Is Jesus the "Created One"? - A Deeper Look at Jehovah's Witnesses

2000 years ago Jesus posed a question of utmost importance, “What do you think about the Christ?”[1] Men and women have provided many responses. Some deny Jesus ever existed. The majority affirm His existence as one of the greatest teachers of all time. Others simply view Him as a revolutionary. Others deny His deity. Some deny His physical resurrection from the dead. Regardless of a person’s conclusion about who Jesus was, they have to decide what to do with their conclusion. Pontius Pilate asked this very question, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” The answers to these two questions mean eternal salvation or eternal damnation. This is why we must first start with an orthodox understanding of who Jesus is in order to know what to do because of Him.

Dictionary.com defines orthodox as 1) of, relating to, or conforming to the approved form of any doctrine, philosophy, ideology, etc. and 2) of, relating to, or conforming to beliefs, attitudes, or modes of conduct that are generally approved.[2] This means Orthodox Christianity is the obedience and adherence to the established doctrine of whom the Bible claimed Christ to be. Therefore, any twisting of the orthodox doctrine of Christ results in a heretical belief system and a cult. One such modern day cult is the Watchtower Society (WS) and its members, Jehovah‘s Witnesses (JW). The Watchtower Society was founded in 1879 by Charles T. Russell. At the core of the WS’ teaching is a denial of Jesus’ deity. It is the goal of the WS to not only remove the deity of Christ, but to present Jesus as a created being, a lesser god, and as the archangel Michael. The WS incorrectly interprets Scripture and injects meaning into key verses as justification to remove Christ’s deity. 

Over the next few weeks, I will examine and refute the WS’ claims that Jesus was a created being, a lesser god, and Jesus is the archangel Michael. This will be accomplished by through understanding the original Greek and proper hermeneutics of Scripture.  Let's begin by looking at the JW claim that Jesus is the "Created One."

Is Jesus the Created One?

Jehovah’s witnesses use several verses to buttress their claim that Jesus is a created creature. Each verse contains a different view of His alleged creation. The first claim is that Jesus is the firstborn of creation. JW’s use Colossians 1:15 to enforce this: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” JW’s argue that Paul is claiming that Jesus is actually the first-born creature of all created beings.[3] According to JWs, he was created. He was brought into existence. He, therefore, cannot be the eternal God.[4] However, with proper hermeneutics one finds out this passage does not reflect this. The word firstborn is the transliterated word “prototokos” which means “before all creation.”[5] The Greek protoktisis is the term for “first-created,” but Paul does not use this term.[6] Paul did not mean Jesus is the firstborn of all creation as JW’s teach. Instead, he is referring to Jesus’ rank above creation. Jesus has a unique priority in time and sovereignty in his position.[7] We can confirm this meaning of His preeminence over all creation by reading verses 16 and 17: “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Jesus is above all creation because it is He who created it. This is not what JW’s teach. In their New World Translation (NWT) of the Bible they add four words to these verses that do not exist in the original Greek. The NWT reads, “Because by means of him all {other} things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All {other} things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all {other} things, and by means of him all {other} things were made to exist.” The WS adds “other” to the text so that it implies Jesus made some things, but not all as the original text says.[8] This tampering with Scripture is exactly what the Bible instructs us not to do in Revelation 22:19.[9]  It is clear from the original Greek, these passages about Jesus being the firstborn of creation refers to His preeminence and not His limited creative power.

JW’s appeal to John 3:16 as text to defend their belief that Jesus is a created being. John 3:16 says, “For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” JW’s defend His creation because of the word “begotten.” However JW’s falsely believe begotten means created.[10] The word begotten is the transliterated Greek word “monogenas.” Monogenas means single of its kind or one and only.[11] This is why Jesus is begotten. He is the one and only of his kind, thus eternal God.

JW’s also appeal to Revelation 3:14 as proof of Jesus’ creation. “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this.”[12] According to JW’s, Jesus’ declaration as the “beginning of the creation of God” means He is part of the creation of God resulting in his inability to be Almighty God.[13] Dr. Bruce Metzger comments on the error found in the New World Transition of Revelation 3:14. Metzger states, “It makes the exalted Christ refer to himself as ‘the beginning of the creation by God.’ The Greek text of this verse…is far from saying that Christ was created by God, for the genitive case…means ‘of God’ and not ‘by God.’”[14] Again, a study of the original Greek provides proper interpretation. The Greek word for beginning is the transliterated “arche.” This means the origin or the first cause. Arche is where we get the English word architect. So this passage means Jesus is the architect, the grand designer, the one who created it all.[15] The word arche is also used in Revelation 21:6. There it says that God is the arche, the beginning, and the end. God the Father uses the same word for Himself. 

Therefore when properly read and interpreted, Scripture is clear. Jesus is not a created being. He did not create some things. Jesus Christ is God and He created all things. This is again confirmed in John 1:3 where Jesus is named as the reason that all things came into existence. It was through Him everything was created and nothing can exist apart from Him creating it. One JW claim refuted. Next week we'll examine the claim that Jesus was a lesser god. 

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[1] Matthew 22:42

[2] “Define Orthodox at Dictionary.com,” Dictionary.com, accessed April 14, 2015, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/orthodox?s=t.

[3] Ron Rhodes, The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Jehovah's Witness, The 10 Most Important Things Series (Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 2001), 48.

[4] Robert M. Bowman, Jehovah's Witnesses, Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, ©1995), 27.

[5] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, vol. 4, 1 Corinthians-Revelation (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1983), 339.

[6] Rhodes, 48.

[7] Charles R. Erdman, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966), 47.

[8] Bowman, 27.

[9] “and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

[10] Rhodes, 46.

[11] James Strong, “Greek Lexicon G3439 (Kjv),”, accessed April 13, 2015,http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3439&t=KJV.

[12] Revelation 3:14

[13] David A. Reed, Jehovah's Witnesses: Answered Verse by Verse (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, ©1986), 103-104.

[14] Bruce Metzger, The Bible Translator, July 1964, p. 97, cited in John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions: Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Mind Sciences, Baha'i, Zen, Unitarianism (Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, ©1999), 198.

[15] Reed, 104.