Jehovah's Witnesses and Colossians 1:15

Inevitably when witnessing to any Jehovah’s Witness the deity of Christ will come up. This is a crucial topic for us to share with the Witnesses because the Watchtower teaches their students the Jesus is Michael the Archangel. Having witnessed to many JW’s over the past two years I thought I would share some of my knowledge and pass on some witnessing tips that I have learned from the MacArthur Study Bible. One of the main verses that any Jehovah Witness will go to is Colossians 1:15. So let’s take a closer look to know how to answer the JW’s challenge to this verse (1 Peter 3:15).

Colossians 1:15 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

image of the invisible God

The Greek word for “image” is eikon, from which the English word “icon” derives. It means, “copy” or “likeness”. Jesus Christ is the perfect image – the exact likeness of God and is in the very form of God (Phil 2:6, John 1:14, John 14:9) and has been so from all eternity. By describing Jesus in this manner, Paul emphasizes that He is both the representation and manifestation of God. Thus, He is fully God in every way. (Col 2:9, John 8:58, 10:30-33, Heb 1:8)

the firstborn over all creation

The Greek word for “firstborn” can refer to one who was born first chronologically, but most often refers to preeminence in position, or rank (Heb 1:6, Romans 8:29). In both Greek and Jewish culture, the firstborn was the ranking son who received the right of inheritance from his father, whether he was born first or not. It is used of Israel who, not being the first nation, was however the preeminent nation (Exodus 4:22, Jer 31:9). Firstborn, in this context clearly means highest in rank, not first created (Psalm 89:27, Rev 1:5) for several reasons…

1. Christ cannot be both “first begotten” and “only begotten” (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9)
2. If Paul was teaching that Christ was a created being, he was agreeing with the heresy he was writing to refute.
3. It is impossible for Christ to be both created, and the Creator of everything (Col 1:16, the very next verse!)

Thus, Jesus is the firstborn in the sense the He has the preeminence and posses the right of inheritance “over all creation” (Heb 1:2, Rev 5:1-7, 13). He existed before the creation and is exalted in rank above it.