Was Jesus Created By God?
QUESTION: You claim Jesus is God. Actually, Jesus was created by God, believe it or not (John 1:1; Revelation 3:14).
ANSWER: Hello! Thanks for examing the material on our web site. You are correct in saying that I affirm Jesus is God. I do so because that's exactly what Scripture affirms (for more material on this subject, see the article, "Is Jesus God?" and the radio program "Is Jesus God?").
[use the search feature on either christistheway.com or lookinguntojesus.net to find more material on the question of whether Jesus is God or not - wjs]
However, you are incorrect in your assumption that the Father created Jesus. The verses you cited do not prove what you claim. Let's look at each one.
John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory ass of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-3, 14, KJV).
There is nothing in the entire context of John 1 that remotely indicates that Jesus was created. In describing Jesus as "the Word", the Apostle John plainly says that Jesus was "in the beginning" "with God," and was God's agent of Creation. Jesus Himself created "all things." "Without Him was not anything made that was made." In other words, everything that was created was made by Jesus. Under those conditions, Jesus could not have "made" Himself. He could not be the "Creator" and the "created" at the same time. Consider Colossians 1:16:
"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him."
It takes the power of God to create all things in heaven and on earth (Genesis 1:1). Jesus has that power.
It's interesting that you cite John 1:1 to try to disprove Jesus' Divinity when this is one of the most powerful texts in proof of His Divinity. It plainly says "the Word was God." Indeed, Jesus is of the same Divine Nature as the Father. John's affirmation here of the Deity of Christ is so direct that it offends a great many non-believers today. For instance, the group calling themselves the "Jehovah's Witnesses" intentionally and dishonestly mistranslates John 1:1 to read "the Word was a god." Muslims, when examining the Bible, also prefer using the same Jehovah's Witness mistranslation because they cannot bear the fact that Jesus is God.
John 1:1 does not disprove that Jesus is God - it affirms it clearly and loudly.
“It takes the power of God to create all things in heaven and on earth. Jesus has that power.”
Revelation 3:14
"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God..." (KJV)
In this verse, Jesus describes Himself by three titles including "the beginning of the creation of God." Our Jehovah's Witness friends say this means Christ had a beginning - that the Father created Jesus first before anything else was created. However, the word "beginning" in this verse is the Greek word arche, which does not indicate order but cause. Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines arche in Revelation 3:14 as "that by which anything begins to be, the origin, active cause" (p. 77). Ardnt and Gingrich say that arche here means "the first cause" (p. 112). Correctly understood, the verse is telling us that Jesus is the beginning first Cause of all God's Creation. It is originated with Him. (This is exactly what John 1:1 says.)
The Watchtower Society, in its effort to hide the truth about Jesus from its followers, also mistranslates this passage to read: "the beginning of the creation by God." This is not how the Greek reads.
"For 'by God' to be a correct translation, the Greek would have to be hupo theou. But we do not have the 'hupo theou'. We simply have the word for 'creation' in the genetive case. 'Of God' is correct." (Cline 6).
Revelation 3:14 does not disprove that Jesus is God, nor does it devalue His nature. On the contrary, Jesus is teaching us that He deserves glory, honor, and praise as the Creator of all things.
Conclusion
The truth about Jesus Christ as the Divine Son of God is the most important thing you can understand and believe. Friend, don't let the doctrines of men lead you away from salvation in Jesus.
"...for unless you believe that I am {He}, you shall die in your sins." John 8:24 (KJV)
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Answering The Atheist
The Atheist's Complaint:
How old was Abram when Ishmael was born? Genesis 16:16 says that he was 86, but other verses (see below) say that he was over 135. Is there a contradiction?
Acts 7:4 says that Abram didn't leave Haran until after his father died. Genesis 11:26 says that Abram's father was 70 years old when Abram was born, and Abram's father lived to be 205 (Genesis 11:32) Clearly, then, Abram was at least 135 when he left Haran. Yet Genesis 12:4 says he left Haran when he was only 75.
Response:
Since Genesis 16:16 specifically says, "Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram," then we know for certain that he was 86. What then shall we make of the reasoning given on the other verses presented?
First, the questioner has assumed that Terah was 70 when Abraham was born. Terah was 70 when he began to have children; but there is no reason to conclude that Abram was his firstborn. Since we are given details about both Abram's and Terah's age at the time Abram departed Haran, we can know how old Terah was when Abram was born (see below). Thus, rather than the listning of Terah's sons in Genesis 11:26 being chronological, it is more likely that they are listed according to the measure of knowledge we have of them. Abram is listed first because we know more about him than his brothers. Haran is listed last because we know less of him than his brothers.
Abram was 75 when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4), and he did not leave until his father had died at the age of 205 (Genesis 11:32). Thus we can conclude that Abram was born when Haran was 130 years old (205-75=130). Eleven years later, when Abram was 86, Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
There is no contradiction.
This article is in response to Skeptic's Annotated Bible.