Imputed Righteousness
Salvation requires ongoing works of obedience: regular field service,
meeting attendance, loyalty to the organisation, and submission to the
Governing Body. The Watchtower teaches that to receive everlasting life
one 'must identify that organization and serve God as part of it'
(Watchtower, 15 Feb 1983, p. 12). Preaching work is described as 'a
requirement on which our life depends' (Kingdom Ministry, Jun 2012,
p. 1). Survival through the great tribulation 'will depend on' obedience
to the faithful and discreet slave (Watchtower, Jul 2024, pp. 8-9).
In this framework, a JW can never be certain of salvation — the treadmill
never stops.
- Begin with in the NWT — establish Paul's credentials. He was circumcised, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, zealous, and 'blameless' in law-keeping. His religious resume was flawless.
- Then read — Paul counted ALL of this as loss and called it 'a lot of refuse' (NWT) for the sake of knowing Christ. The Greek word skubalon is far stronger than 'refuse' — it means dung or excrement. Paul deliberately chose a shocking, vulgar term to describe what his entire religious performance was worth.
- Land on — the NWT itself says Paul wanted to 'be found in union with him, not because of my own righteousness from following the Law, but because of the righteousness that is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.' Not maintained. Not earned through service hours. RECEIVED.
- Ask gently: 'Paul had a better religious resume than anyone alive today. If he called all of that refuse, what would he say about field service reports and meeting attendance records?'
- Connect to their lived experience: 'Do you ever feel like you can never do enough? Paul felt that too — and then he found something better.'
Paul had a more impressive religious resume than any Jehovah's Witness alive today — Pharisee, zealous persecutor of heretics, blameless under the law. He called ALL of it skubalon (dung) compared to knowing Christ and receiving a righteousness that comes from God by faith, not from his own performance. If the greatest religious achiever in history called his achievements excrement, no one can out-perform their way to God.
Faith without works is dead — James 2:26 says so.
Absolutely — and we agree completely. But notice what James is actually arguing: he asks 'can SUCH faith save him?' — faith that produces nothing was never genuine faith. resolves the relationship perfectly: 'saved by grace through faith... not by works... created in Christ Jesus FOR good works.' Works are the FRUIT of salvation, not the ROOT. A tree produces fruit because it is alive — you don't glue fruit onto a dead tree to make it alive. The question is not whether Christians should do good works (of course they should), but whether those works EARN salvation or EVIDENCE it.
We need to obey Jehovah's organisation to be saved.
Paul was obeying the most authoritative religious organisation of his day — the Sanhedrin, the Pharisaic order, the temple system established by God himself through Moses. And he called all of that institutional obedience 'a lot of refuse.' He discovered that righteousness comes from God on the basis of faith, not from organisational loyalty. Even your NWT makes this unmistakably clear in .
But we still need to preach — Jesus commanded it.
Christians do share their faith — joyfully, freely, because they have good news to share. But there is a world of difference between sharing the gospel because you are saved and logging field service hours because you must be saved. One flows from gratitude, the other from fear. Paul himself preached tirelessly AFTER his conversion — but notice, he never once said his preaching earned his righteousness. He said his righteousness came 'from God on the basis of faith' (, NWT). The preaching was fruit, not payment.
You're saying we can just believe and do nothing?
Not at all. says 'Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!' When God truly saves someone, he transforms them from the inside out. But here is the crucial difference: we obey God because he has already accepted us, not in order to earn his acceptance. It is the difference between a child obeying a loving father and an employee working to keep a job. One relationship is secure; the other is anxious. Which one describes your experience?
It would be presumptuous to claim we are already saved.
The apostle John wrote his letter specifically so believers 'may KNOW that you have eternal life' (, NWT). Jesus himself said whoever 'hears my word and believes' the Father 'has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life' (, NWT). Notice the tense — 'has' eternal life, present tense. 'Has passed over,' completed action. If John wrote so we could KNOW, and Jesus said we HAVE eternal life, then claiming assurance is not presumptuous — it is taking God at his word. What is truly presumptuous is telling people they cannot have what God explicitly promised them.
Do not belittle their dedication or field service. Many JWs have given decades of sincere effort, sacrificed careers, and endured hardship for what they believe. Honour that sincerity — and then show them what Paul did with his own identical dedication. He did not dismiss it carelessly; he weighed it carefully against something infinitely better and made a deliberate exchange. The goal is not to make them feel foolish for their efforts but to show them that someone with even greater credentials found something far more valuable. Approach with gentleness — you may be speaking to someone who is exhausted and desperately hoping there is something better.
Read in your own NWT. Make two columns on a piece of paper. In column one, list everything Paul achieved through his own religious effort. In column two, write down what Paul called all of those achievements. Then ask yourself: if Paul — a man who was blameless under the Law — called his own performance 'a lot of refuse,' what did he find that was so much better? Read verse 9 carefully for the answer.