---
title: John 1:29
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-1-29/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-1-29.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 1:29
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 1:29

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said: 'See, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'"

## JW Usage

Read as identifying Jesus as the perfect-human ransom — the "corresponding ransom" of JW soteriology. The Lamb who takes away sin is read as a perfect human exactly equivalent to the perfect human Adam who lost everything; the ransom is exact equivalence, not infinite worth.

## Protestant Usage

Pair John 1:29 with Psalm 49:7-9, 15 in the JW's own NWT — "not one of them can ever redeem a brother... the redemption price of their life is so precious that it is always beyond their reach... but God will redeem my life from Sheol." The psalm establishes that no man can pay the redemption price. If Jesus is only a perfect man, John 1:29 cannot be true: the Lamb cannot take away the sin of the world if the redeemer is what Psalm 49 says no man can be. Pair with Hebrews 9:12-14 — Christ obtained "everlasting deliverance" through "an everlasting spirit," not as one more Levitical sacrifice. The "how much more" logic of Hebrews 9:13-14 depends on Christ being categorically superior to bulls and goats, not just a better human specimen.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [No Man Can Redeem — But Jesus Did](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/ransom-who-can-redeem.md) — Psalm 49:7-9, 15 / Hebrews 9:12-14 / Acts 20:28 [Salvation]