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To: Normandy
Jesus was the Firstborn of every creature

well, my point is, it could just as well have been Mike or Charles.

It's all interesting, but the Christian belief is that Jesus is eternal. No beginning, no end.

330 posted on 04/15/2010 9:36:33 PM PDT by T Minus Four (Abortion: one dead, one wounded.)
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To: T Minus Four; Normandy; reaganaut

Jesus was the Firstborn of every creature
__________________________________________________

So the “great” straw grabbing mormon Bible “scholars” have done it again...

Twisted a Bible scripture into something they could use to prop up their ever sagging unBiblical fairy tale the book of mormon...

But you notice Norm said “Jesus” not “the Word” not “the Second Person of the Trinity” not “God”...

Jesus the ONLY begotton son of God was conceived in the mind of God before He created anything...

But the Word of God has always been God...

and NOTHING was created that was not created THROUGH Him...

So the Word was there BEFORE the man Jesus was created...

The scripture verse following Norm’s says...

For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. Colossians 1:16

But FAIR, FARMS, lds .org gave Norm this scripture...

Colossians 1:15

New International Version (©1984)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

English Standard Version (©2001)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

International Standard Version (©2008)
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

King James Bible
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

American King James Version
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

American Standard Version
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

Bible in Basic English
Who is the image of the unseen God coming into existence before all living things;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Darby Bible Translation
who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation;

English Revised Version
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

Webster’s Bible Translation
Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature:

Weymouth New Testament
Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the Firstborn and Lord of all creation.

World English Bible
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Young’s Literal Translation
who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation,

Geneva Study Bible
{7} Who is the image of the invisible God, {i} the firstborn of every creature:

(7) A graphic description of the person of Christ, by which we understand, that in him alone God shows himself to be seen: who was begotten of the Father before anything was made, that is, from everlasting. And by him also all things that are made, were made without any exception, by whom also they continue to exist, and whose glory they serve.

(i) Begotten before anything was made: and therefore the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father.

People’s New Testament

1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God. He came in order to reveal the Father in his own person. See Joh 14:10 Heb 1:3. The love of God is revealed in Christ. He was the visible representative of the invisible God.

The firstborn of every creature. The thought is that he existed before creation began; born of God instead of being created by the divine fiat; born before any creature was called into existence. The passage does not say that he was the first created, but the first-born. He was before creation. See Joh 1:1,2.

Wesley’s Notes

1:15 Who is - By describing the glory of Christ, and his pre - eminence over the highest angels, the apostle here lays a foundation for the reproof of all worshippers of angels. The image of the invisible God - Whom none can represent, but his only begotten Son; in his divine nature the invisible image, in his human the visible image, of the Father. The first begotten of every creature - That is, begotten before every creature; subsisting before all worlds, before all time, from all eternity.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. They who have experienced in themselves “redemption” (Col 1:14), know Christ in the glorious character here described, as above the highest angels to whom the false teachers (Col 2:18) taught worship was to be paid. Paul describes Him: (1) in relation to God and creation (Col 1:15-17); (2) in relation to the Church (Col 1:18-20). As the former regards Him as the Creator (Col 1:15, 16) and the Sustainer (Col 1:17) of the natural world; so the latter, as the source and stay of the new moral creation.

image-exact likeness and perfect Representative. Adam was made “in the image of God” (Ge 1:27). But Christ, the second Adam, perfectly reflected visibly “the invisible God” (1Ti 1:17), whose glories the first Adam only in part represented. “Image” (eicon) involves “likeness” (homoiosis); but “likeness” does not involve “image.” “Image” always supposes a prototype, which it not merely resembles, but from which it is drawn: the exact counterpart, as the reflection of the sun in the water: the child the living image of the parent. “Likeness” implies mere resemblance, not the exact counterpart and derivation as “image” expresses; hence it is nowhere applied to the Son, while “image” is here, compare 1Co 11:7 [Trench]. (Joh 1:18; 14:9; 2Co 4:4; 1Ti 3:16; Heb 1:3). Even before His incarnation He was the image of the invisible God, as the Word (Joh 1:1-3) by whom God created the worlds, and by whom God appeared to the patriarchs. Thus His essential character as always “the image of God,” (1) before the incarnation, (2) in the days of His flesh, and (3) now in His glorified state, is, I think, contemplated here by the verb “is.”

first-born of every creature-(Heb 1:6), “the first-begotten”: “begotten of His Father before all worlds” [Nicene Creed]. Priority and superlative dignity is implied (Ps 89:27). English Version might seem to favor Arianism, as if Christ were a creature. Translate, “Begotten (literally, ‘born’) before every creature,” as the context shows, which gives the reason why He is so designated. “For,” &c. (Col 1:16, 17) [Trench]. This expression is understood by Origen (so far is the Greek from favoring Socinian or Arian views) as declaring the Godhead of Christ, and is used by Him as a phrase to mark that Godhead, in contrast with His manhood [Book 2, sec. Against Celsus]. The Greek does not strictly admit Alford’s translation, “the first-born of all creation.”

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

1:15-23 Christ in his human nature, is the visible discovery of the invisible God, and he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. Let us adore these mysteries in humble faith, and behold the glory of the Lord in Christ Jesus. He was born or begotten before all the creation, before any creature was made; which is the Scripture way of representing eternity, and by which the eternity of God is represented to us. All things being created by Him, were created for him; being made by his power, they were made according to his pleasure, and for his praise and glory. He not only created them all at first, but it is by the word of his power that they are upheld. Christ as Mediator is the Head of the body, the church; all grace and strength are from him; and the church is his body. All fulness dwells in him; a fulness of merit and righteousness, of strength and grace for us. God showed his justice in requiring full satisfaction. This mode of redeeming mankind by the death of Christ was most suitable. Here is presented to our view the method of being reconciled. And that, notwithstanding the hatred of sin on God’s part, it pleased God to reconcile fallen man to himself. If convinced that we were enemies in our minds by wicked works, and that we are now reconciled to God by the sacrifice and death of Christ in our nature, we shall not attempt to explain away, nor yet think fully to comprehend these mysteries; but we shall see the glory of this plan of redemption, and rejoice in the hope set before us. If this be so, that God’s love is so great to us, what shall we do now for God? Be frequent in prayer, and abound in holy duties; and live no more to yourselves, but to Christ. Christ died for us. But wherefore? That we should still live in sin? No; but that we should die to sin, and live henceforth not to ourselves, but to Him.


409 posted on 04/16/2010 5:52:59 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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