---
title: Genesis 15:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/genesis-15-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/genesis-15-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Genesis 15:1
testament: OT
section: Law
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Genesis 15:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:  “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

## JW Usage

JWs read "the word of Jehovah" as a disembodied message — a communication Jehovah delivered to Abraham, not a visible person. The vision is treated as a prophetic dream or an auditory experience mediated by an angel. "Word" is a noun of content, never of person.

## Protestant Usage

The grammar of Genesis 15:1 resists the message-only reading. The "word of Jehovah" comes to Abraham *in a vision* — it is something Abraham sees as well as hears. It speaks in the first person: "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield." Six verses later the same "word" says "I am Jehovah who brought you out of Ur" (15:7). The Word who appears, identifies himself as Jehovah, and speaks personally to Abraham is the same Word John 1:1-14 says was with God, was God, and became flesh. Old Testament "word of Jehovah" language is one of the categories John re-uses deliberately. Pair with 1 Samuel 3:10, 21, where Jehovah "comes and stands" before Samuel and reveals himself "by the word of Jehovah" — the Word who stands is a visible person, not a disembodied sentence.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Word of the Lord — Yahweh's Visible Person](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/word-of-the-lord.md) — The OT "Word of the Lord" appeared physically as God [Deity of Christ]