Page 47 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

“the prime source” (New English Bible); “the Originator of God’s Creation” (Holman Christian Standard
Bible); “the source” (Contemporary English Version); “the moving cause” (Barclay’s translation).

A secondary meaning behind this phrase is “ruler” or “magistrate.” He is the authority over all because
of the position He has as Creator of all. The English word, “archbishop” comes from the Greek word,
“ache”, meaning he is the one who is authority over all other bishops. So, a secondary meaning is that
Jesus, because He is the creator our source of all creation, also is the ruler over all because He is the
Creator.

WITNESSING NOTE: Did you know that the same John who wrote Rev. 3:14 also wrote John 1:3 “All
things were made through him (Jesus) and without him was not anything made that was made?”

Many other verses in the Bible say that Jesus Christ created the universe (Col 1:16, Heb 1:2). This
verse communicates the same thing. In Isaiah 44:24, Jehovah said “I, the Lord, am the maker of all
things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone.” How can
Jehovah claim to have created all things alone, yet other verses say Jesus created all things?

6. Proverbs 8:22-23
22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 "From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.

NWT “Jehovah himself produced me at the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long
ago”

JWs use this verse to also validate that Jesus Christ was Jehovah’s first creation.

The first nine chapters of Proverbs deal with wisdom personified (a thing which is endowed with human
qualities). There is NO indication that Prov. 8 is to be taken differently than chapters 1 – 7 or chapter 9.
You cannot insert “Christ” into this passage. If you do, then Christ is a woman who cries in the streets
(1:20-21) and who lives with someone named “Prudence” (8:12). This is a ridiculous argument!

WITNESSING NOTE: If “wisdom” in Prov. 8 had a beginning, then doesn’t this mean that God did not
have wisdom until a certain point when He acquired it? What kind of “God” could exist without
wisdom?

7. Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (also same in NWT)
15

JWs also cite this verse to prove that Jesus is the first created being of Jehovah. They center on the
word, firstborn, and argue that the word means “first created.”

The word, “firstborn” does not mean “first created.” The Greek word for firstborn
is prototokos and means “first in rank, preeminent one, heir.” The word carries
with it the idea of positional preeminence and supremacy. Christ is the firstborn in

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