His only Begotten

Jehovah Witness update; only Paul showed this Saturday, and we all talked for 2-hours.

Paul quoted Col. 1:15 where Jesus is called the firstborn of creation or of all creation, which might show the JW belief that Jesus was created, not Divine. But reading Scripture while at Eucharistic Adoration is powerful – that’s where I found that the reference to ‘firstborn’ actually comes from the Psalm88 verse 28, “And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth” or in some translations, “Most High”, a reference that up to this point was only used for God, but is now being applied to King David.

So this reference does not limit Jesus to being a creature, it is a development of the understanding of His human Nature. Jesus is not simply the firstborn of God, He is “the only begotten of the Father” there are no others like Him. This reference to firstborn does two things; it ties Jesus’s human nature back to His 27^th-x-Great Grand Father, King David, the firstborn this Psalmist reference, and it indicates the first fruits nature of the Messianiac sacrifice of Jesus in atonement for man’s sins.

Looking closer at Col1:15, notice that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God” not just “the Firstborn of every creature”, and

“For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by [through] him and in him. And he is before all: and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may hold the primacy: Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell:”

So in context, a reference to Jesus’ Human Nature does not deny His Divine Nature, and a fuller understanding comes from reading the whole passage, that Jesus is the firstborn of the Resurrected, and that in Jesus the fullness of the Godhead or Divine Nature dwells. Jesus also participates “in” creation, God does not simply create “through” Jesus, that’s why St. Paul, repeating St. John, references that all things “were created by [through] him and in him.” Translating the Greek word ‘dia’ as ‘through’ instead of ‘by’ does not answer why St. Paul added ‘in’, unless St. Paul wanted to confirm the Divine Nature of Jesus.

So remember, Always read 2 verses before and 2 verses after any Scriptural challenge to Catholic teaching and, in context, you will find the Catholic doctrine.