David's Son, David's Lord
Psalm 110:1 in the NWT reads: "Jehovah declared to my Lord: 'Sit at my
right hand Until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.'" The
verse names two figures, Jehovah and David's Lord. Witnesses and
biblical Unitarians point out that the Hebrew word for "my Lord" here
is adoni, the form used in the Hebrew Bible for human masters and
kings (Sarah calls Abraham adoni, for example). The form used for God
is Adonai. So David's Lord is a human (or, for the JW, an exalted
creature) who receives a position from Jehovah. He is not Jehovah. He
is "seated at the right hand", next to God, which proves he is not
God. Acts 2:36 adds that God "made him both Lord and Christ", and what
is made Lord was not always Lord.
Don't fight about the Hebrew. Concede that adoni on its own doesn't prove deity; it is the ordinary word for a human lord. Then go where Jesus went. In he asks, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They answer, "David's." He replies, "How is it, then, that David under inspiration calls him Lord ... If, then, David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" And "nobody was able to say a word in reply to him." Jesus' point isn't the vocabulary. A forefather didn't call his descendant "my lord"; the descendant honoured him. So the Christ must be more than David's son. Ask the Witness what "more than" means. Then show where he sits. says God never said "Sit at my right hand" to any angel. In Jesus says he "sat down with my Father on his throne," and speaks of one "throne of God and of the Lamb." A creature can be given a throne of his own; only God sits on God's throne. If there is time, add , where Jesus joins to and the high priest calls it blasphemy.
The argument isn't in the word adoni; it's in Jesus' question. If the Christ is David's son, why is he David's Lord? Because he sits on his Father's own throne, "the throne of God and of the Lamb."
Adoni is the word used for human lords. If David meant God he would have said Adonai. So David's Lord is not God.
You're right about the word, and I won't argue with you there. It's the normal word for a human lord, and on its own it proves nothing either way. But it doesn't prove your point either: adoni tells us David's Lord is distinct from Jehovah, which I agree with. The Father and the Son are distinct. So let's leave the word and take Jesus' question in : "If, then, David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" Kings don't call their descendants "my lord." So how would you answer him?
Sitting at God's right hand means he's next to God, not God. You sit beside the king; you aren't the king.
In Psalm 110 that's a fair first reading, and it shows the two are distinct. But the New Testament tells us which throne it is. In Jesus says he "sat down with my Father on his throne", not beside it on another. and 22:3 speak of one "throne of God and of the Lamb." And gives the same blessing and honour to "the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb." says Jehovah gives his glory to no one else. Who shares God's own throne and his worship?
'Right hand' is just a figure of speech. God doesn't have a literal hand any more than he has literal wings.
Agreed. God doesn't have a body, and I'm not arguing about hands. The figure means something, though, and everyone in Jesus' day knew what it meant: sharing a king's rule and authority. That's exactly why the high priest "ripped his garments" when Jesus said in that they would see "the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven." If it were only a figure of speech for being a favoured servant, why would that be blasphemy?
Revelation 3:21 says the one who conquers will sit with Jesus on his throne. So humans share the throne too. Sitting on a throne doesn't make you God.
Read the whole verse: "To the one who conquers I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne." There are two thrones in that verse. Believers share Christ's throne, the kingdom he gives. Only the Son shares the Father's throne. And nowhere in Revelation are believers on thrones worshipped, while the Lamb receives the same worship as the One on the throne (). Who else in Revelation shares the Father's throne and his worship?
Acts 2:36 says God made him Lord. If he was made Lord, he wasn't Lord before. And it quotes Psalm 110 right there.
Peter is talking about what God did at the resurrection: he raised the crucified Jesus and seated him at his right hand (). "Made Lord" there is about the Son, as a man, being publicly enthroned as Messiah after he humbled himself. It's the same pattern as , where God exalts him and every tongue confesses "Jesus Christ is Lord." That doesn't mean he had no glory before. Jesus says in that he had glory alongside the Father before the world was. So is "made Lord" about who he is, or about the place God gave him after he humbled himself?
Psalm 110:3 in some translations says 'from the womb before the morning star I begot you', which shows he was created.
That reading comes from the Greek Septuagint, and your NWT doesn't follow it; it speaks of "the womb of the dawn" and young men "just like dewdrops." I wouldn't build anything on that verse either way, and we already agree he existed before he was born on earth. The question is not whether he existed, but who he is. That's what Jesus asked about the Christ in Matthew 22. How would you answer him?
Don't build on adoni versus Adonai. Some Christian scholars point out that the vowel marks that separate the two were added by Jewish scribes centuries after Jesus, so the argument is weaker than it sounds. But that is a manuscript debate you can't settle at a door, and Jesus didn't argue from the word. Concede that adoni is the ordinary word for a human lord and move to his question. Don't use the "Lord at your right hand drinks from the brook" argument from Psalm 110:5-7 with an NWT reader. The NWT reads Psalm 110:5 as "Jehovah will be at your right hand; He will crush kings on the day of his anger," so in their Bible the one at the right hand in verse 5 is Jehovah, and the argument collapses. Don't lean on Psalm 110:3 (the Greek "before the morning star I begot you" reading). It isn't in the NWT, and a JW already believes Jesus existed before his birth. Don't hop to other subjects (1914, the 144,000, the cross) when the conversation slows; keep it to Jesus' question in Matthew 22 and the shared throne. The Witness is a friend reasoning with you, not an opponent; tone loses more conversations than arguments do.
(1) Read Psalm 110 in the NWT and notice that verse 5 reads "Jehovah will be at your right hand", so you don't build on it. (2) Read (and ) until you can retell Jesus' question in your own words, including verse 46. (3) Mark , 22:1 and 22:3 so you can show "my Father on his throne" and "the throne of God and of the Lamb" quickly. (4) Read with so you can connect with the trial in one sentence. (5) Practise conceding the Hebrew point gracefully: "You're right about the word; let's take Jesus' question instead." (6) Practise the doorstep question aloud, and rehearse a reply to "right hand means next to God, not God": " says on his throne."