By Ronald R. Day, Sr.
The reality is that Jesus entered into the creation that God made when God brought Jesus forth as the firstborn son. (Colossians 1:3,12-15) At that time, however, the creatures that God created through Jesus had not yet been brought forth. (Colossians 1:16) Other than Jesus himself, that includes all the "sons of God" are mentioned who were already in existence at the beginning of the world of mankind. (Job 38:4-7) Evidently, before Jesus became flesh, as being God's firstborn, Jesus was given preeminence and thus he was with a level of heavenly (celestial) glory that was greater than that of the angels (1 Corinthians 15:39-41) Thus, for a time, there was only God and his firstborn son. Jesus, however, having been the first creature that God brought forth into life, was already the firstborn creature before God made him a little lower than the angels, with the earthly, fleshly glory of a man. (1 Corinthians 15:39-41; Hebrews 2:9) Jesus is, therefore, the firstborn, not just of humanity, pertaining to the visible, earthly domain, but also of the domain of the heavenly, spiritual, invisible beings. Thus, he was in existence before "the all" of Colossians 1:16-18.
If, however, one means that Jesus entered into the creation by becoming a member of the creation made through him, and claim that this means that Jesus is the creator of that which God made through him, such would mean that Jesus created himself as a human being. The fact is that the one person who is Jehovah, the God and Father of Jesus (Isaiah 61:1,2; Micah 5:4; Ephesians 1:3), is the only one who is the source of all (1 Corinthians 8:6). Jehovah is He who anointed and sent Jesus (Isaiah 61:1; John 17:1,3) -- making him Christ. The God and Father of Jesus prepared a body of flesh for Jesus (Hebrews 10:5), and made Jesus a little lower than the angels so that Jesus could offer that body of flesh with its blood to Jehovah his God for our sins. -- Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:19; Romans 3:25; Colossians 1:14; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 2:9; 9:14; 10:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5.
It is claimed that Jesus was most definitely a God-man because he is called the "image of the invisible God" which, it is claimed, means whatever God looks like, Christ looks like. In some vague manner, it is thus concluded that Colossians 1:15 most certainly speaks of Jesus in his allegedly being two natures at once.
We are certain that Colossians 1:15 does include the two natures, or bodily substances, of Jesus as spoken of in the bible, that is, 1) his prehuman nature, wherein he was with the spiritual, heavenly bodily nature as God's firstborn of the "sons of God" spoken of in Job 38:7, and 2) Colossians 1:15 also refers to Jesus' human nature while he was in the days of flesh (Hebrews 5:7), for it was while Jesus was in the days of his flesh that the emphasis is on his being the "image of the invisible God". It was while he was in the days of his flesh, that he made known, declared, his invisible God and Father whom no man can see. -- John 1:18; 17:26; 1 John 5:20.
However, we have no scriptural reason to imagine, assume, add to, and read into the scriptures that Jesus' being "the image of the invisible God" means that this is speaking of two natures at the same time -- which actually results in two sentient beings -- who are both the one Jesus at the same time. Indeed, such an idea would actually end up in making Jesus two persons each with a different sentiency, one person who the Supreme Being, omniscient in his sentiency, and another person who is a human being, fleshly, of the earth, limited in his sentiency to that of a human being. Jesus, however, is one person, who did have a sentiency when he had been with his God before he became flesh that was of a mighty spirit nature (John 1:1; 17:1,3,5; 1 Corinthians 15:39-41), but he did not have sentiency while he was in the days of his flesh. (John 17:5; Hebrews 5:7) When he was raised from the dead, he again had the sentiency of a mighty spirit being, but evidently with a bodily glory even greater than he had before he became flesh. When became flesh, he only had the sentiency of man, with the bodily glory that a little lower than that of the angels. When he was raised from the dead, he again had the sentiency of spiritual sentiency, but evidently with a bodily glory that was greater than he had before he became flesh. (1 Corinthians 15:39-41; Colossians 2:9,10) These were simply changes in the bodily glory of the one person who is identified in the New Testament as Jesus.
Additionally, if Jesus' being in the image of his God means that Jesus as the image is the source of all, then there are two sources of all, and thus two Supreme Beings, one Supreme Being who is the image of another Supreme Being, which is self-contradictory. And thus, the trinitarian has to keep making up stories beyond what is written in order to make it appear that there is one Supreme Being who is more than one person, something not once spoken of anywhere in the Bible.
Nevertheless, being in the image of someone else does not make the image to be the same being as the original; the image is only a likeness of the original. If a statue is made in the image of a king, that statue may look like the king, but it is not the king. In this instance, the image is not even a sentient being. If someone takes a picture of you, that picture is an image of you, and it may look like you, but it is not you, nor does the image have all the qualities that make up who you are.
When God made man in his own image (Genesis 1:26,27), man may look like God in certain qualities, but man is not God. Man definitely does not possess the quality of being the one God of whom are all. (1 Corinthians 8:6) The point, however, is that Jesus, especially while in the days in his flesh, served as a true image of the only true God; he did not present a flawed image. -- Hebrews 1:3.
Even so, Jesus' being in the image of the one person who is God does not mean that he is the source of all; it does mean that he has qualities like He who is the source of all. Part of declaring God who had sent him was a demonstration of God's qualities in himself, thus one could see the God and Father of Jesus in Jesus' works and words.
Nothing in any of this means that we need to imagine beyond what is written so as to assume that Jesus is the Supreme Being, and/or that Jesus has two sentiencies, etc. There is definitely nothing at all in Colossians 1, or anywhere else in the Bible, that says that Jesus was or is a God-Man.
In the sense of the Hebraic meaning of the word for GOD (that is, might, strength, power), one could say that, due to the special powers and authority that God had given to Jesus while Jesus was in the days of his flesh, Jesus was, while in the days of his flesh a god-man, that is, a man with great might. The same could be said of Moses. (Exodus 7:1) In the sense of Supreme Being-man, however, Jesus is never depicted as being the Supreme Being -- the source of all -- at all.
At the time of the writing of the letter to Colossians, however, Jesus was no longer "in the days of his flesh." (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus, while in the days of his flesh (Hebrews 5:7), was a human being, having a sinless glory a little lower than the angels, and a sentiency limited to that of a human being, nothing more, nothing less. Jesus came to sacrifice his human flesh for our sins, and thus, having offered his flesh for our sins, Jesus was not raised in the flesh, but rather in the spirit, having a celestial bodily glory as he had when he had been with the only true God before the world of mankind had been made. -- Isaiah 53:5,6; Luke 22:19; John 17:1,3,5; Romans 5:8,12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:24; 15:21,22,39-41; Galatians 4:4; 1 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 10:5,10; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18.
If Jesus is still flesh as trinitarians and some others claim, then either he never offered that flesh to his God for our sins, or else he took the offering back. Either way, it would leave us without an offering for sin, and there would be no scriptural reason to believe that his death provided a ransom for anyone at all.
However, lest we be misunderstood, we have no problem with the Biblical deity of Jesus, any more than we have with the deity of the angels. (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 5:7) We do deny that Jesus' deity means that Jesus is the Supreme Being. If by deity, however, one means a mighty spirit being, Jesus did not have such a bodily glory (1 Corinthians 15:39-41) while he was in the days of flesh (Hebrews 5:7), for if he did have that glory, why did he ask the only true God to return such glory to him? -- John 17:1,3,5.
There is nothing at all in the Bible that speaks of Jesus as having two different levels of being at once -- two levels of bodily glory at the same time; indeed, no scripture presents Jesus as being the Supreme Being at all. Since "God" in Colossians 1:3,11-15 refers to only one person, there is definitely nothing Colossians 1:16 that presents God as being three persons as claimed by man's added-on trinitarian dogma. Nor is there anything there that presents Jesus as being his own God and Father, as is claimed by man's modalist (or oneness) doctrine.
For more regarding the alleged dual natures doctrine, see our resource page:
Dual Nature(s) / Hypostatic Union
Many might claim that Jesus is God in Colossians 1:15, because Colossians 1:16,17 is alleged to say that Jesus is Creator, rather than that God created through Jesus. Regarding this, see our resource page:
God's Creation Through Jesus
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