Correct. For Christians there is one God. For the Watchtower there are quite a few. They are
henotheistic in the same manner as the Romans and Greeks, worshiping one deity but believing in many gods.The Watchtower tells their followers that the pagans "worshiped many gods" but that's only true if you view pagans deities as a group. The individual pagan acknowledged or respected other gods but generally worshiped one specific deity.
I put together a diagram which I believe illustrates the Watchtower pantheon. I'm willing to make corrections if they can source jw.org or one of their publications:
My understanding of the Watchtower is that there are two "major" Gods, Jehovah who is Almighty and Michael the Arch Angel who is a Mighty God. From their perspective this is okay because they only worship one. I'm not sure, but I think they believe Michael "ceases to exist" when Jesus is born, leaving Jehovah as the only major God. It would be interesting to hear what the WT's latest thought is about that.
In any event, Michael the Mighty God is no more and he becomes Jesus who is now "...a god" like Satan, Ceasar, the Judges of Israel and other "mighty men".
It's a radical departure from traditional Christianity which considers all gods and Gods bogus but one.
...........
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Zondervan, 1986, tells us:
“The reason why
judges are called ‘
gods’ in Ps. 82 is that they have the office of administering God’s judgment as ‘sons of the Most High.’ In context of the Ps. the men in question have failed to do this.... On the other hand, Jesus fulfilled the role of a true judge as
a ‘
god’ and ‘son of the Most High’.” - Vol. 3, p. 187.
Some of these (mostly) trinitarian sources which admit that the
Bible actually describes
men who represent God (judges, Israelite kings, etc.) and God’s
angels as
gods include:
1.
Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Bible, “Hints and Helps...,” Eerdmans, 1978 reprint;
2.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, #430, Hebrew and Chaldee Dict., Abingdon, 1974;
3.
New Bible Dictionary, p. 1133 (angels, judges), Tyndale House Publ., 1984;
4.
Today’s Dictionary of the Bible, p. 208 (angels, judges), Bethany House Publ., 1982;
5. Hastings’
A Dictionary of the Bible, p. 217, Vol. 2;
6.
The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, p. 43, Hendrickson publ.,1979;
7.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, #2316 (4.), Thayer, Baker Book House, 1984 printing;
8.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, p. 132, Vol. 1; and p. 1265, Vol. 2, Eerdmans, 1984;
9.
The NIV Study Bible, footnotes for Ps. 45:6; Ps. 82:1, 6; and Jn 10:34; Zondervan, 1985;
10.
New American Bible, St. Joseph ed., footnote for Ps. 45:7; 82:1; Jn 10:34; 1970 ed.;
11. A. T. Robertson,
Word Pictures, Vol. 5, pp. 188-189;
12. William G. T. Shedd,
Dogmatic Theology, Vol. 1, pp. 317, 324, Nelson Publ., 1980 printing;
13. Murray J. Harris,
Jesus As God, p. 202, (angels, judges, kings) Baker Book House, 1992;
14. William Barclay,
The Gospel of John, V. 2, Daily Study Bible Series, pp. 77, 78, Westminster Press, 1975;
15.
The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (John 10:34 and Ps. 82:6);
16.
The Fourfold Gospel (Note for John 10:35);
17.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Jamieson, Fausset, Brown (John 10:34-36);
18.
Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible (Ps. 82:6-8 and John 10:35);
19.
John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible (Ps. 82:1).
20.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament ('Little Kittel'), - p. 328, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985.
21.
The Expositor’s Greek Testament, pp. 794-795, Vol. 1, Eerdmans Publishing Co.
22.
The Amplified Bible, Ps. 82:1, 6 and John 10:34, 35, Zondervan Publ., 1965.
23.
Barnes' Notes on the New Testament, John 10:34, 35.
24. B. W. Johnson's
People's New Testament, John 10:34-36.
25.
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Zondervan, 1986, Vol. 3, p. 187.
26.
Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 24, vol. III, Zondervan, 1957 reprint.
27.
Theological Dictionary, Rahner and Vorgrimler, p. 20, Herder and Herder, 1965.
28. Pastor Jon Courson,
The Gospel According to John.
29.
Vincent’s New Testament Word Studies, John 10:36.
30. C. J. Ellicott, John 10:34,
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers.
(Also John 10:34, 35 -
CEV; TEV; GodsWord; The Message; NLT; NIRV)
And the earliest Christians like the highly respected scholar Origen and others - - including Tertullian; Justin Martyr; Hippolytus; Clement of Alexandria; Theophilus; the writer of “The Epistle to Diognetus”; and even super-trinitarians
St. Athanasius and
St. Augustine - - also had this understanding for “
a god.”
St. Augustine, for example, showed this understanding of the meaning of “god.” Writing around 410 A.D. and speaking of godly
men, he said:
“For created
gods are
gods not by virtue of what is in themselves, but by a participation of the True God.” -
The City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 13,
Also see Book IX, Ch. 23, where Augustine says that godly
men and
angels are
gods!
If all those
trinitarian scholars and all those early Christian writers (including trinitarians) can admit that the Bible says men and angels appointed by God
are called 'gods,' I see no big problem for JWs to say the same!!
