How Could Jesus Be The Creator (John 1:1-3) If He Was “The Firstborn Over All Creation” (Colossians 1:15)?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, June 19, 2025
In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing
was made that was made. John 1:1-3, NKJV
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. Colossians 1:15-16, NKJV
The first thing that needs to be established is that Christ is the Creator God as both of these passages reveal. Otherwise, Christ would have been the uncreated creator of the resultant created being, which is obviously illogical! Any theology that has Christ as a created being is errant because they have a Christ who is not powerful enough to equate with the infinite and eternal God to suffer His infinite and eternal wrath and subsequently resurrect!
The alleged contradiction results from an improper understanding of the phrase “firstborn over all of creation”. Does it really mean the “first created entity” which is what some suggest is implied here? Absolutely not.
A Christian apologist pointed out that there was a Greek word for “first created” and it was not used in this instance.[1] The Bible speaks further about the meaning of the title firstborn. Sometimes it can simply be the firstborn offspring of man or an animal. However, there are also times where this title is one of legal inheritance. Pause and consider David whom God gave this title:
I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him…Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. Psalm 89:20…27, NKJV
Take notice how David has been allotted the position of firstborn! And yet, David was the youngest child and definitely not the firstborn of Jesse, his father. Instead, that was Eliab as indicated in 1 Samuel 17:13. Take notice in Psalm 89:27 how God assigns this title.
Consider also Ephraim’s inheritance of the title of firstborn (Jeremiah 31:9), even though he was the younger (Genesis 41:51-52). The same could be said of Jacob who purchased the title from Esau for a bowl of soup. Firstborn titles had to do with inheritance.
Like David and Ephraim, Jesus also received this title. David and Ephraim were obviously not the first created entities and so it would be illogical to make the claim that Jesus was either by a faulty interpretation of Colossians 1:15. And hence, there is no contradiction.
Jesus is both the Creator and One who inherited this elite title as the one who hold an eternal inheritance of dominion, authority, and majesty forever. Christ is the one who inherits all things—one worthy of the title firstborn over all creation.
Originally here https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/jesus-is-god/the-firstborn-creator/; Edited, Republished by permission.
[1] Slick,
