To summarize the previous article, Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. He is of the same substance as the Father and is coeternal with the Father and is not a created being. For several centuries this caused division in the Church starting with the Arian heresy and leading to wars and other unpleasantness between the Roman Empire (Trinity side) and the Germanic Tribes (Arian side). The problem came to a head with the calling of the First Council of Nicea where the Nicene Creed was created stating the official beliefs of the Church including the Trinity.
The belief that Jesus is a created being and not coeternal with the Father continues to this day in some religious groups including the Latter Day Saints (well technically they believe that God was created too in an eternal progression of gods but thats for another article), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and other groups known as Unitarians.
The Transfiguration by Lodovico Carracci, 1594. Public Domain.
Now that we have established the history of the disagreement, let us look at an example of how our modern translations lead to misunderstanding. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians he states:
“He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:15-17)
Notice that Jesus is called the “Firstborn of all creation.” In English, firstborn is defined as:
first brought forth : ELDEST (Meriam Webster).
In English, this would make one think of Arianism as first brought forth and eldest both point to a creation at some point. In fact, the first born by birth had special importance in the Ancient Near East and especially Israel. According to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
FIRSTBORN: First son born to a couple and required to be specially dedicated to God. The firstborn son of newly married people was believed to represent the prime of human vigor (Gen. 49:3; Ps. 78:51). In memory of the death of Egypt’s firstborn and the preservation of the firstborn of Israel, all the firstborn of Israel, both of man and beast, belonged to Yahweh (Exod. 13:2, 15; cp. 12:12–16). This meant that the people of Israel attached unusual value to the eldest son and assigned special privileges and responsibilities to him. He was presented to the Lord when he was a month old. Since he belonged to the Lord, it was necessary for the father to buy back the child from the priest at a redemption price not to exceed five shekels (Num. 18:16). The husband of several wives would have to redeem the firstborn of each. ¹
Alexander’s empire by Thomas Lessman. CC BY-SA 3.0
So, being the firstborn of creation by this definition would already have significance to Jews at the time. However, the New Testament was written in Greek and not either Hebrew, Aramaic, or English. As shown in the map above, in the centuries before the New Testament period Alexander the Great conquered most of what we now consider the Middle East including Israel, Syria, and Turkey. As many of the first churches were in these areas, the New Testament was written and distributed in Hellenistic Greek.
While translators for the most part do an amazing job changing this into English, it’s not always a 1:1 transfer. For instance, the word translated as firstborn in Greek is Prōtotokos. According to the Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words:
Prōtotokos, the Greek word for “firstborn,” is used eight times in the New Testament, usually with reference to Jesus. He is called Mary’s firstborn son (Luke 2:7), the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15), the firstborn of the dead (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5), the firstborn of God’s family (Rom. 8:29), and simply the “firstborn” (Heb. 1:6; 12:23). The intent of all these references is to show Jesus’ priority and preeminence. He had preeminence in Mary’s family as the oldest son, and He has preeminence in the church as the firstborn from the dead and firstborn of all God’s family.²
So, firstborn has a range of meanings that all apply to Jesus. He is the firstborn of creation (by prominence), the firstborn of Mary (by birth as a human), and firstborn from the dead (by chronology). None of these suggest that Jesus as a being was created at some point in the past and therefore does not have the same substance or preeminence as the Father. Any reading that comes to this conclusion is ignoring the original Greek as well as many other verses from the Bible including:
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- John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
- 2 Peter 1:1 “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
- John 5:23-24: “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
- Acts 20:28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”
- Titus 2:13 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…..”
In conclusion, I hope this examples illustrates the importance of checking the original language when studying scripture. With the Internet and services such as Logos, its now easier than it has ever been to really dig deeply into the Bible from its original context and meaning.
¹ Firstborn Brand, Chad, et al. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Holman Reference, 2015.
² Firstborn. Holman treasury of key Bible words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew words defined and explained. Carpenter & Comfort – Holman Reference – 2000