In the Watchtower Bible translation, Ephesians 2:8 says, “By this undeserved kindness you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; rather, it is God’s gift.” (emphasis added)

 Despite that, Jehovah’s Witnesses would never say that they have been saved.

They believe that what Jesus gave us was not salvation but rather an opportunity to be saved at the end of Christ’s coming millennial kingdom on earth: “Jesus’ death actually opens to us the opportunity for eternal life on a paradise earth, in harmony with Jehovah’s original purpose. (What Does the Bible Really Teach?, p. 46, emphasis added)

They can’t relate to 1 John 5:13, which says, “I write you these things so that you may know that you have life everlasting, you who put your faith in the name of the Son of God.” (Watchtower translation, emphasis added).

In fact, if someone asks them if they are saved, the Watchtower has taught them to answer, “So far, I am. I say that because I am also aware of the Bible’s counsel not to be overconfident of our standing.” (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 360)

The Watchtower considers salvation to be a process which only comes to fruition at the end of Christ’s millennial reign on earth and after passing a final loyalty test by Satan.

The first step of the process is to make it into that millennial kingdom—either by surviving Armageddon or by resurrection from the dead.

The Watchtower says, “Jehovah gives everyone on earth the opportunity to gain everlasting life. To have eternal life in Paradise, however, we must worship God properly and live now in a way that is acceptable to him. Sadly, many refuse to do so.” (What Does the Bible Really Teach?, p. 145)

In fact, the Watchtower teaches that many “unrighteous” people will be given a second chance after death:

What about all the people who did not serve or obey Jehovah because they never knew about him? These billions of “unrighteous” ones will not be forgotten. They too will be resurrected and given time to learn about the true God and to serve him. During a period of a thousand years, the dead will be resurrected and given an opportunity to join faithful humans on earth in serving Jehovah. It will be a wonderful time. This period is what the Bible refers to as Judgment Day. (What Does the Bible Really Teach?, pp. 72-73)

Once they make it into the millennial kingdom, the ultimate challenge is to become righteous enough to obtain everlasting life.

What level of righteousness will they have to meet?

Perfection!

How will that happen?

They will attain it on their own merit! (Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 400)

The “great crowd” of survivors of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” will then be on their way to gaining absolute righteousness and perfection in the flesh… For this reason, they will not be justified or declared righteous either now or then as the 144,000 heavenly joint heirs have been justified while still in the flesh. The “great crowd” will not undergo a change of nature from human to spiritual and so do not need the justification by faith and the imputed righteousness that the 144,000 “chosen ones” have required.

Not imputed perfection by faith in Christ’s blood, but actual human perfection in the flesh by the uplifting, cleansing help of God’s Messianic kingdom—this is what the “great crowd” will need and what they will attain by Christ’s kingdom of a thousand years. (Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 391, emphasis added)

What does the Watchtower mean by “the uplifting, cleansing help of God’s Messianic kingdom”?

  • Satan and demons will be bound for 1000 years and no longer able to tempt them.[1]
  • Christ’s rule will be completely righteous and just.[2]
  • They will have the benefits of Christ’s “ransom sacrifice” applied to them as they submit to Christ’s righteous rule.[3]
  • “…as the result of the dripping and trickling down of righteousness from the ‘new heavens,’ the human soil of the ‘new earth’ will respond and become fruitful in a corresponding way.”[4]
  • Jesus as High Priest will “help them get out of their weaknesses and inclinations to badness.”[5]
  • There will be “new scrolls” containing Jehovah’s detailed requirements.[6]
  • Earthly overseers—“princes,” including the ancient Israelite worthies and Jehovah’s Witness elders—will help them learn about Jehovah and his ways and progress to perfection.[7]

Even with all that help, the onus is on you to attain perfection.

At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed and have a final opportunity to test your loyalty and dedication to Jehovah.[8] Be careful, because an indefinite number will fail this test, rebel against Jehovah, and be summarily executed by him because they failed to prove worthy to be justified, that is, declared righteous.[9] The rest God will justify (declare righteous) “on the basis of their own merit” since they will have passed this final, decisive test.[10]

If you pass the final test, you will then be adopted by Jehovah and acknowledged as his son or daughter through Jesus Christ.[11] This will get you back to where Adam was originally—living in paradise on earth without sinful inclinations but still capable of choosing to rebel against Jehovah. In the unlikely event that you do someday rebel by sinning deliberately, Jehovah will then annihilate you.[12]

In your discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses on these topics, make sure they understand that the Watchtower teaches that they will have to attain to perfection by the end of the millennial reign of Christ, and even then their salvation will never be totally secure.

Your goal should be to help them see that the Watchtower’s salvation system requires them to achieve the impossible.

 

 

 

[1] Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2 (Brooklyn: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society & International Bible Students Association, 1988), “War”, p. 1169

[2] The Watchtower, “Would You Want to Be There?”, 5/15/74, p. 292

[3] The Watchtower, “Benefiting Now from Christ’s Ransom”, 1/15/62, p. 39

[4] The Watchtower, “Would You Want to Be There?”, 5/15/74, p. 293

[5] Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 397

[6] The Watchtower, “Holy Spirit’s Role in the Outworking of Jehovah’s Purpose”, 4/15/10, p. 11

[7] The Watchtower, “Would You Want to Be There?”, 5/15/74, p. 292

[8] Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, pp. 398-399

[9] Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 399

[10] Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 400

[11] Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, p. 400

[12] The Watchtower, “Questions from Readers”, 8/15/06, p. 31