Jesus is uncreated

One of the many ways you can make errors in translation is if you use words that do not occur in the original which change the meaning of the text. This can end up contradicting another passage that is clear and unambiguous. If this happens it is a clear sign that you are inserting words into the text to support your own convictions rather than letting the original speak for itself. What follows will document one such translation error in the New World Translation (hereafter “NWT”).

The Watchtower teaches that Jesus cannot be a part of the Trinitarian God because he is a created angel whose name is Michael the archangel. They have not shied away from changing the text of the NWT to support this doctrine. The most powerful argument that Jesus cannot be an angel, much less Michael the archangel, is the fact that the Bible clearly states that Jesus is not a created being. Angels have been created and therefore have a beginning. IF it can be shown that the Bible teaches that Christ has not been created and has no beginning, then he cannot be a created angelic being, much less Michael the archangel. Not being created or having no beginning is the same as being eternal.

The Bible gives mathematical evidence that Jesus is not created

The following will show that the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ has not been created.

Let’s divide everything that exists into two groups; into the first group we will put everything that has been created; into the second, everything that is by nature eternal and uncreated. Jehovah God, of course, belongs in the uncreated group. In the created group we will put the whole universe, spirits, etc. Now, where do we put Jesus? The Watchtower places him in the created group. Let’s accept their statement for now and test it.

Created Things Uncreated Things
(All animals, human beings, earth, solar system, galaxy, universe, all atoms, angels, etc.) + Jesus Jehovah God

So what do we have now in our created group? Apart from all the things Jesus made there is one other thing in that group, namely Jesus himself. Now we must ask if there are any passages that support this doctrine. JW’s will point to Col 1:16-17 (the terms “firstborn” and “beginning of the creation of God” as well as Prov 8:22 will be dealt with separately). Colossians 1:16 is a key verse and the one I want to look at first.

The word “all” occurs 8x in Col 1:15-20; they've added the word “other” 5x out of these 8 occurences of “all”.

In Col 1:15-20 the NWT has inserted the word “other” 5x to support their doctrine that Jesus himself is a created being and he created all other things. They have done this knowing full well that the word “other” is not found in any Greek manuscript in this verse. In the NWT 1985 version they placed brackets around the words [other] to indicate to the reader that those words were added and do not exist in the Greek. However, in the NWT 2013, those brackets were removed. Now the unsuspecting reader will have no clue that words were inserted. There are two Greek words which can be translated as “other”: ἕτερος = heteros; and ἄλλος = allos. Neither word occurs in the entire book of Colossians. When we encounter such a construction in normal language use we expect to have more information, usually coming before the phrase containing the word “other.” For example, Johnny made these drawings while Jimmy made all the other ones. If we only read “Jimmy made all the other ones” we are left with the question “well, who made the rest?” We can then look in the context for our answer. Usually the answer will be found in the sentences immediately preceding, but it must be there for the idea and meaning to be complete. To use the term “other” assumes at least two referents. We look in vain for a reference to the first creator in Col 1 or for that matter, the rest of the epistle. This is our first hint that not all is well with the translation of this verse.

However, let’s go on and assume it is implied in this verse and make it explicit. Then the verse would read something like this: “Jehovah made something (i.e. Jesus) and by means of him all other things were created …” Col 1:16 NWT (italics is implied information supplied by the author).

Now, it is very illuminating to also express this verse and the contents of the created group as a mathematical expression. The Watchtower says Jesus was created by God and then Jesus made everything else in the created group. This can be expressed with mathematical symbols as:

a + 1 = b where a = all the things made by Jesus
1 = Jesus
b = all created things

So this expression states that all things made by Jesus, plus Jesus himself, equals all created things. I don’t want to misrepresent what they believe, but I believe Jehovah’s Witnesses will probably agree that this equation is what they believe to be what the Bible and the Watchtower teach. Now, we can rewrite this mathematical expression in different ways, yet they still remain true.

IF a + 1 = b things created by Jesus plus Jesus himself = all created things
THEN b - 1 = a all created things minus Jesus = the things created by Jesus
Then ALSO b - a = 1 all created things minus the things created by Jesus = Jesus alone

These expressions are mathematically true and evident.

(If it is difficult for you to grasp the mathematical symbols you can use containers and objects to place into the containers to illustrate the same concepts.)

Now we must test this interpretation (and translation) and ask for other passages that support it. To use Luke 11:41-42; 13:2; 21:29 and Heb 11:32, as the NWT does, as parallel passages are not justifiable. The Watchtower uses these verses to try to justify the use of the word “other.” They have nothing to do with Christ or God creating anything. Also, these verses do contain at least two referents, thereby justifying the word “other.” As we have seen, Colossians does not. The same goes for other verses cited by the Watchtower for support for this verse.

§ Parallel passage.

There is, however, another verse that speaks to the very same topic and that can also be represented like a word problem into a mathematical form. This verse has the same topic of creation and has the same referent (Jesus) just like Col 1:16, thereby making it a much better candidate as a parallel passage. It is John 1:3 and reads “All things were made by Him and apart from Him not one thing came into existence that has come into existence.” (The words “not one” or “nothing” can be expressed by the number 0 or zero.)

John 1:3 makes one statement in two ways, first positively, then negatively. First, it says how many things Jesus did make and then it says how many things exist which he did not make or, by implication, which were made by someone else. So, this verse can answer several basic questions such as: “Who is the Creator?” and “How many things did he make?” as well as “How many things exist which were made by someone else?”

First off we notice that, although the verse is very similar to Col 1:16, the NWT did not insert the word ‘other’ to make it agree with Col 1:16. The obvious question is: “Why in the world not?”

Well, let’s try to insert the implied information of Col 1:16 into John 1:3 and see what happens: “Jehovah God made something (i.e. Jesus) and all other things were made by him (Jesus) and apart from him (i.e. Jesus) not even one thing came into existence.” NWT [italics is implied information and was added by the author]. The result is a logical contradiction within one verse and even the NWT translation committee recognized that you can’t do that. It’s hard to add the word “other” to this verse and not make the entire verse become nonsense. You would have to rewrite the entire verse!

Let’s look at why it is a contradiction. To say “without Jesus not even one thing was made” means that he made everything, without exception. However, to say that “all [other] things were made by him” means that there is something that was made without him.

But this contradiction becomes even clearer when we represent it numerically. In the terms of our mathematical expression above, John 1:3 tells us how many things are left over in the created group after you subtract all the things that Jesus made. This verse says: if you subtract all the things that Jesus made, from all the things that have been created and have a beginning, you have nothing left over. So, the mathematical representation for John 1:3 is: b - a = 0. The Watchtower version would have it: b - a = 1. Obviously, both cannot be right at the same time. (The Watchtower would have to change the verse to say “apart from him there is only one other thing that was made” [namely Jesus himself] for their doctrine to be correct.)

So, some other ways to translate John 1:3b could be:

Possible objections answered

There are two possible ways to understand this phrase. The first is that “apart from him” refers to what he has made. The second way is to take it literally to mean “apart from Christ.” Which of the two is correct?

The phrase “apart from him nothing came into being” is perhaps the hardest part of this whole argument to understand. Not because the concept is difficult, but simply because we don’t use arguments like that every day. (Another way to phrase it would be “not counting him …”) Let’s make it a little easier to understand by trying to use it in an easier context. Let’s say you and I are both artists exhibiting our works of art in an exhibition. We are the only two artists exhibiting our works. You have brought 10 paintings and so have I. If you were the famous artist, people might talk like this: “Well, apart from so‑and‑so [you, my dear friend], there were 10 other paintings there.” Those “ten other paintings” would be a reference to my works of art. If they were at an exhibit where only your magnificent paintings were being displayed, they would say: “Apart from him (or not counting him) there were no other paintings there.” This would not mean that they thought you were a painting too. This would be the same as saying that, without exception, you painted all the paintings at the exhibition. Now we should be able to understand John 1:3 better when it states that “apart from Him nothing came into being.”

Another common example would be if we wanted to talk about a builder who built all the houses on a particular area. We would say: “Builder Bob built all the houses on this block. Not even one house was built apart from him (or without him).”

Now let us consider another reason see why the phrase “apart from him” has to mean “apart from what he made” and not Christ himself. If Christ is a created being then it would not make sense to say that “apart from this created being, namely Christ, nothing else was made.” That would make Him the only created being and deny the existence of the material universe. I don’t know of anyone who believes that. So the phrase has to mean “apart from the things Christ made.” Not surprisingly the previous sentence already directs us to that line of thinking when it says “All things were made by Him.”

This phrase contains a figure of speech called metonym which is when one word substitutes for another. An example of this kind of figure of speech is found in 2 Cor 3:15 and Acts 15:21 in the phrase “Moses is read every Sabbath in the Jewish synagogues.” Since “Moses” (the man) was not being read literally, the word “Moses” is being used in a figurative sense meaning: “that what Moses wrote” is what is being read in the synagogues. In the same way “apart from him” stands for “what he has made.”

Some may object and say that the phrase “apart from him nothing was made” does include the idea that Christ is created. It could be interpreted to mean that since he was the first one to be created (according to the Watchtower view) if he had not been created then he could not have made anything else. This would actually be saying that “before him nothing was made” and if he had not been created, nothing else would have been. But the word that is used means “apart” or “without” not “before,” so that line of reasoning has no basis in the text. Not only that, this kind of argument is called circular reasoning because it assumes as part of its argument what it needs to prove first, namely that Christ is a created being.

JW’s might also want to object to the interpretation that has been given by saying that the phrase “apart from Him nothing came into existence” does not mean that he is eternal but merely that the “all other things” were made by him and not some other creator. This makes Christ a co-creator and goes against the clear statements of the Watchtower (see Insight to the Scriptures q.v. Jesus Christ). Not only that, but the last phrase in this verse tells us which group we are talking about, whether it is only the things that Jesus made or really all created things. It reads quite briefly “… that was made” (KJV); “… that has been made” (NIV); “… that has come into being” (NASB). So the text clarifies it for us to mean that Christ is the creator of all the things that have ever been created. In our 2 Groups analogy above, He is the creator of all “Created Things” not a part of “Created Things.” He thus belongs in the Uncreated group.

The NWT joins the part (“that has been made” NIV) to the next paragraph (based on the Westcott and Hort Greek text verse division) and some might want to make a difference in meaning based on this. However, the Watchtower agrees that there is no basic difference in meaning between the two ways to divide the verses. In the Watchtower magazine April 1, 1977, after presenting the two verse divisions, they conclude “It is evident that the general sense of this Bible passage is the same either way.”

Conclusion

The conclusions to this verse are easily reached. The NWT of the Watchtower contains a contradiction between John 1:3 and Col 1:16-20. One of them has been translated incorrectly. I assert that the mistake lies in the deliberate addition of the word ‘other’ five times into the text in Colossians (which don't exist in the manuscripts), thus changing the meaning. If Jesus really created all the things that have a beginning, then their translation of Col 1:16-17 is patently wrong as well as the doctrine it tries to establish or support. If Christ is not created and has no beginning, then he is, by definition, eternal. Thus, Jesus cannot be Michael the archangel because, being an angel, Michael is a created being and not eternal.

Two ways out of this conclusion

Now, the good news for Jehovah’s Witnesses is that there are two possible ways that both the doctrine that Christ is the creator of all things is correct and the Watchtower doctrine that Christ is a created being is also correct at the same time. Or else we could also phrase it another way: there are two ways to accept both John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 as they now stand in the NWT as being correct at the same time. The bad news is that neither of the two explanations are biblical or intellectually satisfying.

Interpretation #1: If Christ is a created being and he himself also created all things that have come into existence, then he must have also created himself.

If that is not granted, then we come to:

Interpretation #2: If Christ is a created being and he himself also created all created things, then at least he must have helped to create himself.

I can think of no other possible interpretations (if you can let me know). If neither of them are agreeable then you must either change the verse (John 1:3) to suit your doctrine or else change your doctrine to agree with the verse.

Showing that Jesus is not created has implications for the following WTBTS doctrines and interpretations of verses:

The doctrine that Jesus = Michael the archangel is not biblical. It has “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image of” an angel.

John 1:3 says that Jesus created “all things,” but in Isa 44:24, God says that he created the heavens and the earth “by myself” and asks the question “Who was with me?” How can this be since if Jesus was created by God, then he would have been with God when everything else was created?

John 1:1 starts with “In the beginning was the Word …” When all things began, where was Jesus? He “was” [past tense] already there. If Jesus was a created being, then the verse would have to read: “In the beginning the Word came to be...” or “the Word came into existence.” Instead what it says is that at the point of the beginning, the Word already was or existed.

There are several verses that state that Jesus made all things. Changing the translation of Col 1:15-16 contradicts these other verses as well. These are the verses which use the adjective “all” in reference to Christ’s creative activity: John 1:3; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:2-3.