Jesus Delivered Israel from Egypt
Jehovah delivered Israel from Egypt. Jesus did not exist as a person
until he was born in Bethlehem. Before that, he was the archangel
Michael who served as Jehovah's agent.
Jude 5 is a sleeper text — most JWs have never examined it closely. The textual evidence is strong: the earliest and best Greek manuscripts (including Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and P72 — the oldest manuscript of Jude) all identify Christ, not simply 'Lord.' P72 actually reads 'God Christ' (theos christos), an even more emphatic reading. The critical text (NA28/UBS5) favours 'Jesus' as the original reading. Bruce Metzger argued that scribes, 'struck by the strange and unparalleled mention of Jesus in a statement about the redemption out of Egypt,' would have substituted 'kyrios' or 'theos' — making 'Jesus' the harder and more likely original reading.
The NWT renders Jude 5 as 'Jehovah, although he saved a people out of the land of Egypt...' — inserting 'Jehovah' despite no Greek manuscript of Jude containing the Tetragrammaton. This is another instance of the NWT's selective insertion pattern (see tetragrammaton-insertion).
Paul confirms the same theology in : 'they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.' Even the NWT acknowledges this, rendering it 'that rock meant the Christ.' Yet at verse 9, where most Greek manuscripts read 'Christ,' the NWT substitutes 'Jehovah' — the same insertion pattern as Jude 5. Ask the JW to open their own NWT to and read it aloud. Then ask: 'If the rock in the wilderness was Christ, and says Jehovah alone kept leading Israel, what does that tell you about who Christ is?'
Combine with ('the Angel of His Presence saved them') and (the Angel who bears Jehovah's name and must not be rebelled against). The pattern is consistent: the Old Testament figure who delivered, led, and judged Israel is identified by the New Testament as Jesus.
The New Testament identifies Jesus as the one who acted as Jehovah in the Old Testament. Jude 5 does not just say Jesus existed before Bethlehem — it says he performed Jehovah's own saving acts. And even the NWT admits at that 'the rock meant the Christ.'
The best manuscripts read 'Lord' or 'God,' not 'Jesus.'
Actually, the oldest manuscript of Jude — P72, from the 3rd-4th century — reads 'God Christ' (theos christos), combining deity and Jesus in an even stronger way. Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus both read 'Jesus.' The critical editions used by most Bible scholars today (NA28, UBS5) favour 'Jesus' as the original reading. The NWT chose 'Jehovah' — a reading found in zero Greek manuscripts of Jude. Can we look at the manuscript evidence together?
Jesus was acting as Jehovah's agent — the angel Michael.
Jude doesn't say 'an angel delivered Israel' — the earliest manuscripts say 'Jesus' did it. And says this Angel bears Jehovah's own name and has the authority to forgive sins — that goes far beyond any created agent. Paul says explicitly 'that rock was Christ' at — and your own NWT says 'that rock meant the Christ.' If Michael is just a regular angel, why does Paul identify the God of the Exodus as Christ?
This is just talking about Jesus's pre-human existence as a spirit creature.
But the acts attributed to Jesus in Jude 5 — delivering a nation from slavery, destroying unbelievers — are acts the Old Testament attributes exclusively to Jehovah. says 'Jehovah alone kept leading him.' If Jesus is the one who did this, and Jehovah alone did it, what does that tell you about who Jesus is? Can a created spirit creature do what only Jehovah does?
The Watchtower says Jesus was used by Jehovah as an instrument — Jehovah was the real deliverer.
But that's not what the text says. Jude 5 says Jesus 'delivered his people' — not 'assisted in delivering.' And says Jehovah alone led Israel — 'no foreign god was with him.' If Jehovah alone did it and Jesus did it, the New Testament authors are identifying Jesus with Jehovah. What other conclusion is there?
Paul himself says these things were "examples" (1 Corinthians 10:6). The rock is only a picture of Christ — your own Bible says it "meant the Christ." Paul was just using a Jewish story about a well that travelled with Israel.
Read verses 6 and 11 closely: "these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for a warning to us." The examples are the events, Israel's craving, idolatry and grumbling, held up as warnings for the congregation. Paul isn't saying Christ was a symbol; he's saying Israel's sin is a lesson. And Paul says the rock "was" Christ, in the past tense. If he knew the Jewish tradition about water following Israel, he corrects it rather than repeats it: what truly went with them was not a moving rock or well but Christ. Look at the chapter he is working from. "They sacrifice to demons and not to God" (10:20) echoes , and "inciting Jehovah to jealousy" (10:22) echoes . That is the Song of Moses, where the Rock is Jehovah himself: "The Rock, perfect is his activity" (32:4), "you forgot the Rock who fathered you" (32:18). You already believe Jesus existed before he came to earth, so the question isn't whether he was there. It's who Paul says he was. In the Song Paul is quoting, who is the Rock?
Don't make the entire argument hinge on the Jude 5 textual variant alone — use it as part of a larger pattern (1 Corinthians 10:4, 10:9, Exodus 23:20-21). The cumulative case is stronger than any single verse. Don't overstate the certainty of the textual variant — acknowledge it is debated but note the earliest evidence and current critical editions favour 'Jesus.' Note that the NWT renders Isaiah 63:9 as 'his own personal messenger' rather than 'the Angel of His Presence' — be prepared for this if you use that verse at the door. Don't treat the JW as responsible for the NWT's translation decisions — they didn't make those choices and may not know about the manuscript evidence.
Open the NWT to and read it aloud — 'that rock meant the Christ.' Then read — 'Jehovah alone kept leading him.' Practise asking: 'If the rock in the wilderness was Christ, and Jehovah alone led Israel, what does that tell us about Christ?' Also read Jude 5 in a major translation (ESV, NASB, BSB) that follows the NA28 text and compare with the NWT rendering.