---
title: John 20:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-20-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-20-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 20:1
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 20:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

## JW Usage

The Easter morning narrative is uncontroversial in JW publications and treated as straightforward resurrection account. The verse comes up apologetically because the Greek word John uses for the empty tomb — mnēmeion — is the same word used for Lazarus's burial in John 11:17 and Joseph of Arimathea's grave in Matthew 27:60, and is distinct from the Greek word Hadēs that the NWT also renders as "the Grave."

## Protestant Usage

Mary Magdalene comes to the mnēmeion — the literal tomb cut from rock that Joseph donated. John's word choice is exactly what one would expect for a physical burial place: mnēmeion is the New Testament's ordinary term for grave or tomb, and is used about forty times. The contrast with Hadēs is sharp: Hadēs is the unseen realm of the dead, a place where the rich man in Luke 16:23 sees, speaks, and feels. You cannot dig up a Hadēs; you cannot hold the keys of a hole in the ground (Rev 1:18). The two Greek words carry two different concepts. The NWT's collapsing of both into "the Grave" erases a distinction John writes into the text.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Hadēs Is Not the Grave](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/hades-the-grave-rendering.md) — Luke 16:23 / Revelation 1:18 — The NWT Collapses Two Greek Words Into One [NWT Translation]