Evidence · Case 12 · Jehovah’s Witnesses
Watchtower publications on Jesus as Michael
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
The organization’s own reference work, Insight on the Scriptures, states in its entry “Michael” that the evidence points to Michael being Jesus Christ, and a Watchtower study article (November 1, 1995) refers to “Jesus Christ, also called Michael.” Watchtower publications consistently present the pre-human Jesus as the archangel Michael.
Sources
Watch Tower Society, Insight on the Scriptures, entry “Michael,” identifying Michael with Jesus Christ
Objections & responses
- Calling the Witness view Arian lets you invoke Nicaea’s condemnation without engaging the exegesis. Witnesses argue from texts such as Colossians 1:15, Proverbs 8, and Revelation 3:14 (“the beginning of the creation of God”). Those deserve answers, not labels.
The label is historically accurate, but it is not the argument. Colossians 1:15 is answered under the firstborn claim in this case. On Revelation 3:14, arche means origin or ruler as readily as first item, and the beginning of the creation is most naturally the source of it, as in John 1:3. On Proverbs 8, Wisdom is a personification, and the Septuagint’s created renders a Hebrew word (qanah) that elsewhere means possessed or acquired. The Witness texts have answers; the Arian parallel just tells you the debate is not new.