In the Watchtower Bible, 1 Timothy 2:6 reads as follows: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all—this is what is to be witnessed to in its own due time.” (emphasis added)

 So far as I can find, no other translation includes the word “corresponding,” but the Watchtower builds much of its Christology around it.

 In its book Good News to Make You Happy (1976), p. 118, the Watchtower states: “Jesus was not half God, half man. He was not God in the flesh. To atone for ‘one man’s [Adam’s] trespass’, ‘the one man, Jesus Christ’ had to correspond exactly to the once-perfect Adam. He had to be a perfect man, nothing more, nothing less. (Romans 5:15)”

Jesus as Michael

 What about the Watchtower’s teaching we discussed last week—their teaching that Jesus is Michael the archangel?

How do they square that with their claim that he was “a perfect man, nothing more, nothing less”?

A 1984 issue of The Watchtower magazine The Watchtower, explains:

“Jehovah’s Witnesses… believe ‘the Word became flesh.’ (John 1:14) so doing, ‘emptied himself’ of his previous spiritual existence and became a man, ‘lower than the angels,’ so as to offer himself as ‘a corresponding ransom for all…” To redeem what Adam lost for mankind, Jesus needed to sacrifice a perfect human life, no more, no less. (Exodus 21:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45, 47; Romans 5:18, 19, RS, Catholic and Protestant edition; Matthew 20:28). (The Watchtower, “We Worship What We Know,” 9/1/84 pp. 28-29)

If you read each of the cited verses, you’ll find that none of them talks in terms of “corresponding” or teaches the “no more, no less” doctrine.

Nevertheless, the Watchtower insists that “… what was needed was a ransom equal in value to what was lost… Another perfect human life was the “corresponding ransom” that was required.—1 Timothy 2:6. (What Does the Bible Really Teach?, p. 50)

But how did “a perfect man, no more, no less” know God the Father so well and all about life in heaven?

Adam didn’t know such things.

Here is the Watchtower’s explanation.

 Life-force and personality pattern transfer

“Marvelously, Jehovah transferred the life-force and the personality pattern of his firstborn heavenly Son to the womb of Mary. God’s own active force, his holy spirit, safeguarded the development of the child in Mary’s womb so that what was born was a perfect human.” (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 255)

But if that is accurate, Jesus was born with the entire personality pattern of the archangel Michael.

That’s far more than Adam ever had.

 Matthew 3:16 (Watchtower translation) says, “After being baptized, Jesus immediately came up from the water; and look! the heavens were opened up, and he saw God’s spirit descending like a dove and coming upon him.”

According to the Watchtower, this is when Jesus remembered his pre-existent life in heaven as Michael!

“He has a lot to think about, for at his baptism ‘the heavens were opened up’ so that he could discern heavenly things. Thus Jesus now fully remembers his life as a spirit son of God, including all the things God had spoken to him. Indeed, there is much for him to meditate on!” (The Watchtower, “Learning From Jesus’ Temptations,” 10/1/85, p. 24)

“As Jesus prayed, the heavens opened, and the holy spirit descended upon him. Imagine the flood of memories that came to mind as he recalled the countless millenniums he had served alongside his Father, as master worker, spokesman, prince of God’s army, and as the archangel Michael.” (The Watchtower, “Jesus—The Ruler ‘Whose Origin Is From Early Times,” 6/15/98, p. 25)

In contrast to this chronology, Luke 2:46-49 reveals that when he was twelve years old, he already knew who has was. He briefly went missing in Jerusalem, and when Mary and Joseph found him he said, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in the house of my Father?” (Watchtower translation)

Jesus was far more than a counterpart to Adam

There’s a lot of speculation involved in the Watchtower’s view of what “the heavens opened” means, but the point I recommend that you make with Jehovah’s Witnesses is that whenever Jesus came to know what he knew and developed the abilities to do the things he did, he was far more than Adam ever was.

That is, Jesus wasn’t just a perfect counterpart to Adam.

He had advantages Adam never had.

Here are just some of them:

  • He had an intimate knowledge of the Father for eons before coming as a man.
  • He had an intimate personal relationship with the Father which Adam never had.
  • He knew the Old Testament scriptures thoroughly.
  • He participated in the creation of the universe and of Adam. (John 1:3)
  • He interacted with Old Testament worthies. (John 8:56)
  • He personally witnessed the good and bad behavior of Israelites for centuries.
  • He was present at the rebellion of Satan and his angels.
  • He understood well Satan’s schemes and deceptions.
  • He saw Satan fall from heaven. (Luke 10:18)
  • He knew Satan’s future. (Luke 10:19)
  • He was able to work miracles.
  • He knew what other people were thinking. (Matthew 9:4; John 6:61)
  • He knew he would rise from the dead. (Matthew 20:19)
  • He knew everything that would happen to him. (John 18:4)
  • He knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he had come from the Father and was going back to him. (John 13:3)

 Jesus’ human limitations

All of the foregoing isn’t a denial that Jesus took on a number of human limitations when he became man.

For example, the Witnesses may point out to you that 1 Corinthians 15:45 calls Jesus “the last Adam.”

They may cite you Hebrews 2:17-18: “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Yes, he had human limitations, and he did suffer and experience temptation, but he was still more than Adam.

 Jesus’ sacrifice was greater than a counterbalance to Adam’s sin

Moreover, Jesus’ sacrifice did much more than counteract Adam’s act of disobedience.

Point out to the Witnesses that Romans 5:15 doesn’t describe Jesus as just a perfect counterpart to Adam, nor does it describe his sacrifice as merely a counterbalance to Adam’s sin.

Rather, it says: “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by one man’s trespass many died, how much more did the undeserved kindness of God and his free gift by the undeserved kindness of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to many!” (Watchtower translation)