Acts 13:2
Acts 13:22While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
JWs read as Jehovah's impersonal active force directing the congregation. The NWT renders "the holy spirit" in lowercase and treats the Spirit's speech as God communicating through an impersonal channel. The fact that the Spirit says "set apart for me Barnabas and Saul" — using the first-person pronoun "me" — is not addressed in Watchtower discussions of this verse, since an impersonal force cannot have a "me."
records the Holy Spirit speaking in the first person: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." The Spirit issues a command, uses personal pronouns ("me," "I"), claims to have called specific people, and commissions them for a task. Impersonal forces do not speak, claim agency, or issue directives. This complements the broader NT testimony of Spirit personhood: the Spirit teaches (), guides into truth (), can be lied to (), can be grieved (), and distributes gifts "as he wills" (). Even the NWT retains "me" and "I" in — the text undermines the impersonal-force doctrine from within their own translation.
The NWT renders "the holy spirit said" in lowercase despite the Spirit using first-person pronouns ("me," "I") and issuing commands — actions exclusive to persons. The NWT's own interlinear column preserves the personal language, yet the lowercase rendering reinforces the impersonal-force doctrine. Even the Watchtower's internal logic is strained: the Spirit's use of "me" in argues against its own theological framework.