the present tense to say: “Everyone remaining in union with him does not practice sin; no one that practices sin has either seen him or come to know him. Little children, let no one mislead you; he who practices righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous. He who practices sin originates with the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from when he began.” “Every person that has been born from God does not practice sin, but the One born from God watches him, and the wicked one does not fasten his hold on him.”—1 John 3:6-8; 5:18, NW.

DOCTRINAL DIFFICULTIES DISPOSED OF

7. What does “periphrastic” mean? How does Luke 21:17 show it?

⁷ One other observation about verbs, and that is an observation about them in the roundabout or periphrastic way of saying things. Proper regard for this form often leads us to a grasp of the right thought of the original and it safeguards us against error. In the similar cases of the periphrastic form we find it translated in a simple way, at Matthew 24:9 (NW): “You will be hated by all the nations on account of my name”; but at Luke 21:17 (NW) the periphrastic sense is more fully brought out in these words: “You will be objects of hatred by all persons because of my name.”

8. How is false doctrine thus disposed of at Matthew 16:19; 18:18?

⁸ Four other cases, when rightly translated, do away with a false doctrine that has been built upon them. At Matthew 16:19 (NW) Jesus says to Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you may bind on earth will have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you may loose on earth will have been loosed in the heavens.” At Matthew 18:18 (NW) Jesus says to all his apostles: “Truly I say to you men, Whatever things you may bind on earth will have been bound in heaven and whatever things you may loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” Thus Jesus did not tell Peter and the other apostles that heaven would wait upon their decision and would afterward confirm and abide by their decision on earth. No; but whatever Peter and his fellow apostles might decide on earth, it would be the thing that had already been bound or loosed in heaven and Peter and his fellows would be merely expressing the prior decision of heaven. Thus heaven would not be dictated to from the earth upward, but the apostles on earth would be directed Theocratically from heaven downward. And so by the simple translation of the periphrastic form of the verb, without the insertion of any added words, the New World Translation disposes of a doctrinal error.

9. How does it help overcome a seeming contradiction between Acts 9:7 and Ac 22:9?

⁹ A nice rendering also helps to overcome an apparent contradiction between Acts 9:7 and Ac 22:9, on whether the men with Saul of Tarsus heard anything supernatural when the glorified Jesus showed himself to Saul on the road to Damascus. This difficulty is overcome by paying attention to the grammatical case of the word voice which is the object of the verb “hear”. That word voice (pho·nēʹ) can mean either sound or voice and it is translated both ways. At Acts 9:4 (NW) we read: “He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” There the word voice is in the accusative case and Paul heard what the voice said. But Ac 9 verse 7 has voice change to the genitive case to show that his companions heard of the voice. Hence we now read: “The men that were journeying with him were standing speechless, hearing, indeed, the sound of a voice, but not beholding any man.” (NW) But did they hear with Paul what the voice said? No! For at Acts 22:9 Paul says: “The men that were with me beheld, indeed, the light but did not hear the voice [accusative case] of the one speaking to me.” (NW) He means that, though the men heard the sound, they did not hear what the voice was telling Paul. They did not get its message. But at Ac 22 verse 7 Paul tells us he himself not only heard the sound of the voice but also understood what it was saying: “I fell to the ground and heard a voice [genitive case] say to me: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” (NW) So in the footnote, it gives an alternative reading to show that Paul’s men did not hear in that they did not “hear understandingly”.—Compare 1 Corinthians 14:11, NW.

FOR GREATER CLEARNESS

10. What quotations show how it renders the Greek verb for “justify”?

¹⁰ At the start those who have long been enamored of the King James Version may bewail the disappearance of familiar terms and phrases. But in time they will see that the change of names, terms and expressions makes for greater clearness of meaning. Take that word “justified”. Very few people know its Bible meaning. The New World Translation renders the Greek verb for it “declare (or prove) righteous; declare guiltless; acquit; vindicate”. Romans 3:4 now reads: “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, even as it is written: ‘That you might be vindicated in your words and might win when you are being judged.’” (NW) Paul declares: “I am not conscious of anything against me. Yet by this I do not stand vindicated, but he that examines me is Jehovah.” (1 Cor. 4:4, NW) Jesus declares: “Wisdom is vindicated by its works.” And: “By your words you will be vindicated, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt. 11:19; 12:37; Luke 7:35, NW) To show our justification by faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, Paul says: “From all the things from which you could not be declared guiltless by means of the law of Moses, everyone who believes is declared guiltless by means of this One.” (Acts 13:39, NW) To Christians who die sacrificially with Jesus Paul further says: “He who has died has been acquitted from his sin. Moreover, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”—Rom. 6:7, 8, NW.

11. How is the relationship between righteousness and faith more clearly shown?

¹¹ How our justification is gained through faith in Christ’s blood is stated in these words: “Therefore, now that we have been declared righteous as a result of faith, let us enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Much more, therefore, since we have been declared righteous now by his blood, shall we be saved through him from wrath.” (Rom. 5:1, 9, NW) That God does the justifying, we read, in these words: “Those whom he called are the ones he also declared to be righteous. . . . Who will file accusation against God’s chosen ones? God is the One who declares them righteous.” (Rom. 8:30, 33, NW) In English the relation between the Anglo-Saxon word believing and the Latin word faith is not so apparent, but in Greek the words meaning “faith” and “to believe” are clearly seen to be related, as they are drawn from the same root word. The New World Translation endeavors to keep this relationship clear by rendering the verb “to believe” in appropriate places as “to exercise faith; to put faith; to rest faith”. Hence note how clear justification by faith is made in this rendering: “If, for instance, Abraham were declared righteous as a result of works, he would have grounds for boasting; but not with God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham exercised faith in Jehovah, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ . . . to the man that does not work but puts faith in him who declares the ungodly one righteous, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Rom. 4:2, 3, 5, NW) Also, instead of the King James’ rendering, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken,” 2 Corinthians 4:13 now reads: “Now because we have the same spirit of faith as that of which it is written, ‘I exercised faith, therefore I spoke,’ we, too, exercise faith and therefore we speak.”—NW.

12. How is the connection between faith and righteousness kept plainly to view at Romans 10:4, 8-11?

¹² The inseparable connection of faith with justification and righteousness is further kept plainly in view in this rendering at Romans 10:4, 8-11 (NW): “Christ is the accomplished end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness. But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’; that is, the ‘word’ of faith which we are preaching. For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your mouth’, that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation. For the Scripture says: ‘None that rests his faith on him will be disappointed.’”

RELIGION

13. Why do we find the rendering “legally establishing” at Philippians 1:7? What booklet title is based on it?

¹³ At the 1950 international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York city, there was released to us the invaluable legal document, the 96-page booklet entitled “Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News”. By the way, that title is based on Paul’s words in prison at Rome, recorded at Philippians 1:7 (NW): “All of you being sharers with me in the undeserved kindness both in my prison bonds and in the defending and legally establishing of the good news.” The reader may wonder why the Greek word (be·baiʹo·sis) here is rendered “legally establishing”. We note that at Hebrews 6:16 (NW) the word has again the legal flavor and is translated “legal guarantee”. However, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament by Moulton and Milligan (1914) shows it is a technical word with the flavor of judicial courts, and has it also at Philippians 1:7. Dr. Adolf Deissmann, a pioneer with ancient papyri manuscripts, held that “the word must always be read with the technical sense in mind” (page 108). The papyri discovered since Deissmann’s pioneer work was published support his proposition with many examples. So we can appreciate from Paul’s words that he was in prison at Rome in a fight to legally establish the right to preach the good news of God’s kingdom and the right of the gospel to have as free a circulation as all the heathen religions in the Roman empire.

14. On page 75 what does the booklet say on the Society and witnesses?

¹⁴ On page 75 of the booklet Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News we read one of the conclusions arrived at concerning the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society after many years of fighting in the courts: “It is submitted that the Watch Tower Society and Jehovah’s witnesses are a legal religious organization and that their representatives engaged in preaching the gospel are legally recognized as ministers of religion, which entitles them to all privileges accorded to all religious organizations and ministers.”

15. What do the footnotes show on James 1:26, 27, Acts 26:5 and Colossians 2:18? and what does the Greek word signify?

¹⁵ This interesting conclusion makes us turn to the New World Translation for light on religion. The word nowhere occurs in the main body of the text, but does occur in an explanatory way in the footnotes. In contrast with the King James Version with its terms “religious” and “religion”, we now find “formal worshiper” and “form of worship” at James 1:26, 27: “If any man seems to himself to be a formal worshiper and yet does not bridle his tongue, but goes on deceiving his own heart, this man’s form of worship is futile. The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.” (NW) The footnotes show that the Old Latin Versions here read religiosum esse (to be religious) and religio (religion). That the Greek word here (thres·keiʹa) means “form of worship” is shown by Paul at Acts 26:5: “According to the strictest sect of our form of worship I lived a Pharisee.” (NW) Here the footnote shows the Old Latin texts read sectam nostrae religionis (sect of our religion). At Colossians 2:18 he also writes of “a form of worship of the angels”, and the footnote shows that the Old Latin versions read religione angelorum (a religion of the angels).

16. How did early Latin-speaking Christians use the word religio? Did Paul use it in court?

¹⁶ From this it is apparent that the early Latin-speaking Christians used religio (religion) as the equivalent of the Greek word (thres·keiʹa). Doubtless in the Roman court before which Paul appeared, the Latin term religio was applied to Paul’s form of worship, Christianity. But Paul did not object, because he understood the general, commonly accepted meaning of the word. Whether he carried on his fight in the Roman court in Latin or in Greek and whether he himself applied the term religio to his form of worship of Jehovah God we do not know. He was there to fight for its right to exist and to expand the same as any religio of the day.

17. Was Paul discourteous in his opening words to the Athenians on Mars Hill? Under what legal Latin term did he fight for Christianity?

¹⁷ We find the Roman governor Festus before whom Paul appeared in court referring to the Jewish worship as “worship of the deity”, when Festus said to King Agrippa: “They simply had certain disputes with him concerning their own worship of the deity and concerning a certain Jesus who was dead but who Paul kept asserting was alive.” (Acts 25:19, NW) The footnote here shows us that that expression “worship of the deity” is practically the same expression that Paul used when addressing the Athenians on Mars Hill and saying: “Men of Athens, I behold that in all things you seem to be more given to the fear of the deities than others are.” (Acts 17:22, NW) And as an illustration of that fact Paul referred to the altar he had found on which had been inscribed “To an Unknown God”, and Paul showed them this unknown Deity was his own God. Hence tactful Paul was not offending those refined men of the high court by saying they were more in fear of demons than others, using the word “demons” in its modern horrifying sense. The footnote shows that “demons were thought to be deities, not discourteously”. And so Festus applied the Greek expression (dei·si·dai·mo·niʹa) to the Jewish belief, but not in a discourteous way. If now Paul fought for Christianity with the legal term religio applied to it in his day, we can, too, in this day, without objection. It follows, therefore, that the proposition submitted on page 75 of the legal booklet is correct.

THE SENSES OF “ALL”

18. What sense of “all” is listed first, and where is it so used?

¹⁸ One of the words that has caused great difficulty in understanding is the little word “all”. How many are “all”? The Greek text uses it in three senses, as set forth in the New World Translation: (1) As meaning “all”, a totality, including everything and everyone; (2) as meaning all kinds, manners or sorts of persons or things; and (3) as meaning every other, or all other persons or things. When Jesus said the kingdom of heaven was like a merchant who, on finding one pearl of high value, “went and promptly sold all the things he had and bought it,” Jesus meant all things minus nothing. (Matt. 13:45, 46, NW) Where Paul says concerning God’s Son Jesus Christ, “When all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone,” Paul meant all things and all persons barring none. (1 Cor. 15:28, NW) That is the first sense of the word.

19. What is the second sense of “all”, and where is “all” so used?

¹⁹ Those who believe in universal salvation of all persons, including the Devil himself, will object to the second sense. But we cannot escape it, if we agree that the Scriptures are harmonious. Note how the New World Translation harmonizes the Scriptures that only those who gain knowledge and exercise faith to the finish will be saved: “The true light [Jesus] which gives light to every kind of man was about to come into the world.” Also Jesus’ own words: “I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw men of all kinds to me.” (John 1:9; 12:32, NW) Also: “Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lyingly say every kind of wicked thing against you for my sake.” (Matt. 5:11, NW) Then Joel’s prophecy fulfilled on the day of Pentecost: “‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I shall pour some of my spirit out upon every kind of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams; and even upon my men slaves and upon my women slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:16-18, NW) Paul says Christians should pray “concerning all kinds of men” and then adds: “This is right and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, whose will is that all kinds of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.”—1 Tim. 2:1-4, NW, also 1Ti 2:6, footnote⁠^e.

20. So how is Romans 5:18, 19 rendered, and why rightly so?

²⁰ But what about Romans 5:18, 19? you say. Well, we are relieved of all need of a long explanation by the rendering: “So, then, as through one trespass the result to men of all kinds was condemnation, likewise also through one act of justification the result to men of all kinds is a declaring of them righteous for life. For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obedience of the one person many will be constituted righteous.” (NW) Thus the fact that many, but not all men without exception, will be constituted righteous agrees with the related fact that the result of Christ’s act to men of all kinds is a declaring of them righteous for life. All this harmonizes with Paul’s argument up to this point that not only natural Jews but people of all other nations, people of all kinds, will have an opportunity for salvation. But not all men are saved.

21. What is the third sense of “all”, and where is it so used?

²¹ Now as to the third sense of “all”: This plays havoc with the trinitarian arguments. Yet this sense of “all other” or “every other” is perfectly grammatical and Scriptural. Note Jesus’ words showing this: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.” In his prophecy on the world’s end: “Note the fig tree and all the other trees.” (Matt. 6:33; Luke 21:29; also Lu 13:2, 4, NW) Then Paul’s body illustration: “If one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it; or if a member is glorified, all the other members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26; also 1Co 6:18, NW) As to Christ’s glorification Paul says: “God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name.”—Phil. 2:9, NW.

22, 23. How do trinitarians argue on Colossians 1:15-20, and how does the new translation dispose of their argument?

²² But now trinitarians confront you with Paul’s words at Colossians 1:15-20 according to the King James Version. They argue that, if Jesus Christ was before all things and all things consist by him and were created by him and for him, then he must be the very same as the Almighty, Most High God, or be one person with God. But we must harmonize these verses with all the other scriptures that Jesus Christ was God’s Son and a creation of His. So the Greek word here must be rendered in the sense of “all other”. Note, then, how the New World Translation blasts the trinitarian argument:

²³ “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, . . . All other things have been created through him and for him. Also he is before all other things and by means of him all other things were made to exist, and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things, because God saw good for all fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile again to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake, no matter whether they are the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens.” (NW) In harmony with this, Revelation 4:11 (NW) tells us that Jehovah God “created all things”, including his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.—See also John 3:31, NW.

FOR ONE MOST HIGH AND ALMIGHTY GOD

24. Does the name Jehovah apply to Jesus? How is your answer shown?

²⁴ From this consideration alone it is evident that the New World Translation shows up sharply the distinction between Jehovah God and Jesus Christ because they are two separate and distinct persons, the One the Creator and the other a creature in God’s image. This translation, by restoring the name Jehovah to the rightful place it holds in the Greek Scriptures, shows that the name Jehovah is not applied to Jesus. For example, trinitarians are prone to link up Romans 10:13, a quotation of Joel 2:32, with Jesus. But now if we read in the New World Translation both verse 9 and verse 13 of Romans 10 we see the wrongness of that. We read the verses as follows: “For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your mouth’, that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For ‘everyone that calls upon the name of Jehovah will be saved’.” (NW) We note that verse 9 does not say that, to be saved, you must publicly declare that Jesus is Jehovah, but that he is Lord, or Master. The footnote here shows that “Lord” here does not mean or refer to Jehovah, and that not even the Hebrew versions render it Jehovah. Hence, to be saved, it is upon the name of Jehovah that we must call, for he is the One that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. All the context of these scriptures agrees with this. We could also refer to Acts 2:21, 24-36 to show that Jehovah and Jesus are distinct and that the divine name does not apply to the Son Jesus. There is only the one Most High and Almighty God, and that is Jehovah the Father of our Lord Jesus.

25. What other features of the translation do we not have space now to treat? To whom and for what do we commend its use?

²⁵ But space fails us to tell of other outstanding features of this New World Translation, how it eliminates false passages that are not in the most ancient and authentic Greek manuscripts; how and why it drops the word “cross” in favor of “torture stake”; how it gives the Hebrew background to the Christian Greek Scriptures; how it sets forth Christ’s second presence or par·ou·siʹa with Kingdom power. But for some further information on its features we can refer our readers to our article of September 15, 1950, on “New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures”. After our thorough examination and close scrutiny of this remarkable translation we commend its use in Bible study to all seekers of truth and life. By it they are sure to gain riches of the full assurance of their understanding.

“Blood Puddings”

The Malvern Gazette of July 7, 1950, contained the following report of a discussion that occurred in British Parliament: “Mr. De La Bere also asked whether, in view of the fact that dried animal blood plasma, imported from European slaughterhouses, was being used as a substitute for eggs in cakes and confectionery sold in Great Britain, the Government would give an assurance that steps would be taken to prohibit the sale of this plasma for use as a substitute for eggs, with special regard to the fact that the supply of eggs was more than adequate for all purposes throughout the country? Mr. F. T. Willey, Parliamentary Secretary, stating that the Government would not do so, added that bakers were still short of egg products, and animal plasma was a valuable and harmless substitute. Mr. Walter Fletcher (Member for Bury and Radcliffe): To protect the public from deception should not these be labeled ‘blood puddings’? [Laughter.]” However, this additional case of violation of God’s law prohibiting the eating of blood is not a laughing matter.—Lev. 17:10; Acts 15:29.

Visiting Jehovah’s Witnesses in China

TRULY it has been said that China, which is about one-third larger than the United States, is actually a “sea”—yes, a sea of 463,500,000 people. And, like a sea, this mighty ocean of humanity has moved with the tides of time. China has enjoyed the welcomed calms of peace during its 4,200 years of existence, but at the same time it has had more than its share of lashing storms, having been tossed and torn and whipped about by famine and dreaded pestilence, political crises and bloody wars.

Millions of Chinese people face death by starvation during the coming year because of the deplorable conditions in this land. We view the gaunt frames of adults; we note tiny children suffering from malnutrition. We are told that conditions are so bad in some sectors that many have resorted to eating a clay pie mixed with weeds and grasses. This they call the “goddess of mercy”. Not only death through famine stalks China, but, as the world well knows, the tidal wave of godless communism has flooded the nation with bloody civil war and has routed the Nationalist government out of the land.

But, regardless of these frightful conditions, many of the Chinese people have a bright new hope for the future, for they are the happy recipients of the Kingdom message published by Jehovah’s witnesses in that land. Let’s stop off for a moment in Shanghai and meet the Watch Tower Society’s Branch servant, Stanley Jones, and obtain more information on the work of Jehovah’s witnesses in China.

Shanghai appears to be a disorganized mass of buildings on the banks of the Yangtze river. The harbor is choked with the famous Chinese junks and numerous other craft, all sizes and shapes. We see the “coolies” running about with their heavy loads balanced on the two ends of bamboo poles that rest on the laborers’ strong shoulders. Branch servant Jones and two other Gilead-trained missionaries stationed in Shanghai are anxious to tell about their increases in China, and we listen attentively.

The witnesses currently number about 300. The Shanghai company of Jehovah’s witnesses is continually growing. To illustrate this Stanley Jones relates the experience of a Chinese lady doctor who became interested in Jehovah’s witnesses following the visit of a publisher-minister. A Bible study was arranged; rapid progress was made. On learning the truth about the trinity, hell and the soul, she remarked: “I never could really believe these religious doctrines.” It was not long until she was engaging in the missionary work from house to house. Through the efforts of this new minister a Bible study was conducted with a group of nurses, and this study has already produced another new publisher.

But what goes on at our next stop, Hong Kong? Multitudes of people are on the move. Hundreds of men are running along the streets pulling their rickshas. The harbor is full of activity. Motor-powered boats and junks with their one huge sail plow through the waters; myriads of small craft and sampans powered by women with long oars weave about between the ferries, ocean liners and other vessels that have taken refuge here to escape any “incidents” with the Communist and Nationalist navies. Here too we see the traditional coolie men and women loading and unloading trucks, and carrying heavy bundles along the roadside. Roaring past them goes a modern motor transport. Here is the contrast of East and West.

Our four friends, missionaries all, are glad we are with them. Indeed their words of joy and appreciation brighten this dreary day as we make our way to the missionary home at 1 Bonham Road. The work in Hong Kong is progressing favorably, and the missionaries are kept very busy conducting dozens of home Bible studies with those interested in the truth, just like their fellow workers in Shanghai. The little group in Hong Kong is commencing to grow and we can look for good increase.

Two of the missionaries who meet us at the airport were until very recently serving on the island of Tai Wan, commonly called Formosa. You will recall that Formosa is the last stronghold of the Nationalist government and the place they plan to make their death stand against the Chinese communists. The two missionaries inform us that Jehovah’s witnesses on Formosa are undergoing persecution and hardships because of their ministry, but they are nonetheless pressing on. The witnesses on Tai Wan are to be found mostly among the Ami people, a very humble and meek class of persons who inhabit the mountainous regions of Formosa. We rejoice to learn that more than 200 Ami people have manifested genuine interest in the preaching activity.

China is getting a witness, but there is so much more to do!

Questions From Readers

● Revelation 21:4 says that in the new world there will be no more death. Does this mean that even animals will not die then?—M. I., New York.

This text does not mean that all death will be eliminated. Rebellious human creatures will die during Christ’s millennial reign, and those siding with Satan at the end of the thousand years will perish. (Isa. 65:17, 20; Rev. 20:7-10) True, Revelation 20:14 shows death destroyed and thereafter Revelation 21:4 says there will be no more death, but the death referred to is death due to inheritance from Adam. Men will not then degenerate and die because of Adam’s transgression, but at any future time Jehovah God could execute any willful rebel that would disrupt the peace of the new world. Hence Revelation 21:4 speaks only of the Adamic death of humans, and has no application to the animal realm.

As to whether animals will die in the new world we cannot be dogmatic. It appears that men will not kill them for food, nor will animals prey upon one another. In the new world Jehovah’s original purpose relative to food supplies will be realized, as stated to Adam and Eve: “See, I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are found all over the earth, and all the trees which have seed-bearing fruit; it shall be yours to eat. To all the wild beasts of the earth, to all the birds of the air, and to all the land reptiles, in which there is a living spirit, I give all the green plants for food.” (Gen. 1:29, 30, AT) If that outstanding carnivorous animal, the lion, is to “eat straw like the ox”, surely no others will be meat-eaters. (Isa. 11:6-9) Incidentally, this shows that Revelation 21:4 does not eliminate all death of organic life, for plants will die to become food for men and animals.

But merely that animals will not be used for food does not prove they will live forever. There is reason to believe they will die. Man’s disobedience in Eden did not bring death to animals—they had been living and dying and many forms becoming extinct for thousands of years before man’s creation. The new world will eliminate the effects of Adam’s disobedience, but that does not concern animal death. The status of the beast has remained unchanged since its creation—it lives out its life span and dies. At no time has it had set before it the prospect of eternal life.

Man’s position is different. Adam had hope of eternal life set before him, but that hope vanished when he failed to pass the test of obedience. Had he passed that test he doubtless would have eventually eaten of the “tree of life”. Through Adam all men lost the opportunity of eternal life, but through the ransoming work of Christ Jesus the opportunity is restored and men of good will may hope for eternal life in the new world. None of this concerns animals.

If a man is willfully wicked and scorns the ransom, he will never gain eternal life, though he lives for a few years now. He loses the better position of opportunity that is open for mankind, and drops into the same position as that of animals, a position that offers no opportunities of eternal life. Of such ones the inspired apostle Peter wrote: “But these men, like unreasoning animals born naturally to be caught and destroyed, will, in the things of which they are ignorant and speak abusively, even suffer destruction in their own course of destruction.”—2 Peter 2:12, NW.

If animals had opportunity for eternal life, why would these men who lose such opportunity be compared to them? There seems to be no Scriptural basis for arguing that animals will live forever in the new world, but rather that they will continue being born, maturing, bringing forth offspring, and dying. Argument to the contrary seems to be based largely on sentimental grounds.

East Germany Bans Jehovah’s Witnesses

EAST GERMANY BANS JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

On August 30 at Magdeburg in the Soviet zone 60 of Jehovah’s witnesses were arrested and jailed, according to a dispatch in the New York Times, August 31. The report said that for months past the Witnesses “have been imprisoned by the dozens, their meetings broken up and various individuals among them badly beaten by the police on the ground that they constituted a threat to peace. Accusations have been raised against them constantly in the Communist press that they were spies and saboteurs in the pay of the United States ‘imperialists’”.

Then on September 5 the New York Daily News carried a United Press dispatch dated September 4 that reported: “The East German Communist government banned Jehovah’s witnesses in the Soviet zone today, charging the estimated 25,000 members with ‘espionage for a foreign, imperialistic power’ . . . . This was the first formal action against the organization by the Communist government, although it has carried on a propaganda campaign against Jehovah’s witnesses in recent weeks and assigned a small army of men and women to watch the members day and night.” The New York Times also reported this matter, but added: “Yesterday, reliable sources reported from the East that the leaders of the group asserted 500 members had been seized last Wednesday in a secret police raid on the Magdeburg headquarters.”

On September 6 the New York Times published the following Reuters dispatch of September 5: “The East German security police have thrown 1,000 of Jehovah’s witnesses into prison in the twenty-four hours since the East German government banned the sect, a Berlin spokesman for the Witnesses declared today. . . . The ‘illegal pamphlets’, allegedly found in the sect’s offices, were Biblical literature translated into more than ninety languages and available all over the world.”

In Switzerland the Berner Tagblatt, September 4, published on its front page: “A representative of the sect stated that the action taken by the communists against the sect had led to persecution more severe than that of the Gestapo. The Gestapo had labelled the members of the sect as friends of communists and Jews. Today they are charged as being ‘agents of American imperialism’. The sect will never submit to dictatorial pressure. Neither will it cease to preach the gospel in the Soviet zone.”

Announcements

USE THE REMAINING TIME WISELY

Not forever will the Creator allow present distress and wickedness to continue on the earth. He has foreordained a definite time to bring the last vestiges of Satan’s world to a violent end; and the remaining time is very short. Don’t you desire to use that remaining time wisely? (Eph. 5:15, 16, RS) If so, we invite you to join with Jehovah’s witnesses in the activity they have arranged for November. During this month they will be offering the new book “This Means Everlasting Life”, on a contribution of 35c. Through its 320 pages this attractive and enlightening book alerts its readers to how everlasting life may be gained and the nearness of the time when it will be the cherished possession of righteous humankind. Life seekers need to quickly and intelligently seek God and his kingdom. Can you think of a wiser use of your time than to aid another to learn of the way to life? Jehovah’s witnesses in your community will be glad to assist you to share in this activity. Or, if you prefer, write to us and we will furnish you with helpful instructions and report forms.

NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES

Outstanding among the Scripture translations issued in recent years is the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, first released on Wednesday, August 2, 1950, at the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Yankee Stadium, New York city. Its total initial distribution at this assembly was 85,850 copies. This translation, accomplished by the New World Bible Translation Committee, is highly accurate, taking into account the latest Bible research. Modern speech is used throughout, yet for the sake of accuracy it is as literal as modern English usage will permit. The Creator’s name, Jehovah, appears 237 times from Matthew to Revelation. Copious marginal references, chain references on important words and phrases, footnotes, a foreword and an appendix combine to make the New World Translation a remarkable contribution toward a better understanding of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Your copy will be sent to you, postpaid, for a contribution of $1.50.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of November 26: Riches of the Full Assurance of Our Understanding, ¶1-15; and Further Enrichment of Understanding, ¶1-4.

Week of December 3: Further Enrichment of Understanding, ¶5-25.