Mr. Kim said:
TIME and again, Jesus showed that he was a creature separate from God and that he, Jesus, had a God above him, a God whom he worshiped, a God whom he called "Father." In prayer to God, that is, the Father, Jesus said, "You, the only true God." (John 17:3) At John 20:17 he said to Mary Magdalene: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." (RS, Catholic edition) At 2 Corinthians 1:3 the apostle Paul confirms this relationship: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Since Jesus had a God, his Father, he could not at the same time be that God.
I agree that Jesus has a God and a Father above Him. This, though, does not prove that He is a creature, it only proves that another Person (The Father) has a higher position than He does.
Just because The Father and The Son are different Persons, how does this prove that they do not share the same Nature or Essence?
Mr. Kim said:
Was Jesus Created?
Jesus, in his prehuman existence, was "the first-born of all creation." (Colossians 1:15, NJB) He was "the beginning of God's creation." (Revelation 3:14, RS, Catholic edition). "Beginning" [Greek, ar·khe'] cannot rightly be interpreted to mean that Jesus was the 'beginner' of God's creation. In his Bible writings, John uses various forms of the Greek word ar·khe' more than 20 times, and these always have the common meaning of "beginning." Yes, Jesus was created by God as the beginning of God's invisible creations.
At Revelation 21:6, God Almighty says that He is "The Beginning" ("Arkhe"). Does that mean God Almighty was created by Himself? No, surely, "Beginning" must mean "Beginner" or "Origin" in Revelation 21:6. So, why couldn't it mean the same at Revelation 3:14?
In fact, that Greek word "Arkhe" can mean "Origin," "Ruler," or "Beginning," depending on the context. Look up Revelation 3:14 in the different modern Bible translations and you will see this.
Now, regarding Jesus being the "Firstborn":
Colossians 1:15 is often used by certain religious groups and people (including Jehovah's Witnesses) to "prove" that Jesus was the first creature that God created, before God made anything else. However, these verses are actually teaching something different.
In ancient Israel, the firstborn son received twice the inheritance and more honor and authority than the other sons, and upon the father's death, he was regarded as the head of the household. (Deuteronomy 21:17; Genesis 48:13-14; Genesis 49:3; 2nd Chronicles 21:3)
At Psalm 89:27, God promised that He would "place" or "appoint" David (or the coming Son of David, the Messiah) into the position of "Firstborn," which meant, in this context, the "Most High of all the kings of the earth," the one who held first place. At Exodus 4:22, God declares that "Israel is My firstborn son," that is, Israel would hold first place in God's eyes among all other nations, and Israel would be the most treasured and loved nation to God.
There was clearly a "position" or "rank" of "firstborn" in the Bible -- this was the position of being in "first place" or the "highest rank."
At Colossians 1:15-18, the Apostle Paul taught that Jesus is the "Firstborn" of all creation because all things were created through Him and for Him, He existed before anything was ever created, and He is the Firstborn because He is the One who has "first place" in all things. Since Jesus is called "Firstborn" because He created all things and existed before all things, this shows that He is not called "Firstborn" because He was the first thing created.
Paul himself, at Colossians 1:18, explains that he is referring to the position or rank of "Firstborn," because Paul says Jesus is the one who has "preeminence" or "first place" in all things. Therefore, Paul was not saying that Jesus was the first creature created by God. (Compare also Revelation 1:5)
If Jesus Himself were part of creation, how could He exist before one thing was ever created by God? Did God create Jesus through Jesus? (See John 1:3; Colossians 1:17)
At Hebrews 1:6, God commands all of His angels to worship The Firstborn Son, which would be idolatry if The Firstborn were a creature.
If you are using the New World Translation, please compare Colossians 1:15-17 in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation, the American Standard Version, and any other modern translation, and you will see that the words "[other]" are not found in the Greek text. The words "[other]" were added by the translators of the New World Translation in order to support their belief that Jesus was created by God, and then He created all other things. The Watchtower Society even admits this in the "Reasoning" Book, on pages 408-409 (italics and bold added by me):
"In harmony with everything else that the Bible says regarding the Son, NW assigns the same meaning to pan´ta at Colossians 1:16, 17 so that it reads, in part, "by means of him all other things were created . . . All other things have been created through him and for him." Thus he is shown to be a created being, part of the creation produced by God."
My question is, if the entire Bible clearly teaches that Jesus was created by God, then why does the New World Translation need to add words that are not in the Greek text in order to show that Jesus is "a created being, part of the creation produced by God"? Didn't God know what He was doing when He inspired His Apostles to write the Scriptures? Why does He need "help" from the Watchtower Society?
Finally, if Paul had wanted to say that Jesus was the "First-Created One," instead of "Firstborn" there was a different Greek word specifically for that which he could have used, but did not choose to use.
Mr. Kim said:
Notice how closely those references to the origin of Jesus correlate with expressions uttered by the figurative "Wisdom" in the Bible book of Proverbs: "Yahweh created me, first-fruits of his fashioning, before the oldest of his works. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I came to birth; before he had made the earth, the countryside, and the first elements of the world." (Proverbs 8:12, 22, 25, 26, NJB) While the term "Wisdom" is used to personify the one whom God created, most scholars agree that it is actually a figure of speech for Jesus as a spirit creature prior to his human existence.
The Hebrew word sometimes translated "created" at Proverbs 8:22 is "qanah." According to Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Dictionary, this word means:
1) to get, acquire, create, buy, possess
1a1) to get, acquire, obtain
1a1a) of God originating, creating, redeeming His people
1a1a1) possessor
1a1b) of Eve acquiring
1a1c) of acquiring knowledge, wisdom
1a2) to buy
1b) (Niphal) to be bought
1c) (Hiphil) to cause to possess
So, that word can mean either "to create" or "acquire," "buy," "posess," or "get."
That is why several translations say that God "possessed" His Wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8.
Which agrees more with the facts? Was there ever a time when God did not possess wisdom? Did God have to create His own wisdom? How could God "create" wisdom that He did not have?
The Bible says that God created all His works with His wisdom:
Psalm 104:24 (ESV): O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
If God made all of His works and all of His creatures with His wisdom, then how was there a time when He did not have His wisdom? How could God have created His wisdom without having wisdom?
