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Doctrine changes · Claim record

The organisation stopped speaking of the vindication of God's name and spoke instead of the sanctification of his name and the vindication of his sovereignty; it also replaced “God's plan” with “God's purpose” and “persons of goodwill” with “men whom he approves”.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-chg-vindication-wordingConcerns 15 May 1995Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 May 1995 Verified

The organisation stopped speaking of the vindication of God's name and spoke instead of the sanctification of his name and the vindication of his sovereignty; it also replaced “God's plan” with “God's purpose” and “persons of goodwill” with “men whom he approves”. The Watchtower, 15 May 1995

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation explains that nobody had ever challenged God's right to his name, so there was nothing to vindicate; it quotes three of its own books from 1971, 1973 and 1975 that had used the older wording.

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Part 2—Flashes of Light—Great and Small”

15 May 1995 · p.25 · pars. 17-18 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“Similarly, for a long time, Witnesses spoke of the vindication of Jehovah’s name. But had Satan called Jehovah’s name into question? … That is why the Watch Tower Society’s recent publications do not speak of Jehovah’s name as being vindicated. They speak of Jehovah’s sovereignty as being vindicated and of his name as being sanctified.”

The same paragraphs quote the 1971, 1973 and 1975 books that had used the older wording, and the article also records the replacement of “God’s plan” by “God’s purpose” and of “persons of goodwill” by “men whom he approves” at Luke 2:14.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Document opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; the wording was read in full and the page number taken from the library's own page markers.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-d-w-1995-0515-p2-vindication

Claim page

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