Jehovah of the Old Testament scriptures is the Heavenly Father of the New Testament. Thus, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Jesus is the Son of God, this being the relationship he has always enjoyed with Jehovah, the Creator. The Scriptures make it plain that Jesus had been actively associated with his Father since the earliest dawn of Creation. They tell us, in fact, that he was the “beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14) and also, “the firstborn of every creature.” —Col. 1:15

These passages indicate that Jesus was the direct creation of the Father, and therefore properly spoken of as his “only begotten Son.” The apostle also tells us that Jesus was the active agent of Jehovah in all the creative work. He says: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him.”—Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; John 1:3; Eph. 3:9

Another interesting passage bearing on this same point is the first chapter of the gospel according to John. Here, Jesus in his prehuman existence is referred to as the “Word” of God. Verse 14 says that the “Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The term “Word” here used is a translation of the Greek word Logos. Ancient kings when addressing their people, customarily sat behind a lattice in front of which stood a representative who proclaimed the king’s message to the people. The representative was styled the “logos”—the king’s word, or mouth- piece. With this illustration in mind, the title

Logos, when applied to God’s only begotten Son, is seen to be peculiarly fitting. God’s Son, as the Logos, has always been the active agent of Jehovah, and the Bible assures us that he always will be. Not only in the work of creation, but in the call and preparation of the church in this age, and also in the gigantic task of restitution scheduled for the Messianic Age, this beloved Son of God acts for the Father, expressing his will, and doing his work. In the Messianic Age he will speak peace to all the nations, and they will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”—Mic. 4:1-4; Ps. 46:9

Speaking of that future glorious triumph of the divine cause in the earth, under the leadership of God’s Son, the Apostle Paul says: “He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. For he (Jehovah) hath put all things under his (Jesus’) feet. But when he saith all things are put under him (Jesus), it is manifest that he (Jehovah) is excepted, which did put all things under him (Jesus). And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him (Jehovah) that put all things under him, that God (Jehovah) may be all in all.”—I Cor. 15:25-28

Considerable confusion has resulted from an inaccurate translation of John 1:1,2, where the King James Version makes it appear that the “Word,” or Logos, is the same personality as God. The “Word was God,” is the way this faulty translation puts it. But in the original Greek text the matter is made clear. There a distinction is made between the Logos, who was “a” God, and the Father, who is referred to as “The” God. The translation should read, “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was a God. The same was in the beginning with The God.”

The Greek word Theos is the one in this text that is translated God. Theos simply means a mighty one, and it must be determined from the text in which it is used, whether the reference is to Jehovah, the great and Almighty One, or to his Son, Christ Jesus, formerly the Logos, who is “a” mighty One. As a matter of fact, this same word Theos is used in II Corinthians 4:4, where the reference is to Satan, the “god (theos) of this world.” Thus we see that it was the Logos, as “a” God, the one who was the active agent of Jehovah in the creative work, who was “made flesh.” It was not Jehovah, “the” Almighty God. It is interesting to note, in this connection, the form of expression used in the Genesis account of Creation, where we read, “Let us make man in our image.” Here Jehovah is speaking to the Logos, outlining and directing the work at hand.—Gen. 1:26

In keeping with this spirit of oneness and cooperation, when the time came for fallen man to be redeemed, the Logos “humbled himself,” becoming a servant in lowly form, for the suffering of death upon the cross. (Phil. 2:7,8) During the whole period of his earthly ministry Jesus remained humble, always reminding those to whom he ministered that the words which he spoke, and the works which he did, were not his own, but those of the Heavenly Father. This was in full keeping with his plain assertion, “My Father is greater than I.”—John 14:28