BIBLICALIST
CLOSEBeliefs Examined
A biblical examination of Christ’s eternal existence, His creation of all things, the meaning of firstborn, divine names, worship, and the incarnation.
BELIEFS EXAMINED
WAS JESUS CHRISTA CREATED BEING?
No. Jesus Christ is not part of creation. He is the eternal Word who was with God and was God, and all created things were made by Him. The Son entered creation through the incarnation, but His personal existence did not begin at Bethlehem.
“Jesus is the highest and first creature God made, and then God used Him to create everything else.”
John divides reality into the Word and everything that was made. Everything in the category of created things came into existence through Him.
If the Word were created, He would belong to the class of things that were made. John instead says that without Him not one made thing came into being.
The eternal Son took flesh and was born of Mary, but the incarnation was not His beginning. He spoke of glory shared with the Father before the world was.
Micah described the Messiah’s goings forth as from everlasting. Christ’s earthly birth fulfilled prophecy while revealing the One whose existence is eternal.
Colossians calls Christ the firstborn of every creature. In Scripture, firstborn can describe rank, inheritance, and supremacy, not merely the first one created in time.
The following verses explain the title: all things were created by Him and for Him, He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Paul presents Christ as supreme over creation because He is its Creator and goal.
Hebrews contrasts the Son with created angels. Angels are commanded to worship Him, and the Father addresses the Son with the words, “Thy throne, O God.”
A created messenger may serve God, but Scripture does not place a creature on the eternal throne or command the heavenly host to worship him.
Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” His hearers understood the weight of the statement and took up stones.
The language reflects more than long preexistence. Christ identifies Himself with the divine self-existence revealed in Scripture.
The Son truly humbled Himself, took the form of a servant, and became man. His voluntary humiliation does not mean He ceased to be divine or had once been a creature.
The wonder of the gospel is not that a creature improved until he became God. It is that the eternal Son became man to redeem sinners.
The title “only begotten Son” identifies the Son’s unique relationship to the Father; it does not say that the Son was manufactured as a creature. John uses the title while also declaring that the Word was God and that all created things were made by Him.
One expression must not be isolated and forced to contradict the same writer’s explicit distinction between the eternal Word and everything that came into being.
Faithful servants and angels refuse worship that belongs to God. Jesus receives worship from His disciples and does not correct them for honoring Him.
The worship of the Son fits the Father’s command that all men honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Scripture does not direct that honor toward a created mediator.
What does Scripture reveal about the Son?
The Word was God in the beginning.
All created things were made by Him.
His goings forth are from everlasting.
Firstborn describes supremacy over creation.
The Father addresses the Son as God.
Jesus used the divine name “I am.”
The eternal Son truly became man.
Do not reduce Jesus Christ to an exalted creature. Honor the Son as Scripture reveals Him—the eternal Creator who became man, died for our sins, and rose again. Trust Him with the faith and worship that belong to God.
1. What did the Word create according to John 1:3?
2. Did the Son begin to exist at Bethlehem?
3. How does Colossians explain the title firstborn?
4. How does the Father address the Son in Hebrews 1?
5. What did Jesus mean by saying, “Before Abraham was, I am”?