Christ as the creator
We now want to consider some additional passages in Hebrews, a book which is essential to understanding the subject of the Father and the Son. We will discuss the passage in Hebrews where the connecting of Jesus to the creation of the world, is thought by some to teach that he pre-existed.
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb 1:1-2, ESV).
Verses 1 and 2 connect God’s Son with the making of the world; in fact the KJV says that God made the worlds by His Son. However, modern translations make it clear that the word “by” should be rendered “through”. God made the world through His Son. This is quite compatible with Christ being the basis for God’s plan rather than being the actual personal agent of creation. Also, consulting a concordance reveals that the Greek for “world” (v. 2) has the meaning of time (as for example, ancient times or the ancient world of people) rather than referring to the physical creation. It involves events, the lives of people, or “history”. The lives of God’s faithful are founded upon or created through, Christ. The working out of God’s plan of salvation for the world is based upon Christ. This is the meaning of the passage.
Christ subject to God
Leaving the subject of pre-existence for now, we’ll go on to Heb 1:8. “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom’ ” (ESV). The Son is here referred to as God, confirming his exalted status. V. 9 explains what is meant. “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” It states distinctly that the Father is Jesus’ God. Jesus has been elevated (his status or rank has been made greater) to divine status, but he does not have a status of equality with the Father, as he is still subject to Him. The New Testament repeatedly teaches that God the Father is Jesus’ God:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3).
“The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name” (Rev 3:12).
One of the main objectives of the book of Hebrews is to show to the (Christian) Hebrews, who were still living according to the Mosaic Law and system, the superiority of Christ to Moses and to the angels who gave the law to Moses. The quotation in vs. 8 and 9 shows that he (Christ) was their appointed ruler. The next, in vs. 10-12, connected by an “And”, shows that he will rule forever. It is a quote from Psalm 102, which overall, is about the “world to come”, and the Kingdom, of which the Messiah is the creator: see also (see vs. 12-16, 22).
“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end” (Psa 102:25-27).
In two ways then, the contexts indicate that the founding or foundation of the earth referred to is the laying of the plans for God’s Kingdom which will be set up on earth when Christ returns. First, that is the theme of the Psalm that the quotation is taken from. Second, as mentioned just a paragraph ago, vs. 1 and 2 are not referring to a physical creation, but to the creation of the plan or sequence of time or events leading to salvation.
Also, we are told in Heb 2:5 that it is “the world to come, of which we are speaking”, referring back to these passages in chapter 1, confirming our conclusion that they refer to God’s plan and to the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the world to come. Heb 1:10-12 tells the Hebrews that Christ will continue forever. Even the Kingdom will come to an end at the time planned,1“Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed” (NKJV), but Christ’s “years will not fail.”
We should really consider an even wider context in Hebrews. In a previous part of these studies, we have discussed Christ being tempted, and learning obedience, in passages found in Hebrews chapters 2 through 5, which rule out his pre-existence. Chapter 1 must be understood in light of these also.
Christ created
Hebrews teaches that Christ was created or made. We read in 2:7, “For You have made him a little lower than the angels.” If we look at Psalm 8, the source of this quotation, we see that it refers to the physical creation. One example is vs. 6-8 of the Psalm which are a quotation of Gen 1:26 about man being given dominion over the beasts. Thus Christ being made “lower than the angels”, doesn’t mean that his status was changed, but is talking about how he was made or created. Heb. 2:11a is important also. The Interlinear Hebrew – Greek – English Bible2gives the Greek as “He both For sanctifying3and the being sanctified4of one all”. The last two or three words, “of one all” are rendered as follows by modern translations: “are all of one” (NKJV); “all have one source” (ESV); “are all from one Father” (NASB). This is a statement that Christ had a source. In another words, Christ (and the faithful as well, of course) has not existed eternally like God. God is the Father of both Christ and his brethren. We will discuss this joint origin in detail in a following section.
Heb 1:6 and passages in several other NT books (discussed below) describe Christ as the “first-born” (of the creation). The term “first-born” by itself tells us that Christ was created, but to describe him as the “first-born of the creation” (Col 1:15) confirms it without doubt. “First-born” refers to the superiority of Christ, rather than to the time or order of his birth and our births. Christ is the Son of God, the chosen King, and the Messiah. He is first in that sense.
Rom 8:29 tells us that God planned that we should “be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.” Jesus was created or born like his brethren, as part of his Father’s plan. Vs. 29 does not refer to his literal birth, but to the fact that Jesus was superior and planned first, and then the faithful were planned, or predestined (and chosen).
Beginning of the creation
Rev 3:14, where Christ speaks of himself as “the beginning of the creation”, is very similar. Both terms, “beginning” and “creation” tell us that Christ was created. “Beginning” is consistent with the point made earlier in these studies, that God began His plan by deciding that His Son would be the Savior of the creation. The remainder of the plan was built upon that foundation decision.
Col 1:15 reads, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation”. The same comments apply. Note that God is invisible, but Christ showed us an image or picture of Him or “manifested” Him as the angels did in the time of Abraham, and Moses, and many others in the Old Testament. The translations vary in vs. 16 as to whether it was “in him” or “by him” that all things were created, but the end of the verse clears things up, “All things were created through him and for him”. Christ was the foundation of the plan, and all else was made to be consistent with that fact. The fact that Christ the Savior would be God’s Son, born at the appointed time, shaped everything else that happened up to that time, and continues to do so.
The character or nature of Jesus’ oneness with the Father
In John 10:30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” In v. 36 he explains, “. . do you say, . . ‘you are blaspheming’, because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ ” Jesus is stating his oneness in plan and purpose, in goals and aims, in thinking and desires, with the Father. The Jews made the same mistake that many have since; they thought he was claiming to be the same as or equal to, God the Father. He was only making a statement consistent with all the rest of what he said, and this was summed up by saying, “I am the Son of God.”
Jesus’ oneness with the Father is not based on ideas about time and space such as co-eternity. God sent him and he was doing God’s work in exactly the way the Father would do it under the circumstances. Thus, Jesus was one with heaven. Whether he had ever been in heaven was not the point. He followed his Father’s word perfectly and therefore acted or worked as though he had been in heaven forever.
When Jesus said in John 8:23, “You are from below, I am from above”, he was not talking about two different places, up and down. He goes on to say, “you are of this world, I am not of this world.” We see that he was talking about the difference in quality between his life and the lives of those to whom he was speaking.
Use of symbolic meanings
When Jesus says that he is bread, we understand the saying figuratively, not literally: the bread is not an actual loaf but a symbol of his teaching and of his sacrifice (Matt 26:26; John 6:35, 51). Similarly, when he says, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), we realize that if his purpose had been to merely date himself before Abraham in a simple time sequence, he would have said, “Before Abraham was, I was.” As it is, the phrase “I am”, whatever its full implications (which we will not attempt to expound), takes us out of thoughts about time in the same way as the symbol of the bread takes us out of thoughts about material things. There is one more thing about this passage which we wish to point out. The words of the Jews in v. 57 are a distortion of Jesus’ words. He did not say that he had seen Abraham in v. 56. He said that Abraham saw his (Jesus’) day. God revealed things to Abraham about one special descendant of his (Abraham’s) and Abraham rejoiced. This prophetic revelation by God to Abraham is an example of what Jesus was referring to.
Pre-existence and the faithful
In Christ’s prayer in John 17, he speaks of the oneness which he has given to the faithful: oneness of each of them with one another, and oneness of his disciples with himself and with the Father (John 17:21-23). So, there is a very close relationship between Christ and the faithful. There are many ways in which this oneness can be seen throughout the Bible.
We will now consider the ways in which the faithful are spoken of in the same way as Christ is, beginning by looking further at John 17. We won’t discuss vs. 5 or 24 now since these have meanings similar to other passages covered previously. In v. 14, Jesus says, “I am not of the world.” One could interpret this as, “I am from heaven where I pre-existed.” Similar passages which refer to Christ elsewhere in this Gospel (such as John 8:23) are used to support the idea in this way. But this passage does not refer just to Christ. Jesus is making a comparison with his faithful followers which the Father has given him: v. 14, “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” He repeats the statement for emphasis in v. 16. Obviously, he does not mean that his followers are from heaven, but that their loyalty, faith, and love are directed toward their Father in heaven and toward His Son. Therefore, his statement about himself, “just as I am not of the world”, means his loyalty, faith, and love are directed toward the Father in heaven, not that he used to be in heaven.
The next comparison in v. 18 is more striking. Jesus speaks of being sent into the world in many passages in John; for example, 5:23, 36; 6:38. In John 17:18, the Lord says that he is sending the faithful into the world in the same way as the Father sent him:
“As You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
The conclusion is obvious: Jesus was given a mission or work to do which came from heaven from God. He himself did not come from heaven any more than his followers did. And John 17:18 is not an isolated passage. Jesus makes the same statement after his resurrection:
“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you’ ” (John 20:21).
John the Baptist was sent by God but he did not exist in heaven before being sent. So it doesn’t mean that Christ pre-existed just because the New Testament speaks of him being sent by the Father or by Heaven.
In John 10:30, Jesus says that, “I and my Father are one”, and in 14: 9, “he who has seen me has seen the Father.” We have discussed both of these passages previously, but John 17:21-23 (which we discussed above) gives us further help with them. Vs. 21-23 show that the oneness between God and Christ extends to the faithful. They are one with Christ, and through him, and one with the Father: “that they also may be in us.” But this does not make them one person with the Father; therefore, being one with his Father does not make Jesus one person with Him. That is not what is meant; the oneness is in purpose and goals. Jesus and the faithful desire to bring glory to God, and His blessings upon His creation. In this, they are one with God.
The faithful and the foundation of the world
Besides being sent into the world and being one with the Father in ways similar to Christ, the faithful are also associated with the foundation of the world in a way very much like the Son of God. We read in Eph 1:4, “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world”. Verses 9 and 10 mentions the “purpose” (or “plan”, ESV) which God had for Christ and for the faithful, from the beginning. Verses 11 and 12 bring out that God is accomplishing His purpose through Christ and through us. These passages are referring to the same thing as those associating Christ with the creation or with the foundation of the world. From this we see that pre-existence is not involved; rather, they refer to the making of a plan.
Rom 8:29 is the same in its teaching. The faithful are associated with Christ in God’s plan, being “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.” As discussed above, we have here that Jesus was created or born like his brethren. Peter summarizes Bible teaching about Christ’s place in his Father’s purpose:
“He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Pet 1:20).
To be predestined or foreordained means to be determined or planned (decided upon) in advance. It is quite different from ‘pre-existed’ which means to live before you are born. The birth of Christ at the appropriate time was the foundation of God’s plan. His plan for the salvation of everybody before that time and after it depended on Christ.
Elevation of Christ by his Father
We conclude by considering the elevation of Christ to God’s right hand. God is very emphatic in the Old Testament that there is no other god beside Him (Isa 45:5, 14, 18) and that no other god should be worshiped (Exod 20:3; 34:14). The leaders of the church in the second and third centuries were very concerned that this fundamental principle be observed (and we should be also). But they thought they had a problem. They felt that the birth of the Son of God as a man, followed by his elevation to the right hand of God and divine nature, seemed to conflict with the principle that there is no other god beside Yahweh, the God who had revealed Himself to the faithful before the time of Jesus’ birth. Jesus seemed to be another god. Some men put forth a doctrine, as the way to solve the problem, which said that Jesus was equal to God and had always existed. These human ideas developed into what we know as the Trinity.
In doing this, they observed one part of the Scriptures but ignored another part. They ignored the fact that Jesus and the inspired writers of the New Testament clearly and repeatedly, in many ways, stated that God is greater than Jesus, or to put it another way, that Jesus is not equal to God and never will be. If you study a written statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, it definitely contradicts these statements that God is greater than Jesus. For that reason, it cannot be correct.
The Biblical understanding is that God has chosen to elevate both Jesus and the faithful to divine nature and to unity with Him. He has not chosen to make Jesus equal to Him. Paul tells that even in the time when the next phase of God’s purpose is reached, Jesus will still be subject to his Father.
“Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet…. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:24, 28).
Peter states that the faithful will become “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pet 1:4). We know that the faithful will be given immortality and will be strengthened in many ways. We will obey Christ and serve him. In his prayer in John 17, Jesus speaks of his oneness with his Father and also of the oneness of the faithful with the Father and himself. These things are at least part of what Peter is speaking about.
God would not and will not accept the worship of any other being or object which men have selected. He has created many living beings and many objects. One of the living beings that He has created and that He has selected for worship, so to speak, is His Son, Jesus Christ. The New Testament teaches that it is acceptable to worship Christ and to call him God. For example:
“He [the one born blind] said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him [Jesus]” (John 9:38).
“Thomas answered him [Jesus], ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28). Therefore, this is acceptable to God, even though Jesus is not equal to Him.
There are many things for which worship is NOT acceptable to God. The sun, the moon, statues of men or of animals (idols) are examples. These are things that men have chosen for worship. The Old Testament commandments not to worship any other gods beside Yahweh apply to these kinds of things and also to many other kinds of idols (possessions, money, fame).
But, if we think about it, God can choose that His Son is to be worshiped even if he is not equal to Him. God has the wisdom and the power to make this decision, and to reveal it to us in His Word. We have to consider everything that He has set forth in the Bible and accept it all. Our beliefs must be based on everything that He has caused to be written. We do not have the right to pick some parts and leave out others as the basis of our beliefs.
What is the solution then to the “problem” of the elevation of the “man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5) to divine status? It is to recognize that the great and holy God did it and that it is our place to humbly accept it. God has clearly revealed in His Word that this is what He did.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One