---
title: John 20:17
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-20-17/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-20-17.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 20:17
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 20:17

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> “Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.'"

## JW Usage

This is one of the Watchtower's go-to verses against the deity of Christ. Jesus says "I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God." The argument runs: if Jesus has a God, he cannot be God; God does not have a God above him. The verse is treated as a flat refutation of Trinitarian Christology and an affirmation that Jesus is a creature, ontologically subordinate to the Father.

## Protestant Usage

Affirm what Jesus actually says, then look eleven verses later. Jesus distinguishes "my Father" from "your Father" — he never says "our Father" here. His sonship is by nature; ours is by adoption. And then in verse 28 of the same chapter, in the same resurrection context, in the same author's editorial frame, Thomas calls Jesus "my Lord and my God" — and Jesus accepts the confession. Both truths sit side by side in John 20: the incarnate Son relates to the Father as his God in his mediatorial role (Hebrews 1:8-9 makes the same move — "Your throne, O God" in verse 8 and "your God has anointed you" in verse 9). Subordination of role does not erase equality of nature. The Trinity teaches distinct persons sharing one divine essence — exactly what John 20 displays in eleven verses.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- ["My God and Your God" — John 20:17](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john20-17-my-god.md) — Jesus distinguishes his relationship, not his nature [Deity of Christ]