---
title: 1 John 2:23
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-john-2-23/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-john-2-23.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 John 2:23
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 John 2:23

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. But whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

## JW Usage

Witnesses hold that they honour the Son as Jehovah's created firstborn, and so are not among those denying him. "Denying the Son" is read narrowly as denying that Jesus is the Christ — a messianic claim rather than a claim about his nature — which leaves their relationship with the Father intact on their reading.

## Protestant Usage

This is a hard verse to soften, and it does not rest on any disputed translation. Read verses 22 and 23 as the single sentence John wrote. Verse 22 asks who the liar is and answers: the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Verse 23 then defines what that denial does — everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. John binds the two so tightly that having one without the other is ruled out. Whatever "denying the Son" means, its consequence is losing the Father. Then read 1 John 5:20 in the same NWT, where John says we are in union with the true one by means of his Son Jesus Christ, and ends "this is the true God and life everlasting." However the antecedent is taken, the letter's logic is the same: the Father is reached only through the Son, and the two cannot be separated. Ask the question gently, because it is a serious one: if the Jesus being confessed turns out to be a different Jesus, what does John say happens to the Father? Compare 1 John 5:7, John 20:29.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Whoever Denies the Son Does Not Have the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1john2-23-deny-son-deny-father.md) — 1 John 2:22-23 [Deity of Christ]