Summary
God is the Creator:
The “LORD” said:
“I … am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone’” (Isaiah 44:24; cf. 42:5; 45:18; Gen 1:1).
Hebrews 1
Psalms 102:25-27 identifies God as the creator of the earth and the heavens. However, Hebrews 1:10-12 applies those three verses nearly word-for-word to Jesus, implying that Jesus is the Creator God. However, earlier in the same chapter, we read:
“God … in these last days has spoken to us in His Son …
through whom also He made the world” (Heb 1:1-2).
This identifies the Father alone as God and as the Creator while “His Son” is the Means “through whom” God created “the world.“
Colossians 1
Colossians 1:15-17 is very similar to Hebrews 1:1-3. Both two passages:
(1) Refer to the Father as “God” and to Christ as “His Son” (Col 1:13, 15; Heb 1:1-2).
(2) Identify the Father as the Creator and the Son as the Means through whom God created all things (Col 1:16; Heb 1:2).
(3) Describe the Son as the Image of God (Col 1:15; Heb 1:3), as “heir of all things” (Heb 1:2; cf. Col 1:16), and as the Means through whom God hold all things together (Heb 1:3; Col 1:17).
The main point, for the purpose of the current article, is that God is the Creator while His Son is the Means through whom He created “all things.”
John 1
We find the same message in John 1. In this passage, we again find that God is described as the Creator, but He brought all things into being “through Him” (John 1:3).
1 Corinthians 8:6
This is a key passage because it is so clear and concise. Firstly, it states that we have:
-
-
- “One God, the Father” and
- “One Lord, Jesus Christ”
-
It then distinguishes between their roles in creation:
-
-
- All things are “from” God, the Father and
- “By” the one Lord, Jesus Christ. “We exist through Him.”
-
Revelation 4:11
Revelation 4 describes God’s throne room. Jesus only enters the room in Revelation 5 (Rev 5:6). While Jesus is still absent, the heavenly beings glorify the One sitting on the throne, saying:
“You created all things,
and because of Your will they existed,
and were created” (Rev 4:10-11)
Conclusions
(1) Since God created all things through His Son, His Son “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). Since God even created time “in the beginning” through the Son, there was no time when the Son did not exist.
(2) The “all things” which God created through His Son, is the universe and everything in it (Col 1:16).
(3) While the universe had a “beginning”, God has no beginning. He exists beyond time, space and matter. Since God is not subject to time, the claims that the Son always existed with God (co-eternal) is meaningless.
– END OF SUMMARY –
God and Jesus
The Bible consistently talks about God and Jesus as if they are two different Persons. For example, at the beginning of every New Testament letter, the reader will find words such as:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:2).
This website, therefore, follows the example of the Bible and makes a distinction between God and Jesus. For further discussion, see Jesus is not God.
God is the Creator.
“In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1).
“Thus says the LORD … ‘I, the LORD,
am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone’”
(Isaiah 44:24; cf. 42:5; 45:18).
As indicated by the capital letters, the word “LORD” represents God’s personal name YHVH, pronounced as Yahweh or as Jehovah.
Jesus never claimed to be the Creator. He has always credited God with creation. For example:
“Have you not read
that He who created them from the beginning
made them male and female” (Matt 19:4-6)?
Is Jesus the Creator?
Hebrews 1 applies Psalm 102 to the Son.
Psalms 102:25-27 says of God:
“Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Even they will perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them
and they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.”
Hebrews 1 applies this nearly word-for-word to Jesus:
“of the Son He says …
You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of Your hands;
they will perish, but You remain;
and they all will become old like a garment,
and like a mantle You will roll them up;
like a garment they will also be changed.
But You are the same,
and Your years will not come to an end” (Heb 1:8, 10-12).
The Father is the Creator.
This quote in Hebrews 1, therefore, implies that Jesus is the Creator God. However, earlier in the same chapter, we read:
“God … in these last days has spoken to us in His Son …
through whom also He made the world.
And He is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power”
(Heb 1:1-3).
Consistent with the entire New Testament, these verses identify God as the Father alone. With respect to the creation event, these verses identify God as the Creator but “His Son” as the Means “through whom” God created “the world.“
This passage also describes “His Son” as “the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1:3).
According to this passage, who “upholds all things” (Heb 1:3)? The word “His” appears four times in these verses:
-
-
- “His Son,“
- “His glory,“
- “His nature,” and
- “His power.“
-
Since the first three “His“-phrases all refer to God, it is assumed that the fourth also refers to God. The phrase “upholds all things by the word of His power,” therefore, means that “His Son” “upholds all things by the word of” God’s “power.“
In conclusion, Hebrews 1 applies Psalm 102 to Christ, implying that Christ is the Creator, but the first three verses of the same chapter identify the Father alone as God and as the Creator, while the Son is the Means “through whom” God created “the world.“
Colossians 1
Colossians 1:15-17 is very similar to Hebrews 1:1-3:
“His beloved Son …
is the image of the invisible God …
by (Gr. en = in) Him all things were created …
all things have been created through Him
and for Him.
He is before all things,
and in (Gr. en = in) Him all things hold together.”
(Col 1:13-17)
Note the similarities of the two passages:
(1) Both passages refer to the Father as “God” and to Christ as “His Son” (Col 1:13, 15; Heb 1:1-2).
(2) Both passages distinguish between the roles of God and His Son in the creation event. Both identify the Father as the Creator and the Son as the Means through whom God created (Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). More a more detailed discussion of Colossians 1:16, see – Firstborn of all Creation.
(3) Both passages describe the Son as the Image of God (Col 1:15; Heb 1:3).
(4) Both passages identify the Son as the Means through whom God hold all things together:
In Hebrews, His Son “upholds all things by the word of His (God’s) power” (Heb 1:3).
In Colossians, “In Him (Christ) all things hold together” (Col 1:17). The passive voice identifies the Father as the active party both in the creation (Col 1:16) and in the maintenance (Col 1:17) of “all things.”
(5) In Hebrews, God appointed the Son as “heir of all things” (Heb 1:2). Similarly, in Colossians, “all things have been created … for Him” (Col 1:16).
The similarity of the two passages is quite amazing. Perhaps Paul wrote both letters. But the main point, for the purpose of this article, is that God is the Creator while His Son is the Means through whom He created “all things.”
John 1
We find the same message in John 1. The first verse in the Bible reads:
“In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1).
John referred to that event when he wrote:
“In the beginning was the Word …
All things came into being through Him,
and apart from Him nothing came into being” (John 1:1-3).
“The Word” is Jesus (cf. John 1:14). “The beginning” was when all things were brought into being (cf. Col 1:16). In this passage, we again find that God is the Creator and that He brought all things into being “through Him” (John 1:3).
1 Corinthians 8:6
This is a key passage because it is so clear and concise, summarizing the principles above:
“There is but one God, the Father,
from whom are all things
and we exist for Him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things,
and we exist through Him” (I Cor 8:6).
In this translation (the NASB), we again find the word “by” (compare NASB Col 1:16). However, the word in Greek is “di’” and is explained by Strong’s as “a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act, through.” (See Interlinear.) In Young’s Literal Translation, therefore, this verse reads as follows:
“Yet to us [is] one God, the Father,
of whom [are] the all things, and we to Him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom [are] the all things, and we through Him.”
Compare this in tabular form:
| There is but one God, | and one Lord, |
| the Father, | Jesus Christ, |
| from whom are all things, | by whom are all things, |
| and we exist for Him; | and we exist through Him. |
However, the brilliant Trinitarians even have answers for this verse. For a discussion, see – the Shema.
Revelation 4:11
Revelation 4 describes God’s throne room. Jesus only enters the room in Revelation 5 (Rev 5:6). While Jesus is still absent, the heavenly beings:
“Will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God,
to receive glory and honor and power;
for You created all things,
and because of Your will they existed,
and were created‘” (Rev 4:10-11).
Made in the image of God
The phrases “through Him” and “through whom” in John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:2 indicate that God is the Creator but He created all things through “His Son.”
With this information, we can go back to Genesis 1, where God said, concerning the creation of Adam and Eve:
“Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness” (Gen 1:26).
The next verse says that Adam was created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). The assumption, therefore, is that, in verse 26, God spoke to His Only Begotten Son who, before His incarnation, “existed in the form of God” (Phil 2:6). Since God is invisible (Col 1:15), man was made in the image of Christ.
Conclusions
The Son always existed.
In the view of some, the Son was God’s first creation. They believe that there was a time when the Son did not exist. However:
Since God does not exist in time, there is no such thing as God’s first creation.
Since God created all things through His Son, His Son “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). He is “from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2).
Since God created even time “in the beginning” through the Son, there was no time when the Son did not exist.
All things
According to Hebrews 1:2, God made “the world”, but then verse 3 continues and says that His power upholds “all things.” “The world” in verse 1, therefore, is a synonym for “all things.” Colossians 1:16 defines “all things” as:
“all things …
both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.”
The “all things” which God created through His Son, therefore, is not limited to this world but includes the universe and everything in it. See the article – How is Jesus the firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) – for a further explanation.
Our limited understanding
We may think that we understand time, space and matter, but Einstein showed that we really do not. For a long time, people thought of the earth as flat because they were only able to see such a small part of it. In the same way, we understand time, space, and matter only from our microscopic perspective. The time, space, and matter of which we are aware is extremely small, compared to the entire universe; smaller than a grain of sand somewhere in a desolated desert when compared to the entire world. But even if we understood the universe, God exists beyond time, space and matter. While the universe had a “beginning”, God has no beginning. Since God is not subject to time, the statement that the Son always existed with God is meaningless.
Christology – Available Articles
Summary Articles
Specific Bible Books
-
-
- Book of Revelation – Is Jesus God Almighty?
- Colossians part I – Is Jesus called God?
- Colossians part II – God created all things through His Son.
-
Specific Bible Passages
-
-
- Philippians 2 – He emptied Himself of “equality with God.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:6 – An explicit statement of the nature of Christ.
- John 10:33 – Did Jesus claim to be God?
- John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.“
-
The origin of the Son
-
-
- Only Begotten Son – God’s only true family
- Firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) – Is He part of creation?
- Pre-existence – Did He exist before He was born?
- Creation – God created all things through His Son.
- Jesus in the Old Testament – Jesus has always existed.
-
Christ is subordinate to God.
-
-
- Distinct from God. – Jesus is not God.
- The Almighty – Only the Father is Almighty.
- Jesus is subordinate to God – “God is the head of Christ.“
- Subordinate in John– The gospel with the highest Christology
-
Christ is equal to God.
-
-
- Evidence of equality – They work, create, own all things together.
- Equality in John – Jesus answers prayers & protects believers.
- Worship – We worship only God, but we must also worship Jesus.
-
Jesus is called God.
-
-
- Overview – Overview of the verses that refer to Jesus as theos.
- Theos – The meaning of theos – the word translated “God.”
- John 1:18 – The original text of this verse is in dispute.
- John 20:28 – Did Thomas say that Jesus is God?
- John’s gospel – Discussion of theos in this gospel.
- Romans 9:5 – The translation depends on punctuation.
- Hebrews 1:8 – The next verse says that God is His theos.
-
The translation of John 1:1
-
-
- Introduction
- Who is the Word? – Jesus or wisdom personified?
- The Word was a god. – Arguments against this translation;
- Theos is a count noun. – Implications
- The Word is like God. – Arguments for this translation.
-