(This article is meant to proclaim the truth, not to offend our Christian brethren.)
Colossians 1:16 teaches that a new creation was made in connection with Yeshua Messiah. It is not about Yeshua creating the world or the Genesis creation. ‘New creation’ refers to anything that happened after Yeshua’s resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the Father. Anything that happens in that timeframe is considered part of the ‘new creation’. And that is what Sha’ul (Paul) conveying here in Colossians 1.
Colossians 1:15-20 [The Scriptures 2009 - TS 2009]
15 (Yeshua) who is the likeness of the invisible Elohim, the first-born of all creation
16 Because in Him were created all that are in the heavens and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or rulerships or principalities or authorities – all have been created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all, and in Him all hold together.
18 And He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that He might become the One who is first in all.
19 Because in Him all the completeness was well pleased to dwell,
20 and through Him to completely restore to favour all unto Himself, whether on earth or in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of His stake.
The reasons why this passage is not about Yeshua creating the world are:
1) The things that are created here are <things IN heaven and ON earth> not, the heavens and the earth. He is pre-supposing that the heavens and the earth have already been created because he is referring to the creation of things in heaven and on earth. This means that heaven and earth already exist.
2) Sha’ul does not mention one single thing from the Genesis creation in this list of things that were created. Thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities are not found in the Genesis creation. Sha’ul’s description of this creation makes it clear that he is not alluding to the Genesis creation. It strongly suggests that he is referring to a different creation, a ‘new creation’.
3) We learn from Ephesians 1:20-22, that the language of thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities are put under Yeshua’s feet after he is exalted are new creation terms.
Ephesians 1:20-22 [TS 2009]
20 (His power) which He wrought in the Messiah when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and mastery, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all under His feet (Psalm 8:6) and gave Him to be head over all, to the assembly,
So, in Colossians 1 when we read that these things are created in connection with Messiah, occurs after his exaltation, not in Genesis. Remember, none of the things that Sha’ul names are plants or animals or the sun and the moon. He names these things that Sha’ul connects in Ephesians 1 to the Assembly (Body of Messiah – called Church in Christianity).
4) The preceding context of Colossians 1:16 is the kingdom of Heaven (Colossians 1:12) and afterwards is the Assembly (Church) (Colossians 1:18). Those things are new creation realities, they are also new covenant realities. Is very strange to talk about the kingdom of heaven, a new covenant reality, then talk about the Genesis creation and then about the Assembly. It would make for a smoother thought to be referring to the Kingdom of Heaven, the New Creation and the Assembly which are New Covenant realities.
5) All the things that were created in Colossians 1:16 are the same things reconciled to the Eternal in 1:20. Remember,
Colossians 1:16, 20 [Hebraic Roots Bible - HRB]
16 For all things were created through Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth,
. . .
20 and through Him making peace by the blood of His crucifixion, to reconcile all things to Himself; through Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens.
All things are not reconciled to the Eternal in the Genesis Creation, but they are in the New Creation. Notice that in verse 20, it uses the same language. This ‘all things’ terminology is not referring to ‘all things’ in the Genesis creation, but ‘all things’ that are reconciled to the Eternal in the New Creation.
6) Sha’ul’s language in Colossians 1:17 of Messiah being <before all things> is referring to a time-period after his exaltation, not to the Genesis Creation.
Colossians 1:17 [HRB]
And He is before all things, and by Him all things are sustained.
YESHUA IS ABOVE ALL THINGS MEANS YESHUA IS FIRST IN RANK NOT FIRST IN TIME
<before all things>: some versions render it ‘above all things’. It refers to somebody who is first in rank, not first in time. Does Yeshua being above all things have to do with the Genesis Creation or the New Creation? Let us look at the parallel passage:
Ephesians 1:22 [HRB]
"He put all things under His feet" and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Congregation, (Psalm 8:6)
Notice, the language he uses in Ephesians (over all things) and in Colossians (before or above all things), in both instances it is the same language. It is referring to Messiah’s position after his exaltation to the right hand of the Father. All things were subject to Messiah after his exaltation, the Eternal put all things in subjection under him. That means Yeshua becomes over all things and above all things.
All this language that Sha’ul uses is referring to Yeshua’s state at the right hand of the Father, not to the Genesis creation.
7) Shaul’s language of ‘all things being held together in him‘ refers to the Assembly (Congregation, Church), not to the Genesis creation. So, this ‘hold together’ language that Sha’ul uses in Ephesians and Colossians, two closely parallel books, always refers to the Assembly never to the Genesis creation.
For example:
Colossians 2:19 [TS 2009]
and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the Body – nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments – grows with the growth of Elohim.
And likewise in:
Ephesians 4:15-16 [TS 2009]
15 but, maintaining the truth in love, we grow up in all respects into Him who is the head, Messiah,
16 from whom the entire body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the working by which each part does its share, causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
We see that this language of being together has nothing to do with the material creation and everything to do with the Assembly being held together by the head, which is Messiah. He is using this metaphorical body language to bring a point across. Shaul is not saying that Yeshua has some mysterious power, pre-incarnation, to hold the Universe together. That is not at all the way he is using this language. Rather, he is saying that in connection with Yeshua, the whole Assembly is held together. Without Yeshua, the Assembly, the new creation would fall apart. The reason is Yeshua is the head and without a head, a body falls apart.
And the last reason is Colossians 1:16 is not about Yeshua creating the world is because in the rest of the Scriptures, it is very explicit that the Eternal created the world (in the Genesis Creation) by Himself.
Isaiah 44:24 [TS 2009]
Thus said יהוה, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, “I am יהוה, doing all, stretching out the heavens all alone, spreading out the earth, with none beside Me,
Malachi 2:10 [TS 2009]
Have we not all one Father? Did not one El create us?
2 Kings 19:15 [TS 2009]
And Ḥizqiyahu prayed before יהוה, and said, “O יהוה Elohim of Yisra’el, the One who dwells between the kerubim, You are Elohim, You alone, of all the reigns of the earth. You have made the heavens and earth.
These passages are clear that it is not one Being in three persons who created the world. It is one Being, One who created the world. Many ‘trinitarians’ will immediately think about Genesis 1:26 where it says, let us make mankind in our image. But, the next verse, in Genesis 1:27, it says that the Eternal created humankind. And all the pronouns and verbs in that sentence are singular:
And Elohim created [singular] the man in His [singular] image.
So it is not a tri-personal being whose image man is created in. It is a singular being, a singular person whom mankind is created in the image of. The Tanakh (Old Testament) is unanimous in attributing the Genesis Creation to the Father alone. Even in the Nazarene Writings (New Testament), Yeshua himself credits that creation to the Father. He says:
Matthew 19:4 [TS 2009]
. . . He who made them at the beginning made them male and female
So for all these reasons, Colossians 1 should be a ‘new creation’ passage, that all things in the new creation were created in connection with the Messiah Yeshua. Everything in Colossians 1 15–20 is about the new creation and the Assembly (Church), it is not about the Genesis Creation. Colossians does not teach that Yeshua is some pre-existent divine figure. Rather, it teaches that Yeshua is exalted and over the ‘new creation’ and the Assembly right now.
WHY YESHUA IS NOT YAHWEH
There are three reasons, in this verse alone, why Yeshua is not Yahweh
Colossians 1:15 [TS 2009]
(Yeshua) who is the likeness of the invisible Elohim, the first-born of all creation.
First reason:
You cannot be the image (likeness) of yourself. The coin that has Caesar’s image on it is not Caesar. The image is not the same thing that it is imaging. Yeshua is clearly not the Eternal in this passage.
Second reason:
This passage says the Eternal is invisible, yet Yeshua is visible. To call the Eternal invisible makes no sense, unless the Eternal is just the Father.
Third reason:
Colossians 1:15 calls Yeshua the firstborn of all creation. He is the firstborn, which is part of creation. But it does not say that Yeshua was the firstborn over creation, as the New International Version renders it. Sha’ul (Paul) says he is the firstborn of creation, which means he is part of creation. Therefore,
(For more information, see the article YESHUA IS NOT YAHWEH)
Source:
John Barnes (Biblical Unitarian)