---
title: Matthew 5:45
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-45/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-45.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 5:45
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 5:45

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): ""your Father who is in the heavens""
- NWT (2013 revision): "so that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise on both the wicked and the good and makes it rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous."

## JW Usage

JWs accept Matthew 5:45 as Jesus' teaching on imitating the Father's even-handed kindness in personal conduct, but they combine it operationally with 1 John 5:19 ("the whole world lies in the power of the wicked one") and 2 Corinthians 4:4 ("the god of this system of things") to argue that worldly flourishing is ultimately satanic counterfeit, not Jehovah's blessing.

## Protestant Usage

This verse is the doctrinal anchor against the "Satan also blesses worldly people" framing. Jesus — directly, in his own teaching — attributes sun and rain on the wicked AND the good, the righteous AND the unrighteous, to the Father in the heavens. The grammatical subject of the giving is Yahweh, not Satan. Pair this with Acts 14:16-17 (God gives rain and fruitful seasons to pagan nations), James 1:17 (every good and perfect gift is from the Father of lights), and 1 Timothy 4:4 (every creation of God is good). The combined witness builds a doctrine of common grace: God showers real, genuine goods on every human — believer and unbeliever — out of his own kindness, not because Satan is delivering them. Reclassifying common grace as demonic counterfeit is unfalsifiable in construction and contradicts Jesus' direct teaching here. Satan in scripture is a deceiver, an accuser, a murderer; he is not in the rain business.

## NWT Issue

The NWT 2013 retains "Father who is in the heavens" — the plural "heavens" is a NWT distinctive, not a translation error. The rendering is acceptable since the Greek tois ouranois is plural, but it reads stiffly in English where most translations consolidate to singular "heaven". The plural is not the doctrinal issue; the doctrinal issue is whether the JW will let the verse attribute sun and rain to the Father rather than to Satan.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- ['Satan Also Blesses' — Common Grace vs Demonic Conspiracy](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/satan-blesses-worldly-success.md) — Matthew 5:45 — He sends rain on the just and the unjust [Epistemology]