Hebrews 2:17
Hebrews 2:1717For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.
Watchtower Christology has Jesus reverting to spirit existence (Michael) after the resurrection. The requirement that the high priest be "made like his brothers in all respects" sits uncomfortably with that picture, but is rarely engaged head-on. When cited, the verse is treated as a description of the earthly-ministry incarnation — a temporary likeness that Jesus shed at his resurrection.
is half of the Melchizedek-priesthood argument. A high priest must share the nature of the people he represents — "made like his brothers in all respects" — and adds that he "always lives to plead for them" (NWT). If Jesus is no longer truly human, he is no longer truly priest. If he is no longer priest, no one is interceding (). The doorstep question: "Who is interceding for you right now?" Pair with ("his priesthood has no successors") — a non-human Jesus cannot fulfil a permanent human-shaped priesthood.
The NWT renders hilaskesthai as "offer a propitiatory sacrifice" in both 1984 and 2013 — preserving the sacrificial-mechanism language Hebrews requires. The choice is unremarkable in isolation, but matters as a contrast with the NWT's broader pattern at , , and , where charis ("grace") is consistently softened to "undeserved kindness." keeps the harder sacrificial language because the verse cannot be smoothed without breaking the high- priest argument the book is building.