1 Peter 1:11
1 Peter 1:1111trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
The NWT restructures this verse so that Peter's "Spirit of Christ in them" becomes "the spirit in them was indicating concerning Christ." Watchtower teaching identifies the spirit at work in the Old Testament prophets as Jehovah's active force, not Christ's own spirit. Recognising a pre-existent Spirit of Christ active in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets would undermine the doctrine that Jesus was created as Michael the Archangel and did not truly exist as a divine agent before his human birth. The NWT's rearrangement protects that doctrine; the 1984 NWT at least footnoted the literal "spirit of Christ" reading, but the 2013 revision quietly dropped the footnote.
Open the Kingdom Interlinear Translation on jw.org. The literal Greek column reads "the in them spirit of-Christ" (to en autois pneuma Christou) — the genitive Christou sits directly beside pneuma, making it "Spirit of Christ," a possessive. Every major English translation — ESV, NASB, NIV, KJV, BSB, CSB, NET, NKJV, NLT — renders the phrase as "Spirit of Christ in them." The NWT stands alone in breaking the genitive link. The parallel passages make the possessive reading decisive: uses pneuma Christou possessively ("Spirit of Christ"), says "Spirit of his Son," says "Spirit of Jesus Christ." Why would suddenly switch to an objective genitive when every parallel is possessive? Only one reason: if the Spirit of Christ was personally at work in the Old Testament prophets, Christ pre-existed as a divine agent, and the created- angel Christology collapses. Let the NWT's own Kingdom Interlinear do the work — show the JW the literal column and the NWT column side by side. They do not have to be a Greek scholar to see the restructuring.
The NWT 2013 renders the Greek pneuma Christou ("spirit of Christ") as "the spirit in them was indicating concerning Christ," breaking the possessive genitive. The Watchtower's own Kingdom Interlinear literal column preserves "spirit of-Christ" directly — the divergence is visible on jw.org. Every other major English translation (ESV, NASB, NIV, KJV, CSB, NET, NKJV, NLT) renders this as "Spirit of Christ in them." The 1984 NWT included a footnote acknowledging the literal reading "the spirit of Christ"; the 2013 NWT removed the footnote without notice. The restructuring protects the Watchtower's created- angel Christology by denying Christ a pre-incarnate Spirit at work in the Old Testament prophets.