Evidence · Case 12 · Jehovah’s Witnesses
John 1:1 and Colossians 1:16 in the New World Translation
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Where standard Bibles read “and the Word was God,” the New World Translation reads “the Word was a god.” At Colossians 1:16 and 17 it adds the word “other” so the text reads that Jesus created “all other things.” The word “other” is not in the Greek. Both changes lower Jesus from Creator to creature.
Sources
Objections & responses
- Witnesses reply that “other” in Colossians 1:16 is a legitimate clarification required by context, since verse 15 has just called Jesus the firstborn of creation, and translations add words for clarity all the time.
Translators do add words where the source language implies them. The difference is that this addition decides a contested doctrinal question in the translator’s favor, and the Greek all things (ta panta) is used elsewhere by Paul without any implied exception; Metzger’s review makes exactly this point. The 2013 revision of the NWT removed the brackets around other, making the insertion invisible, which sharpens the concern. Note the distinction between the two verses: John 1:1 is a contestable choice made in the direction of doctrine, and Colossians 1:16 is an insertion with no textual warrant at all.