JW Interpretational Additions

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What an interpretational addition is, the bottom line on the New World Translation and the Watchtower's predictions, and how to use this form without getting caught out.

The bottom line

The NWT adds words that change doctrine. Its clearest case is "other" in Colossians 1:16-17 and 20, five times, which makes Jesus one of the created "things." There is no word for "other" in the Greek. checked
Its own earlier edition marked those words as added. The 1984 Reference edition printed "all [other] things" in brackets. The 2013 revision removed the brackets, so a reader can no longer tell the word was supplied. checked
Its John 1:1 rule isn't applied consistently. In John 1 alone it translates the same article-less theos as "God" four times and as "a god" once (The broken rule).
The Watchtower set dates that failed: 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975 and "the generation of 1914." Its own publications record the expectations, and some admit the errors and that people left (Failed predictions, What they admitted).
It claimed the role of prophet. In 1972 The Watchtower said God's modern "prophet" was "a body of men and women... known as Jehovah's Christian witnesses." That brings Deuteronomy 18:22 into play (The prophet test). checked

What an interpretational addition is

From your notes, with the line every translation has to walk.

Translation. What the original Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek actually says.
Interpretational addition (I.A.). Words supplied by the translator to communicate what they believe the text means, which aren't explicitly stated in the original wording.
Commentary. An explanation of the text outside the translation itself, such as a footnote or study note.

Know this before you argue. Every English Bible supplies some words, because Greek and English work differently. The LSB prints its supplied words in italics: in Colossians 1:16 it italicizes "both." checked So "they added a word" isn't enough; a Witness will point to your Bible's italics. The real charge is narrower and much harder to answer: the NWT supplies words the Greek doesn't support, at exactly the points that decide who Jesus is, and in 2013 it stopped marking them.

How claims are rated

● Documented. Read in the NWT itself, the Greek text, or a Watchtower publication. Say it plainly.
◐ Reported. From a scan or secondary report; the original page wasn't read for this form. Say "reportedly."
○ Debated. A real point, but other respected translations or scholars do the same thing. Use it with care.
✕ Overclaim. Goes beyond the evidence. Don't say it.
checked The quote was read in the source listed under Sources.

How to work through it

Learn the added words, verse by verse (Interpretational additions).
Show that their John 1:1 rule breaks in the same chapter (The broken rule).
Know the renderings that aren't additions but still change the meaning (Other changes).
Learn the dated predictions and what the Watchtower later admitted (Failed predictions, What they admitted).
Apply Deuteronomy 18 fairly (The prophet test), then take the questions into the conversation (In a debate).

Interpretational additions

Words in the New World Translation's main text that have no corresponding word in the Greek, at points that affect who Jesus is. Strongest first.

The additions

Colossians 1:16-17, 20: "all other things" ● Documented

Added word: "other," five times

Greek (1:16). hoti en autō ektisthē ta panta, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα: "because in Him were created all things." No word for "other" (such as alla or loipa) appears. checked

NWT (2013). "because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth... All other things have been created through him and for him." Verse 17: "he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist." Verse 20: "to reconcile to himself all other things." checked

LSB. "For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him." checked

What the addition does. Without "other," the Son creates all created things and so stands outside creation. With "other," He becomes one created thing who made the rest, which is the Watchtower's teaching.

The bracket history. The 1984 Reference edition printed "all [other] things" in brackets, five times, with the footnote "'All [other],' as in Lu 11:41, 42." The 2013 revision dropped the brackets. checked

Say it. "Your own 1984 Bible put 'other' in brackets because it isn't in the Greek. Why does the 2013 edition hide that?"

Philippians 2:9: "every other name" ● Documented

Added word: "other"

Greek. to onoma to hyper pan onoma, τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα: "the name that is above every name." checked

NWT (2013). "the name that is above every other name." Reference edition (1984). "above every [other] name." checked

What the addition does. "Every name" includes the divine name; "every other name" leaves it out, keeping Jesus's name below Jehovah's. Verses 10-11 then apply Isaiah 45:23, where every knee bows to Jehovah, to Jesus.

"Jehovah" 237 times in the New Testament ● Documented

Added word: the divine name, where the Greek manuscripts have "Lord" (Kyrios) or "God"

NWT appendix. The translation "uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures." It concedes that the surviving Greek copies read Kyrios, and argues the name was in the originals and later replaced. checked

What the addition does. It decides, verse by verse, which "Lord" is Jehovah and which is Jesus. In passages that apply Old Testament Jehovah texts to Jesus, that choice removes the identification.

Their answer. They argue from Hebrew copies, early Septuagint fragments and "Hallelujah" in Revelation that the name was originally there. Grant that this is their argument; the point is that it is a reconstruction, not a reading from any Greek New Testament manuscript.

Acts 20:28: "his own Son" ○ Debated

Added word: "Son"

Greek. tēn ekklēsian tou theou, hēn periepoiēsato dia tou haimatos tou idiou: "the church of God, which He purchased with the blood of His own" (or "with His own blood").

NWT (2013). "to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own Son." Reference edition (1984). "the blood of his own [Son]," in brackets, with an appendix discussion. checked

What the addition does. Without "Son," God purchased the church "with His own blood," which only works if Jesus is God.

Use with care. Some respected translations, such as the NRSV, also supply "Son" here, because tou idiou can mean "His own one." The fair point is the dropped brackets, not the word itself.

Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1: "and of our Savior," "and the Savior" ● Documented

Added words: a second "of" (Titus); a second "the" (2 Peter)

Greek. Titus 2:13: tou megalou theou kai sōtēros hēmōn Iēsou Christou. 2 Peter 1:1: tou theou hēmōn kai sōtēros Iēsou Christou. Each has one article governing both nouns: "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ"; "our God and Savior Jesus Christ."

NWT (2013). Titus 2:13: "the great God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:1: "of our God and the Savior Jesus Christ." checked

What the addition does. The supplied "of" and "the" split one person into two, so "God" and "Savior" no longer both describe Jesus.

Support it. 2 Peter uses the identical construction for Jesus alone: "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (1:11; 3:18). If that is one person, so is 1:1.

John 1:1: "the Word was a god" ○ Debated

Supplied word: "a"

Greek. kai theos ēn ho logos, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. Greek has no indefinite article, so "a" is the translator's choice.

NWT. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." LSB. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." checked

What the addition does, as your notes put it, is lead to one of two places. One is polytheism: two gods, the God and a god, with salvation resting on the second. The other is Arianism: Jesus as a created, lesser being.

Why it's rated Debated. English routinely supplies "a" where Greek has no article, so the Witness will say every translation does this. Win it on consistency (The broken rule) and on grammar: their own study note calls this theos "qualitative," which describes the Word's nature.

One correction to the notes. Arianism was answered by Athanasius and the Council of Nicaea in 325. Irenaeus died about 202, roughly a century before Arius, so he didn't refute Arianism itself, though he wrote against earlier errors about Christ.

Revelation 22:18-19, used fairly

LSB. "I bear witness to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." checked

How to use it. The warning is about changing the message of Revelation. Every translation supplies some words, so don't apply it to a supplied "a" or "both." Apply the principle where it fits: words that change what the text teaches about God, added without marking. Deuteronomy 4:2 and Proverbs 30:6 make the same point for all of Scripture.

Don't say "Every Witness is cursed under Revelation 22." It's an overclaim, it ends the conversation, and your own Bible has italics.

Other changes

Not added words, but renderings and punctuation that change what a verse says about Jesus. Keep these separate from the additions, so a Witness can't say you're calling every translation choice an addition.

The renderings

Colossians 2:9: "the divine quality" ● Documented

Greek. pan to plērōma tēs theotētos: "all the fullness of Deity." NWT. "all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily." LSB. "all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily." checked

What changed. Theotēs means the state of being God. "Divine quality" turns being God into having a quality.

Hebrews 1:6: "do obeisance" ● Documented

NWT. "let all of God's angels do obeisance to him." Same NWT, Revelation 22:9. "Worship God." Both translate the same Greek verb, proskyneō. checked

What changed. The verb becomes "worship" when the object is God and "obeisance" when it is Jesus. The angel in Revelation 22:9 refuses this same act because only God receives it.

Hebrews 1:8: "God is your throne" ● Documented

NWT. "But about the Son, he says: 'God is your throne forever and ever.'" LSB. "But of the Son He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.'" checked

What changed. The Father addresses the Son as "O God" in most translations. The NWT makes God the Son's throne instead.

John 8:58: "I have been" ● Documented

Greek. prin Abraam genesthai egō eimi: "before Abraham was born, I am." NWT. "before Abraham came into existence, I have been." checked

What changed. The present "I am," which the crowd answered by picking up stones (8:59), becomes a past tense describing a long existence.

Luke 23:43: the comma ○ Debated

NWT. "Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in Paradise." checked

What changed. Moving the comma after "today" fits Watchtower teaching on the soul. The Greek has no punctuation, so argue from how Jesus uses "Truly I tell you" elsewhere, not from the comma alone.

Failed predictions

Every major dated expectation the Watch Tower Society published, from its founder to the present, with what was said and what happened. Quote them exactly; the dates speak for themselves.

The predictions, in order

1874 and 1878: Christ's presence and rule ● Documented

What was taught. The Bible Students believed "Christ's presence had begun in 1874," "he had begun to rule in heaven in 1878," and "the Kingdom would not be fully set up until October 1914." (God's Kingdom Rules!, 2014, ch. 5) checked

What happened. Both dates were later dropped; the Watchtower now places the start of Christ's presence and rule in 1914.

1914: the end of the world's governments ● Documented

Charles Taze Russell, The Time Is at Hand (1889). The battle of the great day of God Almighty "will end in A. D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership." And: "the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished by the end of A. D. 1914." checked

What happened. The world's governments weren't overthrown. Some Bible Students also expected to be taken to heaven: A. H. Macmillan recalled, "A few of us seriously thought we were going to heaven during the first week of that October." checked

How it's explained now. The Watchtower says 1914 was correct as the invisible start of Christ's rule in heaven, but admits the expectations were wrong: "Clearly, the Bible Students had more to learn as to the significance of 1914." checked

1918: the churches destroyed ◐ Reported

The Finished Mystery (1917), pp. 484-485, as transcribed with a page scan. "in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions."

What happened. The churches weren't destroyed. The Watchtower's history describes the book only as "a commentary on Revelation, The Song of Solomon, and Ezekiel," without mentioning the prediction. checked

Before you quote it. Open a scan of page 485. The book is on the Internet Archive.

1925: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob return ● Documented

J. F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920). "we may expect 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men of Israel" (p. 96); "we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham" (p. 97); "millions of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925" (p. 105). checked

What happened. The Watchtower's 1975 Yearbook: "1925 came and went." A sister who lived through it recalled, "Some of them were stumbled; their hopes were dashed." checked

Beth-Sarim: a house for the returning princes ● Documented

The Watchtower's history. Beth-Sarim, a San Diego house, was meant as proof that faithful men of old would be resurrected; Salvation (1939) explained that "Beth Sarim" means "House of the Princes." Rutherford wintered there from 1929. checked

What happened. No patriarch arrived. After Rutherford's death it was sold; The Watchtower (Dec. 15, 1947) said it "had fully served its purpose and was now only serving as a monument quite expensive to keep." In 1950 the teaching was changed: the forefathers would be raised after Armageddon. checked

1941: "the remaining months before Armageddon" ◐ Reported

The Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1941, p. 288, reportedly described the book Children as the instrument for work "in the remaining months before Armageddon."

Before you quote it. The 1941 volume isn't in the Watchtower Online Library. Find a scan of the page first.

1975: six thousand years end ● Documented

The Watchtower, July 15, 1967. "Adam was created in 4026 B.C.E., which means that six thousand years of human history end about the fall of 1975 C.E." checked

The Watchtower, Aug. 15, 1968, "Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?" "1975 will mark the end of 6,000 years of human history since Adam's creation." Asked whether Armageddon would be over by autumn 1975: "Possibly, but we wait to see." checked

Kingdom Ministry, May 1974. "Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end." checked

What happened. Nothing happened in 1975. In 1980 the Watchtower admitted statements had made it seem "more of a probability than a mere possibility" (What they admitted).

Be fair. The 1968 article also hedged: the chronology was "admittedly not infallible." Quote the hedges yourself before a Witness does; the 1974 praise for selling homes shows how the message was received.

"The generation of 1914" ● Documented

Awake!, page 4, into 1995. The magazine said it "builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away." checked

The Watchtower, May 15, 1984. "the babies of that generation are now 70 years old or older"; "There are still many millions of that generation alive." checked

What happened. On November 1, 1995, The Watchtower said "this generation" "apparently refers to the peoples of earth who see the sign of Christ's presence but fail to mend their ways," and admitted that "Jehovah's people have at times speculated" about it, "tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914." checked

Then it changed again. God's Kingdom Rules! (2014): "The generation consists of two overlapping groups of anointed ones," the first who saw 1914 and the second "contemporaries of the first group." checked

At a glance

1874 / 1878
Christ present, then ruling. Dropped; moved to 1914.
1914
Governments overthrown; Kingdom fully established. Didn't happen; reinterpreted as invisible.
1918
Churches destroyed "wholesale." Didn't happen. (Reported)
1925
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob return; millions never die. "1925 came and went."
1929–1947
Beth-Sarim kept for the princes. Sold; teaching changed in 1950.
1941
"Remaining months before Armageddon." Didn't happen. (Reported)
1975
Six thousand years end; homes sold to pioneer. Admitted in 1980.
To 1995
New world before the 1914 generation passes away. Redefined 1995; redefined again by 2014.

What they admitted

The Watchtower's own words about the failed expectations, and about the people who left because of them.

In their own publications

"These erroneous views" ● Documented

Awake!, June 22, 1995, "Can You Trust God's Promises?" Bible Students "expected that the year 1925 would see the fulfillment of marvelous Bible prophecies"; "Many Witnesses conjectured" about 1975; on a 1914 expectation, "Clearly, Macmillan was mistaken"; and "These erroneous views did not mean that God's promises were wrong." checked

Use it. This is the article from your notes. It concedes the views were erroneous while defending God's promises, which you can agree with: the promises didn't fail, the predictions did.

1975: "It is to be regretted" ● Documented

The Watchtower, March 15, 1980. "considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975"; statements implied it was "more of a probability than a mere possibility"; "It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones." checked

Notice. It quotes the July 15, 1976 Watchtower: anyone disappointed "should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint," because it "was not the word of God that failed or deceived him." The blame moves to the reader.

1914: "expecting the wrong thing" ● Documented

Proclaimers (1993), ch. 6, "A Time of Testing (1914-1918)." Russell: "we found out that we were expecting the wrong thing in October, 1914." Macmillan: "perhaps some of us had been a bit too hasty in thinking that we were going to heaven right away." checked

People left

After 1914-1918. "Many of those who had seemed so strong, so devoted to the Lord, began to turn away." (Proclaimers, ch. 6) checked
After 1925. "1925 was a sad year for many brothers... Some of them were stumbled; their hopes were dashed." (1975 Yearbook) checked Proclaimers adds that some abandoned the hope. checked
After 1975. The 1980 article addresses those "disappointed" and tells them to adjust their viewpoint. checked

Say "the Watchtower's own history records that people left," not a number. The publications give no figures.

In a debate

The questions to ask, the claims to avoid, and the lines to say.

The questions, in order

"Is there a Greek word for 'other' in Colossians 1:16?" (No.)
"Why did your 1984 Bible put 'other' in brackets, and why did the 2013 edition remove them?"
"Without 'other,' did the Son create all created things? Then is He one of them?"
"In John 1, why is article-less theos 'God' in verses 6, 12, 13 and 18, but 'a god' in verse 1?"
"Your 1972 Watchtower called your organization God's 'prophet.' What does Deuteronomy 18:22 say about a prophet whose word doesn't come true?"
"Which of these came true: 1914 as Russell described it, 1925, or the 1914 generation as Awake! printed it until 1995?"

Claim check

"The NWT adds 'other' to Colossians 1, five times, with no Greek word behind it." ● Documented
"The 1984 NWT bracketed it; the 2013 NWT removed the brackets." ● Documented
"The Watchtower predicted 1914, 1925 and 1975, and redefined the 1914 generation." ● Documented Quote the exact words, including the 1968 hedges.
"The Watchtower called itself God's prophet." ● Documented The April 1, 1972 article.
"The 1918 and 1941 predictions." ◐ Reported Check a scan before quoting.
"Adding 'a' in John 1:1 is adding to Scripture." ○ Debated Every translation supplies articles; argue consistency and grammar.
"The NWT is the only Bible that supplies words." ✕ Overclaim Your LSB italicizes its supplied words.
"Witnesses are cursed under Revelation 22:18." ✕ Overclaim It ends the conversation and misapplies the verse.
"Irenaeus refuted Arianism." ✕ Overclaim Irenaeus died about a century before Arius; cite Athanasius and Nicaea.

Lines to say

Colossians"My Bible italicizes the words it supplies. Your 1984 Bible bracketed 'other.' The 2013 one hides it. Why?"
John 1"Same Greek, same chapter: 'God' four times, 'a god' once. The grammar didn't decide that."
Prophet"In 1972 your magazine called your organization God's prophet. Deuteronomy 18 says how to test a prophet."
Gentle"God's promises didn't fail. The dates did. Your own Awake! called them 'erroneous views.'"

Prepared as a debate aid. Claims are labeled Documented, Reported, Debated or Overclaim; quotes marked checked were read in the sources listed under Sources. NWT wording is from the Watchtower Online Library and jw.org. Scripture is quoted from the Legacy Standard Bible unless marked as the New World Translation.