In this post I will furnish another example how the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is a perversion of God’s Word, a diabolical translation produced for the express purpose of robbing Christ of his Deity and undermining the Trinity.

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF JEHOVAH JESUS

The Apostle Peter writes that it was actually the Spirit of Christ who inspired the [O]ld [T]estament prophets to announce his coming to suffer for the salvation of the world and the subsequent glories that would follow:

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, made careful searches and inquiries, inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been declared to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.” 1 Peter 1:10-12 Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)

To say that the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit of Christ to speak and record the revelations of his coming is truly astonishing in light of the fact that the Hebrew Bible is emphatically clear that the Holy Spirit is Jehovah’s Spirit. The OT is also emphatic that it was the Spirit of Jehovah who instructed the prophets, and not the Spirit of another!

“So Pharʹaoh said to his servants: ‘Can another man be found like this one in whom there is the spirit of God?’” Genesis 41:38

“These are the last words of David: ‘The word of David the son of Jesʹse, And the word of the man who was raised on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, The pleasant singer of the songs of Israel. The spirit of Jehovah spoke through me; His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke; To me the Rock of Israel said: “When the one ruling over mankind is righteous, Ruling in the fear of God,”’” 2 Samuel 23:1-3

“And you gave your good spirit to give them insight, and you did not hold back your manna from their mouth, and you gave them water when they were thirsty… You extended patience to them for many years and kept warning them by your spirit through your prophets, but they refused to listen. Finally you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.” Nehemiah 9:20, 30

“Do not cast me out from your presence; And do not take your holy spirit away from me.” Psalm 51:11

“‘Come near to me, and hear this. From the very start I have not spoken in secret. From the time it happened I was there.’ And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his spirit.” Isaiah 48:16

“The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, Because Jehovah anointed me to declare good news to the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And the wide opening of the eyes to the prisoners,” Isaiah 61:1

“But they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit. He then turned into their enemy, And he fought against them. And they remembered the days of old, The days of Moses his servant: ‘Where is the One who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the One who put within him His holy spirit… Just like livestock when they go down into the valley plain, The spirit of Jehovah made them rest.’ This is how you led your people, To make a majestic name for yourself.” Isaiah 63:10-11, 14

“And you will have to know that I am in the midst of Israel And that I am Jehovah your God—there is no other! My people will never again be put to shame. After that I will pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh, And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, And your young men will see visions.  And even on my male slaves and female slaves I will pour out my spirit in those days.” Joel 2:27-29

“As for me, I am filled with power by the spirit of Jehovah, And with justice and might, To tell to Jacob his revolt and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3:8

“They made their heart like a diamond and would not obey the law and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit through the former prophets. So there came great indignation from Jehovah of armies.” Zechariah 7:12

Nor is this the only place where the Holy Spirit is said to be the Spirit of Jesus Christ, God’s Son:

“Moreover, they traveled through Phrygʹi·a and the country of Ga·laʹti·a, because they were forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in the province of Asia. Further, when they came down to Mysʹi·a, they made efforts to go into Bi·thynʹi·a, but the spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” Acts 16:6-7

“However, you are in harmony, not with the flesh, but with the spirit, if God’s spirit truly dwells in you. But if anyone does not have Christ’s spirit, this person does not belong to him. But if Christ is in union with you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. If, now, the spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his spirit that resides in you. So, then, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh; for if you live according to the flesh, you are sure to die; but if you put the practices of the body to death by the spirit, you will live. For all who are led by God’s spirit are indeed God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery causing fear again, but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which spirit we cry out: “Abba, Father!’ The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. If, then, we are children, we are also heirs—heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ—provided we suffer together so that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:9-17

“But when the full limit of the time arrived, God sent his Son, who was born of a woman and who was under law, that he might release by purchase those under law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, and it cries out: ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, then you are also an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7

“for I know that this will result in my salvation through your supplication and with the support of the spirit of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:19

With the foregoing in view, the only way that Jewish believers such as Peter could ever identify the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, and state that it was Christ’s own Spirit who inspired the prophets, is if these monotheistic Jews actually thought of and confessed Jesus as Jehovah God Almighty who became a human being.  

Note the logic behind my argument:

1. The Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets is the Spirit of Jehovah, and of no other.
2. The Spirit of Christ is the One who inspired the prophets.
3. Jesus is, therefore, Jehovah God who became flesh (even though he is not the Father or the Holy Spirit).

Since both premises are biblically valid the conclusion, therefore, is valid as well.

Knowing this, the Society has deliberately mistranslated the verse in 1 Peter by rendering the Greek sentence where the Spirit is expressly said to be that of Christ in such a way as to disconnect the Holy Spirit from Christ.

Here’s their translation of the text in question:

“They kept on investigating what particular time or what season the spirit within them was indicating concerning Christ as it testified beforehand about the sufferings meant for Christ and about the glory that would follow.” 1 Peter 1:11

That the Society has deliberately perverted what Peter actually wrote can be easily proven from their very own Greek Interlinear and the other Bible versions that they make available on their own website. I quote these sources here for the benefit of the readers:

ἐραυνῶντες εἰς ποῖον καιρὸν ἐδήλου τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ προμαρτυρόμενον τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας

eraunontes eis tina e poion kairon edelou to en autois pneuma Christou promartyromenon ta eis Christon pathemata kai tas meta tauta doxas  

“searching into what or what sort of appointed time was making evident THE IN THEM SPIRIT OF CHRIST witnessing beforehand about the into Christ sufferings and the after these things glories.” (The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/kingdom-interlinear-greek-translation/books/1-peter/1/#v60001011)

“Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” (King James Version https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/king-james-version/books/1-peter/1/#v60001011)

“searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them.” (American Standard Version https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/american-standard-version/books/1-peter/1/#v60001011)

“searching to find out what time or what sort of time Christ’s spirit in them was pointing to in testifying beforehand the sufferings to which Christ was destined and the glory after these;” (The Bible in Living English https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/byington/books/1-peter/1/#v60001011)

“Searching into what particular or what manner of season the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to when witnessing beforehand as to—The sufferings for Christ And the glories after these,—” (The Emphasized Bible https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/rotherham/Bible-Navigation/1-peter/1/#v60001011)

It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the the Society chose to willfully mistranslate the inspired words of the blessed apostle because they did not want their members to come to the realization that Peter was identifying Jesus Christ as Jehovah Incarnate.

Such a deliberate perversion of God’s inspired Scriptures is a clear-cut sign that the NWT is a diabolical version produced for the express purpose of hiding the explicit, unambiguous testimony of Scripture that the true God is Triune in nature, and that Jesus is Jehovah God the Son who is essentially coequal to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Unless stated otherwise, scriptural references are from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (2013 Revision).

FURTHER READING

THE NWT BIBLE: A DIABOLICAL PERVERSION OF SCRIPTURE, PT. 2

PETER & THE DEITY OF CHRIST

ADDENDUM

I post a slew of mainstream and lesser known English translations of 1 Peter 1:11 in order to help the readers appreciate the travesty of the NWT in hiding the inspired Apostle’s explicit testimony to the Deity of Christ.

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” CSB

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” CEB

“… the Spirit of the Messiah in them…” CJB

“The Spirit of Christ was in them…” CEV

“… the Spirit of Christ in them…” DLNT

“… the Spirit of Christ in them…” DRA

“The Spirit of Christ was in those prophets…” ERV

“… Christ’s Spirit showed those prophets…” EASY

“… the Spirit of Christ in them…” EHV

“… the Spirit of Christ in them…” ESV

“The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets…” EXB

“… the Spirit of Christ kept referring to…”GW

“… Christ’s Spirit in them…” GNT

“The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets…” ICB

“… the Spirit of the Messiah in them…” ISV

“… the Spirit of Christ working in them…” PHILLIPS

“… the Spirit of Christ in them…” LEB

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” TLB

“… The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it…” MSG

“… the Spirit of Christ, who was within them…” MEV

“… the Spirit of Christ who was in them…” MOUNCE

“… the Spirit of Christ kept referring to…” NOG

“…the Spirit of Christ within them…”NABRE

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” NASB

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…”NCB

“The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets…” NCV

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” NET

“… the Spirit of Christ in them…” NIV

“… the Spirit of Christ who was in them…” NKJV

“The Spirit of Christ in them…” NLV

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” NLT

“… the Spirit of Christ that was in them…” NMB

“… that the Spirit of Christ within them…” NRSVUE

“… the Messiah’s spirit within them…” NTFE

“… the Ruach of Moshiach in them…” OJB

“… the Spirit of Christ (Who testified before) was in them…” RGT

“… the Spirit of Christ within them…” RSV

“… the Ruach of Messiah within them…” TLV

“… the indwelling Spirit of the Anointed…” VOICE

“… the Spirit of Christ, which was in them…” WEB

“The Spirit of Christ in them…” WE

“… the Spirit of Christ signified in them…” WYC

“… the Spirit of Christ that was in them…” YLT

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