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SUBJECT:
Revelation 3:14 and Colossians 1:15-16
QUESTION:
Do these verses state that Jesus was created?
ANSWER:
No, it does not.
Revelation 3:14
And unto the angel of the
church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen,
the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God;
Notice the commentaries:
Revelation 3:14
The beginning of
the creation of God -
That is, the head and governor of all creatures; the king of
the creation. See the note at Colossians 1:15. By his
titles, here, he prepares them for the humiliating and awful
truths which he was about to declare, and the authority on
which the declaration was founded.
~from Adam Clarke's Commentary
Revelation 3:14
Beginning of the
creation of God - not
He whom God created first, but as in Colossians 1:15-18, the
Beginner of all creation: its originating instrument. All
creation would not be represented adoring Him, if He were
but one of themselves (Revelation 5:8,11,13). His being the
Creator is a guarantee for His faithfulness as 'the Witness
and Amen.' ~from Jamieson,
Fausset, and Brown Commentary
Note:
In both of these commentaries, it is clearly stated that we
are not talking about God, the Father creating Jesus Christ.
Here is the reference to
Colossians 1:15-16
Colossians 1:15-16
15 Who is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For by him were all
things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were
created by him, and for him:
Notice the commentary referenced above:
Col 1:15
[The
first-born of every creature] I suppose this phrase
to mean the same as that, Philippians 2:9: God hath given
him a name which is above every name; he is as man at the
head of all the creation of God; nor can he with any
propriety be considered as a creature, having himself
created all things, and existed before anything was made. If
it be said that God created him first, and that he, by a
delegated power from God, created all things, this is most
flatly contradicted by the apostle's reasoning in the 16th
and 17th verses. Since the Jews call Yahweh: bªkowrow
(OT:1060) shel (OT:7945) `owlaam (OT:5769), the first-born
of all the world, or of all the creation, to signify his
having created or produced all things; (see
Wolfius in loc.) so Christ is here termed, and
the words which follow in the 16th and 17th verses are the
proof of this. The phraseology is Jewish; and as they apply
it to the supreme Being merely to denote his eternal
pre-existence, and to point him out as the cause of all
things; it is most evident that Paul uses it in the same
way, and illustrates his meaning in the following words,
which would be absolutely absurd if we could suppose that by
the former he intended to convey any idea of the inferiority
of Jesus Christ. ~from Adam
Clarke's Commentary
As we can see, Jesus was not
a created being. |